VERY informative guide to setting up a server in VISTA!!!

[freddukes]

How to install SRCDS on Windows Vista

If this tutorial isn't everything you need, then you may be able to find out more help from http://forums.srcds.com

Okay, I'm sorry this isn't a tutorial for eventscripts, but I feel that getting your scripts to work can be a weary job. Setting up your own server enables just a selected few to be able to join to test your scripts, or if you wish it could save you a bit of dosh rather than buying from the internet.

SRCDS Stands for Source Dedicated Server. Instead of using the GUI Programme that comes with Steam, we will be using the console, as this is less performance hoar, and is easier to customize.

Start of by downloading the latest HLDSupdatetool (half-life dedicated server update tool) from this link here. Save it to a temporary location then open the installation wizard and run through the options. When it asks you to save it too a location, I highly recommend you use your secondary partition if you have one (in this case I'll be using D: and on that partition, Install it to a folder called SRCDS. So lets recap... You've downloaded hldsupdatetool and installed it to D:/SRCDS. Now go to Notepad, and copy and paste this command into notepad. (Obviously changing the directories to your own needs... For example if you put it on drive E:/Srcds then change the D: to E: )

Code:

D:
cd srcds
hldsupdatetool.exe -command update -game "Counter-Strike Source" -dir D:\srcds

Go to file -> Save as ->
“File Name -> Update.Bat”
“Save As Type -> All Files”

Okay, so go to where you saved it, and double click the file, it should bring up Command Prompt, and begin downloading lots of files. Okay, so after about 10 – 15 minutes, Command Prompt will close and you'll think you've done... Wrong... You've just downloaded the first part of 5 sections... So back to update.bat you go and double click on it. It'll say

Code:

Checking bootstrapper version . . .
Updating Installation

And carry on from where you left. In total You'll have to click the update.bat around 5 times. On your 5th time it should say Installation complete. Just to make sure, double click it again and it should say this...

Code:

Checking bootstrapper version . . .
Updating Installation

Checking/Installing 'Counter-Strike Source Shared Content' version 68

Checking/Installing 'Base Source Shared Models' version 4

Checking/Installing 'Base Source Shared Sounds' version 4

Checking/Installing 'Base Source Shared Materials' version 8

Checking/Installing 'Source Dedicated Server' version 93 (hard to see this one come up, it flashes for about .5 of a second then Command Prompt will close.)

After these files have downloaded, You'll now need to go into D:/SRCDS to see if your files have downloaded correctly. The main file is D:/SRCDS/Cstrike/. Lets recap on what you know have. You have downloaded all the files necessary for running a server onto your PC.
Okay, so now open up notepad, and copy and paste this inside it.

Code:

D:
cd srcds
srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +map cs_office -port 27015 -maxplayers 16 -autoupdate

You can change the map to any map You'd like, but keep the port the same as Vista does not like many ports, and also change the maxplayers to the amount that you want. Do the exact same as what you did before, but call it server.bat, and make sure you save it as file type “All Files.” Okay, double click that, and a console should appear, at the bottom of the list it should say,

Console Wrote:Adding master server (IP)
Adding master server (IP)
Connection to Steam Servers Successful
VAC Secure is activated.

Okay, so right click Steam click servers... Go into the LAN tab, and you should see Counter-Strike Source sitting there with 0/maxplayers in... Okay, you can now go inside the server, however, it is just a plain server with nothing on so we want to change that .
The most important configuration file is the server.cfg. This is the barebones to any server, hosting all your settings of the server. I am going to give you my server.cfg, and you can change it to any settings you'd like... First, again, open notepad. Copy and paste all of this inside, and change to your preference.

Code:

Server.cfg
// ***************
// GENERAL SETTINGS
// ***************

hostport 27015                       // The port of the server (default is 27015)
hostname "Your hostname here"        // Name of server
sv_lan 0                             // Change it to 1 if you want a LAN only Server
sv_region 3                          // Europe
rcon_password "pass"                 // Password for most things
// sv_password "password"            // To make a private server
sv_contact email@address.com        // The contacts email address

