diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 698101bf..a8f82d93 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ config/init.cfg
 config/saved.cfg
 config/servers.cfg
 config/configtemplates.zip
+config/mapmodelattributes.cfg
 packages/misc/checksums_md5.txt
 source/codeblocks/AssaultCube.layout
 source/codeblocks/AssaultCube_Linux.layout
diff --git a/config/scontext.cfg b/config/scontext.cfg
index 877084b7..5080e1da 100644
--- a/config/scontext.cfg
+++ b/config/scontext.cfg
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ const context_mdlcfg 4 // mdl configs, same
 
 // set allowed commands for the map config context
 mapcfgidents = [loadnotexture loadsky mapmodelreset mapmodel texturereset texture fog fogcolour mapsoundreset mapsound watercolour shadowyaw]
-mdlcfgidents = [md2anim md2emit md2tag md3anim md3emit md3link md3load md3skin mdlalphatest mdlalphablend mdlcachelimit mdlcullface mdlscale mdlshadowdist mdltrans mdltranslucent mdlvertexlight]
+mdlcfgidents = [md2anim md2emit md2tag md3anim md3emit md3link md3load md3skin mdlalphatest mdlalphablend mdlcachelimit mdlcullface mdlscale mdlshadowdist mdltrans mdltranslucent mdlvertexlight mdlattribute]
 loop i (listlen $mapcfgidents) [ scriptcontext $context_mapcfg (at $mapcfgidents $i) ]
 loop i (listlen $mdlcfgidents) [ scriptcontext $context_mdlcfg (at $mdlcfgidents $i) ]
 
diff --git a/source/src/command.cpp b/source/src/command.cpp
index b0d0dfb9..8544bd89 100644
--- a/source/src/command.cpp
+++ b/source/src/command.cpp
@@ -1209,7 +1209,7 @@ char *indexlist(const char *s, int pos)
 }
 COMMANDF(at, "si", (char *s, int *pos) { commandret = indexlist(s, *pos); });
 
-int listlen(char *s)
+int listlen(const char *s)
 {
     int n = 0;
     whitespaceskip;
diff --git a/source/src/main.cpp b/source/src/main.cpp
index cc44025a..2566b1f2 100644
--- a/source/src/main.cpp
+++ b/source/src/main.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ void quit()                     // normal exit
     if(resetcfg) deletecfg();
     else writecfg();
     savehistory();
+    writemapmodelattributes();
     writeallxmaps();
     cleanup(NULL);
     popscontext();
@@ -1263,6 +1264,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     exec("config/scontext.cfg");
     exec("config/locale.cfg");
     exec("config/keymap.cfg");
+    execfile("config/mapmodelattributes.cfg");
     exec("config/menus.cfg");
     exec("config/scripts.cfg");
     exec("config/prefabs.cfg");
diff --git a/source/src/model.h b/source/src/model.h
index ea840ae3..1db36b94 100644
--- a/source/src/model.h
+++ b/source/src/model.h
@@ -68,3 +68,13 @@ struct model
 };
 
 struct mapmodelinfo { int rad, h, zoff; string name; model *m; };
+
+enum { MMA_KEYWORDS = 0, MMA_DESC, MMA_DEFAULTPARAMS, MMA_USAGE, MMA_AUTHOR, MMA_LICENSE, MMA_DISTRIBUTION, MMA_VERSION, MMA_NUM };
+
+struct mapmodelattributes
+{
+    string name;
+    const char *n[MMA_NUM];
+    int tmp;
+    mapmodelattributes() { memset(this, 0, sizeof(*this)); }
+};
diff --git a/source/src/protocol.h b/source/src/protocol.h
index fa02b093..03128187 100644
--- a/source/src/protocol.h
+++ b/source/src/protocol.h
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ enum
 #define FTXT__SERVDESC   (FTXT_NOWHITE | FTXT_ALLOWBLANKS | FTXT_TABTOBLANK)
 #define FTXT__MAPMSG     (FTXT_NOWHITE | FTXT_ALLOWBLANKS | FTXT_TABTOBLANK)
 #define FTXT__MAPNAME    (FTXT_NOCOLOR | FTXT_MAPNAME | FTXT_TOLOWER)
+#define FTXT__MDLATTR    (FTXT_NOWHITE | FTXT_ALLOWBLANKS | FTXT_TABTOBLANK | FTXT_NOCOLOR | FTXT_SAFECS)
 #define FTXT__DEMONAME   (FTXT_NOCOLOR | FTXT_MAPNAME)
 #define FTXT__PLAYERNAME (FTXT_NOWHITE | FTXT_NOCOLOR)
 #define FTXT__SERVERINFO (FTXT_ALLOWTAB)
diff --git a/source/src/protos.h b/source/src/protos.h
index 863f3025..b1919d12 100644
--- a/source/src/protos.h
+++ b/source/src/protos.h
@@ -744,6 +744,7 @@ extern void renderclients();
 extern void renderclient(playerent *d);
 extern void renderclient(playerent *d, const char *mdlname, const char *vwepname, int tex = 0);
 extern void updateclientname(playerent *d);
+extern void writemapmodelattributes();
 
