Killing Floor 2

Killing Floor 2

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Setting up a KF2 Server (Easy, Windows)
By MaxLeveled
A detailed guide on how to setup your very own KF2 Server.
   
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Introduction
A simple, yet detailed guide on how to setup a KF2 Server for Windows.

And it's easy.

Your worst enemy will be your router.
Installing SteamCmd
First off you'll want SteamCmd, which you can download directly from Here (.zip)

Extract the .zip into a folder, such as C:\SteamCmd\ - now Launch SteamCmd (make sure it's in its own separate folder or you will get a clutter of files.) Once it's finished, type in "login anonymous" and you'll be set to move onto the next part.

Simply opening it should install All of the necessary files, so make sure it's in a good folder. I set it to E:\SteamCmd because I run on two hard-drives, my E:\ being a 1 Tera-byte drive while my C:\ is a 100GB SSD, so I can't fill it up with data or it'll crash.

For most users, you'll want to stick to C:\ as you probably only have one hard-drive. So don't follow the screenshot's directories, use the ones in the tutorial.

Downloading the KF2 Server
Now you'll want to specify where you want your KF2 Server files to be, type in force_install_dir c:\KF2Server\ and now you'll want to install the Server using the command "app_update 232130 validate".

The download will begin and you might as well spend the time port forwarding.
Port Forwarding
This process can vary, it ultimately depends on what kind of Router you're using. Figure out the model of the router you're using (usually on the bottom/side of the router) and then lookup "(insert model name here) port forwarding".
http://portforward.com/ has some great info on Port Forwarding and it's definitely worth visiting.

List of ports used by KF2 Servers
  • Game Port is 7777 Needed for players to Connect
  • Query Port is 27015 Needed to showup in the Browse Server List
  • Web Admin is 8080 Needed to access Web Admin through (insert IP address here):8080
  • Steam Port is 20560 Allows Steam to see the Server's info
All of these are necessary, don't forget to Port-Forward them or nobody will be able to connect!!!
Bootup
You'll need to launch your Server once for it to generate a lot of the core config files, this part of the guide will require you to use a program such as Notepad++[notepad-plus-plus.org] in order to edit the files. Notepad++ is pretty good and you'll most likely need it in the future anyways. The reason it's good is because it keeps Parsing and lines intact, unlike the Notepad that comes installed with Windows.

Note: When I created my KF2 server, after using app_update 232130 - the required .bat file was already in the C:\KF2Server file. Check and see if this file is already in place before making your own. If it is, you can just create a Shortcut to it on your desktop and launch your server through that. Although you may want to edit it before you do.

The Default .bat file
start C:\KF2Server\Binaries\win64\kfserver kf-burningparis

Creating the .bat file is easy, open Notepad++ - paste the above code in and save as a ,bat file.

After you use the .bat file, it will open very quickly and then close. A few moments later, the KF2 Server console will open up

Once that's done, your KF2 server will be running off of the default settings. You'll want to let it install the config files, give it two minutes before you X out of it; it's rather slow.

Now that you have the config files, we can move on!
Configuration
You can add these to the .bat file to automatically config what you need. Separate them through ? question marks. An example will be given below.
AdminName= AdminPassword= MaxPlayers= Difficulty= // 0=Normal 1=Hard 2=Suicidal 3=Hell on Earth Port= QueryPort= WebAdminPort= Multihome= PREFERREDPROCESSOR= ConfigSubDir=

The last aren't going to be used, those commands are useful if you have a heavy duty hosting machine and want to tie a single Server to a certain processor core, run multiple IPs and more. For this guide, you won't need any of them and should basically just ignore them.
Port= allows your to change the Game Port, which the default is 7777. So if you have another game/service using that, you can change the port to whatever you want. Yes Vegeta, you could even make it 9001.
WebAdminPort= allows you to change the Query Port, which the default is 8080. Same as explanation as above.

