How to use Crowbar

Overview

Learn how to set up Crowbar and use its many features.

Download Crowbar

Download Crowbar on its official Steam Group page.

Once downloaded, extract Crowbar.exe via 7-Zip to a folder of your choice and launch it.

Linux users

Crowbar was developed for Windows operating systems and does not natively support Linux.
It is reccomended to use WineHQ[www.winehq.org] and Mono [www.mono-project.com] to run Cowbar.

However, bugs have been reported.
Seemingly no changes to Crowbar can fix those bugs, meaning they are likely caused by Wine.

Setup

The first step is to let Crowbar know where your games are installed, via the “Set Up Games” Tab.

Here’s what each setting is meant to do:

• Drop Down Menu – Pick a game to modify its settings.
• Name – Name of the game.
• Engine – The game’s engine.
• Executable – The .exe of the given game.
• Executable options – Launch settings of the game, for when launching via “View” Tab.
• Gameinfo.txt – Location of gameinfo.txt file. Models will be compiled to that folder.
• Model compiler – Location of the game’s Studiomdl.exe.
• Model Viewer – Location of the game’s HLMV.exe.
• Mapping Tool – Location of the game’s Hammer.exe.
• Packer tool – Location of the game’s Vpk.exe. Garry’s Mod would use gmad.exe.
• Clone – Clone the selected game setup.
• Delete- Delete the selected game setup.
• Create ‘models’ folder tree from this game’s VPK’s – See below*

*This button will create folders for all original game models.
This is required for HLMV, as it cannot open a folder if the folder itself does not exist.
This seems to be a bug with HLMV.
Currently, in version 0.68, this button will also create such folders for all addons, such as custom content of maps. Which will end up with several empty folders.
Temporarily removing the addon folder and pasting it onto your desktop before pressing the button will avoid this. You can move the addon folder back afterwards.

In the screenshot, you can see <library1> is being used.
This macro is defined below, but it is not required.

Steam library folders
Click the Add button at the right to add a new macro, which is shown in the image as <library2>. Type in the path where the second library is installed (shown here as “F:ProgrammeSteamLibrary”). Right-click on “<library2>” line in the grid and choose “Change to this macro in all game setups” to change all uses of <library1> into <library2>.

Download

This tab allows the user to download any downloadable steam workshop submission without subscribing to the item and launching the game. The Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO worskshops for example, only allow you to download maps.

• Output to: – Pick what folder you’d like to download the addon to.
• Use item ID instead of given name – Renames your addon to only be the ID, like workshop downloads.
• Prepend Item title – Renames the addon to the workshop submission name.
• Append the item update date-time – Adds the date and time of the last update of that item to its name.
• Replace Spaces with underscores – Self explanatory.
• Convert to expected File or folder – For Garrysmod. Old addons download as “Bin” files. This checkbox converts a bin to a gma.

Copy any workshop url, or at least the number ID found in the url, into the “Item ID or Link” box.
You can copy the link from the steam workshop website, or right-clicking anywhere on the workshop submission inside steam and selecting Copy Page URL.

Unpack

This tab allows you to unpack one or more gma or vpk files.
You may drag-and-drop addons onto crowbar to have this window open automatically, or have this tab open when double clicking the files. This behaviour can be changed in the “Options” tab.

In the gif above you’ll see the “Use in Preview” and “Use in Decompile” buttons become available towards the bottom of crowbar.
These allow you to load the model in the respecive tabs.
Only loads the first available model of the unpacked addon.

Decompile

This tab is what Crowbar excels at — decompiling models.
You can decompile one model, or batch decompile an entire folder.

Here are notable settings:

• QC file – Creates a QC file, which is required for recompiling models later.
• Group into QCI files – Turns one large QC file into multiple smaller QCI files.
• Reference mesh SMD file – This gives you the actual model.
• Procedural bones VRD file – Helperbones, used mostly for playermodels.
• Folder for each model – Decompiles models into separate folders, useful for batch decompiling.

When in doubt, click the “Use Defaults” button, which enables all settings required to decompile a model with all files needed for proper recompiling.

Note: “Blended” animations, such as lookposes on weapons, or animations “subtracted” from other animations will not decompile correctly, as the original bone movement information is lost.
Those animations require manual repair, or the use of $includemodel.

In the “Decompiling” Gif above you can again see a “use in Compile” button become available.
After using the “Goto” button to load and modify the qc file, you can either drag it onto crowbar, or simply press that “Use in Compile” button to load the decompiled QC into the “Compile” tab.

