You've wanted to launch your own Garry's Mod servers for the public to play on, but you are looking for a direction to start in. For this reason is why we've created this guide, and that's great! While reading, you will be taken step-by-step through the process of setting up your very own Garry's Mod server, applying the desired game-mode you wish to use, execution parameters, and some other helpful information that will hopefully leave you feeling a lot more confident as you become your very own server administrator. Once you've completed this guide, we hope that you will see that setting up and managing your own server is not as difficult as some make it out to be. While it does require patience, it can actually bring a sense of accomplishment in knowing that you are doing it on your own, and you'll have the required knowledge to setup your very own gaming network. Best of luck, and happy hosting!

- Richard
PropHuntX Lead Developer

• A dedicated computer (for high-slot servers you wish to make public)
  
• Microsoft Windows operating system with administrative privileges
  
• At least 10GB available hard-drive space (per server)
  
• Copy of Garry's Mod that is downloaded and installed on your computer via Steam (for testing the server)
  
• Static IP address associated with the dedicated computer
  
• An internet connection speed capable of supporting client connections and file transfers (depending on your configuration and if you're using FastDL) Recommended at least 20-30Mbps
  
• Patience, patience, patience

If you have questions, you may contact Richard on his teamspeak server at ts.lobsterbuild.com

- Added section [vii. Server Pre-Check / Prerequisites]

- Added [Chapter 6: Installing Addons From SVN Repository]

- Added [Chapter 3: Configuring Your Server]
- Added [Chapter 4: Running Your Server for the First Time]
- Added [Chapter 5: Force Content Download on Connect]

- Initial Release

This list provides you with a resource shortcut to areas that may be of interest to you without having to read each and every chapter.

• i. Welcome
  
• ii. What You'll Need
  
• iii. Support / Questions

• i. Internet Connection / Speed
  
• ii. System Resources

• i. Directory Brain-storming
  
• ii. Download/Installing SteamCMD

• i. Creating A New Collection
  
• ii. Populating Your Collection
  
• iii. Publishing Your Collection

• i. Locating Your Server.cfg File
  
• ii. Server.cfg Properties Explained
  
• iii. Generating A Server Startup Icon

• i. Your First Startup
  
• ii. Connecting to Your Server via GMOD

• i. Method 1: LUA Autorun Script
  
• ii. Method 2: FastDL

• i. Installing A Way To Get SVN Addons
  
• ii. Installing An SVN Addon For Your Server

• i. Administrative Tools

Through-out this guide, numerous reference points to external websites are specified. In case you ever need to locate a link quickly, rather than searching the entire guide, we have provided a Resource Reference Index which displays a list of links and references used in this guide.

Down / Up Speeds
Your internet connection speed plays a huge role in how your server will preform and how many clients will be able to connect to your server. In order to determine the speed of your server's internet connection; start a Speed Test[speedtest.net] and click Start Test. The results should show your current Down and Up speeds, which are rated in Mbps Megabits Per Second.


If you anticipate having a full single 32-slot server at times, then we recommend a Down Speed of at least 30Mbps.






RAM
RAM also plays a role in how many clients can connect to your server. The average Garry's Mod server with 32 filled slots will average around 600-700MB of RAM usage. If you plan on hosting anymore than 32 clients on a server; then you will need up to 1GB of RAM per server allocated. We however, do not recommend going any higher than around 32-36 slots per server. Game-modes such as PropHunt have issues with listing these amounts of players in-game, and Sandbox servers start to lag in great amounts at these numbers. We have seen however; that DarkRP servers can manage numbers this high as long as they are configured properly.

For a standard start-up guideline, we recommend that if you are going to run between 1-3 Garry's Mod servers on a single box; you have at least 8GB of RAM.

CPU




The Central Processing Unit (CPU) determines how well the workload of each server is handled based on numerous factors including speed, the number of cores associated to the CPU, and a few other factors. We recommend as a lower-end baseline; using a Core i3-4130 or equivalent CPU with similar specifications to the following:


If you're looking for the best performance and wish to host multiple servers on one dedicated machine, then we recommend the E3-1270 v3 CPU, or a CPU with similar specifications as the following:


The average Garry's Mod server with 32 slots filled, will run approximately between 6%-10% CPU usage PER server. The official usage number depends on the type of processor, number of cores, and other factors.

Storage Space
Luckily, Garry's Mod does not require a large amount of disk-space in order to run the base server (without adding large amounts of addons from the Steam Workshop). However, once you commence adding Workshop addons, the required disk-space will start to go up. So if you're on a server with a limited amount of disk-space (such as 80-100GB), then you will need to monitor this. Servers that are running at least a 500GB - 1TB hard-drive should never need to really check their disk-space usage. With our own personal testing; our PropHunt servers take up an average of 4.00GB / per server. While our Sandbox servers average around 8-11GB / per server.

