Garry's Mod Fixes Missing Textures With Built-In CS:S and HL2 Assets

"Not even 20 years have passed!"

Facepunch just dropped one of the biggest updates Garry’s Mod has had in years. The July 2025 patch finally includes most of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2 episodic content by default. That means players no longer need to own or install those games to avoid the dreaded pink checkerboards and giant ERROR models on community maps.

This change comes “with gracious permission from Valve,” according to programmer Rubat, and it fixes a problem that’s plagued the sandbox game since the early 2000s. For many, it’s the end of years of hacked-together workarounds or hunting down workshop fixes just to load into a map properly.

"This means that you no longer need to own those games and have them installed to play on community maps that expect you to have this content."

The change doesn’t make the original CS:S or HL2 maps playable, and it doesn’t include voiceovers or music due to licensing issues. But the included models, textures, and other assets are enough to stop most of the visual chaos that used to hit new players who jumped into a busy server without the right games installed.

Players might still see occasional texture gaps depending on the map or if something's wrong with an addon. But this update covers the majority of cases where you'd otherwise get skybox holes, invisible walls, or an entire parking lot of missing vehicles showing up as ERROR in bright red.

Alongside this change, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 content is now available in the spawnmenu for every player. That means easier access to more props, NPCs, and items in sandbox mode, straight out of the box.

This patch didn’t just solve an old asset problem. It also introduced a long list of fixes, upgrades, and features for players and modders alike. The full July 2025 patch notes include major improvements to physics, model lighting, UI behavior, server tools, Lua handling, and more.

Full Patch Notes – Garry’s Mod July 2025 Update

Features

• Most of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2 Episodic content now included by default (except maps, music, voiceovers)
• Episodic content enabled in spawnmenu
• Confirmation dialog added when loading a save that changes the map
• Added launch parameter -mountcfgfile
• New console commands: host_writeconfig_lua, kickid (supports SteamID64)

Improvements

• Physics updates to Combine Energy Balls and crossbow bolts
• Browser updates on Windows, UI cleanup, and localized spawnmenu entries
• Improved problems panel, entity editing, and fog settings
• Server UI improvements (Workshop collections, RCON toggle, new icons)
• Boosted physgun_maxrange from 8k to 32k
• Multiple Lua, mat proxy, and performance tweaks
• HDR cubemap blending, better water level detection for props
• Increased AI node limit from 4096 to 8192
• OBS deathcam shortened from 3s to 1s
• Updated developer warnings and improved debugging feedback

Fixes

• Fixed missing step sounds, missing decals, texture bugs, and lighting mismatches
• Camera, ragdoll, and model rotation now consistent across FPS levels
• Fixed crash loops, PCF issues, sound bugs, and memory leaks
• Improved explosion detection for submerged props
• Fixed Antlion Guard bug with harpoon kills on d2_coast_11
• Cleaned up errors with SWEP tooltips, spawnmenu undo messages, and fog
• Fixed server crash with garrysmod.ver file permissions
• Added handling for Lua save/load errors and SteamHTTP delays
• Updated Episode 2 model physics and textures
• Addressed workshop mount log issues, voice chat crashes, and UI bugs

Removed

• Legacy or unused video/audio settings and console variables
• Novint Haptics support
• Redundant or nonfunctional UI options like Bloom toggle
• Removed duplicate tool presets and deprecated launch parameters
• Replaced voice_modenable with standard voice_enable setting

This patch won’t magically make every server flawless, but it gets Garry’s Mod closer to a smoother sandbox experience, especially for newer players who never touched a Half-Life game. If you’ve ever loaded into a map and wondered why half the screen was flashing pink, this update is for you. And for the modders, there’s a huge list of under-the-hood improvements that tighten up performance and open up more tools for future content.