How to install campaign\map addon?
Automatic.(not recommended) Extract the VPK addon file from the archive and double click it. The Steam Addon Installer will install it and display a dialog window which says "Addon *** was successfully installed." This method is not recommended because Addon Installer can corrupt addon(VPK) file name. This way after automatic installation you can have a file EXTERM~.VPK instead of extermination.vpk into your "addons" folder.
Manual.(recommended) Extract the VPK addon file from the archive and copy it into your "addons" folder:
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\alien swarm\swarm\addons\
or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\alien swarm\swarm\addons\
Restart the game after installing.
How to install sound addon?
Same like campaign addon. Plus after installation paste this into Developer Console:
snd_updateaudiocache;exit
Press Enter to execute the pasted string. Developer Console can be enabled in Keyboard settings. To open developer console use tilde key (~).
The game will rebuild sound cache and close itself to apply changes.
To uninstall simply delete the addon file and again enter in console:
snd_rebuildaudiocache;snd_updateaudiocache;exit
Restart the game.
Server-only mod
A mod that doesn't require clients(players) to download and install anything. Only server is modified.
Useful Links for Learning Alien Swarm Mapping (Level Design)
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Alien_Swarm_Level_Creation/Your_first_Alien_Swarm_map
http://www.youtube.com/user/rocketrascal34/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=1
http://www.youtube.com/user/3kliksphilip/videos
How to install Alien Swarm dedicated server?
- Download SteamCMD
- Extract SteamCMD from downloaded archive. Example: create folder for servers and put SteamCMD.exe here D:\servers\steamcmd\steamcmd.exe
- Run steamcmd.exe
- Wait, it will update itself and download files. You will see console after this
- Type commands:
login mysteamloginmysteampasswordMySteamGuardCodeforce_install_dir ../AlienSwarmapp_update 630 validatequit- Download Alien Swarm Dedicated Server Template
- Extract and copy with replacement to D:\servers\alienswarm\
- Run start1.bat. Example: D:\servers\alienswarm\start1.bat
- You have a running server
How to auto restart Alien Swarm dedicated server?
It is known that Alien Swarm dedicated server starts to lag after being online the half of a day. It is recommended to restart your server twice a day.
To add autorestart for your Alien Swarm server you need to run the server as a Windows service. Then in Windows Task Scheduler restart this service twice a day. This is what we do on our server and have no lags.
To run srcds.exe as a service you need this app: http://nssm.cc/ After you install it use console or BAT files to do the following.
To install service:
nssm install riflemod1 F:\Servers\riflemod\srcds.exe -console -game swarm -port 27045 -maxplayers 4 +map lobby +exec server1
To restart service:
net stop riflemod1
ping -n 6 localhost > null
net start riflemod1
To uninstall service:
nssm remove riflemod1 confirm
After this you need to add 2 Tasks in Windows Task Scheduler to restart this service. You can create and use the BAT file with contents:
net stop riflemod1
ping -n 6 localhost > null
net start riflemod1
And run this BAT file from the Task.