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GShader Library

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Content Type: Addon

Addon Type: Tool

Addon Tags: Scenic

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473.222 KB

Aug 5, 2025 @ 6:08am

Jun 10 @ 2:37am

194 Change Notes ( view )

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NikNaks

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Evgeny Akabenko
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GShaders

20 items

Description

GShader Library

— a shader library that serves as the foundation for creating Deferred Renderer (shading & lighting) shaders, acting as a convenient tool for creating advanced post-processing effects.

Brief list of textures in the addon:

_rt_WPDepth
_rt_NormalsTangents
_rt_ResolvedFullFrameDepth
_rt_Bumps

The addon includes:

Reconstruction of WorldPos, WorldNormals and Tangents from _rt_ResolvedFullFrameDepth.
Normal smoothing.
Increasing the bit depth of the depth buffer _rt_ResolvedFullFrameDepth.
View and projection matrices: View, Proj, ViewProj. For perspective and orthogonal projection.
Newly discovered texture formats that allow more flexible work with shaders.
Encoding Normals and Tangents into a single texture, packing WorldPos and Depth, which will fit within the 4-texture limit in screenspace_general.
Choice of normal reconstruction method[wickedengine.net]: Simple, 3 Tap, Improved, Accurate[atyuwen.github.io].
Function shaderlib.DrawScreenQuad() with Multiple Render Target support.
Function shaderlib.DrawVertexScreenQuad() with input data to vertex shader and MRT support. More info here: Example 6[github.com].

Encoding Normals and Tangents

Normals and Tangents are stored in the render target _rt_NormalsTangents, where:

.RG — Normals
.B — Tangents
.A — Sign: A value of 1 or -1. It will help you with lighting and creating Post-Process Parallax Mapping.

Normals are encoded using Octahedron normal vector encoding [knarkowicz.wordpress.com]
Normal decoding is done via the function:

float3 Decode(float2 f) { f = f * 2.0 - 1.0; // https://twitter.com/Stubbesaurus/status/937994790553227264 float3 n = float3(f.x, f.y, 1.0 - abs(f.x) - abs(f.y)); float t = saturate(-n.z); n.xy += n.xy >= 0.0 ? -t : t; return normalize(n); }

Tangents are encoded using Diamond Encoding [www.jeremyong.com]
Tangent decoding is done via the function:

float2 decode_diamond(float p) { float2 v; // Remap p to the appropriate segment on the diamond float p_sign = sign(p - 0.5f); v.x = -p_sign * 4.f * p + 1.f + p_sign * 2.f; v.y = p_sign * (1.f - abs(v.x)); // Normalization extends the point on the diamond back to the unit circle return normalize(v); } float3 decode_tangent(float3 normal, float diamond_tangent) { // As in the encode step, find our canonical tangent basis span(t1, t2) float3 t1; if (abs(normal.y) > abs(normal.z)) { t1 = float3(normal.y, -normal.x, 0.f); } else { t1 = float3(normal.z, 0.f, -normal.x); } t1 = normalize(t1); float3 t2 = cross(t1, normal); // Recover the coordinates used with t1 and t2 float2 packed_tangent = decode_diamond(diamond_tangent); return packed_tangent.x * t1 + packed_tangent.y * t2; }

Example of working with _rt_NormalsTangents:

float4 normals_tangets = tex2D(NormalTangentBuffer,uv); float flipSign = normals_tangets.a; float3 worldNormal = Decode(normals_tangets.xy); float3 tangents = decode_tangent(worldNormal, normals_tangets.z); float3 binormals = normalize(cross(worldNormal,tangents))* flipSign; float3x3 TBN = float3x3(tangents, binormals, worldNormal);

Packing WorldPos and Depth

WorldPos and Depth are stored in the render target _rt_WPDepth, where:

.RGB — 1/WorldPos: This means that WorldPos is packed into values <1. To unpack, use float3 worldPos = 1/tex2D(WPDepthBuffer,uv).xyz; in the shader.
.A — Depth

NOTE:

The depth buffer does not write translucent objects, so you will most likely render shaders in the PreDrawTranslucentRenderables [wiki.facepunch.com] hook.

Special thanks to:

Meetric [github.com] — WorldPos reconstruction.
notunknowndude— the idea to improve the depth buffer.
puwada — the tip about texture format compatibility and DirectX.
LVutner [github.com] — implementation Velocity Buffer encoding of CryTeck method.
Zaurzo [gist.github.com] — DynamicLight Wrapper.
Blackknight33[www.artstation.com] — GShader logo.
Xenthio[github.com] — 3D Skybox PVS optimization.

Links:

GShaders discord [discord.gg]
My Boosty [boosty.to]
Beginner's shader guide [github.com]
Shader creation basics [github.com]
GitHub repository [github.com]
EGSM - here are some shader examples that might be useful [github.com]

Originally posted by devonium:
SHADERS FOR EVERYONE!!!! i have no idea wtf is going on

P.S. Shader examples are not in the addon. Screenshots show what the GShader library allows you to do.

Popular Discussions View All (25)

Dec 26, 2025 @ 9:15am

can someone send a shader from this addon if there is one?

ModestShoducks

Jan 24 @ 12:18pm

for some reason gshader spams 3 errors without stopping, when playing a save

[SIC] TMT

May 25 @ 4:49am

i think someone is making the most realistic graphics ever in gmod

bulkmoerls

605 Comments

< >

Ultra instinct Martin

Jun 12 @ 2:42am

[GShader Library] lua/autorun/client/bumps_building.lua:383: attempt to call method 'IsDisplacement' (a nil value)
1. BuildMeshes - lua/autorun/client/bumps_building.lua:383
2. unknown - lua/autorun/client/bumps_building.lua:459

Löckonaut

Jun 11 @ 9:03am

[GShader Library] lua/includes/util/color.lua:16: bad argument #1 to 'min' (number expected, got nil)
1. min - [C]:-1
2. Color - lua/includes/util/color.lua:16
3. GetHeadlightEffect - lua/autorun/!!shaderlib.lua:777
4. RenderSSAO - lua/postprocess/ssao.lua:229
5. v - lua/postprocess/ssao.lua:362
6. unknown - lua/includes/modules/hook.lua:102

floragato

Jun 9 @ 4:59am

[GShader Library] lua/autorun/server/projected_shared.lua:23: bad argument #3 to 'old_key_value' (string expected, got boolean)
1. old_key_value - [C]:-1
2. SetKeyValue - lua/autorun/server/projected_shared.lua:23
3. CustomOnLeapAttack_BeforeStartTimer - lua/entities/npc_vj_mcslime/init.lua:236
4. unknown - lua/entities/npc_vj_creature_base/init.lua:1436
5. unknown - lua/entities/npc_vj_creature_base/init.lua:2309

aspark

Jun 8 @ 1:36am

IT BREAKS MY VMANIP MODS

Un Scout MexicanoXD

Jun 7 @ 2:56pm

ood mod

IzVladiVostoka

Jun 5 @ 10:29pm

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