Can you play CS2 without an internet connection?

Partly, and less reliably than CS:GO allowed. A practice server with bots runs entirely on your own machine, so it needs no other players. But CS2 routes connections through Valve networking that wants a network configuration fetched from Valve, and with no connection at all players report the client refusing to connect to anything — including a server on the same PC. Valve has never documented a supported offline mode, so treat no-internet play as something to test in advance rather than rely on.

Does sv_lan still exist in CS2?

Yes. sv_lan is in the current CS2 convar dump and defaults to false. Turning it on makes a server LAN-only: no heartbeat, no authentication, and no non-local addresses. It is a server setting, so it belongs on the machine hosting the match, not on the clients joining it.

Why does a LAN game still need internet in CS2?

The refusal happens on the client, before sv_lan is ever consulted. CS2 wants a network configuration from Valve for its networking layer, and when it cannot get one you see a variant of "Don't have network config. Check Internet connection" and the connection aborts. This is a change from CS:GO, where a genuinely disconnected LAN worked.

How do I start an offline game with bots?

Put yourself in Play, choose Practice, pick a map and press Go — that starts a listen server on your own machine. From the console, map followed by a map name does the same thing. Then use bot_add_t and bot_add_ct to fill sides, bot_quota to set how many the server keeps, and bot_difficulty for their skill.

How do friends join my LAN server?

Host the server on your network with sv_lan 1, find the host machine's local IP, and have each player open the console and type connect followed by that address and the server port. Everyone needs their own Steam account and their own copy of CS2 — it is free, but there is no split-screen or shared-install route.

What is the most reliable LAN setup?

A dedicated server on the local network with sv_lan 1, an internet link present at the venue, and every client launched and logged in normally before the matches start. That removes the two things that break LAN events: clients that cannot fetch what they need at launch, and a host trying to play on the same machine that is serving the match.

How to Play CS2 on LAN Without Internet

What still works offline, what quietly stopped working after CS:GO, and how to run a LAN that does not fall over

TL;DR

LAN play works. Fully disconnected play mostly does not. sv_lan is still in CS2 and still makes a server local-only, and bots run on a listen server on your own machine. But CS2 clients want a network configuration from Valve before they will connect to anything — including a server on the same PC — so a venue with no internet at all is the setup that breaks. Plan a LAN with a working uplink, even if every match is local.

This is one of those topics where the honest answer and the popular answer have drifted apart. Guides written in the CS:GO era describe a game you could unplug entirely: launch Steam in Offline Mode, host a listen server, have everyone in the room connect over the switch, and play all weekend without a router seeing the outside world. That was true then.

CS2 changed the plumbing underneath. The LAN commands survived the move to Source 2 unchanged, so every guide still looks correct — the part that broke is one layer down, in how the client decides whether it is allowed to open a connection at all. Below is what we can verify about each piece, and how to build a LAN around the limitation rather than into it.

What definitely still works

Two things, and between them they cover most of what people mean by "offline".

Bots on a local server. Play → Practice starts a listen server on your own machine. No matchmaking, no queue, nobody else involved. From the console, mapfollowed by a map name does the same job in one line. This is the mode that replaced the old "offline with bots" menu item.
LAN servers. sv_lan is present in the current CS2 convar dump, defaults to false, and is not cheat-flagged. Set to 1, the server stops sending a heartbeat to the master list and stops authenticating clients — which is also why a LAN server needs no Game Server Login Token, unlike anything you expose to the internet.

So the game logic for local play is intact. Our private match guide covers the practice-server route in detail, and the dedicated server guide covers the proper one.

The part that broke

CS2 puts its connections through Valve's networking layer, and that layer wants a network configuration it fetches from Valve. When the client does not have one, it reports a problem along the lines of "Don't have network config. Check Internet connection" — and it aborts client-side, before it ever asks the server whether sv_lan is on.

The practical consequence is the counter-intuitive bit: with the network cable out, players report being unable to connect to a server on their own machine, let alone one across the room. Under CS:GO this worked. Valve has not published a supported offline mode for CS2 either way, and the community reports on this are exactly that — community reports, not a documented behaviour we can point you at a Valve page for.

The commonly repeated workaround is to be online when you launch and when you join, then disconnect the uplink afterwards and keep playing. People report that holding up. We would not build an event schedule on it.