Bandwidth
This is where you will need to pay the most attention. Once you start adding Workshop addons to your servers, and enable FastDL (explained later in this guide), your bandwidth consumption will start going up rather quickly.

Our company personally hosts five (5) Garry's Mod servers at the moment, with more expansion planned later. With these five servers, our average bandwidth consumption is around 1.3TB / per month. This bandwidth consumption includes 5 servers that are on a 32-slot setup, and are 90% full throughout the day, dropping to 25-35% activity in the late evening up until early morning. Maybe with around 1-3 hours of only 1-5 players in the servers playing at these given times.

We explain this so you have a better understanding of how Garry's Mod uses resources on a server, and you can put an average or estimation toward what your server might use. We have also provided a usage graph below to show this in a bit more detail:


In: Uploads (traffic from the server)
Out: Downloads (traffic to the server)

Now that you've read through all of the nonsense, it's time to get started with setting up your first dedicated server which will host Garry's Mod.

First, you need to figure out where you will want to place everything associated with your Garry's Mod server. This is important, and should be somewhere relatively easy to remember, as you'll be going into this area a lot. For the first server we created; the directory path (using Microsoft Windows Server 2012) C:\servers\gmod-s1\ was used. However, we installed SteamCMD in its own directory which for us was C:\steamcmd - You can place your server files anywhere you'd like, but we recommend you use the KISS Keep It Simple Stupid method. Once you've pretty much figured out where you want the files placed, we can move on.

Next, we must actually download SteamCMD, which is what you will use to install the Garry's Mod dedicated platform.

Create a folder in the directory where you wish to download and install SteamCMD.

Next, download a copy of SteamCMD for Microsoft Windows.

Extract the contents of steamcmd.zip to the directory you created prior to downloading. For us, it would be C:\steamcmd - then browse to that directory.

Locate the steamcmd.exe executable file
Once located, right click on it, and select Run as Administrator

A console should appear, followed by text which describes what it is doing. Since we personally ran SteamCMD prior to creating this guide, you may see different text than below:


Wait until you get the following line:

We need to login to the Steam Authentication Server in order for us to grab the files that we need. So we will use anonymous login credentials for this. So after you get the Steam> line, you will type the following, and press ENTER.


After a few moments, you should see the following text appear on the screen:


Next, you will need to specify the Installation Directory where SteamCMD will place the Garry's Mod dedicated platform files which can be done with the following command:


In our example, we used:


Next, we need to tell SteamCMD which game we want to install which can be done by now typing the following:


The number 4020 is the APP_ID for Garry's Mod dedicated server package assigned by steam. This number will never change. Using other APP_ID numbers will result in different games being installed. You can view a complete list of games/software and their respective APP_ID number here

Once you have commenced the download of Garry's Mod Dedicated Server - Steamcmd will start to download the required software and will display text which looks similar to the following:


This means that everything is going as it should, and you can take this time to grab coffee or catch up on the house work. Time for completion varies depending on your server internet connection.

Once it does finish downloading, it will display a success message. You can complete this steamcmd session by simply typing:



After steamcmd has closed; you may now navigate to the directory where your server files were created. (c:\servers\gmod-s1\ or wherever you placed them on your own server).


Now that you have the folder open, you can proceed to the next chapter in this guide. The remaining content below is for other operating systems.

Now that you have your server files installed for your Garry's Mod dedicated server, it is now time to divert away from the directory files and pay a few minutes of attention towards making a Steam Workshop Collection.

A Steam Workshop Collection allows you to place modifications/addons within a "Group" that is stored and attached to your personal Steam Account. Once your collection is linked to your server, it will review all of the addons you have placed within the collection and install the addons directly to your server. This collection will also include the Game-mode you wish to use. (prophunt, darkrp, etc). You must ensure that you NEVER DELETE this collection while you are running a server. Otherwise the addons for your server will cease to function and you will have to re-create a new collection and start over with filling your collection.

First, you need to sign-in to your Steam account and navigate to the the Garry's Mod Workshop

Once here, you need to go to the BROWSE > COLLECTIONS section.


On this next page, you'll need to locate the button and click on it. (Usually on the right-side of the Workshop Collection page)

Now we need to supply some information so that Steam knows what to call this collection, and an associated icon that others will see.



