How to Make a Garry's Mod Server

This guide walks you through how to make a Garry's Mod server from start to finish. Whether you want a small private server for friends or a full community server running DarkRP or Prop Hunt, the process is the same — choose a hosting plan, configure your settings, and get online in minutes.

Step 1: Get Your Garry's Mod Server

Head to our Garry's Mod server hosting page, choose a plan that fits your player count and budget, and complete checkout. Your server is provisioned automatically — no waiting, no manual installs.

Step 2: Log In to the Game Panel

Once your server is ready, log in to the NolimitHost Game Panel. You will see your Garry's Mod server listed on the dashboard. Click on it to open the management interface.

Step 3: Configure Server Settings

In the left sidebar, go to Startup or Server Options to configure your core settings:

• Server Name (Hostname) — What players see in the server browser.
• Max Players — How many concurrent players can join.
• Game Mode — For example: sandbox, darkrp, terrortown, or prophunt.
• Map — The default map to load on startup (e.g. gm_construct, gm_flatgrass).

These settings are applied the next time your server starts.

Step 4: Edit server.cfg (Optional)

server.cfg is the main configuration file for your server. For finer control, log in to the Game Panel, open your server, and in the left sidebar go to Management > File Manager. Navigate to garrysmod/cfg/ and open server.cfg. A minimal example:

hostname "My GMod Server"
sv_lan 0
sv_password ""
rcon_password "change_this_password"
gamemode sandbox

hostname is the name shown in the server browser, sv_password sets a join password (leave it empty for none), and gamemode picks the game mode. Save the file, then click Start in the Game Panel to launch with your settings.

Step 5: Add a Steam Workshop Collection

A Steam Workshop collection is a list of addons hosted on Steam. Create a Workshop Collection on Steam and add all the addons you want. Copy the numeric ID from the collection URL (e.g. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123456789) and paste it into the Workshop ID field under Server Options. The server will auto-download all addons on next start.

Step 6: Start Your Server and Connect

Click Start in the Game Panel. Once the console shows "Connection to Steam servers successful" and "VAC secure mode is activated", your server is live. Your IP and port are displayed in the top-left of the console — share them with friends or let players find the server through the in-game browser. For step-by-step connection instructions, see our How to Connect to a Garry's Mod Server guide.

Setting Up on a VPS (Advanced)

If you are running a Garry's Mod server on a NolimitHost VPS, follow these steps using SteamCMD on Ubuntu:

1. Install dependencies:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
   sudo apt install lib32gcc-s1 steamcmd -y

2. Create a directory and download server files:

   mkdir ~/gmodserver
   steamcmd +login anonymous \
     +force_install_dir ~/gmodserver \
     +app_update 4020 validate \
     +quit

3. Navigate to ~/gmodserver/garrysmod/cfg/ and create or edit server.cfg with your desired settings. If the server is already running, stop it first, then start it again after saving.
4. Open the required firewall port:

   sudo ufw allow 27015/udp
   sudo ufw allow 27015/tcp
   sudo ufw reload

5. Start the server:

   ./srcds_run -game garrysmod +map gm_construct +maxplayers 32

To add a Workshop collection on a VPS, append +host_workshop_collection YOUR_COLLECTION_ID to your startup command.