Facepunch's latest update for Garry's Mod enhances NPC weapon capabilities and upgrades water visuals, offering a significant boost to gameplay and graphics.
Key Visual and Gameplay Changes
The update improves water rendering in Garry's Mod by incorporating flow maps, lightmaps, and 3D skybox reflections. Additionally, a four-way blend shader from Source enables more detailed terrain representation. These graphical enhancements may disrupt existing maps, requiring map authors to adjust water materials individually.
The most notable gameplay modification involves NPC weapon handling. Non-playable characters now use non-default weapons without T-posing, as seen with Metrocops managing RPGs or AR2s. Citizens can fire from a crouched position, while Combine Soldiers handle all weapons seamlessly. Furthermore, characters from Half-Life 2, such as Judith Mossman and Isaac Kleiner, receive in-game gun licenses.
Release Context and Community Impact
This is the third major update this year, following patches introducing new NPCs and integrating assets from Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2 episodes into Garry's Mod. The game continues to be a staple on Steam, with over 22,000 active players in the past 24 hours, demonstrating its enduring popularity and the community's engagement with these updates.
