Garry's Mod

Garry's Mod

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Publish to Workshop via Crowbar
By ZeqMacaw
Learn how to publish to Garry's Mod Workshop via Crowbar app.
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Introduction
Crowbar is a collection of modding tools. One of them is the Publish tool, found on the Publish tab.

This tool provides many features:
  • Choose from several Source-engine games to which to publish a workshop item. This tutorial discusses publishing to Garry's Mod workshop.
  • Publish a new workshop item.
  • Update an existing workshop item.
  • Edit an item's details for publish or update: Title, Description, Change Note, Content Folder or File, Preview Image, Visibility, and Tags.
  • Choose between an existing GMA file or create it automatically from a selected folder.
  • View the items you have already published and some of their details in a list.
  • Sort items list by any column. (Sorting by Updated column is particularly useful for finding most recent item.)
  • Search for text in the listed items.
  • Save changed items, drafts, and templates to use later.
  • View at a glance the total number of items you have published and drafted.
  • View an item's workshop page via button.
  • Delete an item via button (with warning window).
  • Resize entire window and various sections.

Click the Publish tab. This should be close to what you see the first time.



Select Garry's Mod from the Game drop-down list:



Item list - Lists drafts, templates, and published items. Lists search results when a search is done.



Item area - Where you enter details about the item.



Log box - Check here for any error messages.
Publish an Item
Publishing or creating a new item is simple: click <draft> or Add Item button, fill-in 4 details, click Publish. One of the details is Content Folder or File that allows selecting either a folder (which is automatically packed into a GMA file) or an already-created GMA file.

Select a <draft> in the item list. If there is no <draft>, then click the Add Item button at the bottom-left corner of the list. Notice the 4 fields in the Item area with required in them; those are needed for publishing (creating) a new item.



Fill-in at least the 4 required fields in the Item area: Title, Description, Content Folder or File, and Preview Image. Then, click Publish button.



After successful publish, the new item's ID has changed from <draft> to a number in the item list and the Item area. Click the Open Workshop Page button to view the new item's workshop page in a web browser. If the web page looks the way you want, then click Change Visibility and click Public so everyone can see the workshop item.



The log box can be expanded by dragging the small empty space immediately above it (shown as a thin grey line here). You can also resize the Crowbar window (not shown here). This log text shows a successful publish.
Update an Item
Updating an item is just like creating a new item, except that you start with the details that are already published. No need to re-download anything and no need to have the item's web page open.

In the item list, select an item that has a number for its ID.



Change the item details you want. In this example, I've changed the Description, as indicated by the asterisk (*) in the asterisk column of the item list, and beside Item and Description in the Item area. If you were to exit Crowbar now, those changes would be saved (in Crowbar's settings file) for the next time you open Crowbar. Click Publish button to update the item with the changes.



After successful publish, the asterisks disappear. Click the Open Workshop Page button to view the updated item's workshop page in a web browser.



Expand the log box. The log indicates only the Description changed. Unlike some other uploader apps, you do not have to change everything just to change one detail.
Editing an Item
There are a few editing features to highlight.

If you make a change on an item's web page while you have that item open in Crowbar, you can click the Refresh button to refresh the item details to match.



When you change an item detail, such as Change Note indicated here, the Refresh button at the bottom of the Item changes to Revert. Clicking the Revert button removes any changes by reverting the details back to what is currently published.



By default, Crowbar does not wrap lines of text, so a scrollbar appears at the bottom of the box when a line of text is longer than the width of the box. You can change to word-wrapped lines by clicking the small button above the top-right corner of the box.



This shows a word-wrapped box. You can click the small button again to change back to no wrapping.



To delete the current item from the workshop, click the Delete button. A warning window will show.



After clicking the Delete button, this warning window will show. Be aware that deleting a workshop item is permanent and can not be undone.
Using the Item List
The item list not only shows some details of published items, but also has these additional features:
  • Shows draft and template items (explained in a different section).
  • Header allows moving of columns.
  • Header allows sorting items by column.
  • Search for text in the details of listed items.
  • Bottom bar shows totals of the various items.

The "totals" area shows counts of what's currently showing in the list.



Click on a header to sort by that column. Shown here is the Updated column sorted with most recent at the top. This is useful if you want to find the last item you changed.



You can choose one of the details or all of the details to search.



Select a column to search (here it is Title). Then enter the text to search for (here it is test). Each of the totals change from a single number to two numbers separated by a slash, indicating (total found in search) / (total without search filter).



Another example, showing a search for more in the Description.
Working with Drafts and Templates
A draft is the start of a new item. Until it is published, a draft item stays a draft and is saved to Crowbar's settings file so it can be used between openings. Nothing more to it than that.

