Guides
Running a game server on your own hardware
Free machine, real electricity, and an upload speed that is probably your ceiling. Where home hosting is right and where it quietly is not.
· 6 min read
523 articles
SweetMask
SweetMask is a gaming enthusiast and content writer covering gaming news, updates, guides, and online communities. Focused on delivering clear, accurate, and useful content, he helps players stay informed about the latest developments, game updates, and trends across the gaming world.
Articles — page 7
523 resultsGuides
Counter-Strike: Source Still Has More Community Servers Than CS2
Source has the mature plugin stack and a stable population. CS2 has the players. What each scene is good at, and what it costs to move between them.
· 7 min read
Guides
GunGame Explained
The weapon changes on every kill and the last level is a knife. Twenty years old, still the best warm-up in the game.
· 7 min read
Guides
AWP Servers
One weapon, one long map, and a reload you cannot survive. The oldest single-weapon format in Counter-Strike and why it outlived its own game.
· 7 min read
Guides · Half-Life
The Half-Life Mods That Never Stopped
Natural Selection, Team Fortress Classic and a dozen others still have servers with people on them. Why these survived, and how to get into one.
· 7 min read
Guides · Team Fortress 2
Mann vs Machine on Community Servers
Six strangers, waves of robots, and an upgrade system that punishes buying damage. How missions work, what each class is for, and how to pick a server.
· 7 min read
Guides
A Migration Checklist in the Order Things Break
The world and the configs are the easy part. The cron jobs, firewall rules and secrets are what surface a week later, when the old machine is already gone.
· 7 min read
Guides
Windows or Linux for a Game Server
An honest comparison rather than a recommendation. Where each genuinely wins, and the games where the choice is made for you.
· 7 min read
Guides
Choosing which stats to show, and which to leave alone
Anything you rank, somebody will farm. What each common leaderboard actually rewards — and why private stats deliver most of the value.
· 5 min read
Guides
Time zones, and why your server feels empty at 3am
Players on three continents are three small communities sharing an address. The arithmetic, the two honest strategies, and the signals to read.
· 5 min read
Guides
Keeping a changelog players actually read
Without one, every change reads as a fault. What changed and why, in short dated entries — and the reversal that earns the most trust.
· 5 min read
Guides
Why two trackers disagree about the same server
Different sweep intervals, different bot conventions, and uptime figures built from each site's own failed queries. None of it is dishonesty.
· 5 min read
Guides
How much bandwidth a game server actually uses
Small per player, relentless, and billed by the month. Why operators over-buy CPU and under-buy transfer, with the arithmetic to size it.
· 5 min read
Game Updates · FiveM
FiveM Game Clients Release Winter Notes for Hosts
FiveM game clients release winter recap adds standalone Steam IDs, Rich Presence, and server build 24574 requirements for server hosts.
· 4 min read
Game Updates · 7 Days to Die
7 Days to Die 2.6 Stable Update Released for Hosts
7 Days to Die 2.6 stable resolves severe city hitches, overhauls dew collector fuel mechanics, and adjusts wasteland and snow biome gamestage scaling.
· 4 min read
Guides
Crossplay and community servers: who can actually join
Cross-platform matchmaking and cross-platform community servers are different things, and the second is rare. Why editions matter more than games.
· 5 min read
Guides
Retake Servers
The post-plant situation a competitive round produces twice a game, repeated forty times an hour. What it trains, and what it does not.
· 7 min read
Game Updates · Counter-Strike 1.6
Counter-Strike 1.6 AMXModX 1.9.0.5303 Fixes for Hosts
AMXModX 1.9.0.5303 updates Counter-Strike 1.6 server tooling with ReHLDS support, JSON handling, crash patches, and Pawn native adjustments.
· 3 min read
Guides
Aim Maps and Training Servers: What They Are Good For
Four formats that train four different things. Most players who feel stuck are practising the one that does not address their problem.
· 7 min read
Guides
Drama Is a Structural Problem, Not a People Problem
The four arguments every server has, why the venue decides the outcome more than the content does, and the one thing that makes all of them shorter.
· 7 min read
Guides
How the Server Browser Stopped Being the Front Door
Four separate things happened and none of them was about killing community servers. What was lost is discovery, not supply.
· 7 min read
Game Updates · Minecraft
Minecraft 26.2 Snapshot 3 Guide for Hosts
Mojang releases Minecraft 26.2 snapshot 3, adding sulfur spikes, entity predicate reworks, bed model overhauls, and bug fixes for servers.
· 3 min read
Game Updates · Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 Operation Lithium Lunacy Guide for Players
Explore the Team Fortress 2 Operation Lithium Lunacy charity event details, mission difficulties, global servers, and in-game medal rewards.
· 2 min read
Guides · Left 4 Dead 2
Custom Campaigns Are Why Left 4 Dead 2 Is Still Alive
The community built more campaigns than Valve did and kept building after Valve stopped. What makes a good one, how to install them, and where they run.
· 7 min read