How to Port Models from the GMod Workshop into SFM

A how-to on porting models from the GMod Workshop into your SFM.

Opening and Disclaimers

Hi, my name is Tom Yamaza, and in this guide we will be going over how to rip a model from the GMod Workshop and extract it into SFM. Before we get started, I would like to make a few quick notes.

Big lady. Made by me. Original Twitter link.

1. Bugs may arise during your porting experience which may not be covered by this guide. If you need any help with these bugs, please contact the r/SFM Discord Server [discordapp.com]for advice, as they contain the most experienced users out there who can help you with any problem you may face.

2. This guide only pertains to the procedures necessary to port models from the Workshop into SFM. Anything else is not going to be covered in this guide as I do not have the proper knowledge on how to do so.

3. This guide only pertains to extracting models from the Workshop, not from the main game itself.

4. You will need to create a 'custom' folder in order to properly understand this guide and it's contents. In order to create one, please read Section 14 of this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1826909237

Please read these before you continue. Don't complain in the comment section about issues that can be solved simply by reading these 3 notes, I will not respond if you do. With those out of the way, lets get started with the guide.

What You'll Need

For this process, you will need a few things before you can start. These include:

-Your item page on the GMod workshop. For the sake of demonstration, I will be using JQ's RE8 Bela Model
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2479873555

-{LINK FJERNET}Steam Workshop Downloader, allows you to download items from various workshop pages into your own personal download folder.
-Preferably a custom folder, separate from the usermod folder where you can put your newly extracted models in, as in some cases extracting directly into usermod with a model from GMod proves to not work on occasion. This was further elaborated on in Note 3 in the last paragraph.

Step 1. Extracting Model from Workshop via SteamWorkshopDownloader

1. Copy the link from the item page of your model, and paste it into the link bar on Steam Workshop Downloader as seen above. Make sure that the "No Extraction" box is un-checked so you won't be stuck for a few minutes waiting for the model to load in.


The model is now loaded in!



2. Wait for the link to load, and once done, click on the download button. The file should come out fairly quick, but if your model happens to be fairly beefy it may take a bit.

Now that this is done, let's move on to the next step.

Step 2. Dragging and Dropping folders to your 'custom' folder

1. Open the zip file, and open the folders until two folders called "materials" and "models".

2. Click on the 2 folders, then drag them into your 'custom' folder. I have mines pinned to my taskbar for better utility, but you might not! Make sure to do so for better access. After you do so, the files will automatically plop into place if you properly followed the instructions from Note 4 in the opening paragraph.

Now that we have gone through that, let's go onto the third and last step in the process.

Step 3. Checking and Verifying model works in SFM

I know, long and annoying process, but we're almost done! Just hold out for a few more minutes and we'll get through this together.

1. Launch SFM and open up a random map, I opened up black_void for the sake of saving time. Afterwards, search up your model in the model viewer. The name of the model is usually at the bottom of the workshop page, so remember to check there. Once done, open the model in your map.




2. Examine the model and make sure that no problems have arised. If so, make sure that you check back and see that you have done everything detail in the guide correctly.

If the problem is still apparent, see Note 1 in the opening paragraph. If no problems come up, then you're set! You have now successfully ported a model from GMod into SFM.

Cig's Famous .VVD Error

WARNING: THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL MODELS, ONLY CERTAIN ONES. YOU'LL KNOW IF YOU NEED TO DO THIS STEP IF YOU CAN'T SEE THE MODEL PROPERLY/IT DOESN'T SHOW UP AT ALL IN THE MODEL VIEWER

Credits to John CO. for helping with this section. SFM and GMod use different methods for .mdl paths. In terms of SFM, it uses the exact file path specified inside the .mdl file, whereas GMod looks for the .vvd around the .mdl instead, which can create some difficulties in the porting side of things. Certain models come out of WorkshopDownloader with screwed up file paths which can be a pain. However, with a little determination and effort, you fix this up.

Items needed

For this debugging tutorial, you'll need the following:

Crowbar[github.com] - Tool used in Valve modding in order to compile and decompile models for use in various Source Engine products. We will be using this to decompile the .mdl in order to access the .qc file.
Notepad++[notepad-plus-plus.org] - Can be used to replace Notepad, as well as do things Notepad can't, like examine .qc files! Used to examined the extracted .qc file from the .mdl file.
With those out of the way, lets get started with the tutorial.

Decompiling the .mdl

The first step should be the simplest: Decompile the .mdl using Crowbar. First, open Crowbar and click on the Decompile tab. You should then see a row prompting for a .mdl input. Click on the Browse button to the far right of the tab, and find your .mdl file of choice. Then, make note of your output path tab right below it. This is where you will find your outputted files, however the main one you will want to focus on is the .qc file, which you will use Notepad++ in order to inspect in the next step.

Opening .QC in Notepad++

Making note of the output path of your decompiled .mdl file that was listed in the last section, head to that location and look for the .qc file, verifying that it exists in the location. Then, once found, open Notepad++ and open the .qc in said location. If, for some unexpected reason, you can't find the .qc in the location listed, then please refer to Note 1 in the opening paragraph. If you can, well thats good! Now we can move on to the next step, which is correcting the filepath listed in the .qc file.

Editing the filepath in the .QC

Find the third line which starts with $modelname, it should detail the current (and wrong!) filepath that the .mdl is currently using. Making wrongs right, the way to fix this up is to simply find the correct filepath and correct it on the line.
Once this is done, verify that the line follows the correct filepath that should lead you to sweet, savory, GMod model action! Now that this is done, simply recompile the model back with it's newly fixed .qc, and slap the .mdl file back into the model folder following the correct filepath.

Closing

Thank you for reading this guide. If you're interested, please check out my other guide on the Basics of Art Commissions. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2220672611 Join my Discord Server [discord.gg]full of artists, where you can showcase your own SFM and GMod art, as well as showcase your commissions and talk to fellow artists. Please also follow me on Twitter so you can get a heads up on future guide releases from me. I very much appreciate it!

[The Prince]

It doesn't say download for me.

[Superearthhater2257]

RIP

[Tom Yamaza]

battle droid gaming I personally don't know what happened there, but if you wish to seek advice from better professionals that I, then please consider joining the r/SFM Discord server as linked in the Opening and Disclaimers section, and asking in the help-and-wip channel.

[battle droid gaming]

hey i got this realy strange issue, i followed your guide and got the models to appear in sfm but the arms are messed up https://imgur.com/a/MtU2oQA i don't really know what to do from here, could you tell me what i did wrong or direct me to someone or somewhere who knows?

[Tom Yamaza]

For me I have lots of models in my custom folder and they don't break on me. If you want to discuss this further please add me on Steam and we can talk about this at length.

[Pops]

I wonder on how to have multiple models in the custom folder without it all breaking and replacing stuff.

[Tom Yamaza]

FreeTimeFiend Section 4 of the opening should be all you need to find out how to do it, let me know if there is any issue.

[FreeTimeFiend]

Where's the customs folder? Do I have to make it ooooor is it just tucked away somewhere and I'm just blind?

[Tom Yamaza]

I would think so, but as I am not really sure, this is something that you would need to test yourself. I would really like to think it works that way, though.

[Fawkes]

If it wouldn't work for this method could you perhaps link a guide that does work?