Building S2-Launcher
How to build the S2-Launcher host for Source 2 games from source.
S2-Launcher is a host that loads Plugify into a Source 2 game without Metamod. Server owners do not need to build it: it comes ready-made in the build. This page is for those who want to change the host or build it themselves.
Prerequisites
The same as for the core: a C++23 compiler, CMake, Ninja and Git. The official Linux builds are made with GCC 14 in the Steam Runtime container registry.gitlab.steamos.cloud/steamrt/sniper/sdk, so that the result runs on the game server. A build made on another distribution reports that distribution as its platform (see Platforms).
Building
Clone the repository with submodules
The core, the Source 2 SDK and other libraries are Git submodules:
Configure and build
Two kinds of build
The S2_LAUNCHER option chooses what is built:
S2_LAUNCHER | Result | How it is used |
|---|---|---|
OFF (default) | Shared library libserver_valve.so / server_valve.dll | The game loads it in place of its own server library. It starts Plugify and passes everything else to the real server library |
ON | Executable s2launcher / s2launcher.exe | Started instead of the game executable, it loads the engine itself |
The build folder also gets libplugify.so / plugify.dll of the core (in build/external/plugify) and micromamba, the package manager the host uses.
Where each file goes on the server is shown in S2-Launcher installation.