Listen servers are servers that are built into your game. These are the most simple to set up, and should be used for most purposes.


STEP 1: Port Forwarding

In order to allow other players across the web to connect to your server, you need to forward the port that Source uses. This can be an easy or very hard task, depending on the model and brand of your router. In most cases, this will be quite an easy task. I do not recommend downloading software to forward ports for you, as these programs are usually malicious.

Portforward.com has a database of many models and makes of routers, find yours, and read the default guide on how to forward ports.
http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm

The port you will need forwarded is 27015 TCP/UDP.

STEP 2: Setting Up the Server

This is the easy part. To set up your listen server, launch your game, and click Create Server. Se;ect the map that you want to start on, set the server name and password (password not required), select how many player slots that you want, make sure Type is set to Internet, and click OK. The server will create, and you will be good to go!

Dedicated servers are what will be used for 24/7 servers, or special events, as they are much more stable than listen servers, and can be run while Steam and your game is not running.

STEP 1: Port Forwarding

Refer to the port forwarding guide on the listen server section.

STEP 2: Setting Up the Server

Dedicated servers are much harder to set up than listen servers, but they can be run without Steam or Synergy running.

The dedicated server app comes with Synergy when you install it. To find it, right click on Synergy in your steam library, click properties, go to the local files tab, and click "Browse local files...". This will open your Synergy folder. srcds.exe is what we will use for the dedicated server. To run srcds, you will need to create a batch file. To do this, right click in your Synergy folder, and create a new text document. Edit this document, and change the contents to this:

srcds.exe -console -game synergy -port 27015 +map d1_trainstation_01 -insecure

If you want to change the name of your server, add a +hostname "NAME" to the document.
If you want to set a password, add a +sv_password "PASSWORD" to the document.
If you want to change the max player slots, add a +maxplayers X to the document, where X is the number of player slots you want your server to have.

After you have edited the document to your liking, click File at the top left, and click Save As...
When the save as window pops up, click on the drop down menu that says "Text Documents (*.txt)" and change it to "All Files (*.*)". After you have done this, save the file as run.bat. Return to your Synergy folder, and double click on run.bat. A command window should pop up, and your server should be starting. Success! You have a working dedicated server!