Garry's Mod servers are typically a pain in the butt to set up correctly. This project aims to change that, with the help of Docker.
Docker is a very useful program that allows you to run all kinds of software in containers (containers are like virtual machines, except they don't emulate the entire computer, so it's way faster). This project can be pulled as a Docker image, which is basically a template for a container.
To use this image, you simply run it with the settings that you want (explained in detail below). These settings allow you to configure most of the important parts of the server without having to deal with the usual, complicated setup process. This image automatically installs and mounts Counter Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2 content. This prevents issues with maps and other addons using resources from those games (which is quite common). Players will still need to install the content on their end to avoid seeing missing textures and errors everywhere.
Do you...
- already know what you're doing and just want to know what the settings are? Scroll down to the Reference section!
- have no clue what you're doing but can't stand the idea of reading? I'm working on a video tutorial.
- have no clue what you're doing and prefer reading a guide? Read on, my friend.
In case you haven't realized yet, you need a Docker installation to use this. On Windows, you can download Docker CE from the official website; on most Linux distributions, you should be able to install Docker with something like sudo apt-get install docker-ce (or your distribution's equivalent). If you're having difficulties installing Docker CE, go get help somewhere else. I didn't make Docker, so I'm not going to debug it for you. Sorry.
Once you've got Docker installed, you're only one command away from having your own Garry's Mod server (but you probably shouldn't run this command yet - read through the whole guide first, and ignore the fact that I act like you ran the command already). Here's an example command:
docker run -p 27015:27015/udp phyremaster/easy-gmod
But... But... How do I run this command?
Sigh... On Windows press Windows Key + R, type cmd, then press Enter. Type the command and press Enter. Ta-daa. If that doesn't work, try pressing Ctrl + Shift + Enter instead of just Enter after typing cmd, then click "Yes". On Linux, open the terminal (try the shortcut Ctrl + T), type the command, and press Enter. If that doesn't work, type the command again, but put sudo before the rest of the command and enter your password if necessary.
Assuming you didn't screw up, you should now have a functional Garry's Mod server. It will take a while to start, especially the first time that you start it. This is because this image does not come with the Garry's Mod server, Counter Strike: Source content, and Team Fortress 2 content preinstalled. Instead, the container validates and either installs or updates the server every time that it is started. While to a casual user that may seem like a really stupid way to have this image work, trust me, there are plenty of really good reasons why I made the image this way from a development perspective. It makes updating smoother, code simpler, images smaller, build times quicker, and programming easier. It might even help me in a legal situation, should one arise.
Wait, what about the settings? I don't want a 20 player sandbox server on gm_flatgrass called "A Garry's Mod Server"!
Calm down, buddy. We're getting there. And there are way more settings than that.
You remember the command from earlier? That was just an example. A better way to represent the command that you should use to start your Garry's Mod server is this:
docker run <options> phyremaster/easy-gmod
In this version of the command, you replace the <options> part with a list of command line options separated by spaces. Just a heads up: I'm always going to use angle brackets (these things: < >) to enclose things that you should replace.
Erm... "Command line options"? What are those?
Command line options are letters preceded by a single hyphen (like this: -o) or strings of text preceded by two hyphens (like this: --option). Many command line options, including the vast majority of the ones that I will show you here, are followed by some sort of value (like this: -o value or this: --option value). When using multiple command line options, you must separate them with spaces (like this: -o value --options value). You must also separate these command line options from other parts of the command with spaces (like this: command -o value file).
Many of the following settings for the server are set using environment variables, so I should probably just explain environment variables now. For our purposes, environment variables are additional settings that I created to make your life easier. All environment variables are specified through a -e command line option with a value in the format <name>=<value>. <name> is to be replaced with the name of the environment variable (which must be entered exactly as I give it to you and will always be in all capital letters), and <value> is to be replaced with whatever you are setting the environment variable to. Got it? Good, now we can continue with the settings.
Oh, and one final note: you should never use a backtick (this little guy: `) in the value of one of these environment variables. If you do, it will ruin everything. Due to the way the programming for this image works, there must be one ASCII character that cannot be used. I chose the backtick, because I believe it is the symbol that you will need the least.
What are "ports"?
Your computer is identified in computer networks by its IP address, a series of number separated by periods (or, in IPv6, colons). A port is an additional number, ranging from 0 to 65535 (which may seem like a random number, but it's significant because it's one less than 2^16, making it the highest number that can be represented by two bytes of binary data), which tells your computer which program to send the information that it receives to.
Docker needs to know which port or ports on your computer it should connect the container to. To tell it this, you use the command line option -p. The value of the -p command line option should be in the format <port>:<port>/<protocol>. For the Garry's Mod server, you will need to replace <port> with the Garry's Mod server port (default is 27015) and <protocol> with udp. If you want to use a port other than the default port (which I recommend against, unless you are running multiple server one computer, in which case you must set different ports for each server), you must set the environment variable GMODPORT to the port that you are using.
To prevent various bugs (mostly with the server list and running multiple servers), I recommend that you also configure the client port with another -p command line option. Replace <port> with the client port (default is 27015) and <protocol> with udp. When using a port other than the default port (which is, again, not recommended when running only one server, but required for multiple servers), you need to set the environment variable CLIENTPORT to the port that you are using.
