User:Nosoop/Guide/Game Server Configuration

Source Engine games often differ in configuration; here are some basic suggestions on how to set them up for either testing or production use.

General

The following section(s) apply to most, if not all games.

Fast Downloads

The Source Engine normally provides downloads over the same channel as gameplay, which is rather slow.

"Fast" downloads are downloads served out-of-band over HTTP, and as such you will need to have an HTTP server up and running to take advantage of this functionality.

This is highly recommended if you are running a server with any amount of custom content that a player needs to download (models, sounds, maps).

sv_downloadurl "http://{your_server_location}/{mod}";

Game Specific

Team Fortress 2

The Dedicated server configuration section on the Team Fortress 2 Official Wiki provides general configuration instructions. Depending on the platform you're working on, you may also be interested in the sections for Linux and Windows.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The Advanced Configuration section on the Valve Developer Wiki describes server configuration unique to CS:GO. It's different from most other mods.

Left 4 Dead 2

Disabling lobby system

While developing plugins, you generally don't want players being connected through Steam's lobby system. Add the following to server.cfg:

sv_allow_lobby_connect_only "0";
sv_password "password_to_connect_with";

Virtual Server Configuration

As a developer, you may need to test on multiple platforms. To avoid having another physical machine to work on, you can use virtualization to run an operating system on your desktop.

Virtualbox

Networking

Network Address Translation

With NAT plus port forwarding, the minimum would be to forward UDP from one of the host's loopback IP addresses to the server port on the VM's address. Forwarding TCP isn't necessary unless you are interested in using the RCON protocol.

For example, given a virtual machine with an IP address of 10.0.2.15 and the server listening on port 27015, you should configure NAT as follows:

• 127.0.2.15:27015 (host) → 10.0.2.15:27015 (guest)

You can then connect to the server from the host OS by connecting to 127.0.2.15:27015.

Any loopback IP address on the host portion is acceptable to use (that is, any address starting with 127.*.*.*).

Host-Only Adapter

Enable the Host-Only Adapter on your VM and statically assign the address to be in the same network as your host operating system's adapter. This allows you to connect to the server without any additional networking complexities.