Crowbar’s View tab opens a compiledDocumentation 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.
.mdl file in an external model viewer — typically hlmv.exe (Half-Life Model Viewer) or a game’s built-in viewer — without requiring you to compile or copy files manually. Crowbar reads the ViewerPathFileName from the selected game profile, sets up any necessary temporary paths, launches the viewer process, and waits for it to close before reporting back. Both GoldSource and Source engine models are supported.
HLMV is a standalone tool that ships with the Source SDK and with many individual games via Steam. It is not bundled inside Crowbar. You must have HLMV (or an equivalent viewer) installed and its path configured in the corresponding game profile before the View tab will work. See Game Setup for instructions.
Input
Enter the path to a.mdl file in the MDL file field, or use the Browse button. You can also drag and drop a .mdl file onto the field. Crowbar automatically validates that the file exists before enabling the view buttons.
The Use in Decompile button copies the currently entered MDL path to the Decompile tab’s input field, making it easy to immediately decompile a model you just previewed.
Game Setup Selector
The Game setup dropdown selects which configured game profile to use. Crowbar reads two values from the profile:| Profile Field | Used For |
|---|---|
ViewerPathFileName | Full path to hlmv.exe (or equivalent viewer). Crowbar verifies this file exists before launching. |
GamePathFileName | Path to gameinfo.txt. For Source engine profiles, Crowbar passes -olddialogs -game "<game_path>" to HLMV so the viewer can find game materials and other assets. |
View Actions
The View tab provides three launch modes:View
Opens the selected MDL file directly in HLMV by passing the absolute path as a command-line argument. Use this when the model is already inside the game’s
models/ folder.View as Replacement
Copies the MDL to a temporary
crowbar/models/ folder inside the game directory, patches the model’s internal filename and ANI reference, temporarily adds the crowbar folder to gameinfo.txt’s search paths, then opens HLMV. Crowbar cleans everything up when the viewer closes. Use this when previewing a freshly decompiled or externally stored model that is not in the game’s models/ folder.Open Viewer
Launches HLMV without loading any model, leaving you to open a file from within the viewer itself.
Override MDL Version
The Override MDL version dropdown forces Crowbar to interpret the.mdl header as a specific version when reading model data for the info panel. This does not affect what HLMV receives; it only controls which data Crowbar parses for the overview display. Leave this set to Do not override for normal use.
Supported MDL versions range from v06 (early GoldSource) through v57.
ViewerInfo Fields
TheViewerInfo class carries the following data to the background viewer worker:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
viewerAction | ViewerInfo.ViewerActionType | One of GetData, ViewModel, or OpenViewer — controls what the background thread does. |
gameSetupSelectedIndex | Integer | Index of the selected game profile in the settings list. |
mdlPathFileName | String | Absolute path to the .mdl file to open or read. |
viewAsReplacement | Boolean | True when using View as Replacement mode. |
viewAsReplacementExtraSubfolder | String | Optional extra subfolder inside crowbar/models/ to place the temporary replacement file. |
mdlVersionOverride | SupportedMdlVersion | The version override to use when reading model data (GetData action). |
Viewer Type: Preview vs View
Crowbar uses two instances of theViewUserControl — one for the Preview tab and one for the View tab — distinguished by the ViewerType enum:
| Value | Tab | Override Setting Used |
|---|---|---|
ViewerType.Preview | Preview tab | PreviewOverrideMdlVersion |
ViewerType.View | View tab | ViewOverrideMdlVersion |
Viewer class and ViewerInfo data structure; only the settings keys they read differ.
Model Data Panel
Before you open HLMV, Crowbar runs a lightweightGetData action that reads the .mdl header and prints a model overview to the log area. This shows information such as the detected MDL version, bone count, mesh count, and sequence count — useful for quickly inspecting a model without opening the full viewer.