Configure CS:GO server in AWS

Using cloudformation

• Make sure you have an AWS account and a VPC with at least on public subnet as well an an ssh keypair; also look up your own IP to enter for the SshAccessFromThisCidrOnly from which the server can be accessed via ssh
• Make sure you have a steam account
• Make sure the steam account has a phone number attached
• Create a game server license for App ID 730

Deploy using AWS console

• log into your AWS console
• Click this stacklauncher.cloud button
• Fill in parameters as needed

Deploy using the CLI

• clone this repo
• create a parameter file like this called csgo-server-params.json - fill in the values and save ...

  [
    {
        "ParameterKey": "SshAccessFromThisCidrOnly",
        "ParameterValue": "x.x.x.x/32"
    },
    {
        "ParameterKey": "CSGOVpcId",
        "ParameterValue": "vpc-12345567890"
    },
    {
        "ParameterKey": "CSGOSubnetId",
        "ParameterValue": "subnet-12345567890"
    },
    {
        "ParameterKey": "SshKeyName",
        "ParameterValue": "my-ssh-key"
    },
    {
        "ParameterKey": "CSGOServerToken",
        "ParameterValue": "STEAMSERVERTOKEN"
    },
    {
        "ParameterKey": "CSGOServerPassword",
        "ParameterValue": "p@ssw0rd"
    },
    {
        "ParameterKey": "CSGOServerName",
        "ParameterValue": "p@ssw0rd"
    }
  ]

• launch the stack via the CLI (you can also do this via the console but then you have to enter the parameters manually)

  aws cloudformation create-stack \
    --stack-name csgotest \
    --template-body file://csgo-server.yaml \
    --parameters file://csgo-server-params.json \
    --capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM
  aws cloudformation wait stack-create-complete \
    --stack-name csgotest

Server access and config

• once the cloudformation stack finishes building you can ssh to the machine and check on installation progress in less /var/log/cloud-init-output.log. Note that the maps download takes a long time.
• after the download finishes a CS:GO server should be started automatically. The server should also restart on reboot.
• to change the startup configuration edit /home/ubuntu/server-start.sh. In particular you might want to add +sv_tags to make it easier to find your server
• to see the server log output check /var/log/csgo.log.

Manually

Follow this: https://medium.com/@alihusseinat/how-to-setup-a-counter-strike-go-dedicated-server-on-aws-5ca80e2acf4f

Changes:

• if you are security conscious, build a new VPC to isolate the instance
• pick m5.large (t3 is too slow)
• 50GB of disk space (server download is 28GB)
• pick newest ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• give it an elastic IP
• sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0-0:i386 as per ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#7036 before steamcmd
• if shit goes wrong clear the steam cache with rm .steam/appcache/packageinfo.vdf .steam/appcache/appinfo.vdf as per https://www.reddit.com/r/playrust/comments/c3q3zh/error_timed_out_waiting_for_appinfo_update/
• fix startup commandline
  • as per https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=300773 add a password to startup command
  • as per https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=300182 remove -nobots
  • as per https://gamebanana.com/gamefiles/4432 change mapgroup to random_classic @reboot /home/ubuntu/csgosv/srcds_run -game csgo -console -usercon +game_type 0 +game_mode 0 +mapgroup random_classic +map de_dust2 +sv_setsteamaccount <your_login_token> +sv_password <password> -net_port_try 1
• docs
  • https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Counter-Strike:_Global_Offensive_Dedicated_Servers
  • https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Command_Line_Options

Notes

• Ubuntu SSM image info
• Working with public SSM parameters

sudo -- sh -c 'dpkg --add-architecture i386; add-apt-repository multiverse; apt-get update; apt-get -y dist-upgrade'
sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0-0:i386
# This requires manually accepting steam license ... 
sudo apt-get install -y steamcmd