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.
Starting Garry's Mod can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Garry's Mod is a sandbox game built around Physics Gun handling and Tool Gun categories. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sandbox | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Trouble in Terrorist Town | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| DarkRP | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Prop Hunt | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Murder | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Trouble in Terrorist Town. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Murder as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn 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.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Physics Gun handling works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to 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.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Tool Gun: it's the most accessible early upgrade. 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.
Step 4: Understand 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.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to 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.
Essential Mechanics Explained
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.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Playing without Counter-Strike: Source mounted, then blaming the game for ERROR signs and checkerboard textures
This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.
2. Attaching thrusters before welding the frame, so the contraption shreds itself on the first key press
This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.
3. Forgetting to freeze props during a build, then losing an hour of work to one stray collision
This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.
4. Killing on suspicion in TTT without identifying bodies first, which reads as random deathmatch to everyone else
This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.
5. Subscribing to hundreds of unrelated Workshop addons and creating Lua conflicts that break the spawn menu
This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Physics Gun handling and Tool Gun categories
- Choose Trouble in Terrorist Town as starting build
- Clear gm_construct main content
- Acquire Tool Gun or equivalent upgrade
- Reach gm_flatgrass
- 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.
Tips for New Players
- 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.
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 Garry's Mod Overview
- Garry's Mod Best Builds
- Garry's Mod Tier List
- Garry's Mod Walkthrough
- 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 Beginner's Guide: sandbox game with similar mechanics
- VRChat Beginner's Guide: sandbox game with similar mechanics
- Tabletop Simulator Beginner's Guide: sandbox game with similar mechanics
