Counter-Strike

Here are my server specs so you can get an idea of what kind of computer you can run a dedicated server on of course more is better so just keep in mind that there are factors that come into play when hosting a dedicated server yourself. Like internet up/down speed, processor speed, ram, hard drive space.

AMD Athlon 1.2ghz

512mb PC-133 RAM

Linksys 10/100 NIC card

60gb Western Digital Hard Drive

Ubuntu Server 9.04

First things first login as root (if not already).

su

Next navigate to "/usr/local/games" and make a directory named hlds. This directory will hold all of the files for your dedicated server. Once steam is installed you will have a "hl2" folder and also a "cstrike" folder. We will only deal with the cstrike folder for this how to.

cd /usr/local/games

mkdir hlds

cd hlds

Now you will need to download the hldsupdatetool.bin from steam. This is the main install file for steam.

storefront.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin

After the bin file has been downloaded we need to make it executable so we can install steam. To make the.bin file executable

chmod +x hldsupdatetool.bin

Then execute the bin file by issuing the following command:

./hldsupdatetool.bin

Agree to the disclaimer

type yes

It will now extract a readme.txt and steam file into the directory. Execute the steam file so it can update it will take a few minutes. (You might have to do it twice)

./steam

Now we have to tell it what game we want to run. For this how to we will choose "Counter-Strike Source".

./steam -command update -game "Counter-Strike Source" -dir.

You now have a default Counter Strike Source dedicated server.

cd cstrike

/maps/ - is where all of the maps and waypoints are stored

/mapcycle.txt - is the list of maps it runs

So now that we have a base install lets make it a little more fun and automated.
First if you do not already have it installed, install the package "screen".

apt-get update

apt-get install screen

Screen will help you to run your dedicated server while you are configuring and testing the settings. We will come back to using screen in a moment. For now just install it.
Next we need to configure our server.cfg file. I have made a generic server.cfg file for you to download that has bots etc. Copy this file to your server and place it in the "/usr/local/games/hlds/cstrike/cfg/" folder.
Now we are ready to start the Counter Strike Source server. Type the following to get a server started.

screen

./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +map de_dust +maxplayers 16 -autoupdate

Ctrl-a followed by Ctrl-d (optional this will detach from screen)

Now run your cs client and goto LAN and wait for it to show up in the list. Double click on it to connect. Password=thisismypass (if you are using my server.cfg file)
You now have a vanilla Counter Strike Source server up and running. I would suggest if you are going to open your server up to the public to install either "Mani_Admin_Plugin" or "SourceMod" these will allow you to administer your server from the game and set many more options and fun things for your server.