Those who are used to playing games on Steam will know that one of the best features of Steam is the various workshops that the platform provides. These workshops allow players to fiddle with games, meanwhile also allowing other players to take and use what they’ve made and vice versa.
Many CS:GO fans will remember playing on custom maps made by the other players in the community. Now with CS:GO transformed to Counter Strike 2 (CS2), the internet was loomed with questions if the same feature will be available in the new reiteration of the game as well.
The question is very much valid since Valve has made it clear that all items from CS:GO will be moved to CS2. So will custom maps from CS:GO also find their way into CS2? Well, the answer is both, yes and no. The good news is that custom maps made using Steam workshop will be supported in CS2, however, the bad news is that the old CS:GO maps may not be supported by CS2.
Looking at the bright side, players can rejoice since they can still enjoy playing on workshop maps. However, it won’t be as simple as it used to be, at least initially.
How to play Workshop Maps in Counter Strike 2?
Like mentioned above, CS:GO workshop maps will not work in CS2. The reason for this is that the new Counter-Strike 2 runs on Valve’s Source 2 engine, which is an upgraded engine from CS:GO. Thus, unfortunately, no workshop maps from the previous version can be carried into the new title.
However, a workshop tool is available which players can use to change their own CS:GO workshop maps to the correct file for CS2. This can be done by installing the Counter-Strike workshop tools by visiting the Game settings and toggling the option to Yes. More information regarding this has been fledged out by Valve directly.
Notably, there is no active CS2 workshop yet, and players searching for it are being redirected to the CS:GO workshop. However, players will still be able to enjoy custom workshop maps just as they did over the years, just that this time it will require a bit more work to get there.
Here’s how to play workshop maps in CS2:
- First players must download the map file from whatever source they found it (example: Twitter, Reddit, forums, etc.)
- Next they need to open the CS2 maps directory in File Explorer by entering: Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike 2\game\cs2\maps
- Then they must paste the map file into the directory
- Once the map has been pasted, players need to launch CS2 and open the in-game console
- Next they must enter the command “map %map_name%”, and change “map_name” to the name of the custom map
- Players must then follow the auto commands given by the console and the workshop map will load in CS2
Since the game has just launched a couple of days back, it will take for communities to reform and recreate their old CS:GO maps. Until then players can play workshop maps as well as custom servers in CS2 using the above method.
