How to join and upload custom maps
A missing map or the wrong version stalls loading. Confirm the map name, install it, then connect. Uploads to the server go through this site.
Have the files before you join a custom map
When the server is on a custom map, you need the same map locally. Missing, the wrong version, or leftover VPKs stall loading, disconnect you, or let you in with purple-black textures.
- Read the map name the server is running. Do not guess from the room title.
- Quit the game before you subscribe or install. Do not keep connecting while the download is unfinished.
- If official campaigns work but a custom map on the same server does not, check local map files first, not the network route.
First find out which map the server is running
A room name is not a map name. Many are mode names or whatever an admin typed at the time, so guessing the map from them almost never works — and subscribing to the wrong one means downloading again.
- Look at the server IP page — every server in the list shows its current map.
- If you are already in the room, type status in the console — the first line gives the current map's file name.
- Type !mapvote to open the vote menu. What it lists is exactly what this server knows about, and the names match the file names.
What you get is a file name (something like c1m1_hotel). Searching the Workshop with that is far more reliable than searching by a translated title.
Subscribing versus installing a VPK by hand
Both work, but they fail in different ways — and mixing them is the easiest way to get burned.
- Workshop subscription
- Steam handles updates. The upside is you follow the author's version; the downside is that when the author updates, so do you — which may no longer match the copy on the server.
- Dropping in a VPK by hand
- Put it in the addons folder and the version is yours to decide. Stable, but you will not hear about it when the author fixes a bug.
Never both subscribe to and hand-install the same map. With two VPKs present, which one the game loads is undefined — the classic symptoms are purple-black textures, misplaced models, or a crash on load. Check the addons folder for an old file of the same name before you install.
One more thing people miss: hitting connect over and over before the download finishes just restarts it. Subscribe, quit the game, let Steam finish, then come back.
How to change a custom map in the room
In game, type !mapvote to see votable maps. Ask before you change. Anyone missing the files will stall on load. On maps with many puzzles or a long finale, agree on positions and order first.
Once the vote passes the server changes map immediately, anyone missing the file drops on the spot and has to download before returning. So with a full room, say in chat which map you want, wait a round, then call the vote — that is faster than changing first and waiting for people to trickle back.
Want to upload a map to the server
Regular players can pick a server on this site and upload. The map list comes from the VPK uploader. Admins decide which servers accept uploads. A finished upload is not instantly votable. Wait until the node finishes and the map shows on the server.
- Pick the target server on the upload page first. Different servers expose different upload nodes, so uploading to the wrong one gets you nothing.
- Upload the original VPK you have, without renaming it. A renamed file counts as a different map on the server.
- After uploading, wait for the node to process it. Large files, or several uploads at once, will queue — the page shows the status.
- Wait until the map shows up in !mapvote before voting for it. If it is not in the list it has not taken effect yet, and uploading again will not help.
Even after the upload, everyone else still needs the map locally to join — uploading fixes the server side, not the player side. Before starting a custom-map round, confirm in chat that everyone has subscribed.
Stuck loading, or Too many indices
If loading stalls, quit the game, check the map name and version, remove conflicting VPKs, then reconnect. Too many indices is usually a dense custom map hitting entity or script limits. Change map or restart the round. If the same map does it every time, send the map name and chapter to an admin.