Counter-Strike 2 is a great classic team shooter that is focused on 5×5 battles. However, you don’t always want to participate in these massive fights, you just want to roll a 1×1 map with a friend in the evening. Looking for a suitable server is very long and there is no guarantee that you will find a suitable one. Especially if you need a specific map.So what to do? It’s simple: you need to create your own server and invite a friend there. This way you can choose a map and even configure the game mode in as much detail as possible to get the most pleasure. And let’s figure out how to do this now.
How to Create a Server for Friends in Counter-Strike 2
Method 1: The easiest
At first, after updating CS2 to CS:GO, it was impossible to simply create a lobby, invite a friend (or friends) there and start a match. However, the developers soon fixed the problem and now the lobby is created without any problems.
To do this, simply open the game, go to the game selection and select the special item ” Closed match selection “. After that, only you will be able to invite people to the party. You can do this through the Steam overlay or directly through the friends list in the game.
Next, you just need to set up the match (select the mode, map, and other features) and launch it. Please note that in order to start a match on a map from the Workshop, you first need to add it to your favorites in Steam, then it will download and be able to launch.
Method 2: Dedicated Server
However, the previous method is not suitable for everyone and not always. Sometimes it is necessary to create a third-party server for holding friendly matches or even competitions. In this case, you can create a dedicated server, but it will be very, very difficult.
Option 1: Buy a server
Of course, there are now many sites and platforms that will make it for money and allow you to fine-tune the server without any problems and very intuitively. For example, the UltaHost or SCL platforms do this . Yes, it will not be free, but it will definitely save you a lot of time and nerves.
Option 2: Make a server yourself
If for some reason you don’t want to pay for a dedicated server, you can create it yourself. First, go to Explorer and create a folder on your disk where the “server” will be stored. It’s best to avoid Cyrillic in the folder name and path, so name it “Server CS2” or something similar.
Next, you need to place two files in the folder: one can be said from the official Valve website , and the second you will have to create yourself and call it Counter-Strike_2_Install.bat . In the second file, which we made ourselves, you need to place the following code:
- @echo off
- start “” C:UsersUsernameDesktopCounter-Strike 2steamcmdsteamcmd.exe +login YOUR_STEAM_ACCOUNT YOUR_PASSWORD +force_install_dir C:UsersUserNameDesktopCounter-Strike-2 +app_update 730 +quit
Please note that ” Username ” should be changed to the one that your user has in the system. For example, Admin.
Then you will have to create another file, but call it differently – “StartServer.bat”. You also need to put the code in it:
- cd C:UsersUserNameDesktopCounter-Strike-2
- start /wait /REALTIME cs2.exe -dedicated -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 1 +map de_inferno
Next, you need to right-click on the Counter-Strike_2_Install.bat file and run it as Administrator, after which the rest of the files needed by the server will be downloaded to your folder automatically. The final touch will be to open ports on our computer so that other people can connect to it, and therefore to the server. You will need to open TCP/UDP port 27015 (we will use it), as well as the Steam request port 27016 .
After that, we can launch it using our StartServer.bat file and invite friends to play. To connect, they will need your IP and port, which will need to be written in the in-game console (called via ~).
Option 3: Dedicated Server via Hamachi
You can create a dedicated server not only directly through CS2, but also through other programs. For example, through Logmein Hamachi:
- First, download the program from the official website , and then download all the necessary files to install the server.
- Unzip the downloaded archive and move all files to the address: SteamsteamappscommonCounter-Strike Global Offensivegamebinwin64 , unless, of course, you have CS2 installed in another directory.
- After that, we launch Hamachi itself and create our own server there.
- At the end, we launch the game itself and the start.bat file , which will be located in the same directive where we unpacked the archive.
- In the in-game console, enter the command “ connect [IP] ”, where IP indicates the Hamachi server address.
Done. But don’t forget that to connect to your server in the game, your friends will also need to download Hamachi and first connect to your server in this program, and then connect directly to CS2 through the console.