The .bat file I used to launch my Server.
start C:\KF2Server\Binaries\win64\kfserver kf-burningparis?adminpassword=123?difficulty=1?adminname=Dispatch?maxplayers=6

-- Now that we've gone over the .bat file configuration, let's move onto the rest.

Changes made into the config will not take effect until Map/Change, some won't take effect until Server Reboot.

A good amount of configuration can be done through WebAdmin's GUI, but you'll need to enable that first.

Under C:\KF2Server\KFGame\Config, find KFWeb.ini - Right click it and then click Edit with Notepad++ - On line 13, there is a snippet of code.
bEnabled=false
Needs to be
bEnabled=true

Once that's finished, we can now access our Server through WebAdmin.

How to access WebAdmin? Easy.
Enter your IP address into your Browser Address Bar, for example mine is Google Chrome. Followed by :8080

Example:
fake.IP.address:8080

You'll now be taken to the WebAdmin page if your KF2 Server is online.

Remember adminname= and adminpassword= ? Well now those come in handy. The default admin name is "admin", the default password is "123" if you haven't changed them.

WebAdmin is a GUI, so no text editing. You can edit the basics here, such as Difficulty, Game Length, Server Name, Change Map. It's very easy to get what you want configured here.

The rest of the configuration can be done in "PCServer-KFGame.ini" in the C:\KF2Server\KFGame\Config folder.

It is important to note that configuration done in the .bat file will overwrite these changes when you first boot up the Server.

Lines in PCServer-KFGame.ini you might be interested in.

Line 4: bAdminCanPause=
Line 5: MaxPlayers=
Line 6: GameDifficulty=
Line 30: AdminPassword=
Line 31: GamePassword= // The password players trying to connect to the server will need to enter
Line 350: ServerName=
Line 351: ShortName=
11 Comments
xmodius 26 May, 2016 @ 5:07am 
Hi Alnatair,

Thanks for the tip. It turns out this was a serious case of stupidity on my part. I was able to join my own server by going to the LAN tab in KF2. DUH.

I kinda wish TW had mentioned that in their wiki, but oh well. Thanks for the help!
MaxLeveled  [author] 25 May, 2016 @ 9:43pm 
@xmodius You could try to connect to 127.0.0.1 (in the KF2 Console), that's usually your host machine. You could also try the address assigned to your computer by your router (for example, an Aris Comcast Router has numbers like 10.0.0.1/etc))

Same network, you should try the router IP that's assined to your hosting computer.

Those two solutions have usually worked for me when I am trying to connect to a server hosted on the same machine/network.
xmodius 25 May, 2016 @ 7:53am 
Great guide, but I have a unique issue that maybe you or someone here can help me with...

So I've set up my server. It runs fine, players can connect, but I myself cannot connect! If I click join in the server browser for my server, it just sits there. The KF2 Server console shows over and over where I'm trying to connect and eventually it times out.

I'm totally floored on this one. I even ran the server on a different computer in my network and tried connecting from another machine, same problem.

Again, people on the internet outside my network can connect just fine, but I can't. I disabled the windows firewall as well just to be sure, but to no avail.

Anyone else run into this issue? Any ideas?
MaxLeveled  [author] 27 Apr, 2016 @ 4:27pm 
@Eriux It'll take a big chunk of your drive space up, yea.
Eriux 27 Apr, 2016 @ 2:34am 
Is the download supposed to be as big as killing floor itself?
Zabavon 12 Apr, 2016 @ 2:32pm 
Update pls you manual
Knightmare 12 Feb, 2016 @ 3:24pm 
Thanks!
MaxLeveled  [author] 21 Nov, 2015 @ 9:32pm 
@ExquisiteLotus No problem! Thanks for commenting.
ExquisiteLotus 21 Nov, 2015 @ 4:45pm 
Thank you for this guide. It was difficult finding a proper english guide.
MaxLeveled  [author] 3 May, 2015 @ 7:24pm 
@FreedomPuppy - I define something being Easy if you only have to know a bit of information to do it. Setting up a server for KF2 isn't extremely difficult, it just requires information like what router you're using and how to port-forward it.