High Ping or Lag Print

If players are experiencing high ping, rubberbanding, or general lag on your Garry’s Mod server, this guide will help you identify and reduce latency using the FinnishHost Game Panel.

Step 1: Check Server Location

Always choose a server region closest to your players. Ping increases with physical distance — a 50ms connection in Finland can become 120ms if players connect from outside Europe.

Step 2: Monitor Web Console

Open the Web Console in your FinnishHost panel and watch for warnings like:

Warning: Too many Lua errors!
Server overloaded!

These can indicate unoptimized addons or script loops consuming CPU time.

Step 3: Check Tickrate

Your server’s tickrate controls how often it updates per second. The default is 33, but you can raise it for smoother gameplay. To adjust:

1. Go to Commandline / Startup Parameters.
2. Add or edit the following parameter:

-tickrate 66

Higher tickrates improve responsiveness but also use more CPU. We do not charge extra for 64 or 128 tick settings — feel free to use what fits your needs best.

Step 4: Reduce Workshop Addons

Having hundreds of addons in one collection can dramatically increase loading and networking times. Try to keep collections under 100 items for best results, and remove outdated or conflicting addons.

Step 5: Limit Entity Spawns

Excessive entities (props, NPCs, or effects) increase network load. As an admin, you can run cleanup commands via RCON or in-game console:

cleanup
sbox_maxprops 300
sbox_maxnpcs 20

Adjust limits based on your player count and gamemode.

Step 6: Optimize Server Configuration

Open your server.cfg and add these recommended performance settings:

sv_minrate 60000
sv_maxrate 100000
sv_minupdaterate 66
sv_maxupdaterate 128

These provide smoother updates for players and reduce choke and lag spikes.

Step 7: Check Addon Performance

Some addons (especially unmaintained Workshop scripts) cause lag spikes or crashes. Disable heavy addons temporarily to test stability, then re-enable one at a time.

Step 8: Restart and Test

After changes, restart your server and monitor player ping through the scoreboard or by typing:

net_graph 1

in your in-game console. Lower numbers mean smoother gameplay and lower latency.

Notes

We provide support for performance, configuration, and hosting-related issues. We don’t provide support for unoptimized third-party scripts or client hardware/network problems. Always test new addons carefully and remove those that degrade performance.