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Quick answers to the questions we hear most about Counter-Strike 2 servers. Each answer links to the full guide.

Difficulty

Beginner

Time

5 minutes

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Setup and connecting

The panel downloads Counter-Strike 2 from Steam, which is about 68 GiB. Most actions are unavailable until it finishes. See getting started.
Yes, if you want your server in the server browser. Create one at steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers with App ID 730 and paste it into Server settings > Game server login token. Your Steam account must not be limited. See create a GSLT.
Turn on the developer console in CS2 (Settings > Game > Enable Developer Console (~)), press ~ and type connect 203.0.113.10:27015 with your own address. See connect to your server.
Set Join password in Server settings > Basics, then Review and save and restart. Players join with connect 203.0.113.10:27015; password yourpassword. Leave it empty for a public server.
Not yourself: your slots are set by your plan, so the Player slots field and the Max Players startup variable are read-only. To ask about more slots, open a ticket.

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Game modes and maps

Click a tile, such as Competitive or Deathmatch, in Server settings > Game mode and map. It applies when the next map loads. For other modes, see the game type and game mode table.
Pick a Start map in Server settings and click Change now, or type changelevel de_inferno in the console. The start map is the one the server uses after a restart.
Yes. Paste the map’s Workshop address into Workshop map and click Change now. To host a whole collection, use the Host Workshop Collection and Workshop Collection ID startup variables. See workshop maps and collections.
Set Bots to 0 in Server settings and save. To remove them right now, type bot_kick in the console.
CS2 uses sub-tick updates instead of a fixed tickrate, so there is no tickrate setting to change. See performance.

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Plugins and admins

Install CounterStrikeSharp (it brings Metamod:Source) on the Frameworks page, then upload each plugin’s folder to game/csgo/addons/counterstrikesharp/plugins/ with Files. See frameworks and plugins.
Add your SteamID64 with the @css/root flag to game/csgo/addons/counterstrikesharp/configs/admins.json, then type css_admins_reload. See admin and commands.
No. CS2 doesn’t support FastDL (sv_downloadurl). Custom content reaches players through the Steam Workshop, for example with the MultiAddonManager plugin. See custom content.
The original Swiftly framework is no longer developed. Its successor is SwiftlyS2, which you can install on the Frameworks page. Most popular plugins are made for CounterStrikeSharp, though.

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Matches and demos

Use the MatchZy plugin. It adds a ready system, knife round, pauses and automatic demos. See the MatchZy guide.
Add tv_enable 1 and tv_autorecord 1 to server.cfg and restart. Demos are saved in game/csgo/. See record GOTV demos.

Getting started

Set up your server step by step.

Server configuration

Every setting explained.

Troubleshooting

Fixes for common problems.

Popular setups

Practice, retakes and more.

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Need Extra Help?

If you encounter any issues, our support team is ready to assist:

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Last Updated: October 2026