Fill out each section of the form with the desired information, then press

Once you submit the form, the next page will appear. Take note of the box at the top of the page which explains that your Collection is Not Yet Published



Also, by scrolling at the bottom, you will see the following:


In order to publish your Collection, you need to add items to your collection. Which is explained next.

First and foremost, we need to add a game-mode to the Workshop Collection you have created. By default, when you installed the Garry's Mod Dedicated Platform files, the game-mode sandbox comes with the software automatically. So you would not need to find the Sandbox Game-mode on the workshop if that is the game-mode you wish to run. However, other game-modes such as PropHunt, DarkRP, Stop It: Slender, or any others will need to be added to your Workshop Collection.

For this example, we are going to install PropHunt. So we will migrate over to the Workshop again and find these Workshop items. To save you some browsing time; we have included a list below with links to each one:


Go to the PropHunt Workshop page and locate the button.


Once you press the button, a popup will appear asking you to select which collection you would like to add the PropHunt game-mode to, simply check the box next to the desired collection and press

So you've now created a Workshop Collection, learned how to add Workshop items to your collection, and now you're ready to publish your collection so that you can use it for both your server, and for the community to access and download via the Steam Workshop.

Go back to your Steam client, and select COMMUNITY > WORKSHOP



On the Workshop page, scroll down a bit and look to the right for a widget that looks like the following:



Click Your Workshop Files, and on the next page, locate the tab.

You should now see a list of every collection you own / have created. Locate the collection you created for this Garry's Mod server in the list and click on it.



At the top of the page, you should notice that it still states you are NOT PUBLISHED. You should now see a Publish button which appears when you have Workshop items actually in your collection.



Once you click the button, the page should reload and the Not Published notification should be gone.

Your Workshop Collection is now setup. Continue to the next Chapter to learn how to apply your Workshop Collection, as well as configuring your Garry's Mod server further.

In the previous chapters, you learned how to setup the file structure for a Garry's Mod server using SteamCMD, and how to configure a workshop from the Steam community, and if anything went wrong, you more than likely brushed up on your sailor talk as well (we left that part out of the guide in order to maintain professionalism).

Next, we will talk about the configuration files, creating a shortcut to your Garry's Mod server, and setting up server parameters which include setting a default map, slot size, IP assignment, and more.

Your server.cfg file is where a majority of configurations are stored. While we will be modifying this file to start with, a few settings within this file are going to be IGNORED and actually configured elsewhere. The reason for this is due to exploits within Garry's Mod being made known about. For this reason, we will be configuring things to be a bit safer.

Locate your server.cfg file by going to the installed location of your server, locating the garrysmod folder, and then the cfg folder. In our example, we located ours in the following location (if you have been using the same structure we have since the beginning of this guide):


Within the server.cfg file, you will see a list of many properties you can adjust. While we are going to go over some of them, other properties can be left at there current setting.

Sometimes with a new server setup, this file is EMPTY when you open it. For this reason is why we have provided a sample configuration template below to get you started. You can modify settings accordingly. If you do not wish to use the configuration file below, there is a nifty utility available online which allows you to generate a configuration file,and you can paste the generated code into your server.cfg file. You can use the Generator here[gmod-servercfg.appspot.com]


Next, locate the line


Change the line to the name of the server name you wish to have. This name will appear in the Garry's Mod server browser list.

As for example:


Now that the server is named, here are a few other properties you can modify:

This configuration property allows you to set a password for your server itself. Which means players will be prompted to enter a password should they try to connect to your server. Leave blank for NO PASSWORD. Otherwise, place your desired password between the quotation marks provided above.

Sets the amount of gravity that your server has. Most servers use between 300 and 600 for their configuration. Gravity does NOT affect props in-game, only players.

Normally there is a line that typically shows in this configuration file with a property called rcon_password - some other "sample" configuration files online may show this being there. However we recommend you DO NOT add this to yours. "Hackers" have the ability to signin to a Garry's Mod server and initiate LUA scripting, which will download this file and they will be able to read your configuration file and get your RCON password. Instead, we will have you assign an RCON password for your server using another method that is much more safe.


Next, we need to create a "shortcut" to our server start-up utility, and we will also assign some other server properties which we explained about in sections above which include IP assignment, your RCON password, server slot numbers, and more.

Within your server, move to the directory where you installed your server files which was explained in the previous chapters. For our examples, we have used the location:


Next, locate srcds.exe and right click on it. Select Send To - > Desktop (Create Shortcut)



After the shortcut is created, go to your desktop and locate the newly created icon.


You can right-click on it and select Rename to give it a better name, but more importantly, we need to right-click on the icon and select Properties.

