How to connect to your Garry's Mod server

You can join your Garry’s Mod server from the game’s console with connect and your address, from your favourites, or from the server list. You need the address and port from the address card on Overview.

Your address and port

Your address card shows something like physgun.play.wilderack.com:24816. The part after the colon is the port, picked for your server. It is not the usual 27015, so always copy the full address with the copy button.

Join with the console

This works every time, whether or not the server is in the list.

1. Start Garry’s Mod.
2. Turn on the console once: open Options > Keyboard > Advanced and tick Enable developer console.
3. Press the key above Tab, usually ~, to open the console.
4. Type connect physgun.play.wilderack.com:24816, using your own address and port.
5. Press Enter.

Add it to your favourites

Favourites make it one click next time, and they show your server even while it sleeps.

1. In Steam, open View > Game Servers.
2. Open the Favorites tab and choose Add a server.
3. Paste your address and port, like physgun.play.wilderack.com:24816, and add it.
4. Your server now shows under Favorites in Steam, and under Favorites in the game’s Find Multiplayer Game menu.

If Steam won’t take the address, join once with the console. Then open the History tab in Game Servers, right-click your server and add it to your favourites.

Find it in the server list

1. On the main menu, choose Find Multiplayer Game.
2. Pick your server’s gamemode. The list groups servers by gamemode.
3. Search for your server’s name in the search box.
4. Select it and choose Join Server.

Things to know:

• The list sorts by a ranking. Servers without a Steam game server token get a severe ranking penalty, so add one in Settings. See getting started.
• Your server only shows in the list while it’s awake. A sleeping server drops off and comes back when it wakes.

Server passwords

To keep strangers out, set a password in Settings, or sv_password in server.cfg. Players then have two ways in:

• Join from the list or favourites, and type the password when the game asks.
• In the console, type password "yourpassword" first, then connect with the address.

Leave the password empty to let anyone join.

What happens when you join

On your first visit, the game downloads what the server tells it to: its map and gamemode from the Workshop, plus any other content the server marks for download. A big collection can take a few minutes. Later joins are much faster.

If you see purple and black squares or big red ERROR signs after joining, some content didn’t download. See common errors.

Does joining wake the server?

Yes. Joining by address or from your favourites wakes a sleeping server, usually in a couple of seconds. Your friends don’t need anything else. The wake link, play.wilderack.com/w/physgun, is handy to wake the server before a session so it’s back in the public list.

If you want strangers to find your server at any time, set it to stay awake in Settings > Sleep.

Joining from other platforms

Garry’s Mod on Windows, Mac and Linux all join the same way. There is no console or phone version of Garry’s Mod.

Can’t connect?

• Is it running? Check the status on Overview. A stopped server doesn’t wake on join; press Start.
• Right port? Copy the full address from the address card, port included.
• Says the server is full? See Server is full.
• Kicked for a missing map? See Missing map.
• Version problems after an update? See client or server out of date.

Everything else is in fix common Garry’s Mod server errors.