You deployed the server, so you are the admin. TF2 uses native RCON, and the easiest way to run these is the web console on your server card. Every command below is verified on a live 2hours.gg TF2 server.
How your friends join
- Leave the Join password empty on deploy = public. Anyone with the IP can connect.
- Set a Join password = private. Only people with the password get in.
Friends open the developer console (enable it in Options, Keyboard, Advanced) and run: connect IP:27015. For a private server, add the password first: password yourpass; connect IP:27015
Note: we do not list the server in the public Community browser (that needs a game login token), so share the IP. The server still answers the in-game "favorites" add-by-IP.
The web console
The console on your server card has buttons for the things players flip most: change map or gametype, bot count and difficulty, time limit, no random crits, instant respawn, all-talk, friendly fire, and scramble teams. No RCON tool to set up.
Command reference
Run these from the web console on your server card.
Map and match
status- List connected players (and bots), Steam IDs, ping and the current map.
changelevel <map>- Load a map, e.g. changelevel koth_viaduct. The gametype comes from the map name (koth_, pl_, cp_, ctf_, arena_). Briefly drops players. The Map dropdown does this for you.
mp_timelimit <minutes>- End the map after n minutes (0 = no limit).
mp_scrambleteams- Reshuffle both teams to even them out.
mp_autoteambalance <0|1>- Keep the teams roughly even automatically. On by default.
kick "<name>"- Kick a player by name.
say <message>- Print a message in everyone’s chat as the server.
Bots
tf_bot_quota <n>- How many total players to keep the server at. Bots fill up to n and leave as real players join. 0 = no bots.
tf_bot_difficulty <0-3>- 0 easy, 1 normal, 2 hard, 3 expert. Expert bots always headshot.
tf_bot_add <n>- Add n bots right now (they still need a map they can navigate, see below).
tf_bot_kick all- Remove all bots.
Bots need a navigation mesh for the map. We ship one for every map in the picker, so bots work on all of them. Bots do not handle Capture the Flag well (they rarely grab the intel), so CTF plays best with humans. On a map with no mesh, TF2 simply adds no bots.
Fun toggles
tf_weapon_criticals <0|1>- 0 = turn off random crits (a common competitive/pub preference). 1 = default.
mp_disable_respawn_times <0|1>- 1 = instant respawn (chaos), 0 = normal respawn waves.
mp_friendlyfire <0|1>- Whether teammates can hurt each other. Off by default.
sv_alltalk <0|1>- Voice chat across teams. On by default on our servers.
What this server does not do
- No custom maps or Workshop. Custom TF2 maps need a fast-download host, which is not part of this server. All the stock maps are here.
- No SourceMod plugins, so no Versus Saxton Hale, x10, Prop Hunt or MvM tours. This is a clean vanilla pub with bots.