A window should appear which looks similar to the following:



Next, we need to modify some properties.such as the server client limit, default map, IP address assignment, and more. To do this; we will be modifying the Target section of the properties window.

For each new parameter, you will need to follow a format, and each parameter with its value will be placed after srcds.exe in the target line such as in the following example:



As a text-based example, we provide the following example (change the values to whatever fits you best):


We will list each parameter below:

+ip IP_ADDRESS
The IP address you wish to use for this server. Great for servers that have multiple IP addresses.

+maxplayers AMOUNT
The number of player slots to allow for the server.

+gamemode TYPE
This is the gamemode that the server will run. (IE: sandbox, prop_hunt, murder, ttt)

+map MAP_NAME
The map that will automatically load whenever the server is first started. (IE: gm_bigcity)

+authkey KEY
This is your STEAM authentication key linked to your steam account. To obtain this key, login to your account on Steam and visit the Steam Dev API Page

+host_workshop_collection COLLECTIONID
The ID number of the collection you wish to use. You can get this by going to the collection you created in Chapter 2 and viewing the number at the end of the URL.

An example would be:

+rcon_password PASSWORD
This is the password that you will use to sign-in to your server via RCON. DO NOT set this parameter via your server.cfg file as it is vulnerable to being leaked via exploits that exist in-game. ONLY use this method to set an RCON password. Please also ensure you make a complex password that includes numbers. Do not make it single words or anything less than seven (7) characters.

You can also specify other parameters that are within the server.cfg file, for your command line target area as described above. We also recommend putting the sv_password parameter inside here as well for extra protection, but it is not required.

Now with all of this in mind, let's move on to the next Chapter.

You're making progress! Next we will go ahead and start the server. Assuming you've read through this guide from start to this point. You should have already created an icon on your desktop as a shortcut, configured your server.cfg, and setup your shortcut parameters.

Locate the icon on your desktop and execute it. We recommend right-clicking on the icon and selecting Run As Administrator

A box should appear which will display a lot of text as it goes through the process of starting up.



You will want to wait until you get a success message such as:


At this point, proceed with launching Garry's Mod and waiting for it to load.

Once it's loaded, click and launch the Legacy Browser Window


Once the window is open; right-click anywhere in the Favorites Tab and select Add server by IP address and a new mini-window will appear. Next, type the IP address of your server and the port.


Change the IP address to your actual IP address. Also keep in mind, that the default listening port for connecting to a Garry's Mod server is 27015. If you start multiple servers on the same IP address, the port will increase +1 for each server. (IE: 27015, 27016, 27017).


After you've added the IP address and port, click Add server to favorites and it should appear in the list in some manner:



Next, you can simply click on the server in the list to connect to it.

A common question server administrators ask is

Originally posted by Administrator:

Can I make it to where people connecting to my server download all of the addons required for the server and features to function properly without them having to go to the Steam Workshop Collection and download them manually?

In short form, yes. But since this is a guide, we'll go into detail about these two ways:

One way to force downloads of a steam collection or Workshop items is to create a .LUA script that rests in the autorun folder. Then when a client connects to your server, the server reads that autorun file, matches what is installed to what the client has installed, and forces a download to the client of all workshop items they are missing. This helps with maps, player models that display error when they walk around, sounds, and much more.

Navigate to the following directory:

Create a NEW empty file named workshop.lua and place it inside of the directory.

(NOTE: You can name the file anything you want as long as the file extension ends with .lua. We simply use workshop as the name of the file to ensure we know what the file does without having to open it every time.)

Next, open the newly created file and add the following code to the very top:


You can replace Comment Here with just a name for the Workshop item. This is how you'll keep track of what each resource entry is for since they only go by ID numbers.

Next, replace WORKSHOP_ID in the quotiation marks, with the ID number of the workshop file you wish to include.

Example:
If you wanted to add a new map to your PropHunt server which is on the Steam Workshop, you would need to get the ID of the workshop item within the URL of the page you are on viewing the item.


The above URL would be for the PropHunt map ph_city. Within the URL you will notice 263432162 at the very end. This is the ID you will need to copy and save.

Go back over to your workshop.lua file, and add the Workshop ID number into the code.


Then save the file.

In order for this to take affect, you will need to RESTART your server so that any new clients will be forced to automatically download the map and any other items you place within workshop.lua prior to them connecting to the server.

Information related to this method coming soon!

SVN addons are addons that are not available with the Garry's Mod Steam Workshop to add to your Workshop collection. Typically developers will either create addons that have both a SVN version and a Workshop version, or just one of the two options. For the developers who create addons and add them to places such as github, or if SVN addons are your preferred method of installing addons; then this chapter is for you.

