How to set up a Garry's Mod server from scratch

What you need first

• An active Garry's Mod plan on Fatality Servers. See our Garry's Mod hosting plans.
• A Steam copy of Garry's Mod for each player — server doesn't need a license.
• Optional but useful: CS:S / HL2 / TF2 mounted content — tons of GMod maps and addons reference textures from those games. Missing mounted content shows up as purple-and-black checkerboards.
• A basic SFTP client (FileZilla, WinSCP).
• For DarkRP or TTT specifically: a plan with at least 2 GB RAM and 2 cores. Sandbox is lighter.

Deploy the server (1-click)

Our GMod template runs SteamCMD to pull the latest GMod dedicated server (App ID 4020), writes a starter server.cfg, and opens UDP 27015 on your plan's IP.

1. Pick the GMod template at checkout

   On the Garry's Mod hosting page, pick a plan sized for slot count and gamemode:

   • Sandbox / small Prop Hunt: 12-24 slots, Starter plan
   • TTT / Murder: 16-32 slots, Community plan
   • DarkRP with 40+ addons: 48-128 slots, Community/Flagship plan

2. Pick or skip the gamemode preset

   Wizard asks: Sandbox / DarkRP / TTT / Murder / Prop Hunt / None. If you pick a preset, the panel pre-installs the matching Workshop collection + config; if "None", you get a clean server to configure manually.

3. Wait for SteamCMD

   GMod server is ~2.5 GB. First install takes ~3-6 minutes.

4. Confirm the server is listening

   Unknown command "r_decal_cullsize"
   Server logging data to file logs/L0418001.log
   L 04/18/2026 - 12:34:56: Log file started
   Network: IP YOUR-IP, mode MP, dedicated Yes, ports 27015 SV / 27005 CL
   VAC secure mode is activated.

File layout & where things go

garrysmod/                       — main game content folder
├── cfg/
│   ├── server.cfg               — main server config
│   ├── autoexec.cfg             — runs at server start
│   └── <gamemode>.cfg           — gamemode-specific overrides
├── addons/                      — server-side addons (uploaded, NOT Workshop)
│   └── <addon>/                 — each addon is a folder
│       ├── addon.json (Workshop) or info.txt
│       ├── lua/
│       ├── materials/
│       └── models/
├── gamemodes/                   — gamemodes live here
│   ├── sandbox/
│   ├── terrortown/              — TTT
│   ├── darkrp/
│   └── prop_hunt/
├── maps/                        — .bsp map files
├── materials/, models/, sound/  — shared content
├── data/                        — persistent data written at runtime (Sboxes, PointShop, etc.)
└── backups/                     — logs, autosaves

Launch options

GMod settings come from both the launch command line (+cvar value) and server.cfg. Launch line wins on conflict.

A typical DarkRP launch line:

./srcds_run -game garrysmod -console -usercon
  +gamemode darkrp
  +map rp_downtown_v4c_v2
  +hostport 27015
  +maxplayers 48
  +host_workshop_collection 123456789
  +sv_setsteamaccount YOUR-GSLT-TOKEN
  +exec server.cfg

Options to know:

• -game garrysmod — required. Selects the GMod mod inside SRCDS.
• -console / -usercon — headless + enables RCON. Always both.
• +gamemode — folder name under garrysmod/gamemodes/. sandbox, darkrp, terrortown, murder, prop_hunt, etc.
• +map — starting map. Must exist in garrysmod/maps/ (either shipped or installed via Workshop collection).
• +maxplayers — slot count. Match your plan.
• +host_workshop_collection — single Workshop collection ID to auto-download. See Workshop section below.
• +sv_setsteamaccount — GSLT token. Like CS:GO/CS2, required for the server to show on the public list.

Get a GSLT

Visit steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers from an account that owns GMod. App ID for GMod is 4000 (not 4020, which is the server). Paste the 32-char token into the Startup field.

