Standalone Server Tutorial

I originally wrote, and posted, this on my website, however I've decided to share it. It is meant to help users create their own "Standalone Server", a term referring to a Game Server not bound to any other exterior programs. This could be used to create a counterstrike, counterstrike source, day of defeat, and even team fortress server.

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I want to start this tutorial by mentioning that a Standalone Server runs about 10 times better then a steam dedicated server, and players experience less lag. With this you could make that 20 man pub you've been wanting, or make yourself a kick-*** clan server. The Standalone server runs without the need of steam. Therefore, if steam crashes then the standalone will continue to run.

Alright so lets proceed with the tutorial.
Step 1: you must download the latest version of the Standalone update tool. In this tutorial you will be given reference as to how to install it for the Windows OS Only. So, click HERE to download the Windows HLDS Update Tool, as provided by Steampowered.com.

Step 2: Now, go into your C directory and make a new folder. Name it HLDS. Once again, the root of that folder should be C:\HLDS

Step 3: Now, double click your hlds update tool, and install it into your new folder.

Step 4: Once installed double click your new HldsUpdateTool file, which would be found in the folder labeled HLDS you created.

Step 5: Click on start and go to Run.

Step 6: In the Run window type cmd and click enter

Step 7: As a cause you should have seen a black window called the "Command Prompt" Open Up. Now in the command prompt type cd C:\HLDS This navigates to the folder where you installed the HldsUpdateTool.

Step 8: Now type HldsUpdateTool.exe -command update -game cstrike -dir . Make sure you include the period (.)

-game cstrike Identifies which game you want to create the server for. In our case it is counter strike 1.6, however this could be changed to: "cstrike", "dmc", "dod", "ricochet", "tfc", "valve", "Counter-Strike Source", or "hl2mp"

As a cause of the last command you should see a few things downloading. Just get a cup of coffee, and watch as your Standalone Server downloads itself.

Once this is done, you can run your Standalone server with the GUI that comes with steam, but it'll still run about 10 times faster and better. Also you can run the Standalone server as a command prompt interface, and it'll take up less RAM, allowing you to hold more players, and reducing latency.