Garry's Mod: add a Workshop collectionManage addons centrally instead of uploading them one by one

Published on September 2, 2026 · last updated on November 4, 2026

Why a collection?

You can also put addons into the addons folder one by one as files. With three addons, that works; with thirty, it becomes drudgery - and with every update, it starts all over again.

A collection turns this around: the server fetches the current version of each addon itself, and your players get the same state when connecting. Maintenance then happens in one place only - in the Steam Workshop.

Create a collection

1. Create a collection in the Steam Workshop. Set the visibility to public - otherwise the server cannot read it.
2. Add addons. Every addon page offers the option to add it to your own collection.
3. Look up the ID. It is in the address bar of the collection - a pure string of digits.
4. Enter it in the configuration. The ID goes into the server configuration or the startup parameters, see server.cfg explained.
5. Restart the server. At startup, it loads the collection - the first time, that takes a while depending on its size.

The most common mistake is visibility: a private collection is only visible to its creator, and the server gets back an empty list.

What belongs in it - and what does not

A collection is not a wish list but a loading list. A few rules that have proven themselves:

• Only what the server needs. Every addon enlarges the download for every new player.
• No duplicate features. Two weapon packs with the same weapons lead to conflicts.
• Check dependencies. Some addons require others - if that is stated on the page, the other one belongs in it too.
• Choose maps deliberately. Maps are the biggest chunks and the main reason for long loading times.

How strongly the addon list drives the resource requirement is explained in how much RAM do I need? - with Garry's Mod, it is the decisive factor, not the player count.

Individual addons in addition

Some things are not in the Workshop - your own Lua extensions, customized configurations, self-built maps. You upload such content via WebFTP in the browser or via SFTP directly into the addons folder, either as a .gma or unpacked as a folder.

Both ways can be combined: the collection for everything from the Workshop, the addons folder for the rest. The only important thing is that the two do not get in each other's way - the same addon from both sources reliably leads to errors.

Keep loading times under control

When connecting, every player downloads the content they do not have yet. Without further measures, this goes via the game connection - and that is slow. Anyone who has ever sat on a loading screen for three minutes knows the effect.

The solution is called FastDL: the files are also stored on a web server and are loaded from there considerably faster. How to set it up - inexpensive web hosting is enough - is explained in set up FastDL.

When addons do not arrive

• Collection not public. By far the most common case.
• Wrong ID. What counts is the ID of the collection, not that of a single addon.
• The player sees nothing, the server has it. Then the content is missing on the client - usually a case for FastDL or a cleared cache.
• Errors in the console. Two addons overwrite each other - remove one.

A restart after every change to the collection is mandatory: the server only reads it at startup.

Frequently asked questions