Garry's Mod Wiki

Home / Addon Creation

Addon Creation

What are Addons?

Addons are modifications (mods) that Garry's Mod automatically loads during the process of loading a map or connecting to a server. Addons can add things like maps, sounds, and enemies. They might also change existing parts of Garry's Mod or even other Addons.

Creating a New Addon

All Addons, even those downloaded from the Steam Workshop, start as a folder placed in the garrysmod/addons/ folder of the Garry's Mod installation.

Your Addon's folder should be named using lowercase letters, numbers, underscores, and dashes.

Addon Folder Path Issues
garrysmod/addons/cool_space_laser None!
garrysmod/addons/1990s_nostalgia None!
garrysmod/addons/My Cool Addon! Capital letters, spaces, and special characters (!)
garrysmod/rocket_car Placed outside of the addons/ folder
garrysmod/addons/rocket_car None!

Where is Garry's Mod installed?

You can find your Garry's Mod installation location using the Manage > Browse local files context (right click) menu option on Garry's Mod in the Steam library.

Addon Folder Structure

Addons must follow a predefined folder structure in order to work properly.

Each Addon's folder structure mimics the folder structure of the core game's files which can be seen in the garrysmod/ folder. Files in Addons (and in the core game files) are grouped together into folders based on file type.

The folders you can add to your Addon folder are:

Folder Name Note File Types Tools
backgrounds Startup images on main menu png, jpg Any graphic tool
data_static Files that contains data for your script that won't change Allowed Files
gamemodes For more information, see Gamemode Creation
lua For more information, see Lua Folder Structure lua Code Editors
maps Game Levels bsp, nav, txt, lmp hammer and hammer++
materials Textures and materials for your maps, UI and models vmt, vtf, tga, png Photoshop, Gimp, VTFEdit
models Model assets mdl, vtx, phy Blender, 3Ds Max
particles For more information, see Particle System Overview pcf Particle Editor (-tools)
resource
resource/fonts For more information, see Font Usage Guide ttf
resource/localization For more information, see Addon Localization txt
scenes vcd
scripts
scripts/vehicles For more information, see Vehicle Scripts txt
sound Unlike other folder names, sound is not plural and does not end in an "s" wav, ogg, mp3
Addons only need to include the folders that they actually have files in. Empty folders don't serve a purpose and should be removed.

Publishing Addons to the Steam

A full guide on Steam Workshop publishing can be found here

Account Management

Special Pages

Wiki List