Compile

Crowbar has the option to compile models. However, Crowbar does not do the compiling itself.
Crowbar loads Studiomdl.exe and provides a nice user interface for it.
This means any errors occurring during compile will not be caused by Crowbar, but by your files.

You have the ability to compile multiple QC files at once by selecting their folder, which will then compile one model after another until all are done.

In the gif above you see how the “Output to” setting was changed to a folder outside the game.
This was only required in this specific case where the model was opened “As Replacement”.

You could instead modify the $modelname to compile the model to a different folder and then use that model regularly in hlmv, as seen below.

Underneath the “Compile” button is a compile log window, showing how far the compile is.
This window also shows errors. The number at the end of the qc filename shows you on what line the error occurs.

The compiler treats QCI files as if their entire content was pasted into the QC file.
This causes that “Error number” to not be correct.
Example: a QCI is included on line 10. An error on line 15 would be the 5th line of the QCI.

View

This tab is useful for checking the content of any mdl file without having to decompile anything.

Most notable features are:

• MDL stored file name – For checking what the model was supposed to be compiled as.
• MDL stored file size – What size the model should have
• MDL actual file size – What size the model actually has.
  These three options above are useful for checking if a model has been hexed.
• Material and Texture Info – Where the materials should be and what name they have.

Pack

This tab is a user interface for vpk.exe and gmad.exe, to pack vpk files and gma files respectively.

It is important to pick the right game here, otherwise you might end up using the wrong vpk.exe, causing your addons to not work in the intended game.

Drag and drop a folder onto this tab to have it ready to be packed, then press the “Pack” button.
A VPK file, or GMA file with the same name as your folder will appear in your selected output folder.

Publish

This tab is used to publish items to the steam workshop.
Here’s a guide specifically for Garry’s Mod.

1. List of your released addons, drafts and templates
2. Name, Description, Thumbnail, and actual addon file of your mod. Also includes a “changelog” box for when you update existing mods.
3. Tags for your item, which is different for every game.

How to publish a mod:

1. Select an empty template.
2. Give your submission a name
3. Write out a fitting description
4. Pick fitting tags. Do not pick all tags “to get more views” please.
5. Drag and drop your addon file onto the Publish tab, to have it selected for upload.
6. Do the same with the thumbnail. (2mb max)
   Crowbar uploads the images without cropping or resizing them.
   Using a square image or a gif will give you this exact image on the steam workshop.
7. Decide which visibility option you want.
   “Hidden” is recommended, as you will have time to add images to your submission, or add it to a collection before you make it public.
8. Press the “Publish” button to release it to the workshop.
9. Wait for the “Publishing item finished” text to appear before closing crowbar.

If you set up an addon but don’t release it, Crowbar will automatically save everything as a draft until you are ready to release. This draft is saved even when you close Crowbar.
You are also able to save a template, which allows you to write a base description for addons. This is useful for when you want to use tables, or images in your descriptions, without having to copy-paste a description from an existing mod of yours.

Once a model is published, a “Open Workshop Page” button will appear.
Pressing it will load the workshop page of this mod, allowing you to modify that page.

Options

This tab allows you to decide what Crowbar will do when specific actions are taken.
Such as automatically opening a model in the decompile tab when double-clicking mdl files, and showing it in the View tab when you drag it onto Crowbar.

In the screenshot below, you can see the MDL option in the “Explorer Auto-Open” section has a tick in Preview, Decompile and View, yet only a dot in the “Open” part.

This means that double clicking a MDL file will set up the Preview, Decompile and View tab to use that model, but the Decompile tab will be shown when Crowbar is opened.
Likewise it will switch from whatever tab you are in, to the decompile tab when another mdl is double-clicked.

You have the same options on the right hand side for Drag-and-Dropping.
So you could decide that it will set up the same tabs, but focus on the View tab instead.
Drag-and-Dropping mdl files onto crowbar while Preview, Decompile or View tabs are active will load the model in that active tab. Disregarding the settings you had chosen.

Example: opening “View” when Drag-and-Dropped, but opening “Decompile” when double clicked.

Help & About

The help tab lists useful guide(s).

The About tab lists some general info about Crowbar, its developer, and a special thanks section listing people who helped with development in substantial ways.

Can you see that paypal button? I suggest you use it.

Update

The Update tab allows you to check for updates, automatically download them, and copy your old settings to the new version. It also allows you to install the new version as a separate install.

Crowbar automatically checks for updates when launched. Press the “Check” button to manually check if any updates are out.

Press the “Download” button to download the compressed 7z file, allowing you to save this version somewhere else.

Pressing the “Update” button will download the update, handle the files as indicated, close the current Crowbar, and open the newest version.