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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99Subscribe now Essential Hardware Abiotic Factor Dune: Awakening PC Gaming Show Recommended reading Here's a mod that puts Halo's multiplayer into Half-Life, which to me feels like putting tea in your coffee This Half-Life mod remakes Valve's classic shooter to be both longer and wider, and it has radically altered my perception of the original GOG takes on the Steam Workshop with the official launch of one-click modding, and Skyblivion is headed to the store later this year Stonking Half-Life remake Black Mesa is the cheapest it's ever been on Steam, offering Barney Calhoun in glorious 4K for a mere 2 bucks Half-Life 2 becomes a loot-hoarding roguelike dungeon crawl in this Next Fest mod demo Stalker 2 artist kickstarts the Zone Kit modding scene with a flood of glorious nonsense mods featuring Shrek, CJ, and—you guessed it—Thomas the Tank Engine A mod that lets you play Half-Life 2 multiplayer as the mercs from Team Fortress 2 is coming to Steam At long last and 'with gracious permission from Valve,' Garry's Mod now contains 'most of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2 Episodic content' even if you don't own those games Christopher Livingston 23 July 2025 Players should no longer see pink checkerboards or giant ERROR models when they "play on community maps that expect you to have this content." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Facepunch Studios) So long, pink checkerboards that represent missing textures! Adiós, pitch-black skies that signify an absent skybox! Don't let the door hit you on the way out, enormous 3D model that says ERROR where a car should be! Those have been common sights for users of Garry's Mod for, oh, let's see… 20 years or so? And one of the biggest culprits for those missing textures and models is that players didn't own the games that those assets were pulled from: Half-Life 2's episodic entries and Counter-Strike: Source. You could join a community map that used assets from those games, but if you didn't own them, you would get an eyeful of pink and black or that big ol' ERROR sign. Hurrah, then, because the latest update for Garry's Mod solves that problem in a way that doesn't require players buying and installing extra Valve games. Related Articles Here's a mod that puts Halo's multiplayer into Half-Life, which to me feels like putting tea in your coffee This Half-Life mod remakes Valve's classic shooter to be both longer and wider, and it has radically altered my perception of the original GOG takes on the Steam Workshop with the official launch of one-click modding, and Skyblivion is headed to the store later this year "The biggest user-facing change in this update brings most of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2 Episodic content to Garry's Mod by default, with gracious permission from Valve," wrote Rubat, programmer for Facepunch Studios, on the official Garry's Mod site. "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." Which isn't to say some players won't occasionally still encounter a big old pink and black chessboard where a mailbox or clock should be. It all depends on what map you're joining and the assets it contains. It also doesn't mean you get the CS:S and HL2 Episodes maps files themselves. "This won't eliminate all instances of missing content (missing textures and ERROR models), but it will address a majority of instances of this issue," said Rubat. "Please do note that maps from those games are not included, so you'll still need to install those games to use their maps, and neither are voice over files and music, due to licensing issues." (Image credit: Facepunch Studios) I have to admit, it's a little hard for me to imagine owning Garry's Mod but not owning all the CS or HL2 games in 2025, but then again, I'm quite an oldie: I was playing Valve games before Garry and his Mod even came along. But I expect there's a whole buncha kids who got into Garry's Mod via videos like Skibidi Toilet, without first experiencing the crowbar-slingin' adventures of Gordon Freeman or the eternal efforts of terrorists trying to blow up a few crates in a completely deserted Middle-eastern courtyard. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. As someone in the Garry's Mod subreddit put it: "Big day for the 12 year olds in my workshop comments." Best gaming rigs 2025All our favorite gear 👉Check out our list of guides👈 1. Best gaming laptop: Razer Blade 16 2. Best gaming PC: HP Omen 35L 3. Best handheld gaming PC: Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS ed. 4. Best mini PC: Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT 5. Best VR headset: Meta Quest 3 Garry's Mod Half-Life 2 Counter-Strike Source Christopher Livingston Social Links Navigation Senior Editor Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Here's a mod that puts Halo's multiplayer into Half-Life, which to me feels like putting tea in your coffee This Half-Life mod remakes Valve's classic shooter to be both longer and wider, and it has radically altered my perception of the original GOG takes on the Steam Workshop with the official launch of one-click modding, and Skyblivion is headed to the store later this year Stonking Half-Life remake Black Mesa is the cheapest it's ever been on Steam, offering Barney Calhoun in glorious 4K for a mere 2 bucks Half-Life 2 becomes a loot-hoarding roguelike dungeon crawl in this Next Fest mod demo Stalker 2 artist kickstarts the Zone Kit modding scene with a flood of glorious nonsense mods featuring Shrek, CJ, and—you guessed it—Thomas the Tank Engine Latest in FPS Splitgate 2 is going back into beta: 1047 will keep the floundering FPS online and lay off more staff as it goes back to the drawing board Yes, it's called Battlefield 6, and the reveal trailer is coming soon EA finally proves it's listening to fans, will let Battlefield 6 beta players have classic class weapons Ready or Not has sold 1 million units on console, 10 times faster than what was achieved on PC, proving that the 'censorship' was worth it Destiny 2 The Desert Perpetual loot table: Find out who drops what in The Edge of Fate raid Bungie promises to fix Destiny 2's new metroid-style morph ball as it makes players sick and glitches out on ultrawide monitors Latest in News Oh, hell yeah—this indie dev is making a Valkyria Chronicles-inspired mecha game Sony finally acknowledges the minor, but annoying part of using a PS5 controller on PC with an update that will make my life easier The UK government gets into bed with OpenAI as heroic professor decries 'policymakers and idiots around the world getting sucked into this hype-fest… terrible, terrible companies, just crazy' 23 years after launch, Final Fantasy 11 is suspending character creation on its most popular server as it buckles beneath the weight of player congestion Microsoft backs away from $80 games, drops The Outer Worlds 2 price to $70 'in line with current market conditions' Trump's AI action plan claims to chart 'a decisive course to cement US dominance in artificial intelligence' HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro review Wuchang: Fallen Feathers review Abiotic Factor review Alienware Area-51 review Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 ARGB review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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