Your Garry's Mod server has no world to save. What you cannot easily get back is your settings and add-ons, so back them up before you change settings, install add-ons or update.
Before you start: stop the server so the backup holds complete files. See How to start, stop, restart and force-stop your server.
Where your files are stored
Garry's Mod has no saved world to back up. What you keep on the server is in Files: addons in garrysmod/addons, custom maps in garrysmod/maps, your admin list in garrysmod/settings/users.txt, configuration in garrysmod/cfg, and the data that addons and gamemodes save (ULX, DarkRP and similar) in garrysmod/data.
Make a backup
- Open your server in the panel and click Backups in the left menu.
- Click Start backup with Files selected. The backup copies the whole server folder, so your settings and add-ons are included.
- To keep a copy outside PlayNHost, open the ... menu of the backup and choose Download.
The server folder also holds the game's own files, which can be large, so check the size on the Backups page. If it does not fit your backup space, ask support what to leave out. Do not guess an ignore pattern, because a wrong one can leave your settings out of the backup. See How to create, download and restore backups for scheduling, locking and limits.
What to make sure is included
Back up garrysmod/data and garrysmod/cfg as well as garrysmod/addons, any custom maps in garrysmod/maps and garrysmod/settings/users.txt. Gamemodes and admin addons such as ULX and DarkRP store player data, bans and settings in garrysmod/data and in the garrysmod/sv.db file, so without them a restore loses that data.
Restore a backup
A restore replaces the current files with the backup, and anything changed since is lost. Take a fresh backup of the current state first if you may want it back.
Choose Restore to server from the backup's ... menu, confirm, and start the server when it finishes.
