INX game servers blog

This tutorial is also available in a video. Click here to view the video tutorial.

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We are going to go through the motions of updating your server. This is a very quick and simple process, but i will demonstrate all the steps that you need to do.

Firstly, login to your control panel and select the control panel of the server that you wish to update.  You now need to click the ‘Update’ button as highlighted below.

The server will go away and look for any updates that are available for your server. Once it has finished this process and was successful, the update button will show the word ‘Done!’.

It is now necessary to restart the server to ensure that the new update takes effect on the server. To do this, click the ‘Start/Restart’ button.

Once the restart has been completed, the Start/Restart button will show the word ‘Done!’

Your server has now successfully been updated and restarted. Your server should now be online running the latest server version.

This tutorial is also available in a video. Click here to view the video tutorial.

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We are going to go through logging into your control panel and access your server(s). You will now need to login to your INX control panel which can be located at http://www.inx-gaming.com/myinx

To login you need to enter your email address and your password as highlighted below. Once you have entered these details, click ‘Sign-In’.

Once you have successfully logged in, you will be presented with three areas in which you can access. You now need to click ‘My Services’ which will show you all the services which you are renting from INX Gaming.

You will now be shown all of the services that you are renting from INX Gaming. As you can see from this example, there is a web hosting package and a 12 slot Counter Strike Source server.

You can access the control panel for each of the services by clicking on ‘Control Panel’ under each service. We are now going to proceed to the control panel of the server. To do this, click ‘Control Panel’ under the game server as highlighted above.

You are now shown details of the selected server and its current status. There are pre-set links available to access your server via FTP, HLSW and Game Monitor which are shown under the ‘Access Your Server’ section.

You also have the ability to carry out basic tasks at the click of a button. You can start, stop and restart your server all by a click of your mouse. If you think that your server is out of date you can click ‘Update’ which will check for any updates that may be available for your server.

You can also modify your server through the links on the right.

• ‘Switch/Reinstall’ – This will allow you to reinstall your server back to the default settings at any time. You can also switch to another game of your choice free of charge.

• ‘Fix-Me Tool’ – Is your server not working? This will attempt to repair certain parts of the server.

• ‘Mod Central’ – This is where you can install mods/plugins for your server. No more downloading files and uploading them to your server as it’s all done with a single click.

• ‘File Editor’ – Here you can edit certain core files of your server. For example, the main server configuration file is accessible from here instead of logging into your server via FTP, downloading the file, editing it and then uploading it again.

• ‘User Manager’ – Want to give someone else access to your control panel when you are not able to? Here you can give someone access to your services; but more importantly restrict what they can do within the panel.

• ‘Startline Editor’ – Want to execute an installed mod when the server boots up? Simply add the details in here and voila!

• ‘HLTV/SourceTV’ – You can now add/remove HLTV/SourceTV at the click of a button any time you wish.

HLstatsX Community Edition is free Real-time stats and ranking for Source engine based games. It can also be rather tricky to install. Here we’ll provide a guide to installing it on your INX-Gaming webspace.

Installing your web space

The first thing to do before setting up your stats is to setup your web space, to do this simply goto your MyINX control panel and, provided you’ve got the correct package, select ‘install‘for your web hosting. Fill in the details as necessary and proceed.

Getting the correct files

Point your browser towards http://www.hlxcommunity.com/ and grab the latest files (1.6.3 at the time of writing this). Download them to your local hard drive and save them somewhere easy to remember. Once done, unzip all the files and you should have the following folders: amxmodx, heatmaps, scripts, sourcemod, sql and web. The web folder is the one we’re interested in at the moment.

Uploading the files

Connect to your websites FTP server and browse to the ‘public_html‘ folder (or the www) folder. Once there, create a new folder (this varies from client to client, however right clicking should give you this option). Name it something relevant – for example ’stats’. Once done, upload the entire contents of your web folder from the HLStatsX:CE .zip file.

