# cd /<yourserver>/cstrike/addons
# wget http://sourcemod.steamfriends.com/files/mmsource-1.7.1.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf mmsource-1.7.1.tar.gz
# rm mmsource-1.7.1.tar.gz

Ok, now we have MetaMod downloaded and extracted into the correct directory, last thing we need to do is create a VDF file to load it, MetaMod have a great VDF generator here or you can do the following…

# touch metamod.vdf
# pico metamod.vdf

Once in pico, paste the following text in ([shift]+[insert]), save with [ctrl]+o and exit with [ctrl]+x

“Plugin”
{
“file” “../cstrike/addons/metamod/bin/server_i486.so”
}

You can now restart your server and double check that MetaMod is running by typing “meta version” into the console. All done!

# wget http://www.mani-admin-plugin.com/mani_admin_plugin/v1_2_beta_s/mani_admin_plugin_v1_2_beta_s.zip
# unzip mani_admin_plugin_v1_2_beta_s.zip

Once that’s done, you can move the files from the newly extracted directory to your ./<server>/cstrike directory as follows

# mv -R addons /<yourserver>/cstrike
# mv -R cfg/<yourserver>/cstrike
# mv -R materials/<yourserver>/cstrike
# mv -R sound /<yourserver>/cstrike

The next step is to add “exec mani_server.cfg” into your own server.cfg

# echo “exec mani_server.cfg >> /yourserver/cstrike/cfg/server.cfg”

Finally, we need to get mani running as an addon each time your server starts, the best way to do this is to create a mani_admin_plugin.vdf in /yourserver/cstrike/addons and add the following text to it.

“Plugin”
{
“file” “../cstrike/addons/mani_admin_plugin”
}

Mani should now be installed and running, the final steps is to add yourself to the /yourserver/cstrike/cfg/mani_admin_plugin/clients.txt file, this however I will not cover. All of the information on how to do this, in various different ways is available here.

Just so you know, I am currently working on a script that will allow for the automatic installation of ANY of the linux based Steam game servers just by answering a few questions. I’ll keep you posted on my progress with this.

This is how to set up a CS:S server on Ubuntu Linux. This is not a definitive guide, it is simply how I have done it. I have omitted some security precautions here as my server will not be going live online, and is only used for testing things in-house.

NOTE: lines of text preceded with a # symbol should be entered into a terminal.

First of all, you are going to need the HLDS tool from Steam, this is what allows us to get all of the required game files and update the server etc…

# wget http://www.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin
# chmod +x hldsupdatetool.bin
# ./hldsupdatetool.bin
# ./steam

This will download the hlds tool, make it executable, extract the steam tool, and update the steam tool. We now have everything required to get ready to install. The next step is to create somewhere for the server to go, and get all of the required files.

# mkdir CSS1
# ./steam -command update -game “Counter-Strike Source” -dir ./CSS1

This will begin the download of your new CS:S server, this can take some time and varies greatly depending on your download speed. At this point, you can consider what addons and configuration you want to use on your server, a handy tool I came across for the configuration files is available here. Once your CS:S server has finished installing, you can launch it by doing the following…

# cd CSS1
# ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +map cs_office +maxplayers 16 -tickrate 66 -autoupdate -ip 192.168.0.100

The above command assumes the following, you want to play cs_office with the possibility of hosting 16 players on a 66 tick server who’s IP is 192.168.0.100, adjust these values to suit your own requirements.

Congratulations, you should now have a working CS:S server, but its not much fun without some plugins, so we’re gonna grab and configure Mani Admin Plugin and Eventscripts to throw on there for some easy administration and fun games. This will be continued in part 2.