Why does my GMod server take longer to start when I have a large Workshop collection?
When your server starts, GMod downloads any Workshop addons that have been updated since the last run. With a large collection (100+ addons), this download phase can add several minutes to startup time, especially on the first start or after a Steam update that touches many addons at once.
The download time depends on the total size of your collection and how many addons have been updated since the last restart. Addons that have not changed since the last start are not re-downloaded; only changed content is fetched.
To reduce startup time: keep your collection lean. Remove addons your server does not actively use. Each addon in the collection adds to both startup time and the content players must download when joining.
If you see the server stuck at "Downloading workshop content" for more than 10 minutes, check the Console page for error messages. A failed download (permission denied, Steam CDN timeout) can cause the process to stall. Restart and check whether the problem is with a specific addon by searching for its Workshop ID in the Console output.
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