Garry's Mod November 2025 Update Hits Maps and NPCs

Valve and Facepunch launched the Garry's Mod November 2025 update on 12 November 2025, backporting rendering tech from modern Source branches alongside long-requested fixes for artificial intelligence handling.

For communities running on our Garry's Mod server list, the patch alters how custom environments render, upgrades baseline combat animations, and unlocks equipment previously walled off behind mounted assets.

Source Engine Water and Blend Shaders

The update incorporates visual rendering techniques ported from newer Source Engine titles into Garry's Mod.

Modern water features

Liquid surfaces now support flow maps, lightmaps, and the capability to reflect the 3D skybox. This aligns Garry's Mod with newer Source releases, making mounted game assets render reliably while letting environment authors incorporate realistic liquid movement directly into custom levels.

4-way texture blending

Level designers gain access to a 4-way blend shader backported from newer engine versions. This allows creators to blend four distinct world textures across terrain brushes without resorting to complex workarounds, streamlining the map creation workflow across various Garry's Mod gamemodes.

Built-in NPC Weapon and Combat Upgrades

Stock Non-Player Characters have received behavioural overhauls that resolve animation failures dating back to the game's earliest iterations.

Elimination of T-pose behaviour

NPCs assigned weapons outside their default Half-Life 2 configurations no longer T-pose. Metrocops can actively wield AR2 rifles or RPG launchers without animation breakdowns. Combine Soldiers can employ the entire catalog of built-in armaments, and they now possess the logic to pursue targets unarmed if stripped of weaponry. Additionally, Citizen models no longer stand up to shoot when ordered into a crouched position.

Expanded combat roster

A wider assortment of baseline NPCs can now be armed with standard weapons, expanding combat encounter setups for custom events and mission scripting.

Sandbox Tools and Spawnmenu Additions

Duplicator systems handling Half-Life 2 entities have seen targeted adjustments. Resistance-hacked Combine Mines are now placed directly in the spawnmenu, while both the hacked mine and the Flechette Gun are now accessible to all players regardless of which base Source games are mounted to the client or host. Faceposer received an update allowing creators to randomize or clear sliders by specific categories, and the Utilities panel now features an optional toggle setting for the Context Menu and Spawn Menu keys. Facepunch also introduced general under-the-hood fixes, performance optimizations, and additions to the Lua API.

What Breaks and Requires Server Fixes

The water rendering revisions can cause visual anomalies on a small fraction of existing custom levels. Facepunch noted via Steam News that certain map authors used modified water materials from alternate Source Engine games featuring parameters that the engine previously ignored. Because the game now reads and processes those parameters accurately, affected materials may render unexpectedly.

Fixing broken water appearance does not require level designers to recompile BSP map files. Instead, creators must edit their individual water material definition files to adjust or remove the problematic parameters. Community hosts cycling community content, such as ramp maps on Garry's Mod surf servers, should monitor their map rotations for distorted water shaders.

What Players Will Notice In-Game

Clients logging into updated servers will see realistic water flow and skybox reflections on supported maps without installing third-party visual mods. In sandbox and roleplay environments, players can spawn Resistance-hacked Combine Mines and fire the Flechette Gun without needing secondary game installations mounted. Combat scenarios involving Metrocops and Combine Soldiers will feature proper firing postures and pursuit behaviours rather than static model glitches.