Welcome, recruits! If you’re tired of lag spikes, crashes, or poor frame rates in Garry’s Mod (GMod), this guide will walk you through every step to optimize your game and boost performance. Whether you’re running on an older PC or just want a smoother experience, this setup will help your GMod run faster and more efficiently.

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Step 1: Required Dependencies

Before we dive into optimization, make sure the following essentials are installed:

• Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source – These provide essential assets that GMod uses.
• Notepad++ – A helpful tool for editing configuration files.

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Step 2: Switch to the 64-bit Chromium Branch

1. Open Steam Library.
2. Right-click on Garry’s Mod and select Properties.
3. Navigate to the Betas tab.
4. Select:

x86-64 – Chromium + 64-bit Binaries

This 64-bit version of GMod provides better performance, stability, and memory handling, especially on modern systems.

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Step 3: Compatibility Settings for Executables

From the Steam Properties menu:

1. Click the Installed Files tab.
2. Click Browse to open the GMod install directory.
3. Right-click on hl2.exe and select Properties.
   • Under Compatibility, check:
     • Disable Full-Screen Optimizations
     • Override High DPI Scaling Behavior
4. Repeat this process for gmod.exe.

These tweaks prevent Windows from interfering with performance through compatibility layers.

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Step 4: Enable Multicore Rendering (Autoexec Configuration)

Multicore rendering is not available in GMod’s in-game settings, so we’ll enable it manually using an autoexec file.

1. In your GMod directory, navigate to:

garrysmod\cfg

2. Locate a file named autoexec.cfg. If it doesn’t exist, create a new text file and name it exactly:

autoexec.cfg

3. Open it with Notepad++ and paste the following commands:

mat_queue_mode 2

cl_threaded_bone_setup 1

cl_threaded_client_leaf_system 1

r_threaded_renderables 1

r_threaded_particles 1

r_threaded_client_shadow_manager 1

r_queued_decals 1

r_queued_ropes 1

studio_queue_mode 1

4. Save and close the file.

These settings offload multiple operations to your CPU’s cores, dramatically improving performance.

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Step 5: Add Launch Options in Steam

Back in the Steam Properties window:

1. Open Launch Options.
2. Paste the following command:

-high -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS% -novid +exec autoexec.cfg

This sets your game to high priority, enables multi-threading based on your CPU, skips the intro video, and ensures your config file loads.

Also, make sure you’re launching in 64-bit mode from the dropdown in the Properties menu.

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Step 6: Adjust In-Game Video Settings

Once GMod is launched:

1. Go to Options > Video > Advanced.
2. Adjust based on your PC:
   • Model Detail – High or Medium
   • Texture Detail – High if your GPU can handle it
   • Anti-Aliasing – Off or 2x for best performance
   • Filtering Mode – Bilinear or Trilinear
   • Shader Detail – Low or Medium
   • Water Detail – Simple
   • Shadow Detail – Low

These values strike a balance between performance and visual quality. You can experiment based on your hardware.

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Step 7: Test Performance

Load a map like gm_construct and check your FPS. With these tweaks in place, you should see significantly smoother gameplay.

In the test shown, FPS consistently went over 200–300 FPS, even while spawning multiple props and entities like Pokémon allies, combine soldiers, and disassembly drones. Crashing can still happen when overloading GMod with too many assets, but overall stability and responsiveness are vastly improved.

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Bonus Tip: Keep It Clean

Avoid overloading GMod with too many heavy add-ons or unoptimized Workshop content. Regularly clean out unused mods to reduce loading times and memory usage.

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Conclusion

With these optimizations in place, Garry’s Mod should run significantly faster, even on mid-range PCs. Whether you’re building, roleplaying, or blowing stuff up at 300 FPS—this guide sets you up for smoother, more reliable gameplay.

If this guide helped, leave a like and subscribe for more tutorials. Comment below with your results or questions, and welcome to the MIP recruit team! See you in the next video!