A template is a saved copy of a draft or published item that can be used later to start a new item with those same details already included. Like drafts, templates are saved to Crowbar's settings file so they can be used between openings.

Edit a draft to form the reusable text you want in the Description. Click the Save as Template button. (Not shown here, but you could instead click the Save as Template button from a published item.)



After clicking the Save as Template button, the <draft> changes to a <template> in the item list. Some of the buttons at the bottom of the Item area change.



With the template selected, you can edit it some more and then click the Save button to save the changes.



With the template selected, start a new draft from it by clicking the Save as Draft button.



After using the Save as Draft button from a template, you can edit the newly created draft and publish it just like a draft that starts out blank. The template is still there to be used again and again until you delete it.
Troubleshooting - Connection to Steam Workshop failed
PROBLEM
Error message in log: Connection to Steam Workshop failed.

EXPLANATION
The item list, the details shown for an item, and the actual publishing, require access to Steam.

SOLUTION
Open Steam and log into your account. Click the Refresh Game Items button (green icon with two small arrows, located between Game and Publish requires Steam text at top of window), highlighted in image below.

Troubleshooting - Invalid parameter
PROBLEM
Error message in log: ERROR: Invalid parameter. Content file too big, invalid App ID, or the preview file is smaller than 16 bytes..

EXPLANATION
The error message is directly copied from the official Steam documentation. Because Crowbar handles the App ID, the problem is likely caused by the content file (or folder) being too big or the preview image file being too small. [In a future update, Crowbar can check the size of the preview image file and warn the user.]
The Steam documentation does not state what the maximum size for a content file or folder is (or why it is different for different users at different times), so unfortunately, Crowbar can not check the size before publishing.

SOLUTION
Shrink the size of the content file or folder and hope that Steam accepts it.
Troubleshooting - k_EResultFail
PROBLEM
Error message in log: ERROR: Unable to submit the update of item. Steam error: ERROR: k_EResultFail.

EXPLANATION
Here is what the official Steam documentation says about the error:
k_EResultFail - Generic failure.

Thus, I do not know what causes it. Probably several things cause it.

SOLUTION
Try publishing again later and hope Steam works.
Troubleshooting - [Not allowed by whitelist]
PROBLEM
Error messages in log:
[Not allowed by whitelist]
File list verification failed
ERROR: Processing content failed. Review log messages above for reason.

EXPLANATION
Garry's Mod workshop only allows certain files.

SOLUTION
Remove the disallowed file from the content.

Check the "Preparing your addon" section on the following Garry's Mod wiki page for more details: Workshop Addon Creation[wiki.facepunch.com]
Links to Related Pages
40 Comments
Rebellion General S May 28, 2023 @ 5:16pm 
So uh... whaddaya do when everything is whitelisted?
fluff Jan 31, 2023 @ 3:08pm 
Good now i cant even remove my workshop content due to some error with appi id ... thanks...
Trunten Oct 8, 2022 @ 10:11pm 
tried publishing my first mod.
just seemed to sit there doing nothing.
rather certain I filled out everything like the normal authoring tools.
was run as administrator in case that could matter.
eventually noticed Steam client will close itself.
crowbar will just there chilling and vibing.
maybe it can't upload a file bigger than 1GB and/or that could be over my quota?
i'm aware people using Crowbar to get around workshop limitations.
figured it could handle larger files but maybe even there is still a limit?
also was interesting to see it's running Left 4 Dead 2 when it's not actually open?
NeoDement Jul 8, 2022 @ 5:32pm 
Super useful, thanks :acduck:
Fvynchynch Jun 21, 2022 @ 11:25pm 
Something went wrong.

.JSON file extensions are no longer allowed by the whitelist of Crowbar.
Akuago220 {Gent} Jun 13, 2022 @ 3:36pm 
Sorry to hear. Understandable, for sure.
ZeqMacaw  [author] Jun 13, 2022 @ 3:23pm 
I intend to add support for Source Filmmaker. Life has just been a little messy the last year and a half. :winter2019sadbulb:
Akuago220 {Gent} Jun 13, 2022 @ 12:15pm 
Safe to assume Crowbar's Publish tool will NEVER support Source Filmmaker? The built-in publisher on that software tends to bug out and crash the program when updating existing addons.
< blank > May 30, 2022 @ 12:34pm 
I'm an idiot, was on version 0.5
Reinstalled with version 0.71 and I have it
< blank > May 30, 2022 @ 12:29pm 
The Publish tab does not show up