If you want to use RCON, you have to set yet another -p command line option. This time, <port> has to be replaced with the same port that you used for the Garry's Mod server (again, default is 27015) and <protocol> must be replaced with tcp.
You also need to port forward the port(s) that you are using, but this process varies quite a bit depending on your router and network, so instead of meticulously explaining the steps for every router in existence, I'm just going to tell you to go Google it.
Go Google it.
One last note: you have to include the -p command line option for Garry's Mod, even if you're using the default port, 27015. If you don't, it won't work. Period.
Docker containers are virtualized. Because of this, you can't just navigate your way to their files on your computer. This also means that containers lose all of their files when they are stopped. For a Garry's Mod server, both of these things are problems.
Fortunately, Docker provides a way around this with the -v command line option. The -v command line option requires a value in the format <volume>:<path>. In this image, there are three pathes that you can replace <path> with: /home/steam/garrysmod, /home/steam/css, and /home/steam/tf2 (actually, there is a fourth one, but you should probably just leave it alone). If you can't guess which files are stored in each of those pathes, there is no hope for you.
<volume> can be replaced with a valid name for a Docker volume, in which case Docker will store the files from <path> in a folder named <volume> buried somewhere in your system files. I don't recommend doing that for multiple reasons: it's annoying to navigate to these folders on your filesystem, and Docker volumes have a weird tendency to "run out of space" even if your computer still has plenty of available storage. Instead, I suggest that you replace <volume> with the full path to a folder on your computer, which will cause Docker to place the files in <path> in the folder that you specify. Linux users must run chmod 777 on the folder. Please note that <path> and <volume> must be different for every -v command line option that you add.
If you don't specify any -v command line options, Docker will automatically assign volumes to all of the pathes that I mentioned above. These randomly assigned volumes have long, random strings of numbers and letters as their names. This will make accessing the server files a massive pain in the butt. You have been warned.
Giving the container a name may help with managing the server later. To give the container a name (and prevent it from being given a randomly assigned two-word name instead), use the --name command line option with the name that you want as the value. The name cannot contain spaces or other special characters.
To make the container automatically restart any time that it crashes, include the command line option --restart on-failure. Stopping the server from its console will stop the container, and it is recommended that you do that instead of stopping the container via Docker.
If you want the Garry's Mod server to start when your computer starts, just make sure that Docker is configured to start when your computer starts. When Docker starts, it will start all of your containers by default.
Normally, when you enter the command to run this image, your command prompt or terminal will turn into the server console. If you don't want this and instead want the server to just run silently in the background, just add the -d command line option, no value necessary.
If you want the server to run silently in the background most of the time, but still have access to the server console sometimes, you can add the -t and -i command line options (which can actually be set together, as -ti or -it) in addition to the -d command line option. -d will still work as explained above, but you can now access the server console any time that you want to with the docker attach command.
You can set the name of your server (as it will appear on the multiplayer server list) with the HOSTNAME environment variable. The value should, of course, be set to the name that you want your server to have. If your name contains spaces, put quotes before and after it (like this: "Server Name"). If not set, this will default to "A Garry's Mod Server".
To set the maximum number of players who can connect to the server at the same time, use the MAXPLAYERS environment variable. The value should be set to the number of players that you want to allow to connect simultaneously (as a number, not spelled out). If not set, this will default to 20 players.
To set the gamemode for your server, use the GAMEMODE environment variable. The value of this environment variable must be set to the exact, official name of a gamemode. Additionally, if you want to run a gamemode other than sandbox (sandbox) or Trouble in Terrorist Town (terrortown), you must install the gamemode (or the addon containing the gamemode). If you don't specify a gamemode, sandbox will be used by default.
To set the map that your server will start on, use the GAMEMAP environment variable. Similar to setting the gamemode, you must use the exact, official name of the map as the value, and, if you want to use a map other than Flatgrass (gm_flatgrass) or Construct (gm_construct), you will have to install the map (or addon containing the map). If you don't specify a map, Flatgrass will be used by default.
To allow players to talk to players on other teams, set the value of the ALLTALK environment variable to the number 1 (this is the default setting). If you want to prevent this, set it to the number 0.
To show the default voice chat icon over players while they have their voice chat button pressed, set the value of the VOICEICON environment variable to the number 1. To prevent this icon from ever appearing, set it to the number 0. Since this icon tends to give away players who are hiding (usually on Prop Hunt servers), it is set to 0 by default.
You can prevent players from downloading any file from your server larger than a certain size with the MAXFILESIZE environment variable. Set the value of this environment variable to a number representing the size of the largest file you want to let players download in megabytes. If not set, this will default to 1024 (this is the number of megabytes in a gigabyte).
To install addons to your server, first create a Garry's Mod Steam Workshop Collection and put all of the addons that you want to install to your server in the collection. Once the collection is created, copy its ID (the last, long number in the collection's URL). Set the value of the WORKSHOPID environment variable to this ID. Your server will automatically install the addons in the collection and keep them up to date (although you can't find them in the server files, for some reason), and players will automatically download these addons from the Steam Workshop (meaning that you do not need to set up FastDL for these addons).