// ***************
// GAME SETTINGS, YOU CAN CHANGE THESE THE WAY YOU LIKE IT
// ***************

mp_buytime 3            // Sets the amount of minutes players are able to buy
mp_startmoney 2000      // Sets the amount of starting money, max=16000
mp_c4timer 35           // Sets the amount of secs before C4 explodes
mp_flashlight 1         // 1 enables flashlight, 0 disables it
mp_footsteps 1          // 1 enables hearing footsteps, 0 disables it
mp_falldamage 1         // Falling damage, || 1 = enable 0 = disable
mp_hostagepenalty 0     // Sets the number of hostages a player can kill before they are booted from the server. || 0 is disabled
mp_freezetime 2         // Sets the seconds before players can move in the beginning of a round
sv_maxspeed 320         // Max speed users can run at || Default = 320
sv_gravity 800          // Server gravity, less = higher jumping. || Default = 800
sv_maxvelocity 3500     // Maximum velocity an object can have ingame || Default= 3500
sv_turbophysics 1       // Mow you can stand on barrels, tables, and push/pull them by +use
phys_pushscale 3        // changes gravity physics when shooting something as it blows back X times further
sv_pushaway_force 30000 // 30000 is the default value, Lower= harder to move Higher= easier to move)  

// ***************
// Advanced RCON
// ***************

sv_rcon_banpenalty 10
sv_rcon_maxfailures 10
sv_rcon_minfailures 5
sv_rcon_minfailuretime 30

// ***************
// TIME, WIN & ROUND SETTINGS
// ***************

mp_timelimit 40  // Timelimit is how many minutes for a map.
mp_winlimit 0    // When a team reaches this amount of wins it has won the map. || 0=disabled
mp_maxrounds 0   // When two teams finish playing this amount of rounds the map ends || 0=disabled
mp_roundtime 5   // Round time, in minutes. After this amount of minutes has passed || a scenario win is awarded. Min 1, Max 9

// ***************
// TEAMBALANCING
// ***************

mp_autoteambalance 0 // Toggles the forcing of clients to join teams to make it balanced. 1=on and 0=off
mp_limitteams 0      // There can be a tolerance of 1 person more on 1 team before autoteambalance kicks in

// ***************
// FF & TEAMKILL & IDLE
// ***************

mp_friendlyfire 0        // Toggles friendly fire 1=on and 0=off
mp_tkpunish 1            // Toggles the forcing of a player to sit out the next round if he has tked
mp_autokick 1            // Kick idle team-killing players. 1=on and 0=off
mp_spawnprotectiontime 5 // Kick players who team-kill within this many seconds of a round restart.
sv_timeout 40            // After this many seconds without a message from a client, the client is dropped

// ***************
// SPECTATORS
// ***************

mp_allowspectators 1 // toggles whether the server allows spectator mode or not. 1=on and 0=off
mp_forcecamera 0     // Restricts spectatorcamera view for dead players. 1=on and 0=off

// ***************
// SET RATES
// ***************

sv_maxrate 9999                // Max bandwidth rate allowed on server, 0=unlimited, max=20000
sv_minrate 5000               // Min bandwidth rate allowed on server, 0=unlimited, 4000=good to keep dialup gamers off the server
sv_maxupdaterate 100          // Maximum updates per second that the server will allow, increasing this will take more cpu power, 100 is max
sv_minupdaterate 10           // Minimum updates per second that the server will allow, increasing this will take more CPU power
decalfrequency 60             // The user can only spray their spray every x seconds
fps_max 500                   // Frame rate limiter
sv_unlag 1                    // Enable lag compensation
sv_maxunlag 1                    // Maximum lag compensation
sv_logsdir D:\SRCDS\cstrike\logs // The directory where the logs will be saved

// ***************
// DOWNLOAD
// ***************

sv_downloadurl ""                                 // Your download host...
sv_allowdownload 1                                      // Allow clients to download files
sv_allowupload 1                                        // Allow clients to upload customizations files like logospray files
net_maxfilesize 100                                     // Max size for users to download is 100MB

// ***************
// LOGGING
// ***************

log on           // SERVER LOGGING, creates a logfile (needed for statsprograms), "log off" to turn off logging
sv_logbans 1     // Log server bans in server logs
sv_logecho 0     // Echo log information to the consol (makes lots of spam)
sv_logfile 1     // Log server information to a log file
sv_log_onefile 1 // Log everything in one file


// ***************
// CHEATS & PAUSE
// ***************

sv_cheats 1   //Enable cheats || 1 = on 0 = off
sv_pausable 0 // disable clients' ability to pause the server

// ***************
// OTHER SETTINGS
// ***************

mp_chattime 5    // Amount of seconds players can chat after the game is over
sv_voiceenable 1 // VOICE disabled, if you want VOICE enabled then change 0 into 1
sv_consistency 0 // Enables users to pass certain conistency byass ceck (eg. Scope overaly) || 1 = on 0 = off
sv_alltalk 1     // Enables talking to Live people when Dead

