How to create a Steam Workshop collection for Counter-Strike 2
A Steam Workshop collection lets you offer several custom maps on your Counter-Strike 2 server. When a collection is set, the server starts on the chosen starting map, downloads the collection's maps, then automatically switches to one of them, usually one to two minutes after starting. You then move from one collection map to another from the « Live administration » card of your server. If a single Steam Workshop map is also set, that map is loaded and the collection is ignored.
Maps must already exist as individual items on the Steam Workshop. You can browse existing community maps here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/workshop/. If you want to host your own maps, publish them individually first from Hammer (CS2's level editor).
Open the Workshop page of a first map to include, then click "+ Add to Collection" at the bottom of the page, and choose "Create new collection". Give your collection a title.
From the collection's page, use "Add or Remove Items" (or go back through "+ Add to Collection" from each map's page) to add the other maps one by one.
Once the collection is complete, open its page: the URL looks like https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=XXXXXXXXX. Copy this number and paste it into the "Steam Workshop Collection" field of your server, on your Counter-Strike 2 server's administration page.
Sometimes the URL shown in the address bar doesn't display this identifier. In that case, click the "Share" button on the collection's page: the full URL containing the ID is then shown in the share window.
Important: the collection AND every map it contains must be set to "Public" visibility on Steam. A "Hidden"/"Friends only" collection or map can never be downloaded. The server starts normally but stays stuck on the startup map, with no visible error in its logs. Check the visibility from the Steam page of the collection and of each map ("Change visibility").
Best practices
- Leave the field empty to only play the chosen starting map, without rotation.
- You can add or remove maps from the collection at any time from Steam: the server will pick up the updated list on its next start.
- A large number of maps in the collection increases the download time on first startup.