Essential RCON Commands Every CS 1.6 Admin Needs

Once RCON is set up, the day-to-day job is a small set of commands you run from a client console. Any server command works through RCON by prefixing it with rcon; this is the shortlist that covers almost everything an admin does remotely. It assumes you have already set the password client-side as in RCON setup and security.

1. Authenticate first

In your own client console, set the password once per session:

rcon_password "your-server-password"

Every command after that is rcon <command>. If you get Bad rcon_password., the client value is wrong or empty.

2. See what is happening

rcon status is the one you will run most — the # userid and SteamID it prints feed straight into kick and ban commands.

3. Move the game along

rcon changelevel de_dust2
rcon map de_inferno
rcon sv_restart 1
rcon mp_timelimit 20
rcon mp_maxrounds 30

changelevel switches map without dropping the server; map does a harder reload. sv_restart 1 restarts the current round after a one-second delay — handy after a config change.

4. Deal with players

rcon kick #12
rcon kick "PlayerName"
rcon banid 30 #12
rcon banid 0 STEAM_0:0:12345678 kick
rcon addip 60 203.0.113.5
rcon removeid STEAM_0:0:12345678
rcon writeid

#12 is the userid from status. banid <minutes> bans a SteamID (0 = permanent); the trailing kick drops them immediately. addip <minutes> bans an IP. writeid and writeip persist the ban lists to banned.cfg and listip.cfg — without them the ban is lost on restart. If you run AMX Mod X, prefer the amx_ban commands, which log a reason and handle persistence for you.

5. Configuration and logging

rcon exec server.cfg
rcon log on
rcon logaddress_add 203.0.113.9 27500
rcon sv_password "private"
rcon sv_password ""

exec re-runs a config file after you edit it. log on enables logging; logaddress_add streams logs to a stats daemon (HLstatsX and similar). Setting sv_password makes the server private; an empty value reopens it.

6. AMXX through RCON

Any AMXX admin command runs over RCON too, since RCON has implicit full access:

rcon amx_reloadadmins
rcon amx_map de_nuke
rcon amx_slay "PlayerName"

This is how you fix the admin list remotely without an in-game admin present.

7. Map cycle and votes

The map rotation is driven by mapcycle.txt in cstrike/ and the mapcyclefile cvar. You can inspect and reload it live:

rcon mapcyclefile
rcon mp_timelimit 20
rcon nextmap

Editing mapcycle.txt then running rcon exec server.cfg (or a map change) picks up the new rotation. If you run an AMXX map-vote plugin such as CSB Mapchooser, trigger it remotely with rcon amx_startvote-style commands the plugin registers — the built-in engine vote is rarely what a modern server uses.

8. Shut down cleanly

rcon quit

quit (alias exit) stops the server process. If you run under systemd or hlds_run's auto-restart wrapper, it will come back up — which is often exactly what you want for a clean reload.

Common errors

• Bad rcon_password. — set rcon_password in your client console first. See the fix.
• Ban gone after restart — you banned but never ran writeid / writeip. Always follow a manual ban with a write.
• kick #12 kicks the wrong person — userids are reassigned as players leave. Re-run rcon status immediately before kicking.
• cvar change reverts on map change — you set it live but did not put it in server.cfg. Live changes do not persist; edit the config and exec it.
• Command silently ignored — a few cvars are marked protected and cannot be set remotely; check the console for a not allowed notice.

Verification

Run rcon status — a full player table confirms you are authenticated and connected. Then make a harmless change like rcon mp_timelimit 25 and confirm it with rcon mp_timelimit (printing it back). If both work, your RCON channel is healthy. For locking that channel down, revisit RCON setup and security.