Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Custom lobby guide: How to make Private lobbies to play with friends

With CS:GO finally transitioning into Counter-Strike 2, you might be wondering about some features the new shooter will have, along with how to make Custom lobbies to play with friends. While you and your friends might want to try your hand in casual matchmaking and premiere mode, there might be moments when you will look to invite the entire squad to a Private lobby and have a custom match with tournament rules.

However, not many in the community know how to create Custom lobbies in the shooter. CS2 does not guide you in certain features that it has, so it's not all that surprising why there are many players searching for ways to create private lobbies and establish their own rules.

Hence, this Counter-Strike 2 guide will go over everything that you need to know about making Private lobbies to play with your friends in CS2.

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How to make Private lobbies in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2)

To make a custom lobby in CS2, here are a few things that you will be required to do:

• Make your way to the Matchmaking tab from the Play menu. There, you will find another mini-tab called “Private Matchmaking”.
• However, the option will be greyed out if you are a new player, or using a new profile, and have not played enough games of CS2. Many of the game modes, like Private lobby, will be locked behind a particular number of games that you have played in casual mode.
• Once Private Matchmaking is unlocked, you will be able to press “Shift + Tab” to invite friends who are added on Steam. You can also share the code for the matchmaking pool or enter a code yourself if a friend is the one making the lobby.
• Make sure that the lobby option is set to “Open Party,” or your friends will not be able to join you.
• Once everyone is in the lobby, you will be able to set the map, the rules, and other conditions and select “Go” to start the match.

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How to make Private lobbies from Custom workshop maps in Counter-Strike 2 (CS2)

While the in-game lobbies will allow you to play with your gang, the number of features it offers is rather limited. This is where Custom workshop maps come in, and you will be able to play with others in arenas made by the community.

To load a workshop map, you will need to:

• First, download the file and then go to the following directory “Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo\maps” or “Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike 2\game\cs2\maps”
• Paste the file here, and then launch CS2.
• Open the command prompt and type “map %map_name%”. In the “name” section, you will need to type the map name.
• Hit Enter to load the map automatically.

You and your friends need to have the map pasted in the directory in order to boot into the game and play it together.

Workshop maps will allow you to set more rules and limitations while at the same time helping you practice together as a team in Counter-Strike 2.