How to connect to a LAN server to play Counter Strike: Global Offensive

counter-strike-global-offensive

I am on a wireless network trying to play CS go with my friends. They all are in the same room with me. How can I create a server so I can play with my friends? In CS 1.6 we launch a hlds file which is in the cs 1.6 directory. We create a server through launching this hlds file. But in Counter Strike: Global Offensive I can't find hlds file, so now I don't know how to setup or create a server.

Best Answer

Valve keeps the documentation for installing CS:GO servers on the Valve Developer Wiki. The docs don't present a direct step-by-step procedure, though, so I'll try to assist.

  1. Download SteamCMD (look for the "Windows zip file" link)
  2. Unzip SteamCMD into a folder on your computer.
  3. Double click steamcmd.exe
  4. Wait while steamcmd gets the latest patches
  5. At the Steam> prompt, type login anonymous to get connected to Steam
  6. At the Steam> prompt, type force_install_dir cs_go to set the directory where CS:GO will be installed to. In this case, it's the folder cs_go in the SteamCMD folder
  7. At the Steam> prompt, type app_update 740 validate to initiate the dedicated server download.
  8. Wait for the files to download (the time depends on Steam server load and your internet connection)

Once the download is complete, you can close SteamCMD.

To launch the server:

  1. Open a command prompt (On Win7, you can open the Windows menu and type cmd.exe)
  2. Get to the directory where you installed the dedicated server (ie, cd C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\Downloads\steamcmd_win32\cs_go)
  3. Launch the server exe with a command like: srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup mg_bomb +map de_dust

The actual server options will vary depending on what type of CS:GO game server you want to run. More examples are here and complete srcds docs are here.

Running the server consumes some resources, so if you've got a PC that won't be playing the game, you can use that to run the server. If your PC is powerful enough, you might be able to run both the server and the game on the same machine. However, that will depend on a number of factors that are specific to your setup.

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