How to Enable a Plugin on a CS:GO Server using C# and RCON

Photo by ELLA DON on Unsplash

If you’re running a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) server, you may want to enable plugins to add new features and functionality to your server. However, enabling plugins on a CS:GO server can be a tricky process, especially if you’re not familiar with the game’s RCON (remote console) interface. In this post, we’ll show you how to enable a plugin on a CS:GO server using C# and the RconSharp library, as well as explore some alternative C# libraries for working with RCON.

First, let’s talk a bit about RCON. RCON is a protocol used by many game servers, including CS:GO, that allows you to send commands to the server’s console from a remote client. This can be useful for configuring the server, running admin commands, and enabling plugins, among other things.

To use RCON with a CS:GO server, you’ll need to connect to the server’s RCON console using an RCON client. In this post, we’ll be using the RconSharp library, which provides a simple interface for communicating with a CS:GO server’s RCON console using C#.

To get started, you’ll first need to install the RconSharp package in your C# project. You can do this using the NuGet package manager, by running the following command in the Package Manager Console:

Install-Package RconSharp

Once you’ve installed the RconSharp package, you can use the Rcon class to connect to the CS:GO server's RCON console and send the necessary commands. Here's an example:

using RconSharp;

var rcon = new Rcon("server-ip-address", port, "rcon-password");
rcon.Connect();

Replace “server-ip-address”, port, and "rcon-password" with the appropriate values for your CS:GO server.

Once you’ve connected to the RCON console, you can send the necessary commands to enable the plugin. Here’s an example:

var response = rcon.SendCommand("rcon meta load myplugin");
Console.WriteLine(response);

This sends the command “rcon meta load myplugin” to the RCON console, which should enable the “myplugin” plugin. The response from the server is stored in the response variable, and printed to the console for debugging purposes.

After you’re finished using the RconSharp library, be sure to disconnect from the RCON console to release any resources. You can do this by calling the Disconnect method:

rcon.Disconnect();

This disconnects from the RCON console and releases any resources used by the Rcon object.

While RconSharp is a popular library for working with RCON in C#, there are other options available as well. One alternative is the SourceRcon library, which provides a similar interface for communicating with the RCON console. Here’s an example of how to use SourceRcon to enable a plugin on a CS:GO server:

using SourceRcon;

var rcon = new Rcon("server-ip-address", port, "rcon-password");
rcon.Connect();
var response = rcon.SendCommand("sm plugins load myplugin");
Console.WriteLine(response);
rcon.Disconnect();

This code is similar to the RconSharp example, but uses the SourceRcon.Rcon class instead. Note that the command to enable the plugin is slightly different ("sm plugins load myplugin" instead of "rcon meta load myplugin"), as the syntax may vary