Creating the database and uploading the .sql file

Now it’s time to give the stats a place to be stored. Go back to your MyINX control panel and browse to your web hosting service, you should see the option to goto the control panel for your web service (called cPanel). Click this. Once there you should be presented with lots of controls for your website, we’re interested in the database section. Scroll down until you see ‘MySQL Database Wizard‘ and click it. Give your database a name (again, make it something relevant) and assign a user to it. Give this user ‘full privileges’ (using the wizard will show you how to do this). Now that we’ve created the database, we need to populate it with tables.

Go back to the home page of your cPanel (the web hosting one) and select ‘PHPMyAdmin’. On the left hand side you should see your database name, click it so we can add our tables. If you now look towards the top you should see the option to ‘import’. Select this tab and select ‘choose’. This will bring up your browser, so goto the location where you unzipped your files and goto your ‘sql‘ folder. Select ‘install.sql’ and press OK. This will now upload the file and add all the necessary tables to your database.

That’s the database bit done now, we just need to configure our stats.

Configuring your Stats

Go back to your local hard drive and goto your ‘web’ folder. In here you’ll see ‘config.php‘, edit this file with notepad. The lines we’re looking for are the following:

define(”DB_NAME”, “”);

define(”DB_USER”, “”);

define(”DB_PASS”, “”);

define(”DB_ADDR”, “localhost”);

The first line is your database name – this is the one we setup earlier and will follow the format <your username>_<database name>. So, for example, my1234_stats.

The second line is the user we assigned to the database, the third line is the password.

The 4th line can be left as localhost, however if that does not work try ‘195.242.236.15‘. Save and close the file, then upload it.

That’s it for the website side. The last remaining thing to do is login as an admin, to do this goto your stats URL and click ‘admin’ at the bottom. Log in with the following details:

User: admin
Pass: 123456

Setting up Perl

Now that the website is setup, we’ll need to make sure we can send and receive logs. Goto your unzipped directory and browse to your ‘scripts’ folder. In here you should see a file called ‘hlstats.conf‘. Edit this file (like you did with config.php). The database information should be pretty simple, you will notice this line further down the file:

BindIP “”

You can leave this blank if you want to, however we like to ensure we’re checking the correct IP so enter ‘195.242.236.15′ in here. The next line down is very important and must be changed to suit you.

Port 27500

Change ‘27500′ to something individual. There will be other users running stats programs on here and will likely be using the default port, in order to ensure you receive the correct logs change this. We recommend using the numbers from your username to keep it individual. Close and save this file.

Go back to your website FTP and goto the root directory (the directory above ‘public_html‘). Now upload your ‘scripts’ directory here, upload the entire folder so you now have a scripts folder on your FTP.

So far so good, we’ve got all the core files setup. You will now need to contact INX support. We need to make  the files an executable on the server (the .pl files), we will also setup a cronjob for you so your stats are updated regularly.

Configuring your game server

This is the final step. You can either use your FTP client to access your game servers FTP server or your control panel, but we need to edit your ‘autoexec.cfg’ file. Simply add this line:

logaddress_add 195.242.236.15:<port from before>

Change ‘port from before’ to the unique one you used when setting up HLStats.conf. Save your autoexec.cfg and upload it. Now reboot your server.

Your stats should now be online!

We get a lot of questions asking us, ‘Why are you best?’, ‘What makes the best game server?’. Well here’s my unofficial take on it. If you don’t agree with me, tough. No, seriously- leave a comment below please and tell me where I’m wrong

There are so many factors that make a great game server. If we look at the technical specifics- anything from the hardware, to the connection. The configs- rates, tweaks etc. To the aesthetics- if you are going to have a good game server, the better the tools, the easier the job.

