Where Does Garry's Mod Store Saves?
Where Garry's Mod keeps saves, dupes, addons, and data inside its install folder, and what to back up.
Last updated
Garry's Mod keeps player content inside its own install folder rather than Documents. Saves, dupes, addons, and data all branch from the garrysmod root under steamapps common. That layout makes manual moves simple but full-folder backups enormous.
Workshop items resubscribe themselves on a fresh install, so local saves are the irreplaceable part. Server hosts back up a different set with databases and configs. Copy relative folders with the game closed and everything lands correctly on the new machine.
Where Garry's Mod stores this, by platform
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\GarrysMod\garrysmod\save
Player saves plus dupes, addons, cfg, and data branches for full migration. Workshop cache redownloads itself, so skip it. Server hosts add sv.db and gamemodes to the backup set. Steam Cloud covers progress across your own machines.
Frequently asked questions
how do I move Garry's Mod to a new PC
Copy the saves folder for progress plus addons, data, and dupes for content, with the game closed. Workshop subscriptions redownload automatically, but local saves never do. Server files like sv.db travel separately for hosts.
what should a backup include
Never archive the whole install: workshop cache balloons it past usefulness. Take addons, cfg, data, saves, and dupes only. Server operators add gamemodes, lua, maps, and sv.db to the same list.
does Steam Cloud cover everything
Yes for progress and subscriptions through the same Steam account. Screenshots and local configs need manual copies. Install paths differ per machine, so use relative folders from the garrysmod root when moving.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.