 // weapon
 extern void shoot(playerent *d, vec &to);
@@ -840,6 +841,7 @@ extern void floatret(float v);
 extern void result(const char *s);
 extern void exec(const char *cfgfile);
 extern bool execfile(const char *cfgfile);
+extern int listlen(const char *s);
 extern void resetcomplete();
 extern void complete(char *s, bool reversedirection);
 extern void push(const char *name, const char *action);
diff --git a/source/src/rendermodel.cpp b/source/src/rendermodel.cpp
index e4899cf1..bfe79b7e 100644
--- a/source/src/rendermodel.cpp
+++ b/source/src/rendermodel.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 VARP(animationinterpolationtime, 0, 150, 1000);
 
 model *loadingmodel = NULL;
+mapmodelattributes loadingattributes;
 
 #include "tristrip.h"
 #include "modelcache.h"
@@ -86,9 +87,26 @@ void mdlcachelimit(int *limit)
 
 COMMAND(mdlcachelimit, "i");
 
+const char *mdlattrnames[] = { "keywords", "desc", "defaults", "usage", "author", "license", "distribution", "version", "" };
+
+void mdlattribute(char *attrname, char *val)
+{
+    checkmdl;
+    int i = getlistindex(attrname, mdlattrnames, true, MMA_NUM);
+    if(i < MMA_NUM)
+    {
+        DELSTRING(loadingattributes.n[i]);
+        filtertext(val, val, FTXT__MDLATTR);
+        if(*val) loadingattributes.n[i] = newstring(val);
+    }
+}
+
+COMMAND(mdlattribute, "ss");
+
 VAR(mapmodelchanged, 0, 0, 1);
 
 vector<mapmodelinfo> mapmodels;
+const char *mmpath = "mapmodels/";
 
 void mapmodel(int *rad, int *h, int *zoff, char *snap, char *name)
 {
@@ -97,7 +115,7 @@ void mapmodel(int *rad, int *h, int *zoff, char *snap, char *name)
     mmi.h = *h;
     mmi.zoff = *zoff;
     mmi.m = NULL;
-    formatstring(mmi.name)("mapmodels/%s", name);
+    formatstring(mmi.name)("%s%s", mmpath, name);
     mapmodelchanged = 1;
 }
 
@@ -120,6 +138,43 @@ COMMANDF(mapmodelbyname, "s", (char *name)
     result(res);
 });
 
+hashtable<const char *, mapmodelattributes *> mdlregistry;
+
+void setmodelattributes(const char *name, mapmodelattributes &ma)
+{
+    if(!strchr(name, ' ') && !strncmp(name, mmpath, strlen(mmpath))) name += strlen(mmpath); // for now: ignore mapmodels with spaces in the path (next release: ban them)
+    else return; // we only want mapmodels
+    mapmodelattributes **mrp = mdlregistry.access(name), *mr = mrp ? *mrp : NULL, *r = mr;
+    if(!r)
+    {
+        r = new mapmodelattributes;
+        copystring(r->name, name);
+    }
+    loopi(MMA_NUM)
+    {
+        if(ma.n[i])
+        {
+            if(!r->n[i]) mapmodelchanged = 1;
+            DELSTRING(r->n[i]);  // overwrite existing attributes
+            r->n[i] = ma.n[i];
+            ma.n[i] = NULL;
+        }
+    }
+    if(!mr) mdlregistry.access(r->name, r);
+}
+
+void mapmodelregister_(char **args, int numargs)  // read model attributes without loading the model
+{
+    mapmodelattributes ma;
+    if(numargs > 0)  // need a name at least
+    {
+        defformatstring(p)("%s%s", mmpath, args[0]);
+        loopirev(--numargs < MMA_NUM ? numargs : MMA_NUM) ma.n[i] = *args[i + 1] ? newstring(args[i + 1]) : NULL;
+        setmodelattributes(p, ma);
+    }
+}
+COMMANDN(mapmodelregister, mapmodelregister_, "v");
+
 hashtable<const char *, model *> mdllookup;
 hashtable<const char *, char> mdlnotfound;
 
