How to make a Garry's Mod (GMod) server

You can join your server as soon as it's running. Everything else is set in three places in its panel: the Workshop tab for addons, the Startup tab for the gamemode and map, and the File Manager for server.cfg.

Find your server address

1. Log in to the dashboard and open your server.

2. The Server address sits in the panel's left rail, right under your server's name: an IP or a name, then a colon, then a port (it looks like 27.124.105.40:27015).

   

3. Press the copy button beside it so you take the whole thing, including the number after the colon.

Join from Garry's Mod

1. Open Garry's Mod.
2. Open the Developer Console with the ~ key. If nothing happens, enable it first: Options > Keyboard > Advanced > Enable Developer Console.
3. Type connect <your address> (for example connect 27.124.105.40:27015) and press Enter.

Your server also appears under Find Multiplayer Game once Steam's server browser picks it up - the console is just faster the first time. If it never turns up there, see Server not showing in the server browser below.

Load a Workshop collection

The server downloads and mounts a whole Steam Workshop collection on boot:

1. Open your collection on the Steam Workshop website and copy the number at the end of its URL - that's the collection ID.
2. Get a free Steam Web API key at steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey. The server needs it to download Workshop files.
3. Open your server's Workshop tab, near the end of the panel's tab list, below More.
4. Under Workshop connection, paste the collection ID into Collection ID and the key into Workshop auth key.
5. Press Save connection.
6. Press Restart now in the Restart to apply box. The Console shows each addon downloading on the way up.

The Startup tab holds the same two values as Workshop Collection ID and Workshop Auth Key, so either place works.

New to collections? How to add a Steam Workshop collection to your GMod server builds one from scratch.

Switch gamemodes

Sandbox and TTT ship with Garry's Mod. Any other gamemode has to be installed first, which for most means adding it to your Workshop collection.

1. In the Startup tab, set Gamemode: sandbox, prop_hunt, terrortown (that's TTT) or darkrp.
2. Set a Map that suits it (TTT maps start with ttt_, Prop Hunt maps with ph_) and restart.

For Sandbox, TTT or DarkRP (once it's in your collection), the Gamemode presets in the Workshop tab do both steps at once. Press the preset's Switch to button, confirm with Switch gamemode, then press Restart now. The preset picks a matching map when one is installed.

How much RAM does a Garry's Mod server need?

Your gamemode and the size of your Workshop collection decide it. Our Garry's Mod plans start at 4 GB, because Sandbox with just a few Workshop addons already uses more than 2 GB:

Every addon in your collection is loaded on the server, so a collection that keeps growing is the usual reason to move up a plan. If only one player lags, check their ping against Australian game server latency: what ping to expect from each city first. To upgrade, open Billing and press Change plan next to the server under Subscriptions.

Server name, password and server.cfg

Your server's name and join password live in garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg, a file we create when the server is first installed.

1. Stop the server from the dashboard.

2. Open the File Manager and go to garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg.

3. Change the name on the hostname line and set a password on the sv_password line, keeping the quotes:

   hostname        "Friday Night TTT"
   sv_password     "pick-a-password"
   

   Leave it as sv_password "" for a server anyone with the address can join.

4. Save, then Start the server. The file is read on every boot.

Setting hostname or sv_password in the Console instead doesn't change the file, so put a name or password you want to keep in server.cfg.

Send your friends the password along with the server address.

Server not showing in the server browser

You don't need the browser to play: connect <your address> in the developer console gets you in whether or not your server is listed under Find Multiplayer Game.

If it isn't listed there:

1. Look for the exact name. The browser shows the name on your hostname line in server.cfg, among thousands of other servers, so check for that exact name.
2. Check for hide_server. A hide_server 1 line in server.cfg hides the server from the browser on purpose. Delete the line (or set it to 0) and restart.
3. Add a Steam game server token. Garry's Mod ranks servers without one lower in the browser. Create a token for app ID 4000 at steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers, paste it into Steam Account Token in the Startup tab, and restart.

Common first-boot problems

1. Addons didn't download - the Workshop auth key is missing or wrong. Both fields under Workshop connection in the Workshop tab must be set.
2. Players stuck on the loading screen or seeing errors/missing textures - they don't have your addons. Press Sync from collection in the Workshop tab, then restart.
3. Server not showing in the browser - see Server not showing in the server browser above. Joining with connect <your address> works in the meantime.
4. Asked for a password you didn't expect - the sv_password line in garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg isn't empty. Clear it (sv_password "") and restart.

If none of these match, copy the exact error from the Console and paste it into your support ticket, along with what you changed just before it started.