Running a LAN that actually works

Give the room an internet link, even a bad one. A phone hotspot is enough. Every client needs to launch and log in normally; after that, all match traffic stays on your switch.
Host on a machine nobody is playing on.A listen server shares CPU with the host's game and gives the host a latency advantage. For anything competitive, run a real dedicated server.
Set sv_lan 1 on the server. This is the switch that makes it local-only. Set rcon_password too, and keep it off the projector.
Find the host's local IP on the LAN — the private address your router or switch handed it, not your public one.
Have each player connect to it from the console, with the server's port after the address. Open the console first if you have not already — our console guide covers enabling it.
Check status on the server once people are in. It lists who is connected and from where, which is the fastest way to spot someone who joined the wrong box.

Everyone still needs their own Steam account and their own install. CS2 is free, so that is a download rather than a cost — but there is no split-screen, no shared install and no offline account.

Steam Offline Mode: what it is and is not

Steam's Offline Mode lets the client run without a connection to the Steam network. Valve's own instructions are prescriptive about the setup: sign in online first with credentials saved, let every game you want to play finish updating, launch each of them once while connected, then choose Go Offline from the Steam menu. Valve also states the limitation plainly — anything that needs a connection will not be available, and most games need that one online start before they work offline at all.

That gets Steam out of the way. It does not resolve the CS2-side requirement described above, and the two get conflated constantly. Offline Mode is about Steam authenticating you; the network-config problem is about CS2 opening a socket. You can satisfy the first and still be stopped by the second.

Bot commands for solo offline play

Once you are on a local server, these are the ones worth knowing. None of them are cheat-flagged, so sv_cheats 1 is not required for any of it.

Command	Default	What it does
`bot_add`	—	Adds one bot; the game picks the side
`bot_add_t` / `bot_add_ct`	—	Adds one bot to a specific side
`bot_kick`	—	Removes bots; on its own it clears all of them
`bot_quota`	10	How many bots the server keeps in play
`bot_quota_mode`	normal	How the quota is applied
`bot_difficulty`	1	Skill of bots that join next
`bot_join_after_player`	true	Whether bots wait for a human before joining

The classic trap is bots reappearing straight after you kick them — that is the quota refilling the server, so pair bot_kick with bot_quota 0. Our kick bots guide goes through the variations, and every default above can be checked against the CS2 command database.

Offline things worth doing anyway

Aim and spray practice. A local server with frozen bots is the cheapest range in the game, and our practice config generator writes the whole setup rather than making you type it.
Learning maps. Walking an empty map to learn callouts and timings needs nothing but the local server.
Workshop maps. Downloaded maps stay downloaded — see the workshop maps guide for loading them locally.
1v1s and retakes on the LAN. Both run fine on a server you host; see how to 1v1 and what retakes are.

The short version

Bots on a local server work, and that is the real replacement for "offline with bots".
sv_lan still exists and still makes a server local-only.
A completely disconnected room is the setup that fails, because the client wants a network configuration from Valve before it connects to anything.
Plan LANs with an uplink present. Everything else about the LAN can stay local.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you play CS2 without an internet connection?: Partly, and less reliably than CS:GO allowed. A practice server with bots runs entirely on your own machine, so it needs no other players. But CS2 routes connections through Valve networking that wants a network configuration fetched from Valve, and with no connection at all players report the client refusing to connect to anything — including a server on the same PC. Valve has never documented a supported offline mode, so treat no-internet play as something to test in advance rather than rely on.
Does sv_lan still exist in CS2?: Yes. sv_lan is in the current CS2 convar dump and defaults to false. Turning it on makes a server LAN-only: no heartbeat, no authentication, and no non-local addresses. It is a server setting, so it belongs on the machine hosting the match, not on the clients joining it.
Why does a LAN game still need internet in CS2?: The refusal happens on the client, before sv_lan is ever consulted. CS2 wants a network configuration from Valve for its networking layer, and when it cannot get one you see a variant of "Don't have network config. Check Internet connection" and the connection aborts. This is a change from CS:GO, where a genuinely disconnected LAN worked.
How do I start an offline game with bots?: Put yourself in Play, choose Practice, pick a map and press Go — that starts a listen server on your own machine. From the console, map followed by a map name does the same thing. Then use bot_add_t and bot_add_ct to fill sides, bot_quota to set how many the server keeps, and bot_difficulty for their skill.
How do friends join my LAN server?: Host the server on your network with sv_lan 1, find the host machine's local IP, and have each player open the console and type connect followed by that address and the server port. Everyone needs their own Steam account and their own copy of CS2 — it is free, but there is no split-screen or shared-install route.
What is the most reliable LAN setup?: A dedicated server on the local network with sv_lan 1, an internet link present at the venue, and every client launched and logged in normally before the matches start. That removes the two things that break LAN events: clients that cannot fetch what they need at launch, and a host trying to play on the same machine that is serving the match.