Turning Gmod viewmodels into HL2 viewmodels?

[Jakkalen]

Greetings modelling experts

I don't know shit when it comes to modelling / rigging / animating, so I'm hoping you guys can answer a quick question for me: In Gmod, every playermodel has their own first person viewmodels that suits their playermodel. I've been wondering: Would it be possible to somehow take these viewmodels from random Gmod playermodels and sort of "convert" them so they replace Gordon's hands in HL2 / other HL2 based mods?

Cheers

[Gmod4phun]

It could be done, as long as the skeleton is the same, which I believe it is for the default HL2 models. However you would need to compile every weapon with the hands already as a part of the weapon, because HL2 does not use the hand system like GMod does.

[Jakkalen]

So would it simply be a matter of grabbing all the files and re-compiling each weapon in the correct HL2 format? Or are Gmod arms seperate files that would have to be "cut out" and "pasted" over each HL2 weapon in a modelling programm like Blender?

[Gmod4phun]

The system used by GMod for the c_hands, also used by L4D2, CSGO, Insurgency and many other games works in a way that the weapon model has no hands as part of them, but they are a separate model that gets bonemerged onto the weapon model in-game. HL2 and older games where you have only one set of hands (CSS, CS 1.6 etc) have the hands compiled into the weapon model. What you want to do is rather easy, you will need to decompile the hand model you want to use, then decompile the weapon model you wish to use with the hands, load it up in Blender, delete the hands part of the model, export it again, add the decompiled hands as a new bodygroup into the .QC file (which holds all the info about how the model compiles), compile the model and it should be working. Keep in mind you can only use the GMod hands with HL2 weapons, because they have the same skeleton, but other hands have different skeletons (bone names, orientations etc.)

You will need Crowbar to compile/decompile Source Engine models, and Blender + Blender Source Tools or any 3D Software capable of importing/editing/exproting the decompiled models

[Jakkalen]

Thanks mate!

[Stiffy360]

Just decompile the viewmodel for the weapons, and the hands model you want to use, then import the hands into the editor, then the weapon reference model, then export it as a weapon replacement model, then compile the model (make sure you rename the model to hl2's viewmodel name and add $cdmaterials for the hands.)

[Jorlock]

I'm sorry but it's not as simple as that. There's more you have to do because I tried following this and I got a floating gun and no arms.