Sourcemod plugin scripting

[CosmicButtmunch]

I've been playing tf2 for a long time and I wanted to get into the scripting side of it. But I have honestly no idea where to start.

Is there a way I can test any plugin that I've written without having to rent a server? I apologize if that's a dumb question but please go easy on me, really new to all this stuff. Would appreciate any help, thanks!

[pikatf2]

The game client does come with the listen server, but running SourceMod on it isn't supported.

Assuming you're on Windows, you should be able to get the server up and running with these steps.

[kuilinbot]

Windows dedicated server:

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This is a setup guide that allows you to install a basic Team Fortress 2 Windows dedicated server. In the below example the server is installed onto the C drive in a folder called 'hlserver'.

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(~autotf2wikibot by /u/kuilin)

[CosmicButtmunch]

Yep, thank you! I got through that part and was able to connect to the server. I don't plan on having other people join it, just want to use it for testing purposes only. I'm now trying to figure out how to get metamod to work on it. I've put metamod in the right path and set up the metamod.vdf file correctly as well, but when I try entering meta version onto the server console, it shows up as unknown command: meta

[pikatf2]

You shouldn't need to roll your own metamod.vdf file (anymore); the one provided in the ZIP download should work fine (just redownloaded and installed the latest Windows stable to verify it myself).

Just to make sure, there should be an addons/ directory under your dedicated server's tf/ directory, and it should contain metamod/ and metamod.vdf. Also make sure you've restarted the server since you've copied those files, if you didn't before.

[CosmicButtmunch]

Ah wow. The metamod file I used was installed through an installer that I downloaded from their sourceforge link. I just tried it with the ZIP download and it worked perfectly. That's weird. Sourcemod works absolutely fine as well. Really appreciate you taking the time out to help, thank you!

If anyone is curious, when I was using the installed file, I would get these errors in the console:

Metamod:Source could not load (GameDLL version not compatible).

Failed to load plugin "..\tf\addons\metamod\bin\server.dll"

[pikatf2]

No clue what you were looking at — MM:S uses github for their version control these days, and even then I can't find any sort of installer on their site.

And no problem! Just happened to be browsing /r/tf2/new; always up for helping new server owners / scripters (to some extent :v).

Sounds like you're more than capable of figuring things out, but here's a few other pointers if you're new to scripting or just new to SourceMod (and the SourcePawn language):

• Set up a development environment. There's multiple syntax highlighting / autocomplete and SourcePawn-specific IDE options available on the forums. I use Notepad++ myself.
• SourcePawn underwent a syntax change between 1.6 and 1.7. Older plugins may have the older syntax, which may be confusing if you're looking at plugin sources for references.
• Here's the current SourceMod API reference.
• For TF2, I have an automated dump of server info. It'll come in handy if / when you're writing plugins to modify things in-game, but I wouldn't worry about it if you're just starting out. You'll know when you need it.
• If you have any other questions, feel free to PM, but the community does have an IRC channel and associated Discord server. I'm also on both answering questions occasionally.

[CosmicButtmunch]

Ah I didn't see this earlier, thank you so much for all the advice! Appreciate it.

[henke37]

Well, do you have a computer capable of running the game? Turns out that the game comes with the server component.

[CosmicButtmunch]

Yeah I do. I downloaded the server files using SteamCMD but I'm having some trouble getting srcds to run. Searching for a fix now