Counter-Strike 2 is a game best enjoyed with friends. Players can queue for ranked matches with their friends for improved chemistry and overall have a good time. However, the experience of playing with friends isn’t limited to official game modes and servers provided by Valve.
Players can create a private match where only selected friends can join. In the private server, players can change the settings, maps, and other customizations to fit the desired purpose, such as a seccion of CS2 practice with friends or other minigames.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a private match where only your friends can join!
How To Set Up A Private Match With Friends [Step-By-Step]
Launching a private server for you and your friends isn’t as difficult as you think. In this section of the article, we’ll give you a step-by-step procedure of how you can set up a private match from scratch.
Step 1: Launch Counter-Strike 2
The first and most obvious step is to launch Counter-Strike 2. Ensure that all of your friends are also on the same Counter-Strike version to ensure you guys can all play on the same game and server. Ask everyone if their game is updated to its latest version for compatibility purposes.
Step 2: Invite Your Friends To The Party
Once you are in the main menu of Counter-Strike 2, you can start inviting your friends to form a private lobby.
Move your cursor to the far right side of your screen to open up the Friends List. Here, you will see a list of all your friends that are online or in game. Start inviting your desired friends by hovering your cursor over their name, pressing the left mouse button, and clicking the “Invite” button which appears as a mail letter.
Once your friend accepts the invitation, a private party will automatically be created by the game.
Step 3: Select The “Practice” Mode
If all your friends have made it to the party, you can begin setting up the match:
First, click on the “Play” button at the very top of your screen just like you normally would to queue for a game.
Next, between the available game modes, make sure to click on the “Practice” mode. This is the most important step since you are looking to create a practice server instead of queuing for an official Valve match.
Step 4: Choose Your Desired Game Mode And Map
After selecting the “Practice” mode, all practice options will appear on your screen. Now, you can select which game mode you would like to play, as well as the map for your selected game mode.
You can choose between regular game modes such as Competitive, Casual, Deathmatch, Arms Race, and more. However, as long as the “Practice” mode is selected, the server will only consist of all the players in your party.
After selecting the game mode, all the available maps for it will appear on your screen. You can select which map you’d like to play on.
Step 5: Press The “GO” Button
Once everything is set up properly and everyone is in the lobby already, you can finally boot up the private match.
All you need to do is press the green “GO” button on the bottom-right corner of your screen, and you should start loading into the server immediately.
The host of the server will load into the game first. While they are still loading, everyone else in the lobby must wait until the host has entered the game. Only then will they start loading in.
Customizing Your Gameplay Experience
The best part about creating a private match with your friends is the freedom to customize the rules, game modes, and maps in the server. Here are three main categories you can adjust when looking to play a private match with your friends.
Selecting The Correct Game Mode
As briefly stated above, there are several game modes you can play on with your friends. Here’s a description of the modes you can expect to play:
- Competitive Mode: The Competitive mode is the most popular game mode in regular play, as it is the one used in CS2’s ranked game modes. Players must accumulate 13 rounds to win and manage their finances throughout the match.
- Wingman Mode: The Wingman mode is a miniature version of Competitive mode, as the game only features up to two players per team. The maps have been shrunk to focus on a singular bomb site to encourage faster play.
- Casual Mode: The Casual mode is an “easier” version of the Competitive mode. All players start with free armor, and features such as team collision and team damage are disabled. It is perfect for a more laid-back approach.
- Deathmatch Mode: The Deathmatch mode is a free-for-all shooting gallery where players race to get the highest number of kills. Players respawn immediately after dying so there is essentially no downtime.
- Arms Race: The Arms Race game mode requires layers to get a kill with every weapon in the game. Players are assigned to a weapon and must get a kill to get the next weapon. It is a race to see which player finishes first.
Make sure to choose the correct game mode with the purpose of getting together on the server. If you want to practice your aim and combat skills, load up Deathmatch. If you want to train all aspects of the game, load up Competitive Mode.
Playing Workshop Maps
If you are getting bored of Valve’s game modes and maps, you can always spice things up by playing custom Workshop Maps created by members of the community.
There are various types of Workshop Maps available, and all of them are completely free to download. These maps serve different purposes, such as:
- Aim Training
- 1v1 Maps
- Zombie Escape
- Surfing/Bunny Hopping
Here is how you can browse through Workshop Maps and download them for free:
- Open your Steam desktop client.
- Hover over the “Community” tab and click on “Workshop”.
- In the search bar, look for “Counter-Strike 2”.
- Now, you should see all available Workshop Maps. You can use the search bar to filter your results.
- Once you have found a map you’d like to download, go to the map page and click the green “Subscribe” button.
Bots
The last basic customization option would be bots. Normally, bots are immediately added to the game to fill the missing slots. Since you are playing with a couple of friends, you normally won’t fill up all 10 player slots, which is where bots will come in.
You will have the ability to remove or add bots depending on what you want to do. If you don’t want bots to disturb your experience with your friends, you can always kick all of them from the server by using the “bot_kick” command. However, if you want to add bots since you guys are feeling lonely, you can use the “bot_add” command to add more bots into the game.
Useful Console Commands For Private Matches
Here is a list of very useful commands that will help with your CS2 practice with friends:
| Command | Use |
| sv_cheats 1 | This command is used to enable cheats on the server. |
| noclip | This command allows you to fly around the map and pass through walls. |
| sv_showimpacts 1 | This cheat command is used to show the impacts of shooting bullets on walls and players. |
| sv_infinite_ammo 1 | This cheat command gives you infinite ammunition so you never run out of bullets. |
| ammo_grenade_limit_total 5 | This command allows you to carry a total of five grenades instead of the usual four. |
| sv_grenade_trajectory 1 | This command will display a trail following every grenade you have just thrown. |
| mp_roundtime_defuse 60 | This command will change the round timer from the regular 2 minutes to 60 minutes. |
| mp_freezetime 1 | This command will reduce the freeze time (round start) duration to only 1 second. |
| mp_warmup_end 1 | This command will end the warmup phase in 1 second. |
| mp_buytime 9999 | This command will extend the buy period to 9,999 seconds, giving you infinite time to buy. |
| mp_buy_anywhere 1 | This command allows players to buy anywhere on the map, not having to buy at their spawn points only. |
| mp_startmoney 60000 | This command will make you start the game with $60,000. |
| mp_maxmoney 60000 | This command will change the maximum amount of money you can carry to $60,000. |
| mp_restartgame 1 | This command is used to restart the game, bringing the score back to 0-0. |
Advanced Hosting (Using Dedicated/Paid Servers)
As we have discussed above, you can host your own private server to play with your friends for free. However, one of the biggest drawbacks is that the server will run on the host’s internet connection, meaning other players on the server can experience lag.
If you want to take it to the next level, you can always host your server using dedicated hosting, or even use paid services that host your servers for you.
If you would like to host a dedicated server, make sure your server hardware is strong enough to host multiple players. This would include a good RAM, CPU, and internet connection such as download and upload speed.
To not complicate things, you can always look for server hosting platforms. These platforms will charge you a few bucks, but will run the server on good connection. You will still have the rights to customize your server and set its game mode, maps, etc.