Question 1

How do I install addons using Addon Manager?

Accepted Answer

Open the Addon Manager page in your server panel. You can install addons directly from a GitHub repository URL. Paste the repo link, confirm the install, and Addon Manager handles the download and extraction into the correct directory. No FTP client needed.

Question 2

What does the Backdoor Scanner do?

Accepted Answer

The Backdoor Scanner analyses Lua files on your server looking for known malicious patterns, things like hidden remote access trojans (RATs) that sometimes ship inside free addon packs. It scans your installed addons and flags suspicious code so you can review and remove it before it causes damage.

Question 3

How do I install Workshop addons on my GMod server?

Accepted Answer

The Workshop Addon Manager page in your panel (Workshop Search in the sidebar) supports two ways to install content: browsing for individual addons, or loading a full Workshop collection. To install a single addon, open Workshop Search and stay on the Browse tab. Type a keyword and press Enter to search Steam Workshop, then click Install on the result you want. It shows up in the Installed tab, and is downloaded automatically the next time your server starts. To use a Workshop collection, create or find a collection on Steam and copy its collection ID from the URL. Switch to the Collection tab on the Workshop Addon Manager page and paste that ID into the Workshop Collection ID field. The panel lists every addon in the collection; click Write to Server to save it. When you update the collection on Steam, you can refresh and re-write to pick up new or removed addons. You can combine both approaches: a collection for your core content plus individually browsed-and-installed addons on top.

Question 4

How do I set up Discord notifications for my server?

Accepted Answer

The Discord Webhook page in your panel lets you send server events to a Discord channel automatically. First, create a webhook in Discord: open your server, go to Server Settings, then Integrations, then Webhooks. Click "New Webhook", pick the channel you want notifications posted to, and copy the webhook URL. Paste that URL into the Webhook URL field on the Discord Webhook panel page. You do not need to put it in any server config file; the panel proxies all webhook calls through its own backend, so the URL stays private and notifications still work even if your game server crashes. Next, use the event picker to choose which events trigger a notification. Common options include server online, server offline, and server crashes. Toggle on the events you want and save. Once saved, the panel will post a message to your Discord channel each time a selected event fires. You can update the event selection or swap the webhook URL at any time without restarting your server.

Question 5

What is the Loading Screen Builder?

Accepted Answer

The Loading Screen Builder is a visual editor that lets you create a custom loading screen for your GMod server. You can configure the layout, colours, and content without writing any HTML or CSS. The generated loading screen is served directly from your server.

Question 6

Is the Model Viewer stable?

Accepted Answer

The Model Viewer is currently marked as experimental. It lets you preview Source engine models in your browser, which can be useful when setting up NPCs or player models. It works for most common models but may not render every model perfectly. We are still improving it.

Question 7

How do I set up admin ranks using the Admin Ranks page?

Accepted Answer

The Admin Ranks page is available on GMod servers from the GMod Tools section of the sidebar. It reads from and writes to your server's ULib config files automatically, with no file editing or restarts needed. When you save changes, ULX reloads live. The page has three tabs: Ranks, Users, and Permissions. On the Ranks tab, every configured rank is listed with its member count and how many permissions it carries. Click a rank to expand it and see its inherit chain, direct permissions, and any denied commands. To create a new rank, click "Create rank", give it a name, choose which existing rank it inherits from (so it picks up the parent's permissions automatically), and optionally set a can_target restriction or add specific allow/deny overrides. Editing an existing rank opens the same form, but the rank name is locked. Click Save when you are done and ULX reloads automatically. The four built-in ULX ranks (superadmin, admin, operator, user) are protected and cannot be deleted from the panel. On the Users tab, you can assign players to ranks by SteamID. Enter the player's 64-bit SteamID, pick a rank from the dropdown, and save. To remove a rank assignment, click the X badge next to it on the user's row. The Permissions tab shows the full ULX command catalogue across nine categories: Moderation, Player management, Teleportation, Communication, Server management, User/group management, Logging, Utility, and DarkRP. For each command, you can see which ranks have it granted directly; inherited permissions from parent ranks are not shown separately here. Use the name filter and category dropdown to find specific commands quickly.

Question 8

What are common admin rank setups for a DarkRP server?

