How to Host Your Own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Dedicated Server?

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the most popular multiplayer first-person shooter game in the world. It is the most played multiplayer online game on Steam, with more than 432,391 players playing the game currently. The game was released in 2012 for all major platforms such as Windows, Mac OS, Xbox and PlayStation except Linux but in 2014, a Linux version of the game was also made available.

In this article, you will learn about everything you need to know about creating, installing and hosting your own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive dedicated server.

System Requirements

There are minimum system requirements you need to fulfill to run Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

• Intel Core Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 or better
• 2 GB of RAM or more
• 15 GB free storage space
• Video card must be 256 MB or more and should be DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 3.0
• Windows 7+, Mac OS X 10.6.6 or Ubuntu 18.04

Prerequisites

Here are some of the requirements you need to create your own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive dedicated gaming server.

• A Steam Account
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Launch a new ECS instance

You can also enhance your gaming space with Custom Neon Signs to match your Counter-Strike vibe.

How to Install Counter-Strike: Global Offensive In Windows?

Here is how you can install Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Server.

• SteamCMD is a command-line version of Steam client. Download Stream CMD from here.
• Create two folders, one for SteamCMD and another one for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Extract SteamCMD.zip file into the SteamCMD folder
• Navigate to the SteamCMD folder and open steamcmd.exe file.
• The file will automatically download all the necessary files and updates
• Enter the following commands

force_install_dir “Folder Path of CS:GO”
login anonymous
app_update 740 validate

Copy the path by going into folder properties

• Visit the Steam website and generate a server authentication token for your account by using the app ID 740. Once the authentication token is generated, copy the authentication token
• Create a new text document inside the CS: GO folder and enter the following commands

For Competitive

srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 1 +mapgroup mg_active +map de_dust2 +sv_setsteamaccount “YOUR AUTH TOKEN”

For Casual

srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup mg_active +map de_dust2 +sv_setsteamaccount “YOUR AUTH TOKEN”

For Arms Race

srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 1 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup mg_armsrace +map ar_shoots +sv_setsteamaccount “YOUR AUTH TOKEN”

For Demolition

srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 1 +game_mode 1 +mapgroup mg_demolition +map de_lake +sv_setsteamaccount “YOUR AUTH TOKEN”

For Deathmatch

srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 1 +game_mode 2 +mapgroup mg_allclassic +map de_dust +sv_setsteamaccount “YOUR AUTH TOKEN”

• Save the text document as bat. Make sure that the file is located in the same directory srcds.exe file
• Double click the bat file to start the server

Related Article: 5 Reasons Why You Should Never Use Your Home Computer as a Minecraft Server

Connecting Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Server

Here is a step-by-step process to connecting to your Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server.

• Find your public IP address. You can easily find your IP address by typing “What’s my IP” in Google and your IP address will be displayed. If your internet service provider uses a dynamic IP address, it will change over time. If you want to use the server for gaming, stick to a static IP address
• Open Steam and click on the View within Servers menu. Press the “Add a server” button and enter your IP address.
• Your server will appear if it is configured correctly.
• Open CS: GO and you will find your server in your favorites list

How to Install Counter-Strike: Global Offensive In Linux?

Here is a step-by-step process for installing Counter-Strike: global offensive in Linux

• Create a new user

To create a new user in Debian, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE, enter the following commands.

root@server:~# useradd csgosrv

root@server:~# passwd csgosrv

root@server:~# mkdir /home/csgosrv

root@server:~# chown csgosrv:users /home/csgosrv

• Install needed dependencies

If you are using a 64-bit operating system, you will have to enable the 386 architecture because the server software is written in 32 bit. If you are already using a 32-bit operating system, you can skip this step. Run the following commands

root@server:~# dpkg --add-architecture i386

root@server:~# apt-get update

root@server:~# apt-get install gcc-multilib libstdc++6:i386 libgcc1:i386 zlib1g:i386 libncurses5:i386 libc6:i386 wget screen

For openSUSE users,

root@server:~# zypper ref

root@server:~# zypper in wget libgcc_s1-32bit libgcc_s1-gcc6-32bit ca-certificates screen

• Download Steam

Before downloading Steam, change the user name by entering this command

root@server:~# su - csgosrv

Run the following commands to download and extract Steam

csgosrv@server:~$ mkdir steam

csgosrv@server:~/steam> cd steam

csgosrv@server:~/steam> wget http://media.steampowered.com/client/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz

csgosrv@server:~/steam> tar xfvz steamcmd_linux.tar.gz

• Setup and Install Counter-Strike: Global Offence server files

Run this command to download and install setup files

csgosrv@server:~/steam> ./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir ./csgo_server/ +app_update 740 validate +quit

Be patient as it can take a long time as the server software requires 15 GB free disk space.

• Start the server

Use this command to start the server

csgosrv@server:~/steam> cd csgo_server

csgosrv@server:~/steam/csgo_server> ./srcds_run -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup mg_bomb +map de_dust

• Get your server officially registered

Visit this website and login with your steam credentials to register the server directly. Enter 730 as app ID. Create your token. Once you have created your token, you can use this command to start the server as an official Counter-Strike: Global Offense server

csgosrv@server:~/steam/csgo_server> ./srcds_run -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup mg_bomb +map de_dust +sv_setsteamaccount YOURTOKEN -net_port_try 1

• Start the Counter-Strike: server in the background

As soon as you close the SSH connection, your server stop working because it requires an active session or terminal. To start the Counter-Strike: Global Offense server in the background, use this command.

csgosrv@server:~/steam/csgo_server> screen -A -m -d -S csgo_server ./srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup mg_bomb +map de_dust +sv_setsteamaccount YOURTOKEN -net_port_try 1

Want to start a screen session? Enter this commend

csgosrv@server:~/steam/csgo_server> screen -r csgo_server

CSGOSL

CSGOSL is a graphical user interface for Windows and Linux which let you easily install, update, start, stop your counter strike global offensive dedicated server with a single click for both Windows and Linux operating systems. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, it caters to both types of users. Beginners easily get their CS: GO server up and running while experienced professionals can unlock advanced modes to gain access to cvars and custom cvars, enabling them to add new users to the user interface.

How do you host your Counter-Strike: Global Offensive dedicated gaming server? Let us know in the comments section below.

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