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Technical Performance Scaling

Scaling a Garry’s Mod server to support 100+ simultaneous players requires a strategic departure from standard out-of-the-box settings. To maintain a smooth experience, you must optimize how the Source engine calculates physics and how data packets are distributed across the network. By reducing collision precision and widening your network “pipes,” you can significantly mitigate server-side “Hitching” and improve synchronization for players with high-latency connections.

Difficulty

Intermediate

Time

7 Minutes

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Step 1: Strategic Networking Rates

High-capacity servers require increased bandwidth thresholds to prevent packet loss during intense gameplay events. Append these variables to your server.cfg. 
sv_minrate 35000            // Enforces a minimum 35kbps bandwidth per client
sv_maxrate 0                // Allows for unlimited maximum bandwidth usage
net_splitpacket_maxrate 1048576
sv_minupdaterate 16
sv_maxupdaterate 66

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Step 2: Physics Engine Optimization

Complex physics interactions (specifically collisions between player-spawned props) are the primary cause of server CPU spikes.
VariableRecommended ValueTechnical Result
gmod_physiterations2Dramatically improves performance by reducing collision calculation precision.
sv_turbophysics1Prevents players from becoming dynamic physics objects when standing on moving props.
phys_timescale1.0Do Not Modify: Changing this value will permanently desynchronize movement and gravity.

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Step 3: Tickrate Selection

While competitive FPS titles use 128 Tick, high-population GMod servers (DarkRP/Sandbox) must use lower values to maintain infrastructure stability.
  • Recommended Threshold: Use 16 or 33 Tick.
  • The Risk of High Tickrates: Initializing a server at 66 or 100 Tick with 80+ players will likely overwhelm the single-threaded capacity of the CPU, resulting in massive rubber-banding and frequent player timeouts.
  • Implementation: Modify the -tickrate variable within your Game Panel Startup Settings.

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Last Updated: January 2026 | GMod: Optimization applied.