// ***************
// Ammo
// ***************

ammo_338mag_max 100     // awp
ammo_357sig_max 5000    // p228
ammo_45acp_max 5000     // ump45, mac10, usp
ammo_50AE_max 5000      // deagle
ammo_556mm_box_max 1000 // m249
ammo_556mm_max 600      // galil, sg552, famas, m4a1, sg550
ammo_57mm_max 5000      // p90, fiveseven
ammo_762mm_max 600      // scout, ak47, g3sg1, aug
ammo_9mm_max 5000       // mp5navy, tmp, glock, elite
ammo_buckshot_max 1280  // m3, xm1014

// ***************
// EXEC FILES
// ***************

exec banned_user.cfg

echo ***************
echo ***************
echo SERVER.CFG LOADED
echo ***************
echo ***************

// ***************
// END OF FILE
// ***************

Save this as server.cfg and as file type as “all files”. Save it to D:/SRCDS/cstrike/cfg/.
Load up your server.bat again, and you should see in the console that the server.cfg has been loaded. If not, then you need to make sure that it's saved in the right location, and isn't saved as server.cfg.txt.

Okay, so you've got the main part of you server working, but now you want admin access to your server. So download this file here and right click, extract to -> D:/SRCDS/cstrike and hit unzip. It should say Some of these files already exist, do you wish to overwrite? Hit yes to all. Okay, so go to D:/SRCDS/cstrike/addons and there should be a file inside called CreateVDF.exe. Run that file, and it'll ask you what game you want to install it for, obviously if your running a Counter-Strike Source server click that and click Create VDF. Okay, Nearly done. Open up your server.cfg once again, and at the bottom of the file, just underneath exec banned_user.cfg type this..

exec mani_server.cfg

Hit save and that's done . Okay, now go to D:/SRCDS/cstrike/cfg/mani_server.cfg and open it up. Change all those settings to how you desire and it will be fine. Next, what you need to do is make yourself an admin. Go into any game on CSS, and access the console by hitting the ~ button (for UK users it's the button under escape.) It should bring up a black box with lots of text inside. If not, then go to options -> Keyboard -> advance -> enable developers console and hit enter. Inside the console type status. Lots of text will come up and one of the lines will say # (number) “Your username” “STEAM_0:x:xxxxxxxxx 59:58 etc etc” The important bit is the STEAM number. Copy and paste that number (an example steam number would be STEAM_0:1:17190298 . Okay, Now open up notepad (yes, again.) This bit can be quite annoying, but if you follow my details hopefully you wont go wrong. Copy and paste this in...

NB: If you don't want to create your own clients.txt, There is a tool that can automatically create the clients.txt find it here (Note. Requires you to have an account to download the file, It's free to register)

Code:

"clients.txt"
{
  // This key group lists all your client players
  "players"
  {
  // This must be a unique client name
  "freddukes"
  {
    // Client real name
    "name"    "YOUR REAL NAME"
    // Steam ID for client
    “steam"    "YOUR STEAM ID"
    "groups"
    {
      "Admin"    "Serveradmin"
      “Immunity"    "Serveradmin"
    }
  }
  // These are global groups of flags that can be assigned to   clients
  "groups"
  {
    “Immunity"
    {
      "Clanmember"    "a b c k n p autojoin grav ping"
      "No Kick Ban"    "b k"
      "NoFun"    "d f g i l t"
      "Serveradmin"    "a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v x y afk autojoin"
      "Serveradmin"    "grav ping"
      "Teamadmin"    "b k n ping"
    }
    "Admin"
    {
      "Clanmember"    "p s t v w y admin pban"
      "Level 2 Access"    "f g i k l m o p q r s t v w z admin spray grav pban client"
      "Serveradmin"    "e f g i k l m o p q r s t v w x y z q2 q3 admin      spray grav"
      "Serveradmin"    "pban client"
      "Teamadmin"    "I O V a b k l o p v w admin"
    }
  }
}

Okay... Copy and paste all of that into notepad... change the Real Name and SteamID and save it as clients.txt in D:/SRCDS/cstrike/cfg/mani_admin_plugin/ Okay.. Hopefully that'll be it... Load up your server. It should now look something similar to this.




go in game and to test if your admin, go into your console again (hit the ~ button or the button under escape for UK users.) Now type this exactly...