Accepted Answer

Most DarkRP servers use a rank hierarchy where each rank inherits from one below it, gaining all the parent's permissions and adding more on top. "user" is the base rank. All players start here. Keep it minimal: standard gameplay, nothing admin-related. "donator" inherits from user. Add any perks you want supporters to have, such as reserved slots, cosmetic commands, or a lower job cooldown. Keep moderation commands off this rank. "moderator" (or "operator") also inherits from user, not donator. This is intentional. You want the moderation track and the donation track to stay separate, so moderators do not automatically have donator perks and vice versa. Give this rank front-line moderation: kick, warn, spectate, freeze. "admin" inherits from moderator. Add ban, mute, extended teleportation, and server management commands here. "superadmin" inherits from admin. Full access including ULib group management and the ability to modify ranks. Limit this rank to people you fully trust. To build this in the panel, open the Ranks tab and create each rank in order from the bottom up: donator first, then moderator, then admin. Set the inherits-from field at each step before saving.

Question 9

How do I configure my Steam Web API key?

Accepted Answer

A Steam Web API key is required for Workshop content downloads to work correctly on your GMod server. Without it, players may not download required addons on connect, or Workshop-dependent features may silently fail. Get a key at steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey. You will need a Steam account with a non-limited status (any purchase on Steam removes the limitation). Enter any domain in the "Domain Name" field; this is not validated for game server keys, so your server name or domain is fine. Once you have the key, open the Startup page in your server panel. Find the "Steam Web API Key" field (it may be labelled STEAM_ACC or similar depending on the egg configuration) and paste your key there. Save and restart the server. The key is stored as an environment variable and injected at startup; it does not go in any config file. Do not share your Steam API key publicly. Each key is tied to your Steam account. If you ever regenerate or revoke it, update the panel field with the new key and restart.

Question 10

How do I use the DarkRP Config Validator?

Accepted Answer

The Config Validator is a tool on the Configuration page of GMod servers running DarkRP. It reads your jobs.lua, entities.lua, and settings.lua files and checks for common syntax errors, missing required fields, and known misconfiguration patterns, before they cause a server crash. To run it, open the GMod Tools section in the panel sidebar and click "Validate config". The validator runs in the background and returns a list of errors and warnings. Errors are things that will prevent DarkRP from loading correctly. Warnings are things that will load but may cause unexpected behaviour. Each result includes the file, the line number, and a description of the problem. Click the file link to open it directly in the File Manager. Fix the issue, save, and re-run the validator before restarting the server. Common errors the validator catches: job entries missing the required color, model, or weapons field; entities with a price of 0 (valid but usually unintentional); GM.Config.startingmoney set lower than the cheapest entity price (the new-player economy trap); and duplicate job command strings. Running the validator before every restart after config changes saves time compared to diagnosing the same errors from the Console log.

Question 11

Why does my GMod server take longer to start when I have a large Workshop collection?

Accepted Answer

When your server starts, GMod downloads any Workshop addons that have been updated since the last run. With a large collection (100+ addons), this download phase can add several minutes to startup time, especially on the first start or after a Steam update that touches many addons at once. The download time depends on the total size of your collection and how many addons have been updated since the last restart. Addons that have not changed since the last start are not re-downloaded; only changed content is fetched. To reduce startup time: keep your collection lean. Remove addons your server does not actively use. Each addon in the collection adds to both startup time and the content players must download when joining. If you see the server stuck at "Downloading workshop content" for more than 10 minutes, check the Console page for error messages. A failed download (permission denied, Steam CDN timeout) can cause the process to stall. Restart and check whether the problem is with a specific addon by searching for its Workshop ID in the Console output.

Question 12

I have been editing ULX config files by hand. How do I switch to using the panel?

Accepted Answer

The Admin Ranks page reads your existing data/ulib/groups.txt and data/ulib/users.txt when you open it, so any ranks and user assignments you already have will appear automatically. You do not need to import or convert anything. From that point, use the panel for all future changes instead of editing the files directly. The panel writes back to the same files and triggers a live ULX reload, so the end result is identical to manual editing, but without the risk of a syntax error breaking your config silently. If you have been using console commands like "ulx adduser" or "ulx adduserid" to manage users, those still work alongside the panel. Both methods write to the same underlying files, so they do not conflict. That said, the panel is the safer route for rank definition changes, because editing groups.txt by hand is where syntax mistakes most often happen. One thing to be aware of: the four protected ranks (superadmin, admin, operator, user) cannot be removed via the panel. If you have a non-standard setup where these names are absent or heavily modified, the inherit chain may need a manual review to make sure it is consistent after you start using the panel UI.

Question 13

How do my players actually connect to my GMod server?

