How to Change the Map on a Garry's Mod Server

Last updated: May 6, 2026

This guide covers two ways to change the map on your Garry's Mod server: switching the map live without restarting, and changing the default map that loads on startup.

Method 1 — Change the Map Live (No Restart)

You can switch maps on a running server using the changelevel command from the Game Panel console. This changes the map immediately and moves all connected players with it.

Log in to the NolimitHost Game Panel and click on your Garry's Mod server from the dashboard.
In the left sidebar, click the Console tab.
Type the command:
```
changelevel mapname
```
Replace mapname with the actual map filename without the .bsp extension (the .bsp extension is the file format used for Source engine maps). For example:
```
changelevel gm_flatgrass
```

The server will transition to the new map immediately. All connected players will be moved with it.

Method 2 — Change the Default Startup Map

The default startup map is the map that loads every time your server starts. To change it:

Log in to the Game Panel, click on your server, and press Stop. Always stop the server before changing settings so the server doesn't overwrite your changes while it is running.
In the left sidebar, go to Startup or Server Options.
Find the Map field and enter the map name (without .bsp).
Save the setting, then press Start to restart the server with the new map.

Alternatively, you can set it in your startup command directly:

+map gm_construct

After the restart, the server will load your chosen map.

Finding Available Map Names

To see what maps are installed on your server:

Log in to the Game Panel and open your server, then in the left sidebar go to Management > File Manager.
Navigate to garrysmod/maps/.
The filenames listed (minus the .bsp extension) are the map names you can use.

Adding New Maps

The easiest way to add maps is via the Steam Workshop — add the map to your server's Workshop collection and restart the server. For manually downloaded .bsp files, stop the server first, upload them to garrysmod/maps/ via the File Manager, then start the server again so it picks up the new files.

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