Code:

bind v “admin”

Okay... Now hit enter and go back into game. If you press v it should say 1 of 2 things. 1, a popup menu comes up and says things like 1. Player management etc... This means that you have installed it correctly and you are an admin. On the other hand it could say “You are not authorised to run this command.” If this happens, it means Mani admin installed correctly, but your clients.txt is wrong. Please run through my tutorial again to make sure you did it correctly. If it says nothing at all it means you've either bound the key wrongly in the console, or mani admin is not installed correctly. Please, go back and take a closer look.
Right, so now your server is perfect, you want to get people to join? Okay, right, here's where it can get confusing. Are you being a router? If not then ctrl + f and type non-router.
Okay, if you're reading this you're behind a router. Okay, so a little information before we begin. Routers protect incoming traffic, and prevents people from accessing the internal network, so we open special doorways called ports, for the traffic to get through.
However, first priority is to get a static Internal IP, so the routers ports stay assigned to your PC. Click on start, right click network and select properties. Then it'll open a page with your network, and on the left pane of the window, there will be a link saying “manage network connections.” Select that and it'll bring up your PC network “Local Area Connection”. Okay, good? Take a breath. Now, right click that, and select properties once again. Once inside properties, select “internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4.) and click properties. Once Inside that new popup You'll face a popup that asks you for options of:

Network Settings Wrote:IP Address:
Subnet Mask:
Default Gateway:

Preferred DNS server:
Alternate DNS Server:

Right, now how the hell do you fill out these? Simple, go to Command Prompt once again, and once inside type ipconfig /all and hit enter. Read down till you find “Ipv4 Address,” “Default Gateway” “Subnet Mask” and “DNS Server.” Okay, write them all down, and simply insert them into the correct places inside the Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/Ipv4) settings. Hit enter, and attempt to connect to the internet. If you can, then everything is fine. If not, just go back into your settings, and select Obtain IP address automatically and re-try again later.

So now that you have a static internal IP address, go to portforward and select your router. Click games and go to Counter-Strike. So say your router page is http://192.168.2.1 go to that and go to your ports page. Now, don't listen to Port Forwards port, I'll tell you the correct ports to open.

Code:

UDP 1200 – 1200
TCP 27015 – 27030
UDP 27000 – 27039

That's it. Save changes. Now, go to this link... My IP here: and in the middle of the page will be your external IP. Now copy that... Go back into your server.cfg and at the top of the page add this line.. (above hostport line). IP <your ip here> so for me the code would be.

Code:

Server.cfg
// ********************
// DEFAULT SETTINGS
// ********************

IP 81.108.194.81
Hostport 27015

But obviously your IP would be there instead. Okay, now save that.

*Tip for advanced users. Sign up an account at http://www.no-ip.org and then put your IP in and choose your domain name. So if you want your IP to be myclanserver.no-ip.org then put in myclanserver... Now instead of putting IP 81.108.194.81 in put IP myclanserver.no-ip.org in or whatever you put in as your name. All this does is make sure that if your IP changes, your friends will still connect to the same IP, rather than having to put in a different IP.

if you are behind a non-router setup start here... If you are then go back up and do the steps above if not already done: Okay... So know you have your ports open, you now only have ONE FINAL THING TO DO ... This step is how to customize your Windows Firewall... (If you are running a different firewall such as ZoneAlarm, you'll have to figure out how to configure it on your own, I'm only explaining how to configure Windows Firewall.) Okay, hit start for the last time and click control panel. Go down to Windows Firewall and double click it. Inside on the left hand side will be an option to “Allow a programme through Windows Firewall.” Okay so click that and view the window. At the bottom of that window will be a button that says “Add a port” so click that. For the name call it CSS1 and add port 27015 to UDP... Okay, now click The “Open Port” button 1 more time, and call it CSS2, and add port 27015 to TCP. Now click finish. Close everything, and finally you are done. Load up your server, and to get your friends to connect, just tell them to add yourIP:27015 to their favourites. So if your IP is 81.108.194.81 then tell them to add 81.108.194.81:27015 to their favourite. If you used the no-ip service then tell them to add myclanserver.no-ip.org:27015 to their favourites, or whatever it is. Okay, so then tell them to connect, and have fun.

BIG NOTE!!!! You connect on your INTERNAL IP (it'll be something like 192.168.2.65:27015, and it'll be on your LAN tab) however, your friends will connect on your WAN IP (The 81.108.194:27015 IP or whatever it is) They can't right click you in friends, and click 'Join Game.' It WILL NOT work that way, they MUST add your IP to favourites and connect to it that way for it to work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAQ list!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question
I get a winstock error when running the update tool. It downloads all the maps, then it says there is an error connecting.
Any idea's?

