How To

How to play Garry’s Mod, a fun physics game for all

July 26, 2022
Updated: May 28, 2024 at 4:50 PM

Garry’s Mod is a physics and action sandbox game from Valve Source Engine and developed by Facepunch Studios, makers of Rust and Chippy. Originally developed as Half-Life 2 mod and released in 2006, GMod has built a fanbase of players who love to customize first-person shooters. The game offers an array of ways to create your own world with different settings, items, and custom characters.

Why is GMod so popular after more than a decade? Simply put, it’s a lot of fun to use items like the physics gun and gravity gun to move objects and build a universe. There’s also a massive multiplayer community and scores of YouTube videos showing off GMod creations. But to get the most out of this sandbox game, you need to know the basics.

Garry's Mod Download

Play sandbox mode to build your game
The default mode of Garry’s Mod is the sandbox. With no set objectives, this mode provides a world in which you can freely manipulate objects. In the menu, you’ll find everyday items such as a carton of milk or special characters from other games, such as Left 4 Dead. If you’re advanced with coding and programming, you can also use Javascript to position objects and characters around your own world.

For more of a GMod community experience, download other users’ creations in the menu for simple fun or an advanced game to play with others. Other players can download your original content for their own land if you allow permission to the public.
Join popular games within Garry’s Mod
In the main menu, you can click on the Find Multiplayer Game button to launch a menu of available user-created game modes. When you select a game mode, the list of servers will show and you’ll see how many current players are active and rankings. Find one that’s interesting to you and it will start downloading objects and locations you’ll need to play. This may take some time depending on the game’s activity and your computer’s connection.

One popular game is Trouble in Terrorist Town, or TTT for short. Players selected to be detective explore the map with a gun to find players selected as bad guys to raise their rankings. Another game made popular with YouTubers is Prop Hunt, a version of hide and seek where players transform into furniture or other objects while hunters need to locate and shoot them to win.
Understand all the basic controls of Garry’s Mod
Enter Sandbox mode by clicking Start New Game on the main menu. You’ll choose from default maps and special maps from games including Portal and Left 4 Dead 2. At your map, click Q on your keyboard to bring up authorized items to spawn. Find a character or object to appear in your map and move them with your physics gun. Right-click to freeze them in space, even in mid-air.

Use your tool gun to weld together items and create vehicles and buildings within the special menu. Find the weapons menu by clicking Q and move heavier objects around the map with a physics gun. Pressing C will bring up the context menu where you can customize your players for games and find related items to the ones currently on your map.
Use the workshop to create your own games
From the main menu, you can click on Addons to find the workshop mode. There, select Open Workshop. You will find a list of other people’s items, including maps and weapons you may not have. Then, you can enter back to the sandbox by exiting out of the Addons menu and clicking on Start New Game from the home screen.

If you would like to try out coding your own game, GMod uses a special programming tool named Lua. Launch the HTML editor and practice coding for a unique experience you can share with other players. The fun of Garry’s Mod really comes from the creation process, no matter how casual or professional your world may be.

Play Garry’s Mod for a world of opportunities

Garry’s Mod brings fans of first-person shooters and world-building together to have fun creating new games and environments. There’s no one way to use the program so feel free to click and explore the platform. To learn more about the game, check out our expert review of Garry’s Mod.