Setup your own Black Snow Coop Server tutorial - Half-Life 2: Episode Two

As I have heard some of you are having issues setting up your own servers, here I'll explain how to do it.

First of all make sure you have these programs :
- HLDS Update Tool for downloading orangebox files, etc...
- Black Snow Coop Working OB Binary Files ( Extract these files when you've used the HLDS tool to download orangebox/hl2mp files )

Now, make a folder called SRCDS anywhere. I recommend you to put it in an easy directory path like C:\ or D:\ ( Example C:\SRCDS\ )
Save the HLDS Update tool to the SRCDS folder, run it one time.

Now right click HLDS Update tool and click on "Create Shortcut"
You will now have a file called "HldsUpdateTool - Shortcut" right click this file and go to properties, go to the shortcut tab in properties window and change the target from default to this :
Which is;

C:\SRCDS\HldsUpdateTool.exe to C:\SRCDS\HldsUpdateTool.exe -command update -game orangebox -dir C:\SRCDS

- This will install the orangebox base engine files needed to run a server.

Now you have to change the target again from;

C:\SRCDS\HldsUpdateTool.exe -command update -game orangebox -dir C:\SRCDS to C:\SRCDS\HldsUpdateTool.exe -command update -game hl2mp -dir C:\SRCDS

- This will install all necessary HL2MP files. This is a mp mod so this is needed!

Installing the -orangebox files will take a while, and HL2MP too but not as long as the OB files.
When all files has been transfered go into your now existent "orangebox" folder and copy your blacksnowcoop folder located in your sourcemods folder.
Paste it into the orangebox folder. Remove the addons folder inside Black Snow Coop.
Now for the last step, grab the Black Snow Coop Working OB Binary Files and extract them into the orangebox folder. ( C:\SRCDS\orangebox )

Now run the srcds.exe file to get a VGUI server or right click srcds.exe and create a shortcut and right click your new shortcut and go to properties and go to the Shortcut tab and change the target from;

C:\SRCDS\orangebox\srcds.exe to C:\SRCDS\orangebox\srcds.exe -console -game blacksnowcoop -maxplayers 4 +maxplayers 4 +physcannon_mega_enabled 1 +sv_cheats 0 +sv_lan 0 +exec server.cfg +map seco7_ep2_bs_int +fps_max 1001 +rate 99999

That's all. Change the "+map" to any map you want. Or change it manually in the console. The console server interface is more stabilized and easy to use and drains less CPU / RAM! So you can have many more up at the same time. Good luck! I hope this will clear up things.

Mounting the right content:
Because Black Snow Coop mounts the Episode 2 content you'll need to add ep2 into your server's orangebox folder as well in order to get the right files. And to make your lives easier, we will use GCF Scape to extract the files. Using the update command on the hlds update tool is incredibly slow. Therefore we will use GCF Scape which is files stored in steamapps. But you will need hl2:ep2 for this.

Instructions:

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.
-------------------------------------
-half life 2 content.gcf- //NOTE: ONLY REQUIRED IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO LOAD OFFICIAL VALVE MAPS ! ! !
 
Extract the "maps" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox hl2 folder.
 
-source 2007 binaries.gcf-
 
Extract the "hl2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-source 2007 shared materials.gcf-
 
Extract the "hl2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-source 2007 shared models.gcf-
 
Extract the "hl2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-source 2007 shared sounds.gcf-
 
Extract the "hl2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-half life 2 deathmatch.gcf-
 
Extract the "hl2mp" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 

EPISODE 2 REQUIREMENTS.
---------------------------------------
 
-episodic 2007 shared.gcf-
 
Extract the "episodic" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-episode two content.gcf-
 
Extract the "ep2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-episode two maps.gcf- //NOTE: ONLY REQUIRED IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO LOAD OFFICIAL VALVE MAPS ! ! !
 
Extract the "ep2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.
 
-episode two materials.gcf-
 
Extract the "ep2" folder into your dedicated servers orangebox folder.

Once this is done you will have the proper files to host a server for Black Snow Coop!

Extra:
Port Forwarding the following ports 27000-27100 should unlock all ports for source.
For more info regarding port forwarding check Portforwarding!

For more info regarding SRCDS check this Link!
(SRCDS=Source Dedicated Server)

For Linux version of the HLDS Update tool you can download this here and find info on how to setup the server on Linux by going to the SRCDS info link above!

Performance Fix:
Open up your SRCDS shortcut and in properties add "-heapsize 1024000"

Out of date error Fix:
Open up the "steam.inf" file within your blacksnowcoop folder. Use notepad to open it up then replace the text with this:

//PatchVersion=1.2.0 <- Remove this line
//ProductName=BlackSnowCoop <- Remove this line too
appID=218

that will remove the bug entirely!