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This guide gives you ready-to-use setups for the most popular kinds of Counter-Strike 2 server: practice, retakes, deathmatch and 1v1, and automatic GOTV demo recording.

Difficulty

Intermediate

Time

10–20 minutes per setup

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Practice server

A practice server lets you learn smokes, flashes and molotovs with infinite money, ammo and time, and a preview of where your grenade lands.
1

Create practice.cfg

Click Files, go to game/csgo/cfg/, click New file and name it practice.cfg. Paste this in and save:
2

Run it

Type exec practice in the Console.
3

Lock the server

Set a Join password in Server settings so only your team can join.

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What the main lines do

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Handy commands for players

With cheats on, players can type these in their own CS2 console:
  • noclip: fly through walls. Bind it to a key with bind n noclip.
  • sv_rethrow_last_grenade: throws your last grenade again.
To go back to normal, restart the server, or run a config with sv_cheats 0. For a full practice mode with saved lineups and spawn commands, use MatchZy’s practice mode.

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Retakes server

In retakes, the terrorists start with the bomb already planted and the counter-terrorists must retake the site. The most popular way to run it is the CS2 Retakes plugin.
1

Install CounterStrikeSharp

Use the Frameworks page. See frameworks and plugins.
2

Download the plugin

From the releases page, download RetakesPlugin-[version].zip. It includes ready-made spawns for the standard maps.
3

Upload it

Unzip it and upload its contents into game/csgo/addons/counterstrikesharp/.
4

Set the bots to 0

In Server settings, set Bots to 0, then Review and save.
5

Restart and configure

Restart the server. The plugin creates its config in game/csgo/addons/counterstrikesharp/configs/plugins/RetakesPlugin/. There you can change, for example, MaxPlayers (default 9) and VIP queue priority.
The plugin has a basic weapon allocation built in. For a better buy menu, the plugin’s author recommends adding one separate allocator plugin, such as Yoni’s Allocator. Set EnableFallbackAllocation to false in the retakes config if you do.
Server settings also has a Retakes tile for CS2’s own Retakes mode.

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Deathmatch and 1v1 servers

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Team deathmatch

In Server settings, click the Deathmatch tile, then Review and save and restart. Players respawn straight away and earn points for kills.

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Free-for-all deathmatch

Use the Deathmatch tile, then add these lines to server.cfg (click Open server.cfg):
Now every player is an enemy and players spawn in random places.

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1v1 and 2v2

Click the Wingman tile for 2v2 (or 1v1) matches on the small Wingman maps. Set Bots to 0 so bots don’t fill empty places.
Deathmatch uses more CPU than casual modes, especially with many players or bots. See performance.

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Record GOTV demos automatically

GOTV records every match as a demo file you can watch in CS2 later.
1

Turn on GOTV recording

Click Open server.cfg in Server settings and add:
2

Restart

Save the file and restart the server. GOTV starts with the next map.
3

Play a match

A demo is recorded for each game.
4

Download the demo

Click Files and open game/csgo/. Demos end in .dem. Click … next to a demo and choose Download.
To start and stop a recording yourself, type tv_record mydemo and tv_stoprecord in the console. GOTV must be on.
Demos can be large, often more than 100 MB each. Download the ones you want to keep and delete old ones, so your disk doesn’t fill up. A full disk can stop your server from saving or starting.

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Watch a demo

Put the .dem file in your own CS2 folder at game/csgo/ on your computer, then type playdemo mydemo in the CS2 console.

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Watching GOTV live

Live GOTV spectating needs its own port on your server. Open a ticket and ask for an extra port. Recording demos works without one.
Running matches? MatchZy starts and stops demo recording for you and names each demo after the match.

MatchZy

Scrims, practice mode and demos.

Admin and commands

Console commands and config files.

Frameworks and plugins

Install CounterStrikeSharp and plugins.

Server configuration

Game modes and rules.

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Need Extra Help?

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Last Updated: October 2026