First, you will need a way to get the SVN packages off of websites such as Github. While Github and some other websites provide a Save To Desktop feature, some do not and you need a way to save these. Or sometimes it's better to have an SVN client due to the fact of when addons are updated, the SVN client will sync the files on the repository with the files installed on your server, and apply updates when available automatically with little or no input required from the user-end.

For this guide, we recommend downloading a copy of TortoiseSVN[tortoisesvn.net] for Windows (32-bit or 64-bit available). This program gets updated quite frequently and we highly recommend it.

Once you have downloaded and installed TortoiseSVN, the main feature that you are going to want to pay attention to, are the new menu items that are available when you right-click on a folder which we will learn about in a few moments.

Now we will install an addon for our server to apply. For this example, we are going to use the Pointshop addon.

First, we need a folder within our Garry's Mod server to save the addon to so that it loads with the server on startup.

Navigate to your Garry's Mod server directory and go to


Within the addons folder, you need to Create a new folder. We are simply going to create a new folder named pointshop. Once it is created, the directory to this new addon folder should be:


After the folder is created (which should be empty of content at the moment); you need the URL of the repository where the addon files are located on the SVN website.
For the pointshop, the URL is:

On GitHub you will see a list of files associated with the pointshop addon within the website. GitHub has two methods for downloading these addons. One is the button located on the lower right-hand side of the addons page. Or you can use TortoiseSVN to download the addon.

If you're using the method. Simply click the button, and save the .ZIP somewhere on your computer. Next, extract the ZIP folder into the pointshop folder you created earlier.

If you're using the TortoiseSVN method, you will need to get the URL of the trunk for the SVN and use that URL for TortoiseSVN. For this addon, the URL to copy would be:


You will need to select SVN Checkout and a new window will open.



You are going to want to PASTE the URL you copied from the SVN repository website into the URL of repository textbox and then click the button.

Once OK has been clicked, TortoiseSVN will display a dialog box and the program will start downloading the required trunk files into the folder you specified.


When it has completed the download process, click OK again and the program will close and the pointshop should now be installed. Next, you will need to RESTART the server in order for any new addons to be completely loaded. Simply close out the srcds.exe process running, and restart it (as explained in Chapter 4: Running Your Server for the First Time)

We've compiled a list of some of the most helpful addons that you can install for your Garry's Mod server. We'll try to keep the list updated as far as addons that are still being developed and patched so that you don't end up with just a bunch of broken addons in your list, but no promises.

These are tools that help you get the job done.

ULX
Allows for the dynamic configuration of almost every item held within the ULX environment, provides quick access to commands, and has active user, group, and team management-- all from within your favorite gamemode of choice. While XGUI aims to please the graphic oriented users, ULX's core functionality still allows for complete configuration and administration of servers where admins prefer to use raw console access. ULX contains many useful features to assist in administration and server management (reserved slots, detailed logs), or just fun punishments (blind, slap, maul). Combined with its module system and a supportive forum community of developers and ULX users, the possibilities of extensibility are virtually endless.
Download SVN[github.com]

ULib
ULib, which stands for Ulysses Library, provides all our projects with comprehensive helper functions. It also features our Ulysses Control List (UCL), providing you with a reliable admin list control for your server.
Download SVN[github.com]

Utime
Utime keeps track of session and total time for players. All the colors and positions are customizable by each client.
Download SVN[github.com]

APromote for ULX
Works with ULX to allow users to be automatically promoted to a higher rank (group) based on the amount of time they have played on the server. Good for giving your more dedicated players some special privileges.
Mostly recommended for the sandbox game-mode
Workshop Item

Uclip
Uclip is a noclip alternative. By this we mean it's similar but different in the fact that you can't noclip through anything but your own props (If you're running a prop protection). So, you can't noclip through the world or through others' props. Admins can still noclip through everything.
Mostly recommended for the sandbox game-mode
Download SVN[github.com]

UPS
UPS is a prop protection mod for Garry's Mod.
Mostly recommended for the sandbox game-mode
Download SVN[github.com]

HLSW enables the ability for server administrators to manage their servers without having to actually join the server via the game client. With support for more than 100 games, and many useful features, it has become almost a must have for any server administrator. It simply makes life easier.


Start the download process for your copy of HLSW[www.hlsw.org] and wait for it to complete. Once it's done, locate the .exe file (at the time we installed HLSW, the version and exe was hlsw_1_4_0_5_setup.exe)

Once you complete the installation wizard, go to your desktop and find the application file