Garry's Mod Server Admin, RCON & ULX Commands: Console Reference

A Garry's Mod dedicated server is a standard srcds install, so it speaks genuine Valve Source RCON - any Source RCON client works, same as Counter-Strike or TF2. But unlike other Source games, almost all real GMod administration happens in Lua addon land: the base game ships no admin menu at all, and the de-facto standard is ULX. This reference covers the confirmed behavior of both layers.

Enabling RCON

RCON rides the game port (default 27015, TCP) - there is no separate RCON port. Enable it by setting a password in garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg:

rcon_password "your_strong_password"

From a client console: rcon_password <password>, then prefix commands with rcon (e.g. rcon status). Dedicated RCON tools skip the prefix.

Two confirmed quirks worth knowing:

• Changing rcon_password disconnects every authenticated RCON session - even setting it to the same value. Tools must re-authenticate.
• "GMod's RCON is broken" is folklore. srcds ships anti-bruteforce cvars (sv_rcon_maxfailures, sv_rcon_banpenalty, sv_rcon_minfailures, sv_rcon_minfailuretime) that auto-ban an IP after repeated failed auths - including your own admin panel's IP after a saved wrong password. What gets described as "RCON randomly stops working" is almost always this self-lockout (or a third-party panel's reconnect bug), not the protocol.

Built-in moderation (no addons)

Run status first: it prints each player's name, userid, and Steam ID - the identifiers the ban commands take.

What settings/users.txt actually does

garrysmod/settings/users.txt assigns players to the base admin/superadmin groups, which Lua reads via Player:IsAdmin() / Player:IsUserGroup(). The base game ships nothing that acts on it - no admin menu, no scoreboard kick button. It only sets a flag for addons to check. Practical admin on GMod means installing an admin addon; that is where ULX comes in.

ULX + ULib: install and bootstrap

ULX (built on the ULib library) is the dominant GMod admin system: 70+ commands, chat shortcuts, and the XGUI menu. Install both, either way:

• Filesystem: extract to lowercase garrysmod/addons/ulx/ and garrysmod/addons/ulib/.
• Workshop: subscribe the server to ULX (557962280) and ULib (557962238).

Then do a full server restart - a map change is not enough to load them.

Bootstrap your first superadmin from the server console (not in-game):

ulx adduser YourName superadmin

After that, commands work three ways: server/RCON console (ulx kick ...), in-game chat (!kick ...), or the GUI - chat !menu, or bind a key with bind j xgui.

ULX moderation commands

Syntax below is verified against the ULX source; "access" is the default group required (changeable per group).

Target shortcuts work in any <players> slot: * = everyone, ^ = yourself, #<group> = a group's members, ! = negation (!^ = everyone but you).

Groups and permissions

The real default hierarchy is four groups, each inheriting the one below:

user -> operator -> admin -> superadmin

(Guides listing "guest/regular/operator/admin/superadmin" describe a set that does not exist in the ULib source.) Manage them with superadmin-only commands:

One more scoping note: FAdmin, the other admin menu people ask about, is bundled inside the DarkRP gamemode - it is not part of base GMod and not a standalone addon.

Gamemodes and maps

The gamemode and map are launch parameters:

srcds -console +maxplayers 20 +gamemode sandbox +map gm_construct +sv_setsteamaccount <GSLT>

• Sandbox is the default gamemode; TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town) is also bundled with base GMod (garrysmod/gamemodes/terrortown/, gamemode name terrortown).
• DarkRP is not bundled - it is a separate Workshop/GitHub install, unlike TTT.
• Live map/gamemode changes are easiest via ulx map <map> [gamemode].

Sandbox cvars

Verified against the live sandbox gamemode source:

The same sbox_max* family covers other entity types (sbox_maxragdolls, sbox_maxvehicles, sbox_maxballoons, sbox_maxeffects, sbox_maxlamps, sbox_maxthrusters, sbox_maxwheels, sbox_maxnpcs, sbox_maxsents, ...). Defaults vary between GMod versions and host panels - check sbox_maxprops in your own console rather than trusting a copied number.

Workshop content

Two mechanisms that guides constantly conflate:

1. Mounting addons on the server: launch params +host_workshop_collection <collectionID> -authkey <key>. The key is a Steam Web API key from steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey, and the collection must be public. This downloads and mounts the collection server-side.
2. Making clients download content: resource.AddWorkshop("<workshopID>") in a server Lua file (e.g. garrysmod/lua/autorun/server/workshop.lua). This only queues the addon for client download - it does not install anything server-side. The resource.Add* family shares an 8192-file cap.

Best practice from the official Serving Content docs: prefer Workshop download (or FastDL via sv_downloadurl) over the legacy in-engine transfer, which is throttled to a crawl - and don't add Lua-only addons to the client download list; Lua transfers separately and listing it just slows joins.

Useful server cvars

server.cfg is re-executed on every map load, so live cvar experiments reset at the next change unless written into the file.

Common mistakes

• Expecting users.txt to give you an admin menu. It only sets a group flag for Lua to read; install ULX.
• Installing ULX and only changing the map. It needs a full server restart to load.
• writeid before exec banned_user.cfg in server.cfg - wipes the existing ban file. And timed bans never persist regardless.
• Editing data/ulib/bans.txt on a current install - ULib has stored bans in SQLite since v2.70 (2022); the file is legacy.
• Setting sbox_plpldamage - dead cvar; the live one is sbox_playershurtplayers.
• Diagnosing "broken GMod RCON" - check whether sv_rcon_maxfailures banned your own IP after failed auth attempts before blaming the server.
• Granting ulx banid casually - it defaults to superadmin (stricter than ulx ban) for a reason: it bans by raw Steam ID with no in-server target check.
• Using resource.AddWorkshop and expecting the addon to run server-side - it only makes clients download it; mount it with host_workshop_collection too.

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Because Garry's Mod speaks genuine Valve Source RCON, MantaScope's web RCON connects to your server straight from the browser - send these commands, watch the live player list, and manage bans without a desktop tool - alongside population history, uptime tracking, scheduled restarts, and Discord alerts.