This guide is for the game mod Pre-Fortress 2 a mod inspired by the beta of TF2 that uses Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer.

Feel free to give feedback in the comments!

Dependencies:

• On 64-bit Ubuntu / Debian based distros run:
  
  sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386; sudo apt update; sudo apt install lib32gcc-s1 libstdc++6 libstdc++6:i386 libncurses6:i386 libtinfo6:i386 libcurl4-gnutls-dev:i386 unzip curl
• On 32-bit Debian based distros run:
  
  sudo apt install libstdc++6 libncurses6 libtinfo6 libcurl4-gnutls-dev unzip curl
• On Arch Linux run:
  
  sudo pacman -Syy lib32-gcc-libs gcc-libs lib32-ncurses lib32-libcurl-gnutls unzip curl
• On Fedora run:
  
  sudo dnf install libgcc.x86_64 libgcc.i686 glibc.i686 libstdc++.x86_64 libstdc++.i686 ncurses-libs.i686 libcurl.i686 unzip curl

It's important to separate your services based on type, for this guide we will be creating a new user that's directly responsible for Source SDK Base 2013 Dedicated Servers.

Create a user with that home directory and give it a strong password:

Now switch over to the steam user before continuing this guide.

Next, download the linux SteamCMD Tar archive and unpack it

You can now run steamcmd with
And exit it with

For automation and ease of use's sake, we'll be using auto-update scripts to ease the updating process.

While still in the /home/steam directory, create a file named fullupdate.txt with the following contents:

And now to install the necessary Source SDK 2013 MP files using that newly created script, run that script in steamcmd once with the following command:
This will install the necessary files in directories named /sdk/.

Go into the folder named /sdk/ from the previous step, and run this one-liner:
This will download a copy of the latest files on the official Pre-Fortress 2 repository.

Go into the /sdk/ directory and from there go into the /bin/ directory.
And in /sdk/bin paste & run these commands:

And go to the /sdk/pf2/bin directory and run this command:
This will create necessary file links for files that don't exist but should be there.

And that's all. Wasn't so hard, was it?
Now, how to run a server.

Create a script to run your server in the /sdk/ directory, name it something like run-pf2.sh. Here's a sample server run script.
Make it executable with
Change the launch parameters of the script (whatever is after "./srcds_run") to your heart's content. Remember to keep -console -game pf2 though.

It's important to keep your gameserver updated, otherwise players who update their local copies will eventually encounter problems or won't be able to play on your server at all.

To update TF2 and and SDK 2013 automatically, place the following in the front of your launch parameters in /sdk/run-pf2.sh:

We will create a bash script that will check the current version of the install PF2 and compare it to the current verison.

Make a new file called update-pf2.sh.

Next, create a service file in /etc/systemd/system/

Example pf2.service:


Then, enable the service to start with the init system:

Next, switch to the root user using sudo su and execute crontab -e. This is where you can set cronjobs, include something like the following:

You may create as many services as you have PF2 servers but remember to name the service files uniquely, enable them in systemctl, and add them to the crontab.

If you don't wish to use the service files above to automatically boot servers, or you need to perform these actions for maintenance: you may issue commands to manually start, stop, restart, diable or update the server(s) through systemd

Whatever comes out of the box doesn't have to be your server forever! Pre-Fortress 2 and the Source engine have a LOT of server settings that can change how your server works, what gamemodes it runs etc.


To change them, create a file named server.cfg if it doesn't exist in the ~/sdk/pf2/cfg/ directory and edit it with your custom Convars (Console Variables), which control the server's functionality.
A few notable Convars:
Type pf_ inside the in-game console to find configs you prefer on your server.
Documentation on PF2 specific convars is currently only available for internal use at this time.

There are also launch parameters, settings that only can be applied on server start. They are the settings with dashes (-) or pluses (+) visible after
./srcds_run
In your run-pf2.sh file. Change any launch parameters over there.
Launch parameters with pluses (+) instead of dashes (-) are console commands that will be executed on server start but can also be run while the server is running. Parameters with minuses cannot. These launch options have to go inside your run-pf2.sh file.
Most popular launch parameters:

To install source mod and start adding plugins, you need 4 things

• MetaMod 1.11.1155
  
• Source Mod 1.11.6502 (No other version)
  
• PF2-Tools (Very important)
  
• DHooks SM110 (Required)

In this tutorial we will be installing the release of PF2-Tools that already includes these files.

On your server in the sdk directory execute this code to download:

On your server in the sdk directory execute this code to install:

If done correctly you've now installed Source Mod for Pre-Fortress 2!

If your server uses custom maps and you want your players to be able to download the maps quickly.

Made by Cyanide originally for use with TF2Classic
Compatible with any Source Mod.

If you're using GitLab please follow this guide

Code from the Video
server.cfg

index.html

If you intend to run multiple server of the same installation of Pre-Fortress 2, you can do this very easily by creating a new service, update, and run script. We will also utilize a unique exec, servercfgfile, mapcyclefile, and motdfile.

First, in your /pf2/cfg directory, create a file called unique_id_server.cfg. You don't have to use the word "unique_id" but you should call it something that uniquely identifies the server. Now add in all of your usual server.cfg settings.

Next, in your /pf2/cfg directory, create a file called unique_id_mapcycle.txt. In this file you can store the map rotation of the given server. For instance if you want to create a custom maps server using maps you've placed in your /pf2/custom/coolservermaps folder. Simply list the name of the map file such as: ad_dustbowl, tc_hydro, etc.

After that, create a unique MOTD file in your /pf2/cfg directory. The file name should be unique_id_motd.txt. In here you can leave a special message to people who play your server or link to a webpage. This can help distinguish your maps from one another.

Now lastly and optionally you can choose to store which map is chosen at the beginning of the game in a config file that will be executed before everything else. Rather than writing
In the server start command line, you can instead create a config file that simply runs whatever map you want to put in it. That way you don't have to change the run script, just the starting map config.
Simply create unique_id_map.cfg file in you /pf2/cfg folder and add:

Now copy your existing run-pf2.sh and give the new one a unique name, unique_id-run-pf2.sh and at the end of the run command add the following commands
If you did not create a unique_id_map.cfg you can skip adding that line.

Your server should be ready to have hours of Pre-Fortress 2 fun!
Please share your servers with us on the Discord![discord.gg]
Check the latest version of the URL link on the Pre-Fortress 2 website[http//hhttps]

For any troubleshooting please visit our Discord!

Please check our Discord server[discord.gg] first before posting your errors here. We are more likely to get to your questions there!

Please also look at the OF Linux Server guide[web.archive.org] we referenced, as your problem might have already been solved in their troubleshooting section.

• My server didn't start!
  Make sure you followed the instructions exactly as specified. Look over your files to see if you put any binaries in the wrong folder when doing the "Final Links" step.
  
  
• error=bin/libstdc++.so.6: version `CXXABI_1.3.8' not found
  If you are experiencing an error that looks like this:
  
  failed to dlopen /home/steam/sdk/pf2/bin/server_srv.so error=bin/libstdc++.so.6: version `CXXABI_1.3.8' not found (required by /home/steam/sdk/pf2/bin/server_srv.so) Segmentation fault (core dumped)
  PF2 0.7 has an updated C++ toolset not used in 0.6 and therefore you need to run
  
  mv libstdc++.so.6 libstdc++.so.6.old