Create a TF2 server

TF2 is a fun game I’d like people to play on. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to set up a TF2 server (compared to, IE, a minecraft server), but I did the work for you with this tutorial :).

I assume you are using Ubuntu 18.04 (latest LTS at the time of writing).

As usual, fill the variable box down here to personalize the tutorial for you. The values aren’t stored anywhere, so you can be sure anything you put there is private.

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Your TF2 server domain name

User that will be created and will own the tf2 server files

The form values are not saved, refresh the page to reset them

Prerequisites

If you want to proceed with the server installation, you’ll need :

• A VPS or a linux (ubuntu) box to run the bot. You can get them for cheap at ScaleWay (a START1-M or L will do just fine, depending on the guild count) or DigitalOcean, but you can’t get them for free

I used a VPS - GAME1 from HostMyServers, since they make affordable 5GHz VPS and are located in France (closer to me in the network point of view)

• An internet connection
• A basic understanding of terminal and SQL
• A steam account
• Optional, but recommended : a domain name. I use Gandi for that, but you can use anyone that sells domains names.

That’s alright ? Let’s get started!

Server setup

Login to your server using SSH

ssh 'root@§§dns§§"'

Update everything on the server to start cleanly.

apt update && apt dist-upgrade -y

Install a web server (apache2), a SQL database (mysql-server + mysql-client) and PhpMyAdmin to administrate the Database.

apt install -y apache2 mysql-server mysql-client phpmyadmin

When requested, select apache2 with space then use tab to select the OK button

Choose yes when asking to configure the database with dbconfig-common

The password will be root, repeat two times.

Prepare the server by installing LGSM prerequisites :

dpkg --add-architecture i386; apt update; apt install -y mailutils postfix curl wget file bzip2 gzip unzip bsdmainutils python util-linux ca-certificates binutils bc jq tmux lib32gcc1 libstdc++6 libstdc++6:i386 libcurl4-gnutls-dev:i386 libtcmalloc-minimal4:i386

When prompted, you want a local site with a FQDN of §§dns§§

Install some more TF2 server prerequisites:

apt install -y gdb lib32tinfo5

Cleanup behind ourselves :

apt autoremove

Create the TF2 server user

Once done, create the user with adduser §§user§§

Enter a secure, random password that will not show up when you type. Press enter at every prompt.

Login as the user with

su - §§user§§

Install LGSM

Linux Game Server manager provide a simple command to install itself

wget -O linuxgsm.sh https://linuxgsm.sh && chmod +x linuxgsm.sh && bash linuxgsm.sh tf2server

Then, type, as requested,

./tf2server install

Press enter when asked for the server directory (it should already be /home/§§user§§)

The install should proceed, press enter when asked if it completed successfully.

Get the GSLT token

Go to this webpage, ensured you are logged in, and create a new token (game number will be 440, use a memo like ‘My TF2 server’)

Copy your token and paste it into the prompt when asked, the press enter.

Start the server

Type ./tf2server start to start the server for the first time

Type ./tf2server console to view the server console. Wait until the server is started (You’ll see a message like “Server is hibernating”)

Exit the console with CTRL-B and then type D

Stop the server

Type ./tf2server stop to stop the server now that the files have been created.

Install mods

Install metamod

Install metamod (required by sourcemod) by typing ./tf2server mi, then metamod

Install sourcemod

Repeat the process with Sourcemod, by typing ./tf2server mi, then sourcemod

Enable fastdl

Enable fastDl using the following command ./tf2server fastdl

Type Y, this is gonna take a long time.

You can and should re-run this command each time you update a map or something the clients have to download.

Update the tf2server config

Open the config file with nano ./serverfiles/tf/cfg/tf2server.cfg and add at the end

// FastDL
sv_downloadurl "http://§§dns§§/fastdl"
sv_allowdownload 0

Update the apache2 config

Create a new fastdl file with (as root, open a new terminal if needed) nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/§§dns§§.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName §§dns§§
        ServerAlias §§dns§§
        DocumentRoot /home/§§user§§/public_html
        <Directory /home/§§user§§/public_html>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride All
                Require all granted
        </Directory>
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
        # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, alert, emerg.
        LogLevel warn
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

And then, type a2ensite §§dns§§.conf && systemctl reload apache2 to enable the config you created.

Make the server start on boot, and also update it every so often

Type crontab -e and add in the file the following line

@reboot /home/§§user§§/tf2server monitor > /dev/null 2>&1
*/5 * * * *  /home/§§user§§/tf2server monitor > /dev/null 2>&1
@hourly /home/§§user§§/tf2server update > /dev/null 2>&1
30 0 * * * /home/§§user§§/tf2server update-lgsm > /dev/null 2>&1 && /home/§§user§§/tf2server force-update > /dev/null 2>&1

How to install a plugin

This a a kinda optional part, but I bet everyone will want to follow it, so here we go We’ll take this plugin as the one we would like to install, please adapt the instructions with your own plugins.