How to Install a TF2 Server on a VPS

Written by Aaron "Aar" Pearson
Last updated November 9, 2024

This guide is meant to be used in conjunction with this video.

Initialization

Log in to your Hetzner account or sign up with my referral link. (This guide previously used DigitalOcean)
Click Continue and then click Sign Up on the next page
Log in with your account or create a new one. If this is a new account, you may have to deposit €20 to verify it before it is usable. This will stack on top of your free referral credits.
Navigate to https://console.hetzner.cloud/projects and create a new project
Navigate into your project, select Servers, then click Add Server
Select the server region closest to you/your players
Select Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (or whichever LTS release is the latest). This must SPECIFICALLY be an LTS release.
Select your desired CPU type. A Dedicated x86 Server with 2 vCPUs is my recommendation for a 16+ player TF2 server. (Shared x86 vCPUs will get less resources and are "shared" with other Hetzner users, hence the name. They are typically not recommended for high-usage applications like this, but could be fine for low-player trade servers etc.)
Select "Public IPv4" and "Public IPv6" networking options
Enter a hostname for your VDS
Create the VDS
Wait for the VDS to initialize, and copy its IP Address once it finishes
Install PuTTY on your computer
Paste the IP Address into PuTTY
Enter "root" as the username, press enter
Enter the root password that was sent to you via email by Hetzner
After logging in, enter the root password again
Set up a new password and enter it again when prompted
Run useradd tfds (replace tfds with your desired user name every time tfds is mentioned)
Run passwd tfds to set a password (ideally different from the root password set earlier)
Run usermod -aG sudo tfds
Run sudo usermod --shell /bin/bash tfds
Run sudo mkdir /home/tfds
Run sudo chown tfds /home/tfds
Close PuTTY and reopen it. Re-enter your VDS's IP
Enter the username you specified
Enter your password
Run sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Press the down arrow key until you find the text PermitRootLogin yes
Change PermitRootLogin yes to PermitRootLogin no using your keyboard
Press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter
Run sudo service sshd restart
Run sudo apt update and then run sudo apt upgrade -y
Close PuTTY and reopen it and sign in as the tfds user

Install SteamCMD and TF2 Dedicated Server

Run sudo mkdir /hlserver
Run sudo chmod 775 /hlserver
Run sudo chown tfds /hlserver to get permissions
Run cd /hlserver
Run sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
Run sudo apt update
Run sudo apt install lib32z1 libbz2-1.0:i386 lib32gcc-s1 lib32stdc++6 libcurl3-gnutls:i386 libsdl2-2.0-0:i386 -y
Run wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
Run tar zxf steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
Run nano tf2_ds.txt
Enter force_install_dir /hlserver/tf2 and press the Enter key
Enter login anonymous and press the Enter key
Enter app_update 232250 and press the Enter key
Enter quit
Press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter
Run nano update.sh
Enter ./steamcmd.sh +runscript tf2_ds.txt
Press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter
Run sudo chmod +x steamcmd.sh update.sh
Run ./update.sh and wait for the installation to finish (If the download errors out, simply run ./update.sh again to resume from where it left off).

Testing TF2 Dedicated Server

Run mkdir /home/tfds/.steam
Run ln -s /hlserver/linux64 /home/tfds/.steam/sdk64
Run ln -s /hlserver/linux32 /home/tfds/.steam/sdk32
Run nano tf.sh
Enter #!/bin/sh and press the Enter key
Enter tf2/srcds_run -console -game tf -timeout 0 -autoupdate -steam_dir /hlserver -steamcmd_script /hlserver/tf2_ds.txt followed by additional parameters of your choosing
Visit this wiki entry to see additional parameters and use +maxplayers 24 +map ctf_2fort +sv_pure 0 as a base
(Use srcds_run_64 in place of srcds_run to use a 64-bit server executable. This will likely break SourceMod plugin compatibility.)
Press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter
Run sudo chmod +x tf.sh
Run ./tf.sh to start the game server and wait for files to verify and for the map to start
Open Team Fortress 2 on your client computer and enter the console command connect x (replace x with VDS's IP)
Verify that you successfully loaded into the map you specified in tf.sh
Press Ctrl + C in PuTTY to terminate the game server session

Additional Setup and Customization

Run sudo ufw allow 22
Run sudo ufw allow 80
Run sudo ufw allow 27015
Run sudo ufw enable
Install FileZilla on your computer (watch out for sponsored offers in the default installer)
Connect to your VDS by entering its IP, your username and password, followed by port 22 for sFTP
Enter the hlserver, tf2, and tf folders
Enter the cfg folder
Visit avi12's TF2 server cfg generator website on your client computer
Enter the settings you would like to use for your game server
When prompted for sv_maxrate, enter 0
When prompted for net_chan_limit_msec, enter 128. Increase this number to 192 or decrease it to 0 (to disable the feature) if legitimate players are frequently kicked with "processing time exceeded."
When prompted for sv_downloadurl, enter http://x/fastdl/tf/ (replace x with your VDS's IP)
Download your server.cfg file
Drag and drop the server.cfg file into FileZilla as shown in my video
Right-click on server.cfg from your VDS in FileZilla and click View/Edit
OPTIONAL: Make a new line at the bottom of the file and enter sm_cvar nb_update_frequency 0.03. This will make NPCs (NextBots) smoother for players with low interpolation, but will cause increased CPU usage (and Monoculus will fire much faster).
OPTIONAL: Make another new line and enter sm_cvar tf_halloween_gift_lifetime 0 to prevent Ghost Gargoyles from spawning.
When prompted to re-upload the file with your changes, select Yes
Right-click your VDS's window in FileZilla and click Create empty file
Name this file mapcycle.txt
View/Edit mapcycle.txt with a list of map filenames you intend to run on the server, one per line (ex. "cp_gravelpit_snowy")
Save your changes and re-upload the file when prompted
Right-click your VDS's window in FileZilla and click Create empty file
Name this file motd.txt
View/Edit motd.txt to show a message (or URL) to users when they connect to your server
Save your changes and re-upload the file when prompted