@@ -141,6 +196,7 @@ model *loadmodel(const char *name, int i, bool trydl)     // load model by name
         pushscontext(IEXC_MDLCFG);
         m = new md2(name);                      // try md2
         loadingmodel = m;
+        loopi(MMA_NUM) DELSTRING(loadingattributes.n[i]);
         if(!m->load())                          // md2 didn't load
         {
             delete m;
@@ -163,7 +219,11 @@ model *loadmodel(const char *name, int i, bool trydl)     // load model by name
             }
         }
         popscontext();
-        if(loadingmodel && m) mdllookup.access(m->name(), m);
+        if(loadingmodel && m)
+        {
+            mdllookup.access(m->name(), m);
+            setmodelattributes(m->name(), loadingattributes);
+        }
         loadingmodel = NULL;
     }
     if(mapmodels.inrange(i) && !mapmodels[i].m) mapmodels[i].m = m;
@@ -175,6 +235,101 @@ void cleanupmodels()
     enumerate(mdllookup, model *, m, m->cleanup());
 }
 
+void mapmodelattributes_(char *name, char *attr)    // mostly for debugging purposes...
+{
+    const char *res = NULL;
+    mapmodelattributes **ap = mdlregistry.access(name), *a = ap ? *ap : NULL;
+    if(a)
+    {
+        int i = getlistindex(attr, mdlattrnames, true, MMA_NUM);
+        if(i < MMA_NUM) res = a->n[i];
+        else
+        {
+            string s = "";
+            loopi(MMA_NUM) if(a->n[i]) concatformatstring(s, " %s:\"%s\"", mdlattrnames[i], a->n[i]);
+            conoutf("%s:%s", a->name, *s ? s : " <no attributes set>");
+        }
+    }
+    result(res ? res : "");
+}
+COMMANDN(mapmodelattributes, mapmodelattributes_, "is");
+
+static int mmasortorder = 0;
+int mmasort(mapmodelattributes **a, mapmodelattributes **b) { return strcmp((*a)->name, (*b)->name); }
+int mmasort2(mapmodelattributes **a, mapmodelattributes **b)
+{
+    const char *aa = (*a)->n[mmasortorder], *bb = (*b)->n[mmasortorder], nn[2] = { 127, 0 };
+    int i = strcmp(aa ? aa : nn, bb ? bb : nn);
+    return i ? i : (*a)->tmp - (*b)->tmp;
+}
+
+void writemapmodelattributes()
+{
+    stream *f = openfile("config" PATHDIVS "mapmodelattributes.cfg", "w");
+    vector<mapmodelattributes *> mmas;
+    enumerate(mdlregistry, mapmodelattributes *, m, mmas.add(m));
+    mmas.sort(mmasort);
+    f->printf("// automatically written on exit. this is cached information extracted from model configs. no point in editing it.\n// [path %s]\n", conc(mdlattrnames, MMA_NUM, true)); // memory leak, but w/e
+    loopv(mmas)
+    {
+        f->printf("\nmapmodelregister %s", mmas[i]->name);
+        loopj(MMA_NUM) f->printf(" %s", escapestring(mmas[i]->n[j]));  // escapestring can handle NULL
+    }
+    f->printf("\n\n");
+    delete f;
+}
+
+void getmapmodelattributes(char **args, int numargs) // create a list of mapmodel paths and selected attributes
+{
+    // parse argument list
+    vector<const char *> opts;
+    loopi(MMA_NUM) opts.add(mdlattrnames[i]);
+    opts.add("sortby:"); opts.add("explodekeywords"); opts.add("");
+    vector<int> a;
+    loopi(numargs) a.add(getlistindex(args[i], (const char **)opts.getbuf(), false, opts.length()));
+    bool explodekeywords = false;
+    loopi(numargs) if(a[i] == MMA_NUM + 1) explodekeywords = true;
+
+    // build list of mapmodels (explode if necessary)
+    vector<mapmodelattributes *> mmas, emmas;
+    enumerate(mdlregistry, mapmodelattributes *, m,
+    {
+        if(explodekeywords && m->n[MMA_KEYWORDS] && listlen(m->n[MMA_KEYWORDS]) > 1)
+        {
+            vector<char *> keys;
+            explodelist(m->n[MMA_KEYWORDS], keys);
+            loopv(keys)
+            {
+                mmas.add(new mapmodelattributes(*m));
+                emmas.add(mmas.last())->n[MMA_KEYWORDS] = keys[i];
+            }
+        }
+        else mmas.add(m);
+    });
+
+    // sort the list
+    mmas.sort(mmasort);
+    loopirev(numargs - 1) if(a[i] == MMA_NUM) // sortby:
+    {
+        loopvj(mmas) mmas[j]->tmp = j; // store last sort order, because quicksort is not stable
+        if((mmasortorder = a[i + 1]) < MMA_NUM) mmas.sort(mmasort2);
+    }
+
+    // assemble output
+    vector<char> res;
+    loopv(mmas)
+    {
+        cvecprintf(res, "%s", mmas[i]->name);
+        loopvj(a) if(a[j] < MMA_NUM) cvecprintf(res, " %s", escapestring(mmas[i]->n[a[j]]));
+        res.add('\n');
+    }
+    if(res.length()) res.last() = '\0';
+    else res.add('\0');
+    loopv(emmas) { delstring(emmas[i]->n[MMA_KEYWORDS]); delete emmas[i]; } // only delete what was exploded
+    result(res.getbuf());
+}
+COMMAND(getmapmodelattributes, "v");
+
 VARP(dynshadow, 0, 40, 100);
 VARP(dynshadowdecay, 0, 1000, 3000);
 