With a struggle, here’s the top five factors (in no particular order) that make a good game server:

The tools

To configure a game server, you need the full access. And to do it properly, you don’t want to be faffing around. This is where a good control panel comes in. As well as the control panel, full FTP is a must. The control panel should do everything the FTP does, but my making 101 clicks, one click! The ability to save config, install mods, change the start line on the fly, are all a must

The hardware

Game servers will run on:

• Desktop PC’s
• Crappy specs

However, don’t expect performance. Desktop PC’s aren’t made for stress, and can overheat (I’m talking about those that host them in a datacentre for some weird reason- must be cost cutting). Quad Cores are a must these days- Dual Cpu’s will do for running a few servers. Anything less and you are going to see horrible performance degradation.

Hosts should skimp on their hardware.

The best connectivity

Connectivity is perhaps the most important part of a game server. One bad route, and your pings will sky rocket. An ip transit provider should be incredibly stable. If you are finding the network going offline every few days, that’s a sure way to scare off players. So look for a good network. Goscomb connectivity is highly rated in the UK for example.

The configs

A CS Source game server needs rates set correctly according to those using the server. If you don’t set your rates correctly, expect horrible packet loss, choke, and lots of ‘OMFG’.

The provider

Of course, it goes without saying. A good control panel, good connectivity and the rest. But you are stuck without a good provider. There are a number throughout the world. Things to check for

- Are they a real company, or after school operation?
- Does their pricing scream desperation?
- How long have they been around
- How quickly do they respond to sales emails?

For now, that is just about enough to get you started. Be careful….it’s a warzone out there

Zblock is a cool anticheat tool you can install onto Counterstrike Source game servers.

However, you might find you want to remove it. For one reason ZBlock can be a bit of pain when it comes to custom content (although you can make use of the whitelist). We wouldn’t therefore recommend it on public servers.

So how do I remove ZBlock from my CS Source server?

• Firstly log into the FTP of your game server. The details are clearly displayed on the home page of your control panel
• Navigate to the following folder:- srcds_l/cstrike/addons/
• Now delete the following two files:- zblock_css.vdf & zblock_i486.so
• You can safely close the FTP program now
• Finally go back to your control panel and restart your server.

ZBlock should now be successfully removed from your Counterstrike Source server.

How do I re-enable ZBlock on my CSS server?

Pretty easy

Jump back onto your control panel and click on Mod Central. Here you should see Zblock- just click and the panel will automatically install for you. Wow

• For any comments or suggestions- or have we missed something? Please leave a comment below
• You get it but you’d like to know more? Please visit our game server forum – there’s a specific Counterstrike section
• Need help fast? For official support, please visit our support desk.
• Stumbled across this page randomly while searching? Have you checked out our low priced, shockingly good quality Counter-strike Source servers? We have hundreds of articles like this one that makes Cs Source hosting easy.

One of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to administrating Left 4 Dead 2 game servers is how to lock it! By default if you start a Left 4 Dead 2 server up, you’ll find magically people joining the L4D2 server and choosing their campaign. Which kind of defeats the object if you are renting a server for you and your mates, and you want to run it by your rules.

BTW- it’s also quite useful to lock the Left 4 Dead 2 gameserver if you are like me as a gamer- entirely intolerant and incredibly angry of anyone on Left 4 Dead that rambos it by themselves, running off like a noob.

Anyway, back to the Tutorial..

There are two ways of locking a Left 4 Dead 2 server.

NB whatever you do – don’t try and use sv_password – it will break the server horribly

In this tutorial we’re going to tell you how to lock the server if you have your own STEAM group.

Create your STEAM group

Of course, if you already have a group with your friends in, you can use that.

Otherwise, if you aren’t already, fire up and login to STEAM.

Once that has launched

• Click on the community button, which will open a new window.
• You should see a tab for ‘groups’ – click on this.
• This should open a new option – create new group.
• Fill out the details – this is your group, you choose
• IMPORTANT – at this stage you’ll get the ID of your steam group. Make a very careful note of it as you’ll need it in a bit
• Finally invite all your mates to join the STEAM group.

Setting the Left 4 Dead server to be exclusive to this STEAM group

Here goes the config bit.