Answer:
1. delete InstallRecord.blob found in ./srcds
2. add -verify_all to the command line of the update.bat
3. run it until srcds.exe shows up

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question

I'm on Windows XP and I follow your exact words and nothing shows up in my LAN settings.

Answer:

There are many XP tutorials out there, but this is the first I've seen for Vista. This tutorial is designed exactly for Vista. The problem with Vista is it don't like the port 27015, however, XP does. So in your server.cfg change the line

Code:

hostport 27030

to

Code:

hostport 27015

and likewise inside you server.bat. Change the line -port 27030 to -port 27015. Also make sure your firewall is allowing the ports through. To do this just change where I said "27030 UDP" and "27030 TCP" to "27015 UDP" and "27015 TCP" respectively.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question

I keep getting the error "Couldn't allocate dedicated UDP port" when I try to start my server. How can I fix that?


Answer:

When the server cannot allocate a dedicated UDP port, generally it is trying to load up the server via an external IP, however, it's on a local machine. The most common reason for this is if you've added your external IP onto your command line (server.bat) Now, the easy way to fix this is to delete the +IP command from the server.bat, it is not even mandatory that it is there.

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Question

I do not know the Username or Password to gain access into my router.

Answer:

Well I can't really help you with this... Generally the username is admin or username or blank and the password is generally 'admin' or blank.... If none work, then the only thing I could try is asking someone who would know (eg. If you're parents set it up or something) or if you set it up and forgot the password, if you're really that desperate, you could attempt to reset to factory defaults and set the router up again. However, this is not recomended.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question

I did everything the guide told me to about PortForwarding, yet when I insert my server's IP into my favourites, it says <not responding>, and it doesn't even show up on the LAN tab, but the console initiates and says that Connection to VAC Servers Successful.

Answer:

Have you got any firewalls running? I've noticed an error that's happening with Vista's version of ZoneAlarm. When running the server, everything looks fine and dandy, but ZA is secretly blocking this. To fix this, just right click zone alarm and switch it to 'Game Mode'. If you've opened the EXACT right ports as me, and you're still having problems, please post a couple of screen shots (if you can) and I will try my best. But first, please attempt to shut down all firewalls, and other things that maybe blocking. If this still persists, PM me and I will teach you how to DMZ for a short time only (however, again, this problem is only for a short fix, it is not recommended as a long-term fix.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question

I followed your tutorial exactly, and my server isn't showing up in the LAN tab.

Answer:

Sorry for the inconvenience, however, the latest version of the source game engine 'broke' port 27030. I have changed my tutorial, however, if your server.cfg and server.bat all still say port 27030, change them to 27015 respectively. I again apologize, however, it was an unforeseen activity, and nothing could prevent this.

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[SuF]

omfg THANK YOU!!!! i think your server.cfg fixxed my not being able to join ma own server problem :/ no one could firgure it out tyvm =P

[taufiq1991]

hey im stuck at executing dedicated server config file.. help me pls...

[Drocona]

Copied and sticked the guide, good job.

[freddukes]

Edited To show FAQ's and the recent update by Steam Breaking port 27030 for some reason, and fixing port 27015... Again.

[Drocona]

Freddukes, can you maybe edit the sticky too when you update it, they are 2 separate posts
Thanks again for the work.

[freddukes]

I can't. It's locked, I tried to do that first, and failed.

[Drocona]

Hey that's weird, you should always be able to EDIT the post no matter what.

[taufiq1991]

hey
how to get the autoexec.cfg and the banned_user.cfg?
can tell me what it does?

[Spartanfrog]

it is the list of banned people in your server and when you ban someone it puts there steam ID/IP adress in it.

[taufiq1991]

hey spartan..i still dont have that autoexec.cfg even thou iremove all mods -.-"""

[Spartanfrog]

:/ Im stumped here lol

[Drocona]

simply make a file called autoexec.cfg in the srcds\<modfolder>\cfg folder and it works... dunno what you want with it but...

It's just some commands (like banned_user.cfg) some clown added to their server.cfg you copied, it doesn't do anything it's just part of a system someone made once for private use. You can remove it no problem...

[Spartanfrog]

No no lol. He had a different problem and we were just talking about autoexec.cfg lol.

[cobro]

orangebox\srcds.exe is not a valid win32 application this is what i get on my computer ? and i am trying to run tf2 ? any help