Counter-Strike: Source Server Problems and Fixes

Q: The badge stays on Starting after I added a Steam token

Why: the panel marks the server Online when the Console prints the Steam login line with gameserver Steam ID . With a token Steam does not accept, that login fails and the Console prints a line like this instead (we measured result 18 with a made-up token; Valve also names 106): Could not establish connection to Steam servers. (Result = 18) The game may keep running, but the badge stays on Starting , and the server drops out of the server browser. Valve's Source Dedicated Server page says that with this message and result 18 or 106 you must regenerate the token or create a new one. Fix: Click the Settings tab above the page, then Game Settings , and find Steam Login Token (GSLT) . Empty the field, or paste a new token made for App ID 240 with your own Steam account, and press Enter . Click Restart now in the message that appears. In the Console , wait for the line with gameserver Steam I

Q: The panel says Installation failed

Why: a new server installs the game from Steam before its first start. While that runs, the panel shows Running Installer instead of your server's pages. If the install cannot finish, for example because Steam did not deliver the game files after three tries, every page of the server shows Installation failed and this message: The installer did not finish, so this server has not been set up yet. We can get it sorted. Fix: click Open a ticket under the message. The Console and the other pages stay closed until the install is fixed, so there is nothing to change on your side. For a server that installed but will not start, see How to fix a server that will not start .

Q: This server ran out of memory

Why: the server needed more memory than its plan gives it, and the system stopped it. The Overview page shows the card This server ran out of memory with the date and how often it happened. Fix: click See the usage on the card. If it began after you added plugins or maps, remove the last one you added and start the server again. See How to read your server's usage graphs .

Q: The Console says server ranking will be negatively impacted

Why: you have not set a Steam Login Token (GSLT) . At every start the Console then prints a line that begins No account token specified; logging into anonymous game server account. followed by a line that begins Server ranking in server browser will be negatively impacted These are not errors. The server still logs in to Steam, is listed in the server browser and accepts players. It is only ranked lower. Fix: nothing is required. To rank normally, create a free token at steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers with App ID 240 , paste it into Steam Login Token (GSLT) on the Settings tab, under Game Settings , and restart. If the server still does not show, see Counter-Strike: Source server not showing in the browser .

Q: Nobody can connect

Why: the server is not Online yet, or the address was typed without its port, or with a port from a guide for home servers. Fix: check the badge, then copy the address again with Join on Overview , and type connect with the whole address, port included. See Connect to your Counter-Strike: Source server and Counter-Strike: Source ports and firewall explained .

Q: The server is full

Why: every player slot is taken. Max Players under Game Settings is marked Read only , because your plan sets the most slots you can have. Fix: check Slots on the Overview server card. If it is lower than your plan allows, click the pencil beside it. The Edit Player Slots window shows your plan's limit and warns This will restart your server. Pick a number up to the limit and click Update . If Slots is already at the limit, every slot of your plan is in use.

Q: The Active players card says No answer from the server

Why: the panel counts players by asking the game port, and the server does not answer while it starts or is stopped. The card says It is not responding on its query port. That is normal while it is starting or stopped. On Counter-Strike: Source the query port is the game port. Fix: wait for Online . If the message stays once the server is online, restart it once, then open a ticket with the last Console lines.

Q: The value format is invalid.

Why: you typed a Server name or a Map with a space, a quote " , a backslash, * or ? . These values go into the server's start line, so the panel refuses those characters. Fix: join words with - or _ instead of spaces, for example Friday-Night-Source .

Q: The value may not be greater than 64 characters.

Why: the Server name is longer than 64 characters. Fix: shorten it and press Enter again.

Q: The value may only contain letters, numbers, and dashes.

Why: the RCON password contains another character, such as a space, a dot or ! . Underscores are accepted too. Fix: use only letters, digits, - and _ . If you see The value must be between 1 and 30 characters. , the password is longer than 30 characters: shorten it.

Most Counter-Strike: Source server problems on PlayNHost come from a wrong Steam token, a setting that applies only after a restart or a reinstall, or a typo the panel refuses. A server stuck on Starting after you added a token has a token Steam does not accept: empty the Steam Login Token (GSLT) field and restart.

Starting

The badge stays on Starting after I added a Steam token

Why: the panel marks the server Online when the Console prints the Steam login line with gameserver Steam ID. With a token Steam does not accept, that login fails and the Console prints a line like this instead (we measured result 18 with a made-up token; Valve also names 106):

Could not establish connection to Steam servers. (Result = 18)

The game may keep running, but the badge stays on Starting, and the server drops out of the server browser. Valve's Source Dedicated Server page says that with this message and result 18 or 106 you must regenerate the token or create a new one.

Fix:

Click the Settings tab above the page, then Game Settings, and find Steam Login Token (GSLT).
Empty the field, or paste a new token made for App ID 240 with your own Steam account, and press Enter.
Click Restart now in the message that appears.
In the Console, wait for the line with gameserver Steam ID. The badge changes to Online.

A server without a token is still listed and players can join it, so an empty field is a safe way back.

The panel says Installation failed

Why: a new server installs the game from Steam before its first start. While that runs, the panel shows Running Installer instead of your server's pages. If the install cannot finish, for example because Steam did not deliver the game files after three tries, every page of the server shows Installation failed and this message:

The installer did not finish, so this server has not been set up yet. We can get it sorted.

Fix: click Open a ticket under the message. The Console and the other pages stay closed until the install is fixed, so there is nothing to change on your side. For a server that installed but will not start, see How to fix a server that will not start.

This server ran out of memory

Why: the server needed more memory than its plan gives it, and the system stopped it. The Overview page shows the card This server ran out of memory with the date and how often it happened.

