How to change your Left 4 Dead 2 server name, password and campaign

Left 4 Dead 2 reads left4dead2/cfg/server.cfg every time it loads a map. The starting campaign and mode are launch values.

1. Edit server.cfg

1. Stop the server in the Game Panel.
2. Open the Files tab and browse to left4dead2/cfg.
3. Open server.cfg, or create it if it does not exist.

Values with spaces go in quotation marks.

2. The starting campaign

• The map the server boots into is a launch value, set on the Startup page of your server. That page is not linked in the sidebar, so add /startup to the end of your server's panel address.
• Map names are the campaign chapter, for example c1m1_hotel for Dead Center.
• To change campaign now, run changelevel c2m1_highway in the Console tab in the panel.

3. Player slots above four

sv_maxplayers raises the slot count, but the game is designed around four survivors and extra players in co-op need a plugin to be given a character. Versus already uses eight. Raise the number only if you have the plugin to match, or players will connect and sit as spectators.

4. Apply the changes

1. Save the file.
2. Start the server, or run exec server.cfg in the console to reload without a restart.
3. Run status to confirm the hostname and map.

5. If a setting is ignored

• Check the spelling. The console silently skips unknown commands.
• The mode resets some values on each map load. Put those in the mode's own config file.
• Run exec server.cfg by hand to see the errors printed.

Open a ticket from Support in the Client Area if a setting will not hold.