How To Make A Private Match In CS2

The private match-making option of CS2 allows a match to be configured and played privately with a specific group of users without such a private match becoming public (available for standard matchmaking). Private match-making can be especially useful for practising strategies, playing with a particular circle of friends, or setting up private tournaments.

It allows you to control who joins and who doesn’t and adjust game settings to provide an optimal experience for helping you improve your gameplay.

In CS2, private matches necessitate a high degree of user interaction and understanding of the in-game menu and various other console commands to provide the ideal user experience.

Furthermore, if you only have a small group of people (just you, two friends, or a significant event), private matchmaking via CS2 takes care of all the goal handling, whether you want to play one match or many, and giving each round their score.

To get started, you can do the following:

• Open CS2 and Log In: Launch CS2 and ensure you are logged into your Steam account.

• Navigate to Play: In the main menu, click the “Play” button to access the matchmaking options.

• Create a Lobby: Click the ‘Create Lobby’ option. This will open a new lobby with a name, in which you can invite your friends and tweak the match settings.

• Invite Friends: On the top side of the screen, hover over the ‘Invite Friends’ button to bring up details. It lets you invite friends to join the lobby, pulling from your Steam friends list.

• Choose Game Mode and Map: Once your buddies are in your lobby, pick your game mode (e.g., Competitive, Causal, Deathmatch), and decide on your map to play on. 

• Adjust Match Settings: Click the ‘Game Settings’ button on this screen. This allows you to edit and choose default settings for game time, starting money, and other match parameters.

• Start the Match: After configuring the settings, click the “Start Match” button and lock in your selected options to begin the game. All the players from the lobby will be brought into the game, and your private match is ready to be played.

Check out the next section on how to use the console command for matchmaking CS2 private matches.

If you’re an advanced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) player and want the ability to customize almost every aspect of your experience in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), the best way to do it is during setup for a private match. 

Using console commands, you can set more than what’s available through the standard in-game menu. This is especially useful if you’re gearing up to scrim or play serious match practice games.

Of course, practice in CS2 private matches is essential for those striving to reach professional status.Whether you are a competitive player looking to practice specific scenarios or just a regular player hoping to mess around with different game settings in a private match, using console commands can profoundly change your private match experience. 

If you don’t know how to do this, see the step-by-step instructions below.

Enable the Developer Console

You’ll need to enable the developer console before you can use console commands, so here’s how I do it:

• Open Settings: Launch CS2 and go to the main menu. Click on the “Settings” icon to open the game settings menu, then enable Developer Console:

• Navigate to the “Game Settings” tab. Find the “Enable Developer Console” option and set it to “Yes.” Save your changes and exit the settings menu.

• Open the Console: Simply hit your keyboard’s tilde (~) key. This should open the developer console unless it is hidden away in your settings.

Create a Private Lobby

The secret to players queuing up together inside the match-making lobby is enabled with the developer console. It’s easy; just go into your game options and enable the developer console. Then, type the following command:

• Open the Console: Click on the tilde (~) key to open the console.

• Create Lobby Command: Type the following command to create a private lobby mm_dedicated_search_maxping 350. This sets the max ping for matchmaking. Adjust this depending on your network conditions. Lower values will cause less latency, but finding servers may be more difficult.

Invite Friends via Console

After all, private matches are precisely that: private. You can share your creation by inviting friends via their Steam IDs on the console (here’s how).

• Retrieve Steam IDs: In the console, type status to see the names and Steam IDs of everyone currently in your session. 

• Copy Steam IDs: Identify and copy the Steam IDs of the players you want to invite.

• Invite Command: Use the following command to invite your friends: sv_invite_friend [SteamID]. Simply change the [SteamID] displayed on your screen with that of your friends, right-click the empty space, and execute the command. Repeat these steps for every player you wish to invite to your game.

Select Game Mode and Map

Additionally, the game’s great feature is that you can easily use console commands to select your favorite game mode and map, which means that you can play every available map and mode.

• Select Map Command: Use the map command to pick the map to use. For example, to play the map Dust2, do map de_dust2.

• Select Game Mode: You can also define the game mode with extra commands. For instance, to set the game to play in Competitive mode, you might run game_type 0; game_mode 1

Customize Match Settings

You can adjust various match settings using console commands. Some useful commands include:

• Round Time: mp_roundtime [minutes]

• Starting Money: mp_startmoney [amount]

• Freeze Time: mp_freezetime [seconds]

• Friendly Fire: mp_friendlyfire [0/1]

Start the Match 

Configure the tweaks and utilities, then mp_restartgame to apply them and restart the game mp_restartgame 1.

This lets you create a private match to your specifications. Console commands are best for crafting precise private matches. This method is suitable for competitive teams and established players.

Additional Tips for Advanced Private Matchmaking

Practice Scenarios:

Specify the practice situation with additional commands, e.g., having infinite ammo available for practice throwing grenades:

• sv_cheats 1
• sv_infinite_ammo 1
• ammo_grenade_limit_total 5

Server Configurations:

You can write your config files, save them in your CS2 directory, and then run them with exec [config_name].cfg 

Monitor Performance:

You can see your in-game network performance. Using the command net_graph 1 will enable it.