Accepted Answer

Your connect address is on the Server Vitals page, in the form .play.zerosrp.co.uk:27015. The easiest way for players to join is through the in-game multiplayer menu: Add a Server, then paste the address. Once added, it stays in their favourites for future sessions. Players can also connect via the developer console with connect

. This is often faster for repeat testing during setup. If a player cannot connect despite the server showing online, check the players-cant-connect troubleshooting article; it covers the most common causes (wrong port, Workshop content not finishing download, and similar).

Question 14

How do I change my GMod server name and set a password?

Accepted Answer

Both are set in garrysmod/cfg/server.cfg, editable via File Manager. Set hostname "My Server Name" to change what shows in the server browser. Set sv_password "yourpassword" to require a password to join, or leave it as sv_password "" for no password. Two related settings worth knowing: sv_tags sets searchable tags for the server browser, and gamedesc sets the short description shown alongside your server. The port itself is not set in server.cfg; it is managed from the Network page in the panel.

Question 15

What is a Steam Game Server Login Token, and how is it different from a Steam API key?

Accepted Answer

These are two different credentials that are easy to mix up because both end up pasted into the panel. A Game Server Login Token (GSLT) authenticates your server to Steam and VAC, and is required for your server to appear correctly in the in-game server browser. Get one from steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers using App ID 4000 for GMod, then paste it into the Startup page field labelled Steam Account Token. You will know it worked when the console shows "Logged into Steam" or "VAC secure mode activated". A Steam Web API key is a different credential, used specifically for Workshop content downloads; that one comes from steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey and is covered in the Steam Web API key article. Both are genuinely needed for a fully working server, they are just for different things: one is your server's identity to Steam, the other is for fetching Workshop content.

Question 16

How do I install a new map on my GMod server?

Accepted Answer

If your server crashes at startup or shows "No such map", the Map variable on the Startup page must exactly match an installed map file, with no file extension. Check what is actually installed by looking in garrysmod/maps/ via File Manager. As a quick fallback to get back online, gm_construct ships with every GMod install. To install a map from the Workshop: add it to your Workshop collection (or note its Workshop ID), make sure your Workshop Collection ID is set on the Startup page, and restart. The map downloads along with the rest of your collection. To install a map manually: upload the .bsp file via File Manager to garrysmod/maps/, set the Map variable to the filename without the .bsp extension, and restart.

Question 17

How do I install an addon that is not on the Steam Workshop?

Accepted Answer

For addons sourced from GitHub or distributed as a ZIP rather than published to the Workshop, install them via File Manager instead of Addon Manager. Extract the addon locally first and confirm it has the right structure: a proper GMod addon has a lua/ folder (or an addon.txt file) at its root, not buried inside another folder. Upload the whole addon folder to garrysmod/addons/ via File Manager, then restart the server. For larger addons, SFTP (using a client like FileZilla or WinSCP) is faster than the browser file manager for bulk uploads. If you are only installing something with a GitHub repository URL, check whether Addon Manager supports pasting that URL directly first; it handles the folder structure for you and is usually less error-prone than a manual upload.

Question 18

How do I update or remove an addon?

Accepted Answer

Workshop addons update themselves. Your server checks for and downloads the latest version of each subscribed addon on restart; watch the console for "Downloading Workshop item..." lines during startup if you want to confirm it happened. Manually-installed addons (from GitHub or a ZIP) do not auto-update. Download the new version, delete the old addon folder via File Manager, upload the new one, and restart. To remove a Workshop addon: go to the Workshop page, remove it from your collection, save, and restart. To remove a manually-installed addon: delete its folder via File Manager and restart. Some addons leave data behind in garrysmod/data/ even after removal (saved settings, logs, and similar). That is usually harmless to leave in place, but you can clean it up manually if you want a completely fresh state.

Question 19

How do I diagnose a conflict between two addons?

Accepted Answer

The Health Monitor page (GMod and Minecraft servers), under its Addon Scan tab, includes a Hook Conflicts section that lists every case where two or more addons hook the same game event under the same identifier. A conflict flagged as High severity means three or more addons are colliding on the same hook. Symptoms of a real conflict: a feature stops working after you install a new addon, the same Lua error repeats from a specific file, or behaviour is inconsistent between players. If the addon scan does not point to an obvious culprit, isolate it by disabling half your addons (rename their folders to something like _disabled_addonname) and testing, then narrowing down from there. Once you find the conflicting addon, you have two options: remove one of the conflicting addons if it is optional, or edit the Lua hook identifier in one of them so the identifiers no longer collide, for example changing hook.Add("PlayerDeath", "MyAddon", ...) to hook.Add("PlayerDeath", "MyAddon_v2_DeathHandler", ...). This requires being comfortable editing Lua directly.