Core server.cfg settings

server.cfg sits at garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg. Flat list of cvar "value":

// --- Server identity ---
hostname "My GMod Server [EU] - DarkRP"
sv_region 3                      // 0=US-E 1=US-W 2=SA 3=EU 4=Asia 5=AU 6=ME 7=Africa

// --- Passwords / auth ---
sv_password ""
rcon_password "change-me-strong"
sv_cheats 0
sv_lan 0

// --- Download settings (FastDL) ---
sv_allowdownload 1
sv_allowupload 1
sv_downloadurl "https://fastdl.example.com/gmod/"
net_maxfilesize 256

// --- Network rates ---
sv_maxrate 786432
sv_minrate 131072
sv_maxupdaterate 66
sv_minupdaterate 33
sv_maxcmdrate 66
sv_mincmdrate 33
sv_timeout 90

// --- Voice / chat ---
sv_voiceenable 1
sv_alltalk 0

// --- Spam / abuse protection ---
sv_noclipaccelerate 5
sv_noclipspeed 5
sv_region 3
sv_loadingurl ""                 // optional: your community's loading screen URL

// --- Logging ---
log on
sv_logbans 1
sv_logecho 1
sv_logfile 1

// --- Workshop auth (for +host_workshop_collection) ---
// sv_setsteamaccount set via launch line only, not here

The values most people tweak:

• hostname — 64 chars. No color codes in GMod.
• sv_downloadurl — your FastDL mirror (see FastDL section).
• sv_maxupdaterate / sv_maxcmdrate — 66 is GMod's internal tickrate cap. Higher values do nothing; lower values make players feel laggy.
• sv_loadingurl — URL to a custom loading screen (popular for DarkRP / community servers). Must be a live HTTPS page, max 64 KB for the HTML.

Gamemodes — Sandbox, DarkRP, TTT, Murder, Prop Hunt

Sandbox

Shipped with GMod. No extra install needed.

+gamemode sandbox +map gm_construct

DarkRP

Install from github.com/FPtje/DarkRP. Two parts:

1. Install the gamemode

   Upload the DarkRP folder into garrysmod/gamemodes/darkrp/. Or use our panel's gamemode installer.

2. Install DarkRPModification

   The customization layer — custom jobs, shipments, weapons, entities. Download DarkRPModification, upload to garrysmod/addons/DarkRPModification/. Edit its config files:

   garrysmod/addons/DarkRPModification/lua/darkrp_customthings/
     ├── jobs.lua          — custom jobs
     ├── shipments.lua     — weapon shipments
     ├── entities.lua      — custom entities (printers, drugs)
     └── vehicles.lua

3. Pick an RP map

   Popular: rp_downtown_v4c_v2 (vanilla favorite), rp_rockford_v2b, rp_bangclaw, rp_evocity_v33x. Add to Workshop collection.

TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town)

Shipped with GMod, folder name terrortown.

+gamemode terrortown +map ttt_minecraft_b5

Popular community add-ons: Custom Roles for TTT, TTT Pointshop 2, TTT Damagelogs.

Murder

Workshop gamemode. Subscribe to MattJeanes's Murder gamemode, put in Workshop collection.

+gamemode murder +map mu_motel_v2

Prop Hunt

Popular fork: PropHunt Enhanced. Upload to garrysmod/gamemodes/prop_hunt/.

+gamemode prop_hunt +map ph_office

Workshop addons & collections

Workshop is the standard way to ship addons to clients — they get auto-downloaded via Steam, no FastDL needed.

1. Create a Workshop collection

   Log in to Steam → GMod Workshop → top right "Create Collection" → add every addon you want on your server. The collection gets a numeric ID in the URL (?id=123456789).

2. Set the collection ID in the launch line

   +host_workshop_collection 123456789

   On first boot, the server downloads every addon in the collection. Subsequent boots only re-download items that changed.

3. Mount content-only addons

   Addons that only ship materials/models/sounds (e.g. CS:S content pack replacements) work out of the box. Gamemode-script addons (SWEPs, SENTs, entities) also work, but some require configuration in an autorun/ Lua file.

4. Exclude client-only or optional addons

   If an addon should NOT be forced to clients (e.g. admin-only tools), upload to garrysmod/addons/ via SFTP instead — server uses it, clients don't need to download.

ULX admin + groups

ULX is the de-facto admin mod for GMod. Ships as two Workshop addons:

• ULib — library dependency: Workshop ID 557962280
• ULX — admin mod: Workshop ID 557962280 (same collection usually)

1. Add ULib + ULX to your Workshop collection

   Restart. On boot, ULX creates data/ulx/ with default configs.

2. Set yourself as super-admin

   First join the server, find your Steam ID (press ~, type status, look for STEAM_0:X:YYYYYYY). Then in RCON:

   ulx adduser "STEAM_0:X:YYYYYYY" superadmin

   Or edit garrysmod/data/ulib/users.txt directly and restart.

3. Create custom groups

   In-game as superadmin: !xgui opens the ULX GUI. Create groups like "moderator", "trusted", "vip" and assign commands (kick/ban/slay/etc.).