If, for whatever reason, your addon or addons cannot be found in the Steam Workshop (usually the case with custom addons and maps), you must manually place them into the server files. These addons will take a long time for players to download, unless you set up FastDL.
If you have some content on your server that cannot be downloaded from Steam, it will normally take a very long time to download, because the Source Engine protocol does not handle file transfers very well. To fix this, you can use FastDL, which allows players to automatically download your server's content over HTTPS from a website. To use FastDL, you must have a website containing your server content with the exact same file structure as your actual Garry's Mod server files. To set up FastDL, set the value of the DOWNLOADURL environment variable to the full link (including the https:// part) to the folder on your website that contains the contents of the garrysmod folder from the default Garry's Mod server file structure. You should probably put quotes around the link.
You should avoid putting any unnecessary files on your FastDL website. Doing so will increase download times and could be a security risk, depending on which files are exposed.
To give your server a custom loading screen, set the value of the LOADINGURL environment variable to the full link (including the https:// part) to the webpage that will be your loading screen. You should probably put quotes around the link.
If you want to make your server private, you can require that players correctly enter a password before connecting. To do this, set the value of the PASSWORD environment variable to whatever you want the password to be. If you use special characters, you will need to put quotes around the password.
RCON stands for "remote console". It allows you to access your server's console from another computer. To enable this, you must set a password. You can set the RCON password with the RCONPASSWORD environment variable. Set this environment variable's value to the password that you want to use, with quotes around it if it contains special characters. To use RCON you will also need to set up the RCON port, but that topic has already been covered.
RCON is a pretty big security risk. Avoid it if doing so is a reasonable option. If you must use RCON, set a very strong password, do not share your password, and avoid port forwarding for RCON if possible.
If your Steam account is elligible, you can create a Steam Game Server Account for your server. This helps you monitor and manage your game server or servers. To link your Garry's Mod server to a Steam Game Server Account, set the value of the LOGINTOKEN environment variable to the login token for your Steam Game Server Account.
Wait, that's it? What if I want to change a setting that you didn't list here?
In that case, you will have to manually edit the configuration files. Don't worry about the image overwriting your settings; the script only edits the lines of the configuration files relevant to the environment variables that have been set. To prevent default settings from overwriting your manually-added, custom settings, just set the value or values of the relevant environment variable or variables to the empty string (a pair of quotes with nothing between them, like this: "").
Additionally, please note that, to prevent removing manually-added custom settings, changing an environment variable to the empty string will not remove the relevant part of the configuration files.
Wow, I can't believe that you didn't have an environment variable for <insert obscure setting>. This image sucks.
I'm sorry, did you have to pay for this image? Did you contribute to this project? No? Then shut up and appreciate that I took care of most of the hard stuff for you.
All joking aside, though, if you have feedback or, even better, want to contribute to this project, it is much appreciated. Just don't be a jerk about it.
27015- TCP - RCON27015- UDP - SRCDS (the Garry's Mod server)27005- UDP - SRCDS client port (used for the multiplayer server list)
/home/steam/garrysmod- The Garry's Mod server files/home/steam/css- The Counter Strike: Source content files/home/steam/tf2- The Team Fortress 2 content files
HOSTNAME-hostname- the name of the server, seen in the server list -"A Garry's Mod Server"GMODPORT--port- the SRCDS (Garry's Mod server) port -27015CLIENTPORT--clientport- the SRCDS client port (for the server list) -27005MAXPLAYERS--maxplayers- the maximum number of concurrent players allowed -20GAMEMODE-+gamemode- the gamemode to host -sandboxGAMEMAP-+map- the map to host when the server starts -gm_flatgrassALLTALK-sv_alltalk- players can voice chat between teams -1(enabled)VOICEICON-mp_show_voice_icons- show overhead voice chat icons -0(disabled)MAXFILESIZE-net_maxfilesize- the maximum size of file a player can download (in MB) -1024WORKSHOPID-+host_workshop_collection- the Workshop ID of the addon collection to hostDOWNLOADURL-sv_downloadurl,sv_allowdownload,sv_allowupload- the link to the FastDL websiteLOADINGURL-sv_loadingurl- the link to the loading screen webpagePASSWORD-sv_password- the server password, makes server private if setRCONPASSWORD-rcon_password- the RCON password, enables RCON if setLOGINTOKEN-+sv_setsteamaccount- the login token for the Steam Game Server Account
exec banned_ip.cfg,exec banned_user.cfg- added toserver.cfg"cstrike" "/home/steam/css/cstrike","tf" "/home/steam/tf2/tf"- added tomount.cfgserver.cfg,mount.cfg- created
This project uses cm2network/steamcmd:root as a base image (GitHub, Docker Hub) and takes some inspiration from zennoe/gmod-css-tf2:latest (GitHub, Docker Hub). This project is not affiliated with Facepunch Studios or Valve. I had nothing to do with the creation of the Half Life games, the Counter Strike games, Garry's Mod, or SRCDS. I just built something around those things.