Setting Up Practice, Retake, and Surf Servers in CS2

With a few config files and the right plugins, one CS2 server can become a nade-practice range, a retake trainer, or a surf map, and this guide covers the key settings for each.

2 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

Practice and nade config

A practice server relaxes the rules so you can throw grenades, teleport, and see impact points. Create a file called practice.cfg in game/csgo/cfg/. The Files tab has no new file button, so either make it on your computer and upload it into that folder with Upload files, or use Make a copy on an existing .cfg file in the folder, Rename the copy to practice.cfg and replace its contents. Add:

sv_cheats 1
mp_limitteams 0
mp_autoteambalance 0
mp_freezetime 0
mp_roundtime 60
mp_roundtime_defuse 60
mp_maxmoney 60000
mp_startmoney 60000
mp_buytime 9999
mp_buy_anywhere 1
sv_infinite_ammo 1
ammo_grenade_limit_total 5
sv_grenade_trajectory 1
sv_grenade_trajectory_time 10
sv_showimpacts 1
sv_showimpacts_time 10
bot_kick
mp_warmup_end
mp_restartgame 1

Load it any time from the Console tab or the in-game console with exec practice. sv_showimpacts 1 draws where bullets land, and sv_grenade_trajectory 1 draws the arc of your nades, which is what makes lineup practice possible.

Retake servers

Retakes drop you into a bombsite with the bomb already planted, so a team of defenders retakes the site over and over. This needs a plugin rather than just cvars. Install Metamod:Source and CounterStrikeSharp first (see our plugin guide), then add a CounterStrikeSharp retakes plugin to game/csgo/addons/counterstrikesharp/plugins/. The plugin handles team sizes, weapon allocation, and where the bomb spawns. After the first launch it writes a config file where you can tune the number of players and the spawn points per map.

Surf servers

Surf uses the game's air movement to glide along angled ramps on special maps. The core setting is air acceleration. In a surf.cfg file add:

sv_cheats 0
sv_airaccelerate 150
sv_accelerate 10
sv_maxvelocity 3500
sv_gravity 800
mp_freezetime 0
mp_roundtime 60

Then load a surf map. Surf maps come from the Steam Workshop, so on the Console tab run host_workshop_map <id>, replacing <id> with the workshop map's number. Many surf communities also add a CounterStrikeSharp timer plugin to record run times, installed the same way as any other plugin.

Switching between setups

You have two clean options:

• Keep one server and swap configs with exec practice, exec surf, or exec server when you want a different style. Change the map afterward so the settings take hold.
• Run separate GuavaHost servers, one per purpose, so each has its own plugins and never interferes with the others. You can add a server with New server on My servers, or resize RAM any time from Manage plan, in your control panel at customer.guavahost.com, with billing prorated.

Before layering plugins on top of a working match server, take a backup on the Backups page so you can roll back cleanly.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• cs2
• practice
• retakes
• surf
• configs

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