Installing SourceMod

Select the .. folder in FileZilla to go up one directory and return to /hlserver/tf2/tf
Navigate to the Metamod:Source website and download the latest stable Linux build
Extract the downloaded file with a program of your choice (I recommend 7-Zip)
Drag and drop the addons folder to your VDS's window in FileZilla and wait for the copy to finish
Navigate to the SourceMod website and download the latest stable/dev Linux build (some plugins require dev builds)
Extract the downloaded file with a program of your choice (I recommend 7-Zip)
Drag and drop the addons and cfg folders to your VDS's window in FileZilla and wait for the copy to finish
Navigate to the addons folder, the sourcemod folder, and the configs folder
Right-click on admins_simple.ini and click View/Edit
Visit steamid.io and copy your steamID
Paste your steamID on the last line of admins_simple.ini, surrounded by quotes, and press the Tab key
Enter "99:z" to give yourself full root access
Save the file and re-upload when prompted by FileZilla

Keeping the Server Running

Re-open PuTTY
Run screen -S tf2 to create a new session for TF2 that persists
Run cd /hlserver
Run ./tf.sh
Press Ctrl + A and then the D key to disconnect from the screen session
Run screen -r to reconnect to the session, and remember this information for later
You will need to repeat this set of steps after every server reboot

Testing the TF2 Server Again

Open Team Fortress 2 on your local computer
Run the command connect x (replacing x with your VDS's IP)
Run the command sm in the console and check for errors
Use sm_rcon to run commands on the server's command line

Hosting Workshop Maps

Enter the command changelevel workshop/xxxxxx in your server's command line (replace xxxxxx with the ID of the Workshop map)
You can also use this syntax in mapcycle.txt

Setting up Locally-Hosted Maps

Run sudo apt-get install apache2
Run sudo systemctl restart apache2
Run sudo chmod 775 -R /var/www/html/
Run sudo chgrp -R tfds /var/www/html/
Open a connection to your VDS in FileZilla
Navigate to the var, www, and html folders
Create a new folder titled fastdl and enter it
Create a new folder titled tf and enter it
Create a new folder titled maps and enter it
Place bz2-compressed versions of maps you would like to host in this folder
Place bsp maps you would like to host in /hlserver/tf2/tf/download/maps (you will need to create the "maps" folder)

Recommended Plugins and Tools

Steph's AntiCheat - automatically detects and bans many known cheats; a must-have
Updater - updates any applicable installed SourceMod plugins automatically
TF2 Comp Fixes - includes a bunch of neat quality-of-life fixes and optional enhancements, including disabling souls
GroundFix - fixes stopping dead in your tracks when hitting a slope (not needed if you use TF2 Comp Fixes)
NativeVotes Updated - enables players to vote for another map from the mapcycle near the end of the current match (requires disabling/deleting the "nextmap" plugin)
Fix ConTracker Animation Exploit - disables the buggy contracker animation
Basic Votekick Immunity - restricts admins from being votekicked by regular players or idle timers
WaitingDoors - opens spawn doors during the "waiting for players" phase
Automatic Steam Update - restarts the server automatically after an update releases; needs SteamWorks and update check)
Unused Voicelines - plays announcer voice lines from casual mode; up to personal preference.
rafradek's srcds optimizer - dramatically reduces the CPU usage of the server; 3 packages available depending on your needs ("optimize-only" default). Based on sigsegv's MvM mods.
restart on mvm victory - restarts the current mission instead of changing level once the players win in MvM mode
No Truce - disables the forced truce on Valve's Halloween maps. This is a VScript file, must go in scripts/vscripts and be enabled with script_execute no_truce.nut in the config files for Eyeaduct and Ghost Fort.
No Souls and Gargoyles - disables Souls and Ghost Gargoyles from appearing. This is a VScript file, must go in scripts/vscripts and be enabled with script_execute no_souls.nut in server.cfg.
Competitive Mode Voicelines - plays class-specific voice lines from competitive mode; up to personal preference. this is a mod, not a plugin; VPK file goes into the custom folder.

Performing Regular Maintenance

Log on to your VDS with PuTTY
Run the command sudo apt update && sudo apt-get full-upgrade -y
If you are prompted to reboot the VDS, ensure no players are in your TF2 server and run sudo reboot at a convenient time. If your VDS is rebooted, remember to launch the TF2 server again once the VDS is running again.
Repeat these steps at least once per week to ensure proper security patches are installed