• Firstly, log into your INX control panel
• Bring up the File Editor
• Edit server.cfg.
• You should see the following lines:

//sv_steamgroup 00000000
// sv_steamgroup_exclusive 1

For the no techy savvy, a couple of things.

Firstly, you made a note of your STEAM group ID earlier. You should remove 00000000 and replace it with your STEAM group ID. This tells the server- ‘Only let people who are in this STEAM group use my server’.

Secondly the // means in server talk ‘ignore this’. So to make those two lines, you need to delete the two trailing slashes (these //). So if your STEAM group ID happened to be 123456789, your game server config should look like this now:

sv_steamgroup 123456789
sv_steamgroup_exclusive 1

NB- remember to remove the // – it won’t work without them!

Once done, save the config.

• Restart the server – as soon as you’ve made these changes restart the server

Now, as long as you did this all right, you should have stopped anyone else but your mates in your STEAM group from joining your server.

Still stuck? Still doesn’t work?

• For any comments or suggestions- or have we missed something? Please leave a comment below
• You get it but you’d like to know more? Please visit our game server forum – there’s a specific Left 4 Dead 2 section
• Need help fast? For official support, please visit our support desk.

Updates to Left 4 Dead 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Left 4 Dead 2
Fixed crash on startup when using FAT32 file system
Fixed in-game chat input where the local encoding differs from the input language’s
Fixed bug where Survivor Bots would sometimes become unresponsive in Scavenge games
Updated subtitle localization files for Hungarian, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian
Fixed exploit that allowed players on the Infected team to spawn directly next to the Survivors

We all love shooting someone in the head and hearing the echoing words:

HEADSHOT!!!!111

Those that used to play on Unreal Tournament servers will remember fondly the bunny hopping, the unleashing of a missile followed by the epic shout of:

M M M M MONSTER KILL!!!!

We are blessed that Quake Sounds also work on Counterstrike Source game servers through the popular addon Manimod. And in just a few steps you can have them configured. Here’s how.

1. Upload Quake Sounds to your Counterstrike Source server

If you already have an INX game server, Quake Sounds will already be uploaded. Useful eh?

If not, they need to go into the following folder:

/cstrike/sound/quake/

You should upload these using your favourite FTP program.

2. Enable Quake Sounds

Again, on your FTP look for the following file:

cstrike/cfg/mani_quake_sounds.cfg

In this file, you should set the following parameter for Quake Sounds to work on your CS Source server:

mani_quake_sounds 1

3. Adding quakesoundlist.txt

Again, if you have an INX gameserver, quakesoundlist.txt will already be there. Useful again eh?

If not, you can find this from the Quake Sounds download on the Manimod website.

This file needs to be in the following directory:

cstrike/cfg/mani_admin_plugin/

4. Activate Quake Sounds on your Counterstrike Source gameserver

We’re almost there. Locate the following file on your game server:

/srcds_l/cstrike/cfg/mani_server.cfg

Make sure the following is set:

exec mani_quake_sounds.cfg

5. We’re done- restart your gameserver!

Finally, for the settings to take effect, you need to restart your game server. INX customers can do this on our control panel.

Not working? Leave a comment below or raise a support ticket. Otherwise, Fingers crossed, Quake Sounds should now be running on your Counterstrike Source game server!

A required update for Left 4 Dead 2 is now available. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive the update. The specific changes include:

- Fixed crash on startup when using FAT32 file system
- Fixed in-game chat input where the local encoding differs from the input language’s
- Fixed bug where Survivor Bots would sometimes become unresponsive in Scavenge games
- Updated subtitle localization files for Hungarian, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian
- Fixed exploit that allowed players on the Infected team to spawn directly next to the Survivors

Jason

Updates to Left 4 Dead 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Left 4 Dead 2

* Updated stats collection and related steam pages
* Fixed issue where players could be stuck if caught in charger pound
* Updated CPU detection