4. Add complementary plugins

   • ULX Ranks — streamlined rank + permission system
   • ServerGuard — alternative admin mod (GUI-centric, popular for DarkRP)
   • SAM — premium but fast admin mod; pay once, use forever

FastDL — fast client downloads

Without FastDL, clients download addon content from the GMod server itself at a capped 50-100 KB/s. Large addon collections (200 MB+) take 20+ minutes to join — players give up.

FastDL is a plain HTTP(S) mirror that serves gzipped copies of your addon files. Our panel has a one-click FastDL on your plan's CDN — if you're on our hosting, it's already done. For reference, the manual setup is:

1. Generate the bz2-compressed files

   Every .bsp, .mdl, .vtx, .phy, .vvd, .vtf, .vmt, .wav, .mp3, .ogg must be recompressed to .bz2. Run the panel's "Build FastDL" action — it walks your addon tree and builds the .bz2 mirror.

2. Serve the mirror over HTTPS

   Upload to any static HTTPS host (Cloudflare R2, S3 + CloudFront, even nginx on the same box). Our panel points this at our built-in CDN automatically.

3. Set sv_downloadurl

   sv_downloadurl "https://fastdl.example.com/gmod/"
   sv_allowdownload 1
   net_maxfilesize 256

   Trailing slash on the URL. File layout on the mirror must mirror garrysmod/ — i.e. garrysmod/addons/myaddon/materials/foo.vtf.bz2.

Connect and test

1. Launch Garry's Mod on your PC

   Main menu → Find a Game.

2. Find your server

   Server browser → filter by name or map. First registration takes 2-5 minutes after first boot with GSLT.

3. Or direct connect

   Press ~ in main menu (enable developer console in settings first) and run:

   connect YOUR-SERVER-IP:27015

4. Authenticate as admin

   rcon_password <your-rcon>
   rcon status
   rcon changelevel rp_downtown_v4c_v2
   ulx help                    // ULX admin help

Common errors and fixes

Server doesn't appear in the browser

• Missing GSLT — add +sv_setsteamaccount YOUR-TOKEN to launch line
• sv_region wrong — set to match your location
• sv_lan 1 accidentally — flip to 0
• Wait 2-5 minutes for master-list indexing

Purple/black checkerboard textures in-game

Missing content. Either:

• Addon's texture files aren't on the FastDL mirror — rebuild FastDL
• Addon requires CS:S or HL2 mounted content that the server doesn't have — install cstrike/ and hl2/ folders or mount via garrysmod/cfg/mount.cfg
• Client has a different version of the addon than the server — have them unsubscribe + resubscribe on Workshop

Clients download addons at 50 KB/s

No FastDL. Set sv_downloadurl to a fast HTTPS mirror (our panel provides this; details in FastDL section).

"Your server is too busy to receive your connection"

Server is maxed on a resource. Check:

• CPU pegged — trim addons or upgrade plan
• Memory limit hit — GMod runs in a 32-bit binary (still, in 2026), so it hard-caps around 3.5 GB per instance. If you're close to that limit, you need to split across multiple instances.
• Disk full — check the panel disk graph

"CBaseAnimating::LookupPoseParameter..." spam in console

Model addon has missing bone / pose parameters. Harmless log spam, but means some model is misreferencing animations. Disable the offending addon to clean up logs.

Workshop addons not downloading on server boot

• GSLT missing or invalid — Workshop CDN auth fails without it
• Collection ID typo in +host_workshop_collection
• Collection set to Private/Friends-only on Steam — must be Public
• Workshop server-side outage (rare) — check steamstat.us

DarkRP: "Couldn't find darkrp_customthings"

Path mismatch. DarkRPModification addon must live at exactly:

garrysmod/addons/darkrpmodification/lua/darkrp_customthings/...

Not darkrp-modification-master or a subfolder of a zip. Rename to lowercase darkrpmodification and restart.

TTT: "Roles not rolling" / round doesn't start

Usually a Custom Roles plugin conflict. Disable Custom Roles, reboot, check if rounds work. Then re-add one role pack at a time until you find the offender.

Server crashes on map change

• Memory hit 3.5 GB limit — reduce addon count or pool multiple smaller servers instead
• Map has a missing dependency (water material, custom texture) — check panel's console for what it was loading when it crashed
• Corrupt map file — re-download or remove

"Missing map_name, disconnecting"

Player doesn't have the map. Two fixes:

• Add the map to your Workshop collection so clients auto-download it
• Add to FastDL mirror so clients download from your HTTPS mirror on join

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Stuck on something specific? Email support with your server IP, the last 100 lines of console, and your launch line — we'll usually have an answer within the hour.