Fix: click See the usage on the card. If it began after you added plugins or maps, remove the last one you added and start the server again. See How to read your server's usage graphs.

Joining and the server browser

The Console says server ranking will be negatively impacted

Why: you have not set a Steam Login Token (GSLT). At every start the Console then prints a line that begins

No account token specified; logging into anonymous game server account.

followed by a line that begins

Server ranking in server browser will be negatively impacted

These are not errors. The server still logs in to Steam, is listed in the server browser and accepts players. It is only ranked lower.

Fix: nothing is required. To rank normally, create a free token at steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers with App ID 240, paste it into Steam Login Token (GSLT) on the Settings tab, under Game Settings, and restart. If the server still does not show, see Counter-Strike: Source server not showing in the browser.

Nobody can connect

Why: the server is not Online yet, or the address was typed without its port, or with a port from a guide for home servers.

Fix: check the badge, then copy the address again with Join on Overview, and type connect with the whole address, port included. See Connect to your Counter-Strike: Source server and Counter-Strike: Source ports and firewall explained.

The server is full

Why: every player slot is taken. Max Players under Game Settings is marked Read only, because your plan sets the most slots you can have.

Fix: check Slots on the Overview server card. If it is lower than your plan allows, click the pencil beside it. The Edit Player Slots window shows your plan's limit and warns This will restart your server. Pick a number up to the limit and click Update. If Slots is already at the limit, every slot of your plan is in use.

The Active players card says No answer from the server

Why: the panel counts players by asking the game port, and the server does not answer while it starts or is stopped. The card says It is not responding on its query port. That is normal while it is starting or stopped. On Counter-Strike: Source the query port is the game port.

Fix: wait for Online. If the message stays once the server is online, restart it once, then open a ticket with the last Console lines.

Settings

The value format is invalid.

Why: you typed a Server name or a Map with a space, a quote ", a backslash, * or ?. These values go into the server's start line, so the panel refuses those characters.

Fix: join words with - or _ instead of spaces, for example Friday-Night-Source.

The value may not be greater than 64 characters.

Why: the Server name is longer than 64 characters.

Fix: shorten it and press Enter again.

The value may only contain letters, numbers, and dashes.

Why: the RCON password contains another character, such as a space, a dot or !. Underscores are accepted too.

Fix: use only letters, digits, - and _. If you see The value must be between 1 and 30 characters., the password is longer than 30 characters: shorten it.

The value must be 32 characters.

Why: the panel accepts a Steam Login Token (GSLT) only as 32 letters and digits, the length of the tokens Steam's page gives you. A shorter or longer value is a copy mistake, often a missing or extra character. If you see The value may only contain letters and numbers., a space or another sign was copied into the middle of it.

Fix: copy the token again from Steam's page and paste it whole.

A setting I changed did nothing

Why: Game Settings apply the next time the server starts. The panel says so after a save: Saved. The server must restart before these take effect.

Fix: click Restart now under that message. Install SourceMod works differently: see the next section.

The server name or RCON password is not the one I set

Why: two files set them. At every start the panel writes the Server name and the RCON password from Game Settings into its own file, cstrike/cfg/pnh_autoexec.cfg, and runs it. A hostname or rcon_password line in cstrike/cfg/server.cfg sets the same thing again, so you can end up with either value.

Fix: delete the hostname and rcon_password lines from cstrike/cfg/server.cfg and set both on the Settings tab, under Game Settings, then restart. Editing pnh_autoexec.cfg does not help: it is written again at every start. Your other options, such as sv_password, stay in server.cfg: Counter-Strike: Source name, password and map.

SourceMod and RCON

Saved. This is read while the server installs, so a restart will not apply it.

Why: you switched Install SourceMod on. SourceMod and Metamod:Source are added only while the server installs, so a restart does nothing.

Fix:

Click Backups in the left menu and create a backup first. The Install SourceMod description warns that reinstalling can reset plugin configs.
Click the Modding tab above the page. On the SourceMod and Metamod:Source card, switch Install SourceMod on. If it is already on, switch it off and on again: the reinstall button appears only after a change made on this card.
The card shows Saved, and not applied yet. Click Reinstall to apply, then Reinstall. The server is offline while the install runs.
When the server is back and Online, type meta list in the Console. AlliedModders' install guide shows SourceMod in that list when the install worked.

Turning the switch off later does not remove SourceMod. To take it off, delete cstrike/addons under Files. Plugins go in cstrike/addons/sourcemod/plugins: Install plugins on your Counter-Strike: Source server.

The panel says Reinstall failed after I turned on SourceMod

Why: the reinstall downloads SourceMod and Metamod:Source from AlliedModders' download servers. If the files do not arrive, the install stops, and every page of the server shows Reinstall failed and this message:

The reinstall did not finish, and nothing is running now. Your files are still here, and we can get it sorted.

Fix: click Open a ticket under the message. The Modding page and the Console stay closed until the reinstall is fixed.

My RCON tool cannot log in

Why: the RCON password under Game Settings is empty, which leaves RCON off, or the tool uses another password or address. Valve's RCON page says the server refuses every RCON login while rcon_password is empty. An rcon_password line in cstrike/cfg/server.cfg sets a second password, so the one in Game Settings may not be the one in use.

Fix: set an RCON password, delete any rcon_password line from cstrike/cfg/server.cfg, restart, and give the tool the Server Address from Overview and that password. RCON uses the same port as players. The Console in the panel never needs it. Admin commands and SourceMod admins are in Become a Counter-Strike: Source server admin.

Something else? Copy the last 50 to 100 lines of the Console and contact support through the website chat or a ticket.

Counter-Strike: Source server problems and fixes