Fix common Garry's Mod server errors

Most Garry’s Mod problems come from content: a map, model or texture the server has but a player doesn’t, or an addon that throws Lua errors. The fixes are below, most common first. If the server itself crashes, the Console shows a crash helper card with a hint and a fix button when it knows the problem.

Joining problems

Missing map

The player is sent back to the menu, and the message names the map file the game couldn’t find.

Why it happens: the player doesn’t have the map, and the server didn’t tell their game to download it. This happens when the map isn’t in your server’s Workshop list, or the player turned downloads off.

How to fix it:

1. Find the map on the Steam Workshop and add it to your server from Mods, or to your own Workshop collection.
2. Restart the server. Maps in your Workshop list are marked for download by themselves.
3. Ask the player to allow downloads in their game settings, then join again.

If the server itself can’t find the map, it doesn’t start, and the Console says so. Check the map name in Settings is exact and has no .bsp at the end.

Server is full.

Why it happens: the server has reached its max players.

How to fix it: raise max players in Settings, then restart. Garry’s Mod only changes the player count when the server starts.

Your client or the server is out of date

After a Garry’s Mod update, players get a message saying the game or the server is running an older version.

Why it happens: the player’s game and the server are on different builds. Facepunch’s updates often need servers to update before players can join.

How to fix it:

• If your game is out of date: close Garry’s Mod, restart Steam and let it finish updating. If you joined a beta branch (like dev or prerelease), open Properties > Betas in Steam and pick no beta.
• If the server is out of date: restart it from Overview. It moves to the newest build when it starts, unless you pinned a version in Settings.

Server uses different class tables

Why it happens: another sign that the game and the server are on different builds. It’s most common in the hours after an update, or when a player is on a beta branch.

How to fix it: follow the steps above for an out-of-date game or server. If only one player gets it, they should verify their files in Steam: Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files.

Content problems

Missing textures (purple and black checkerboards)

Surfaces show a purple and black checkerboard pattern.

Why it happens: the player doesn’t have the textures. Either the server didn’t mark that addon for download, the player turned downloads off, or the textures come from another game, most often Counter-Strike: Source.

How to fix it:

1. Make sure the addon is in your server’s Workshop list.
2. Mark it for download. Create garrysmod/lua/autorun/server/workshop.lua and add resource.AddWorkshop("123456789") with the addon’s Workshop ID. Do this only for addons with models, materials or sounds.
3. Restart the server, and have players rejoin.
4. For textures from other games, players need that game installed. Or pick maps and addons that bring their own content.

Error models

Players see big red ERROR signs where models should be.

Why it happens: the same as missing textures, but for models. The player’s game doesn’t have the model file.

How to fix it: the same steps as missing textures. If everyone sees the same ERROR, the server is missing the addon too: check it’s in your Workshop list and restart.

Lua errors

The Console shows lines starting with [ERROR], often with a file path like addons/someaddon/lua/.... Players see them in the game’s Problems menu, and features stop working.

Why it happens: an addon has a bug, is too old for the current Garry’s Mod, clashes with another addon, needs another addon you don’t have, or was made for a different gamemode.

How to fix it:

1. Read the file path in the error. The folder after addons/ usually names the addon.
2. Check the addon’s Workshop page for what it needs and which gamemode it’s for.
3. Update the addon in Mods, or remove it and restart.
4. For addons you uploaded by hand, make sure every folder name is lowercase.

A single error once is often harmless. The same error repeating many times a second will also slow the server down.

The Workshop collection won’t load

The server starts without your addons, or the Console shows Workshop errors while it starts.

Why it happens: the collection is private or friends-only, the number is an item’s ID instead of the collection’s, or an item in it was removed from the Workshop.

How to fix it:

1. On Steam, set the collection’s visibility to Public or Unlisted.
2. Open the collection’s own page and copy the number after ?id= in its address. Paste it into the Workshop collection field in Settings.
3. Remove items that no longer exist from the collection.
4. Restart and watch the Console as the server downloads.

Server problems

Connection to Steam servers lost. (Steam error code 6)

Players get disconnected, and the Console shows this line.

Why it happens: your Steam game server token is being used by another server at the same time.

How to fix it: make a new token for this server on Steam’s game server account page with app ID 4000, paste it into Settings and restart. Every server needs its own token.

The server won’t start after adding a token

Why it happens: a wrong or cancelled token stops the server from starting. Changing your Steam password cancels all your tokens.

How to fix it: on Steam’s game server account page, make a new token (or regenerate the old one), paste it into Settings and start the server.

My server isn’t in the server list

Why it happens: the server is asleep, it has no Steam game server token and ranks very low, you’re looking under the wrong gamemode, or it’s hidden.

How to fix it:

1. Check the server is running. A sleeping server drops off the list. Keep public servers awake in Settings > Sleep.
2. Add a Steam game server token in Settings.
3. In Find Multiplayer Game, open your server’s gamemode and search for its name.
4. Make sure hide_server isn’t 1 in server.cfg.

You can always join with connect and your address, listed or not. Servers that break Facepunch’s server operator rules can be blacklisted from the list.

The server keeps crashing

Why it happens: most often an addon, especially one you added recently or one with a binary module. Running out of memory is less common.

How to fix it:

1. Read the crash helper card in the Console.
2. Remove the addon you added last and restart.
3. Check the RAM graph on Overview. If it touches the top of your plan, see the performance guide.
4. If you can’t find the cause, send the crash to us from the crash card, or email support@wilderack.com.