SteamCMD¶
In this part we'll install SteamCMD which is a headless Steam client that lets us install Dedicated server packages without even the need to login (some exceptions apply).
Installation¶
Before installing this tool, we'll create a new user, just to better organize ourselves.
sudo adduser --disabled-login steam
sudo -iu steam
Since the steam user's home folder is empty, we'll make a folder for SteamCMD.
mkdir steamcmd && cd steamcmd
Now we proceed with the download and extraction.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
tar zxvf steamcmd_linux.tar.gz && rm steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
That's it, you can start up SteamCMD with:
./steamcmd.sh
Usage¶
First and foremost, when using SteamCMD you'll need to login, whether it is to your account or to an anonymous account (which is basically the same as logging in to an empty user).
login anonymous
login <username>
Note
Use either one, prefer anonymous over your username when possible, keep in mind that some packages require a license for your account, meaning that certain game servers can only be downloaded if you have said game in your Steam library. When inserting your username you'll be prompted to enter your password and your Steam guard code in case you have 2 factor security enabled.
When downloading a package, it is often recommended to save it in a separate folder for better organization.
force_install_dir <path>
To download a package, you'll need it's AppID, a list of Dedicated sever AppIDs can be found here.
app_update <app_id> validate
Server Updating¶
I made a small bash script to help myself update these servers, you can check it out here.
Script Installation¶
Unzip the content of the file inside the directory where SteamCMD is installed. Also, make the script executable with:
chmod +x update.sh
Script Usage¶
To run the updater, use:
./update.sh server_name username
If the username is empty, the script will run with anonymous as the username. The server_name should correspond to a file inside the ./scripts folder. Keep in mind that the script takes into account that the username in which the server is installed is steam, if this is different for you you're free to change the script to suit your needs.