How to Create a Steam Workshop Collection for Garry's Mod

A Steam Workshop collection is how a Garry's Mod server delivers its addons to players automatically. Instead of asking everyone to subscribe to a list of items by hand, you group those items into one collection, give the collection to your server, and the server tells each player what to download the moment they connect. If you want a consistent set of weapons, maps, tools, or gamemode content across your whole player base, a Garry's Mod Workshop collection is the standard way to do it.

This guide walks through creating the collection, finding its ID, and pointing your server at it. The steps are the same whether you run a sandbox build server or a full DarkRP setup.

What you need

• A Steam account that owns Garry's Mod.
• The addons you want to ship, already subscribed to or added to your favourites on the Workshop so they are easy to pick.
• Access to your Garry's Mod server's launch options (also called startup parameters or the server config), where you will add one line.

Decide on your addon list before you start. Adding items later is simple, but it helps to know roughly what you want so the collection stays focused.

Create the collection

1. Open Steam and go to Community, then Workshop.
2. Search for Garry's Mod and open its Workshop page.
3. Choose Browse, then Collections, and click Create Collection.
4. Give the collection a title and, optionally, a description and image. Under the category options, select ServerContent so it is clearly marked as server-side content.
5. Add your addons. You can pull in items you have published, favourited, or subscribed to.
6. Publish the collection and set its Visibility to Public.

The collection must be public. A private or friends-only collection cannot be read by your server, and players will download nothing.

Get the collection ID

Open your collection's page in a browser and look at the URL. It ends with a numeric ID, for example:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123456789Copy

The collection ID here is 123456789. Copy that number. This is the value your server needs, not the title and not the full URL.

Point your server at it

Add the following to your server's launch options or startup config, replacing the number with your own collection ID:

+host_workshop_collection 123456789Copy

If you edit the server through a config file instead, the same setting goes into server.cfg as host_workshop_collection 123456789. Save the change and restart the server so it picks up the new value. From then on, when a player joins, the server hands them the collection and their client downloads any addons they do not already have.

Check it worked

Connect to the server with a fresh account or a client that has not subscribed to the addons. You should see a download progress screen as the client pulls the Workshop content before the map loads. On the server side, the console lists the collection and the items it is mounting on startup. If players join straight into the map with none of your content, the collection is not being delivered and you should re-check the steps below.

Common issues

• The collection is set to private. This is the most common cause of "nobody is downloading anything". Open the collection page and confirm Visibility is Public.
• An addon is missing or too large. Double-check that every item you expect is actually in the collection. Very large packs add to join times, so trim anything players do not need. Broken or removed Workshop items will simply be skipped.
• Server-side content versus client downloads. A Workshop collection tells clients what to download so models, materials, and Lua run correctly on their end. It does not replace content the server itself must mount, such as a map. If your map comes from the Workshop, the server still needs the map file available to load it, and players need the map content to join. Make sure map addons are in the collection so both sides have them.

Doing it on Zeros Host

On a Zeros Host Garry's Mod server you do not have to manage the collection by hand at all. Our panel includes a Mod Manager that handles Workshop sync for you: add a collection or addon by ID and the panel tracks updates and builds the client download list, so you skip the manual subscribe-favourite-publish loop and the restarts. It keeps your addons current as their authors push updates, which is the part most people forget.

You can try it on the 24-hour free trial, set up your collection, and see players downloading your content before you commit to anything. Read more on the Garry's Mod hosting page or check the pricing for plan details.

Related guides

• How to host a DarkRP server
• How to secure your GMod server