You can play with CS2 as if the designer were in the room. With the right combinations of console commands, any private match you host with CS2 can be optimized to your perfect specifications. 

Whether you need more realism for practicing or a more straightforward setup to host a private competition, CS2 has a command.

In the next section, we will quickly look at how to host a local server for private matches.

Although running a local server for CS2 will cost money for a shell server connected to the internet, it’s one of the most viable ways to host a private match (assuming Steam is down). It takes complete control over the game environment – with minimal latency. If you’re hosting a LAN party, training for an esports tournament, or whatever, you’ll nonetheless want a fast, stable (and controllable) system.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up a local server for CS2:

Download CS2 Server Files

To run a local server, one has to first download the dedicated server files for CS2 using a command-line tool that Valve calls SteamCMD. 

• Download SteamCMD: Visit the SteamCMD website and download the tool for your operating system. Extract the contents to a folder on your computer.

• Open SteamCMD: Open up SteamCMD through your programs menu and log in anonymously, then type in the following script: 

login anonymous

force_install_dir ./cs2_server

app_update 740 validate

This command sequence sets the installation directory to ./cs2_server and downloads the necessary files.

Configure the Server

After downloading the server files, configure the server options by editing the server.cfg file in the installation directory:

• Navigate to Installation Directory: Go to the folder where you installed the CS2 server files (cs2_server).

• Edit server.cfg: Bring up server.cfg in a text editor and add these lines to configure your server. 

hostname “My CS2 Server”

sv_password “mypassword”

sv_lan 0

sv_pure 1

sv_cheats 0

Edit the hostname to your picked server name and sv_password to a good password. Setting sv_lan to 0 allows people to connect over the internet. Finally, sv_pure ensures that only existing game files are used (more secure). 

Start the Server

Once the server is configured, you can bring it up through a terminal (or command prompt):

• Open Terminal/Command Prompt and navigate to the cs2_server directory.
• Run the Server and enter the following to start the server with the game settings that you prefer:

srcds -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 1 +map de_dust2

This order starts the server in console mode, in-game type Competitive (game_type 0), game mode Classic (game_mode 1), and map Dust2 (de_dust2).

Invite Players

If you want people to join your server, give them the server’s IP address and password, and they can enter with the … Your server: join mc.yourserver.com password your password.

• Share Server Details: Provide your friends with the server’s IP address and password.
• Connect Command: In CS2, players can open the console and enter: connect [server IP]; password [password]. Then replace [server IP] with the IP address of your server and [password] with the password you set in server.cfg.

When you run the server locally, you control the environment and the match settings in your immediate environment. That’s why setting up a local server is ideal for a competitive team that must practice for an upcoming tournament, friends who wish to play together without interruptions, or a group of people hosting a LAN party.

Let’s look at some of the ways to customize your private matches in CS2

When setting up your CS2 private match (whether through the button, the League, or one of the other options above), you can tweak some other game sets to help with your practice. Some of them are: 

Custom Rules and Game Modes

Create your fun game modes by combining any of the available console commands. For example, try out a ‘knife only’ game mode by using the following commands:

mp_roundtime 60

mp_startmoney 16000

mp_freezetime 0

mp_maxmoney 16000

mp_maxrounds 30

weapon_restrict knife

Training and Practice

Use private matches to practice skills. For example, you can set up a ghost grenade throw match:

sv_cheats 1

sv_infinite_ammo 1

ammo_grenade_limit_total 5

mp_roundtime_defuse 60

mp_restartgame 1

Events and Tournaments

To set up private tournaments, create a series of private matches using the tournament rules:

mp_roundtime 1.92

mp_roundtime_defuse 1.92

mp_maxrounds 30

mp_match_can_clinch 1

Modding and Custom Maps

Create your private matches with custom maps and mods. Add maps from the Steam Workshop to your private server list. You can load mods by installing them with the client or through the console:

map workshop/[map ID]/[map name]

In private matches, the set-up and running may sometimes encounter technical problems. 

Check out some of the common problems and how to solve them.

Connection Issues

• Ensure that all players have the correct IP address and password.

• Ensure your firewall is configured correctly and ports open (default: 27015). 

• If you’re still running a local server, make sure the server is up and running and on the same network as your masterpiece. 

Server Crashes

• Ensure that your server files are up-to-date.

• Check the server logs for error messages and address any issues mentioned.

• Restart the server and try rerunning the match.

Command Errors

• Ensure that you are typing the console commands correctly.

• Check that your developer console is enabled and that you have permission to use specific commands—in this case, we use ‘sv_cheats 1’ for cheat commands.

Gameplay Issues

• If your players have interval issues or high ping times, check the server’s network performance and make any necessary changes. 

• Finally, make sure you are using the same version of CS2 on the server as you are on all the clients: compiling on different versions might result in incompatible code.

Related Article: How To Start a Private Match with Friends in CS2.