Facepunch Studios released Garry's Mod on November 29, 2006, built on Valve's Source engine and sold with no objectives at all in its base mode. By November 2024 it had sold 25.56 million copies, which makes it the best selling PC exclusive game ever released. Almost everything people actually play in it, from Trouble in Terrorist Town to DarkRP, is Lua written by the community rather than by Facepunch.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Physics Gun handling
Left click grabs a prop or ragdoll, the scroll wheel pushes it away or pulls it closer, and right click freezes it in place. Hold E while gripping to rotate the object, and press R to unfreeze everything you have frozen.
Tool Gun categories
Tools sort into Constraints such as Weld, Rope, Axis, Ball Socket, Hydraulic, Motor, Muscle, Pulley, Slider and Winch, Construction such as Balloon, Thruster, Wheel, Hover Ball, Dynamite, Emitter, No Collide, Remover and Duplicator, plus Posing and Render groups. Hold Q to open the spawn menu and select one.
Lua gamemodes
A gamemode is a Lua folder that redefines rounds, roles, weapons and interface. Sandbox ships with the game, and everything else including TTT, Prop Hunt and DarkRP is community code that the server loads.
Steam Workshop addons
Workshop replaced the old Toybox system in version 13, so addons install by subscribing rather than by dropping files into the addons folder by hand. Servers push their required content to you as you connect.
Mounting other Source games
Garry's Mod pulls models and textures from other Source games you own on the same account. Without Counter-Strike: Source mounted, a great many popular maps display purple and black checkerboards and floating ERROR text where props should be.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Garry's Mod combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandbox | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Trouble in Terrorist Town | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| DarkRP | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Prop Hunt | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Murder | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Garry's Mod builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Physics Gun | The blue gravity tool that grabs, moves, rotates and freezes props and ragdolls. | Every build, every ragdoll pose, and rescuing anything that has fallen through the world. |
| Tool Gun | The multi mode tool that carries every constraint, construction, posing and render function. | Turning a pile of frozen props into an actual machine. |
| Weld tool | A constraint that fuses one prop to another prop, a wall or an entity, with an adjustable breaking force so joints can be made to snap under load. | Building any chassis or frame before thrusters, wheels or balloons are attached. |
| Thruster tool | Attaches a numeric keypad controlled thruster to a prop or wall, with adjustable force and effect. | Rockets, hovercraft and anything that needs directional force on a key press. |
| Wiremod | The best known community addon, adding logic gates, sensors, screens, keypads and expression processors as Tool Gun modes. | Automated machines, working vehicles with instruments, and anything that needs to react rather than just move. |
Physics Gun: The blue gravity tool that grabs, moves, rotates and freezes props and ragdolls. Left click grabs, scroll adjusts distance, right click freezes and R unfreezes everything at once.
Tool Gun: The multi mode tool that carries every constraint, construction, posing and render function. Hold Q, pick the mode from the spawn menu, then left click the target props in order.
Weld tool: A constraint that fuses one prop to another prop, a wall or an entity, with an adjustable breaking force so joints can be made to snap under load.
Thruster tool: Attaches a numeric keypad controlled thruster to a prop or wall, with adjustable force and effect. Paired with Weld it is the basis of most flying contraptions.
Wiremod: The best known community addon, adding logic gates, sensors, screens, keypads and expression processors as Tool Gun modes. It is required content on most build servers.
Full breakdowns in our Garry's Mod weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| gm_construct | 1 to 20 players | Flat build slabs, water testing, indoor and outdoor lighting |
| gm_flatgrass | 1 to 20 players | Unlimited flat space, long runway distance, clean physics testing |
| gm_bigcity | 4 to 32 players | Road network for vehicles, building interiors, verticality |
| rp_downtown_v4c_v2 | 10 to 60 players | Rentable property, shop fronts, police and criminal spawn areas |
| ttt_minecraft_b5 | 8 to 32 players | Weapon spawns, traitor traps, tester room |
gm_construct: One of the two maps that ship with the game and the most recognisable location in Garry's Mod. Flat build areas, a pool, a tunnel and a small skybox room cover almost every sandbox need.
gm_flatgrass: The other default map, an enormous empty grass plane with a small structure at the centre. The lack of geometry is the point: nothing interferes with a large contraption.
gm_bigcity: A large urban sandbox map with driveable streets, multi storey buildings and interiors. It is a common home for vehicle addons and for roleplay servers that want something wider than a downtown block.
rp_downtown_v4c_v2: The standard DarkRP map that most servers still run. A compact downtown block with apartments, shops, a police station and sewers, all sized for the job and property systems.
ttt_minecraft_b5: A long serving Trouble in Terrorist Town map built from blocky Minecraft style geometry, with sightlines and hiding spots tuned for the traitor round rather than for building.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Install and mount Counter-Strike: Source before you touch the Workshop. A large share of popular maps and addons reference its textures and models, and without it you get purple and black checkerboards plus floating ERROR text where props should be.