@@ -772,3 +927,19 @@ void renderclients()
     loopv(players) if((d = players[i]) && d->state!=CS_SPAWNING && d->state!=CS_SPECTATE && (!player1->isspectating() || player1->spectatemode != SM_FOLLOW1ST || player1->followplayercn != i)) renderclient(d);
     if(player1->state==CS_DEAD || (reflecting && !refracting)) renderclient(player1);
 }
+
+void loadallmapmodels()  // try to find all mapmodels in packages/models/mapmodels
+{
+    vector<char *> files;
+    listfilesrecursive("packages/models/mapmodels", files);
+    loopvrev(files) if(strchr(files[i], '.')) delstring(files.remove(i)); // poor man's solution to remove ordinary files from the list: remove everything containing '.'
+    files.sort(stringsort);
+    loopvrev(files) if(files.inrange(i + 1) && !strcmp(files[i], files[i + 1])) delstring(files.remove(i + 1)); // remove doubles
+    loopv(files)
+    {
+        const char *mn = files[i] + strlen("packages/models/");
+        clientlogf("loadallmaps: %s %s", mn, loadmodel(mn) ? "loaded" : "failed to load");
+        delstring(files[i]);
+    }
+}
+COMMAND(loadallmapmodels, "");
diff --git a/source/src/stream.cpp b/source/src/stream.cpp
index cd3c59ca..6996f354 100644
--- a/source/src/stream.cpp
+++ b/source/src/stream.cpp
@@ -302,6 +302,25 @@ int listfiles(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files)
     return dirs;
 }
 
+#ifndef STANDALONE
+void listfilesrecursive(const char *dir, vector<char *> &files, int level)
+{
+    if(level > 8) return; // 8 levels is insane enough...
+    vector<char *> thisdir;
+    listfiles(dir, NULL, thisdir);
+    loopv(thisdir)
+    {
+        if(thisdir[i][0] != '.')  // ignore "." and ".." (and also other directories starting with '.', like it is unix-convention - and doesn't hurt on windows)
+        {
+            defformatstring(name)("%s/%s", dir, thisdir[i]);
+            files.add(newstring(name));
+            listfilesrecursive(name, files, level + 1);
+        }
+        delstring(thisdir[i]);
+    }
+}
+#endif
+
 bool delfile(const char *path)
 {
     return !remove(path);
diff --git a/source/src/tools.h b/source/src/tools.h
index be825d31..cd1f1455 100644
--- a/source/src/tools.h
+++ b/source/src/tools.h
@@ -964,6 +964,7 @@ extern char *loadfile(const char *fn, int *size, const char *mode = NULL);
 extern void filerotate(const char *basename, const char *ext, int keepold, const char *oldformat = NULL);
 extern bool listdir(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files);
 extern int listfiles(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files);
+extern void listfilesrecursive(const char *dir, vector<char *> &files, int level = 0);
 extern int listzipfiles(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files);
 extern bool delfile(const char *path);
 extern void backup(char *name, char *backupname);