Fix GMod Players Crashing or Timing Out

When a player's Garry's Mod closes with "Lua panic" or "Engine error", or drops back to the menu with "Timed out", the first question is whether it is one player's game or your server. Facepunch's crash page suggests testing with addons switched off. This guide helps you tell a one-player problem from a server one, and covers the tests that find the cause.

What the messages mean

• Timed out. Garry's Mod's sv_timeout setting is 180 seconds by default: after that long without a message from a client, the server drops the client. A game that has frozen or crashed stops sending messages.
• Lua panic. Facepunch's issue tracker says a Lua panic causes an engine error that closes the game completely. A Facepunch developer says many of the Lua panics players see are "out of memory" panics.

That is why the tests below start with addons.

One player or everyone?

Open the Players tab. It lists who is on the server with their time online and ping.

• One player keeps crashing, others are fine. Start with the player tests below.
• Several players crash at the same time. Something on the server may be the trigger. Open the Console tab and look at the lines around that time for a Lua error. Facepunch's wiki shows the format: the file's path, the line and the error, so a path through addons/ names the addon. Then follow Fix a crashing GMod server.

Tests for the player

Facepunch's crash page is written for players. For a crash on startup or when starting a new game it asks the questions below, which are a quick way to narrow down a crash while joining:

1. Does it crash without any addons? In Steam, right-click Garry's Mod in the Library and open Properties. Under Launch Options type -noworkshop -noaddons. Facepunch says this runs the game without Workshop addons or folder addons. Remove the text when the test is done.
2. Does it crash on every map? Try a different map, such as gm_construct.
3. Does it crash in singleplayer, multiplayer or both? If singleplayer crashes too, your server isn't involved.

If the crash goes away without addons, the player has too many or one bad one. Facepunch notes it can simply be the sheer amount of addons installed. Have them unsubscribe from the ones they don't use, then add the rest back in groups.

What you can change on the server

Joining players download everything on the server's list before they can play. Server-only addons, such as an admin tool, don't need to be on it. How to add a Steam Workshop collection to your GMod server shows how to stop players downloading an addon, and why a lean collection joins faster.

Crash dumps for a report

If you pass a crash to Facepunch or to us, the crash dump helps. On Windows, Facepunch says dumps end in .mdmp and sit in the game folder, usually SteamApps/common/GarrysMod/. On the x86-64 beta branch they are .dmp files in a crashes folder in the same place. Send the one dated the day of the crash.