Question 20

How do I add shipments and food items to the DarkRP F4 menu?

Accepted Answer

Shipments (purchasable weapon crates) and food items are both configured in your DarkRP modification's lua/darkrp_config/shipments.lua. A shipment is added with DarkRP.createShipment, and takes a price, an amount, whether items are bought individually or as a set (separate / pricesep), and an allowed list restricting which jobs can buy it. Food and consumable items use DarkRP.createFoodItem in the same file, and can include a hunger value and a customCheck function if you want to restrict who can buy it. F4 menu changes require a full server restart to take effect; a Lua refresh alone is not enough.

Question 21

Where do I change core DarkRP settings like starting money and pay interval?

Accepted Answer

Most global DarkRP behaviour is controlled in darkrpmodification/lua/darkrp_config/shared/settings.lua. Common settings: DarkRP.settings.payDelay sets the paycheck interval in seconds (180 is a typical default). startingMoney sets how much a new player spawns with. hungermod and hungerDamage control the hunger system. maxArrested sets the maximum arrest duration in seconds. A few less obvious but genuinely useful settings: allowedProperties controls which job categories can use the property system, pcRequired can require a license or PC item for certain weapons, and AdminsCanBuyEverything bypasses job restrictions for admins. As with the F4 menu, settings changes need a full restart to apply.

Question 22

How do I add custom weapons and entities to my DarkRP server?

Accepted Answer

Custom weapons are Scripted Weapons (SWEPs) and custom purchasable objects are Scripted Entities (SENTs). For weapons: search the Workshop for a weapon pack (searching "darkrp weapons" or "swep pack" is a good start), add it to your collection via Addon Manager or Workshop, then add a shipment referencing the weapon in shipments.lua. To find a weapon's class name for that shipment, run print(LocalPlayer():GetActiveWeapon():GetClass()) in the console while holding it. For a custom entity in the F4 menu (a money printer is the classic example), use DarkRP.createEntity() in lua/darkrp_config/entities.lua, giving it a price, a max-per-player limit, the entity class, and an allowed job list. One hard limit worth knowing: the Source engine caps a map at 4096 entities total. If your server is getting close, the Health Monitor page's Addon Scan tab has an Entity Limits section that shows current usage.

Question 23

How do I connect DarkRP itself to a MySQL database?

Accepted Answer

This is different from just creating a database on the Databases page; DarkRP needs to be told to use it. First, find the MySQLoo addon on the Steam Workshop - search "MySQLoo" from the in-game Workshop menu, or from the Steam Workshop site under Garry's Mod - and install it via Addon Manager or Workshop. Then add a config block to darkrpvar.lua setting DarkRP.settings.mysqlHost, mysqlDatabase, mysqlUser, mysqlPassword, mysqlPort, and enableExternalDatabase = true, using the credentials from your Databases page. One detail that catches people out: the host should always be 127.0.0.1, never your server's public IP, even though the database technically lives on the same infrastructure. After restarting, look for "MySQLoo: Connection successful" in the console to confirm it worked.

Question 24

How do I protect my server from backdoored addons in the first place?

Accepted Answer

The Backdoor Scanner catches known malicious patterns, but a few habits go a long way in preventing infection before you ever need to run it. Only install addons from the Steam Workshop or a source you genuinely trust. Never install a "leaked" or cracked version of a paid addon; these are the single most common source of backdoors, almost by definition, since someone had to redistribute them outside the original author's control. Do not allow untrusted SFTP or file uploads from anyone you have not vetted. Run the Backdoor Scanner after every batch of new addon installs, not just when something feels wrong. Before installing an unfamiliar addon: check how long it has been on the Workshop and its update history, be cautious of an addon with a high subscriber count but no reviews or discussion, and if you are unsure, test it on a separate/throwaway server first rather than your live community server. If you do suspect an active backdoor: stop the server immediately, change your panel password and RCON password, rotate your database passwords, delete the suspect addon, and review the Activity Log for unusual file access. Treat any admin accounts as potentially compromised too; a backdoor can add rogue superadmins, so revoke and re-grant admin access from scratch afterwards rather than assuming the existing list is trustworthy.

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