How to Make a CS2 Retake Server

What you need

• A CS2 dedicated server with a Game Server Login Token. If you do not have one yet, start with how to host a CS2 dedicated server.
• Metamod:Source 2.0, the plugin loader. For CS2 it is still published as development builds.
• CounterStrikeSharp, the plugin framework most CS2 plugins use. SourceMod has no CS2 version.
• The retakes plugin B3none/cs2-retakes, maintained and updated in 2026.
• A weapon allocator that hands out loadouts each round, such as cs2-retakes-weapon-allocator.

Retakes run in the normal competitive mode, the server's default, with up to 9 players by default.

Step 1: Install Metamod:Source

1. Download the latest Metamod:Source 2.0 development build for your server's system (Linux for most servers) from metamodsource.net.
2. Extract it so the addons folder ends up in game/csgo/.
3. Open game/csgo/gameinfo.gi, find the SearchPaths block and add this line directly under Game_LowViolence csgo_lv, so it is the first Game entry:

   Game csgo/addons/metamod

4. Restart the server and type meta version in the console. If it answers with a version, Metamod is loaded.

Important: CS2 updates replace gameinfo.gi with the stock file, which removes your line. After every CS2 update, check the file and add the line again.

Step 2: Install CounterStrikeSharp

1. From the CounterStrikeSharp releases, download the with-runtime package for Linux. The first install must be the with-runtime version; later updates can use the smaller one.
2. Extract its addons folder into game/csgo/, merging it with Metamod's.
3. Restart and run meta list. CounterStrikeSharp should appear in the list.

To use the admin commands below, add yourself as an admin in addons/counterstrikesharp/configs/admins.json with your SteamID64:

{
  "YourName": {
    "identity": "76561198000000000",
    "flags": ["@css/root"]
  }
}

Step 3: Install the retakes plugin and an allocator

1. From the cs2-retakes releases, download the RetakesPlugin zip with map configs. Extract it into game/csgo/; the plugin lands in addons/counterstrikesharp/plugins/RetakesPlugin/.
2. Download the weapon allocator and extract it into game/csgo/ as well. Its loadout menus need two extras, the MultiAddonManager plugin and a Workshop addon named in its README; without them, weapons are still handed out, only the menu is missing.
3. Restart the server and change to a supported map, for example changelevel de_mirage.

On every map start the retakes plugin writes and runs its own config, cfg/cs2-retakes/retakes.cfg, with retake-friendly settings: short freeze time, no money, no bots, no team auto-balance. Values marked in that file as safe to change, such as mp_freezetime and mp_c4timer, can be tuned there.

Maps and spawns

Retakes need spawn points for both teams on each bombsite. The plugin's package already includes them for Ancient, Anubis, Cache, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train and Vertigo.

For any other map, including Workshop maps, you create the spawns in game with the built-in editor (admin with @css/root):

Add several spawns per team and site, including at least one T planter spawn, so rounds do not feel the same.

Everyday commands and tips

• !forcebombsite A plays every round on one site, useful for practising it; !forcebombsitestop goes back to random.
• !scramble reshuffles the teams.
• Players queue when the server is full and join in turn as rounds end.
• After a CS2 update, check gameinfo.gi first, then update CounterStrikeSharp and the plugins if the server log shows errors. Updates to the game are the most common reason plugins stop loading.

Retakes on a HytHost CS2 server

On HytHost CS2 hosting, the server comes clean: plugins are not preinstalled, so you add Metamod:Source, CounterStrikeSharp and the retakes plugins yourself with the file manager or SFTP, exactly as above.

• Your GSLT, the start map and the game mode go in the panel's Startup tab; keep the mode on competitive for retakes.
• gameinfo.gi is yours to edit, and the server does not change it when it starts. But the server installs CS2 updates on start, and an update or a reinstall restores the stock file, so re-add the Metamod line after each one.