Crowbar is a Windows GUI modding tool built for anyone working with Valve’s GoldSource and Source engine game assets. Whether you’re reverse-engineering a TF2 character model, authoring a new player animation for Half-Life, or publishing a custom prop to the Steam Workshop, Crowbar provides a single, unified interface that ties together the core modding tools — StudioMDL, HLMV, VPK, and the Steam Workshop API — so you don’t have to wrangle command-line arguments or scattered utilities by hand.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ZeqMacaw/Crowbar/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
What Crowbar Does
Rather than replacing the underlying tools that Valve ships with its games, Crowbar acts as an intelligent front-end to them. You configure your game profiles once (pointing Crowbar at yourgameinfo.txt, studiomdl.exe, and hlmv.exe), and then all decompile, compile, view, pack, and publish actions route through those profiles automatically. The result is a consistent workflow across every GoldSource and Source game you mod.
Decompile
Extract
.mdl model files back into editable QC scripts and SMD mesh/animation files. Supports batch decompile of entire model folders.Compile
Send QC scripts to the game’s
studiomdl.exe compiler with a single click, with Crowbar managing paths, arguments, and output locations.Unpack
Extract content from VPK and GMA package archives into individual files for inspection or editing.
Pack
Bundle a folder of assets into a VPK or GMA package ready for distribution or Workshop upload.
Workshop Download
Download Steam Workshop items directly from inside Crowbar by ID or URL, without opening a browser.
Workshop Publish
Create new Workshop submissions or update existing ones, complete with title, description, tags, and preview image.
Supported MDL Versions
Crowbar can decompile models across virtually the entire history of Valve’s two engine families. The version is detected automatically from the file header, but can be overridden manually if needed. GoldSource engine models (Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike 1.6, etc.):| Version | Notes |
|---|---|
| v06 | Original Half-Life retail release |
| v10 | Updated GoldSource format |
| v2531 | Late GoldSource / WON-era format |
| Version | Notes |
|---|---|
| v27–v32 | Early Source (Half-Life 2 era) |
| v35–v38 | Mid-generation Source games |
| v44–v49 | Orange Box and later (TF2, L4D2, Portal 2) |
| v52–v53 | Late Source (CS:GO, Dota 2) |
| v57 | Source engine extended format |
History and Origin
Crowbar was conceived as a successor to earlier GoldSource and Source model decompilers — specifically MDLDEC (from Jed’s Half-Life Model Viewer) and Cannonfodder’s MDL Decompiler (bundled in StudioCompiler). Both tools had known correctness issues: MDL Decompiler decompiled animation SMDs rotated 90 degrees and missed certain L4D2 melee weapon animations, while MDLDEC was limited to GoldSource models only. The name “Crowbar” was chosen deliberately — just as Hammer is Valve’s map editor, a crowbar can break open a model. Zeq’s Crowbar was designed from the ground up to decompile all data that either predecessor could handle, while fixing their bugs and adding Source engine support, a full GUI, and Workshop integration.For announcements, downloads, and community support, visit the official Crowbar page at https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CrowbarTool. When sharing a link to Crowbar, please use this URL — it points to everything related to the tool.