Garry's Mod & Source Engine Consulting
Strategic solutions for Garry's Mod servers and the Source engine
We help Garry's Mod server owners make better decisions about hosting, performance, and security - backed by a real understanding of how the engine actually works.
How can we help you?
Before we get into service specifics, here's what governs how we work with you: security-first recommendations, real engine-level depth, and discretion you can count on.
Privacy & security by default
Security isn't an upsell. Every recommendation we make - hosting, addons, access control - defaults to the safer option first, not the one that's fastest to ship.
Engine-level technical depth
This isn't generalist server-admin advice with a new coat of paint. We work from Source engine internals - thread model, entity limits, netcode - because that's what your problems actually come from.
Confidentiality as standard
Your persona, code, and server access matter to us - we delete every file and credential once the work is done, unless you ask us to keep them. Nothing about your server gets shared with anyone else.
Why GModConsulting
Engine-level expertise, applied to business decisions
Garry's Mod and Source are old, well-documented, and often misunderstood systems. Most problems that get blamed on "bad hosting" or "bad luck" actually come down to a handful of well-known quirks in how the engine works. We know those quirks, and we turn them into clear, practical recommendations for owners who need to make a hosting, budget, or security decision.
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Hours of hands-on Garry's Mod & Source engine experience
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Vendor-neutral - no hosting resale, no referral fees
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Focused service lines
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Grounded in facts, not guesswork
Every recommendation is grounded in documented, verifiable sources. That includes the Facepunch Wiki, documentation for the libraries, addons, gamemodes on your server, server logs, and configuration provided as part of the engagement.
02
Vendor-neutral
We don't resell hosting, and we don't rank or rate hosting providers - a policy that holds across every service we offer. Our recommendations are independent of any hosting relationship, so we have no reason to steer you toward a particular vendor.
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Honest about what we can tell
We're upfront about what we can tell just by looking versus what genuinely requires your cooperation (server access, logs, and so on) - we won't pretend a quick look tells us more than it does.
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Access on your terms
You define the scope, not us. A specific engagement often only needs a fraction of what full server or repository access would give us, and we'll ask for exactly that. We don't copy, retain, or reuse your code beyond the engagement, and we never introduce hidden changes or backdoors. If you have a staging or test environment, that's where we work first.
The engine
Old architecture, hard limits
- One hot game thread runs hooks, Think functions, physics, and player ticks
- Hard Source ceilings: edicts, model precache, NWVars, and net-message size
- LuaJIT compiler path is disabled, so hot GLua behaves like interpreter work
- Physics and entity cost rise unevenly as tick rate and player count change
What we add
Operational discipline around it
- Move isolated heavy systems out of the game loop when they can run async
- Collect logs, profiler output, and config state before guessing at fixes
- Use AI-assisted review to search patterns faster, with human validation
- Plan content delivery, UDP exposure, and capacity around the real bottleneck
New to running a server?
Starter package - new server setup
For anyone starting from zero: no server yet, not sure what to buy or install. We walk you through the first setup end to end.
Learn about the Starter package01
Hosting
A tier sized to what you're actually planning to run - not the biggest one you can afford.
02
Addons
A sensible starter stack: gamemode, admin tools, and prop protection, set up correctly from day one.
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Security
Basic security and backup habits that are far easier to get right at the start than to retrofit later.
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Done
A clear handoff to our other services once you actually know what you need.
Services
6 focused engagements
Each service can be engaged independently or combined into a single audit pass.
Performance
Performance audit
Profiling and diagnosis of lag, hitches, and slowdowns, with a prioritized plan to fix them.
Read the Performance audit detailsSecurity
Security audit
Source-level review of addon code for the real, documented risk patterns in this ecosystem: unsafe remote-code execution, database injection, and unprotected network handlers.
Read the Security audit detailsContent packs
Content pack optimization
Consolidating a server's addon collection into a leaner, better-organized content pack and cutting join-time download bloat.
Read the Content pack optimization detailsSizing
Server & hosting selection
Hardware and hosting recommendations based on your actual player count and addon stack, not a generic "more cores" answer.
Read the Server & hosting selection detailsAnti-DDoS
DDoS advisory & implementation
Assessment of your exposure to attacks and hands-on help implementing protections with your host or upstream provider.
Read the DDoS advisory & implementation detailsOffloading
Compute offloading
Moving self-contained, heavy computation - economy engines, market simulations - off the single game thread so it stops competing with your tick rate.
Read the Compute offloading detailsApproach
How an engagement runs
01
Discovery call/chat
We discuss your server, player counts, addon stack, and the specific problem or decision you're facing.
02
Scoping
We agree what access is needed - a passive check needs none; a full performance or security audit needs RCON/log/source access from you.
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Audit or advisory work
We do the profiling, code review, or sizing analysis and document findings against their source.
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Report & plan
You receive a prioritized, written set of findings and recommendations - with optional hands-on implementation.
Knowledge
Recent articles
Technical writing on Source engine and Garry's Mod internals.
Featured · Performance
Why Garry's Mod Won't Scale on Threads: The Single-Threaded Core and What It Means for Tick Rate
The Garry's Mod server loop is single-threaded by design. What that means for tick-rate tuning, hardware decisions, and hook overhead.
Read the article
Why a Garry's Mod Server Doesn't Show in the Browser
A dedicated server missing from the internet list is usually GSLT, sv_lan, hide_server, or inbound UDP - not a broken install of the game files.
Read more
Engine Limits Every Server Owner Should Know Before They Hit Them
Model precache, entity edicts, and networked-variable slots are hard engine ceilings that crash servers rather than degrade gracefully.
Read more
The Real Security Model of Garry's Mod: Sandbox Strength and the net.Receive Checklist
GLua's sandbox holds up better than its reputation suggests. What the real, documented risk pattern looks like, and a net.Receive security checklist.
Read moreContact
Talk to us about your server
Run a Garry's Mod or Source-engine server and need performance, security, sizing, or DDoS looked at properly. Send the stack and the symptom. We will tell you what is actually wrong and what to change first. Discord is the default; Steam or email works too.