- Freeze props with right click as you place them. Unfrozen props drift, fall and knock the rest of your build apart, and pressing R unfreezes everything at once when you actually want it live.
- Build in constraint order: weld the frame first, then attach wheels, thrusters or balloons. Adding force before the structure is joined tears the contraption apart the moment it moves.
- The Weld tool has an adjustable breaking force. Set it low deliberately when you want a part to snap off under load, and set it high on anything that carries the weight of the build.
- Use the Duplicator, or the community Advanced Duplicator 2 on servers that run it, to save a working contraption. Rebuilding a machine from memory after a physics failure is the most avoidable time sink in the game.
- In Trouble in Terrorist Town, identify every body you find. An unidentified body tells nobody anything, while a confirmed kill starts a chain of evidence that a Detective can scan and act on.
- Detective credits are best spent on the DNA Scanner early rather than on armour. Proof of a traitor is worth more to your team than one player surviving a round.
- On DarkRP servers, read the rules page before you spawn anything. The New Life Rule, building rules and raid rules are enforced by admins rather than by code, and breaking them gets you banned faster than any in game mechanic can punish you.
- As a Prop Hunt hider, choose a prop that already appears in the room you plan to sit in. A lone traffic cone in an office is spotted instantly, while a fourth chair among three chairs takes a full round to find.
- Subscribe to a server's Workshop collection rather than a hundred unrelated addons. Conflicting Lua from mismatched addons is the most common cause of long load times and of the errors people blame on the game itself.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Playing without Counter-Strike: Source mounted, then blaming the game for ERROR signs and checkerboard textures.
- Attaching thrusters before welding the frame, so the contraption shreds itself on the first key press.
- Forgetting to freeze props during a build, then losing an hour of work to one stray collision.
- Killing on suspicion in TTT without identifying bodies first, which reads as random deathmatch to everyone else.
- Subscribing to hundreds of unrelated Workshop addons and creating Lua conflicts that break the spawn menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need other Source games to play Garry's Mod?
The game runs without them, but Counter-Strike: Source is close to required in practice. Most popular maps and addons use its textures and models, and without it mounted you see purple and black checkerboards and ERROR props everywhere.
What is the difference between the Physics Gun and the Tool Gun?
The Physics Gun moves, rotates and freezes objects but never changes them permanently. The Tool Gun applies actual functions such as welding two props together, attaching a thruster, adding a wheel or posing a ragdoll's face. You use both in almost every build.
Which gamemode should a new player start with?
Sandbox on gm_construct to learn the two tools, then Trouble in Terrorist Town, which has clear rules and short rounds. DarkRP has the steepest learning curve because most of what matters there is server rules rather than mechanics.
How do I save a build I made?
Use the Duplicator tool from the Construction category, or Advanced Duplicator 2 if the server provides it. Saved duplications can be respawned instantly, which matters because a single physics failure can destroy hours of welding.
Is Garry's Mod still updated?
Facepunch still patches it, and the community output on Steam Workshop has never really slowed. The game passed 25.56 million copies sold as of November 2024, which keeps servers populated across every major gamemode.
More Garry's Mod Guides
- Garry's Mod Best Builds
- Garry's Mod Tier List
- Garry's Mod Walkthrough
- Garry's Mod Beginner's Guide
- Garry's Mod Tips & Tricks
- Garry's Mod Weapons Guide
- Garry's Mod Combat Guide
- Garry's Mod Boss Guide
- Garry's Mod Maps & Locations
- Garry's Mod Crafting Guide
- Garry's Mod Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy Garry's Mod, check out these related guides:
- Terraria Guide: sandbox game with similar mechanics
- VRChat Guide: sandbox game with similar mechanics
- Tabletop Simulator Guide: sandbox game with similar mechanics
