CSGO Mapcycle Guide
in CSGO
By Nathan Young

Overview – CSGO Mapcycle Guide
While playing on your Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server, it becomes a nuisance to manually switch between maps. This is amplified if you’re hosting a private tournament with friends, as it’d be more effective to have this automated. Fortunately, there’s a way to have your maps load after each match. Whether you’re using the default ones or workshop kinds, this is entirely possible. This is done by configuring your Counter-Strike server through our user-friendly panel, allowing you to tweak settings from a built-in file editor. Newcomers to the hosting scene may be unfamiliar with our system or the process to accomplish this goal. Due to this, we’ve created this Apex Hosting guide to show you how to edit and use the CSGO mapcycle on your server.
Mapcycle Benefits
There’s many benefits to setting up the CSGO mapcycle on your server, such as never having to stop playing on your favorite ones. This is due to all of them being switched around after finishing a match, meaning it’s endless fun. A byproduct of this is not worrying about manually swapping your maps, especially workshop types. It works by creating collections and groups so the server can continuously play on different worlds. Our easy-to-use panel allows you to quickly configure the CSGO server to achieve this feat. Once you’ve got everything working, sit back and enjoy all your favorite maps with friends.
How to Add Maps to CSGO Mapcycle

The exact process for adding extra maps in the mapcycle can be tedious, especially if you’re wanting to implement workshop ones. Fortunately, if you don’t plan on having custom worlds in your server, then you may skip the “Making a Collection” section down below. Otherwise, you’ll want to make a collection on Steam with your desired workshop maps before getting them on the panel. After doing this, you’ll tweak a few files in the FTP area to begin assigning these worlds on your desired gamemode. If everything works, you should be able to successfully switch between the maps after ending the match in-game. When you’re ready, follow along below to get started.
Making a Collection
Before anything, you’ll want to locate any desired workshop maps for this process. We advise you to review our CSGO workshop maps tutorial on using them in CSGO to help you learn more about it. Alternatively, if you already have some maps, then follow the instructions below. For example, finding an existing collection can be used for this process. This is required so the server can download its necessary files for the mapcycle to work properly in-game.
- Navigate to the CSGO Workshop area, then find maps you want in the cycle.
- Once found, press
Add to Collection
and select or create a new collection. - Proceed to do this for each map you want in the collection.
- Afterward, copy the values after ?id= in the URL of your collection.
- Head towards your Apex server panel and click
Customizations
on the left. - Scroll down and paste the ID values in the Workshop Collection ID field.
- Return to the main panel and click
Config Files
at the top left corner. - Enter
autoexec.cfg
, then type workshop_start_map [MapID] somewhere in the editor.Note: Keep in mind that the
MapID
can be located in its URL like previously. - Click
Save
at the top andRestart
the server from the main panel to load its files.
Maplist & Mapcycle Setup
With your collection created, if you’ve done that for your setup, keep in mind that you’ll need the map file names for each one in the group. This can be viewed by navigating to the …\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\csgo\maps\workshop
directory on your computer. Afterward, you should be able to see all the folders with the individual map IDs, which can be opened to reveal its .bsp files. The name of these documents will be used for the server to register them properly. Remember, if you aren’t using a collection with workshop maps, then you can simply use the default ones for this process.
- While in your Apex server panel, click
FTP File Access
near the top left corner. - Proceed to login with your credentials, then enter the
csgo
directory from the list. - Scroll down until you see maplist.txt and click
Edit
on the right to reveal its contents. - Remove maps you don’t want in the cycle, then add the ones you do from the collection.
Note: Workshop maps require the workshop/[MapID]/[.bsp FileName]. - Once finished, click
Save
at the top and repeat this process for the mapcycle.txt file. - Return to the main
csgo
directory for the last portion of this cycle setup.
Map Groups
The final process for this setup is to manually add all your maps in the group, then define them for each gamemode you want. This is all done in one file, but also needs to be set in the autoexec.cfg
area later on. When you’re ready, follow along below to finish up everything.
- Locate the gamemodes_server.txt.example file, then select it and click
Rename
. - Proceed to remove the
.example
from the name, then pressSubmit
at the bottom. - Afterward, navigate back to the file and click
Edit
to the right of it. - While in the editor, scroll down and locate the mapgroups section.
- Proceed to edit the
Name
andMap List
values with your desired values. - Scroll back up and enter the same
Name
value for your wanted gamemodes. - Click
Save
at the top and return to theConfig Files
area from the main panel. - Enter
autoexec.cfg
and type mapgroup [Name] that matches the values from before. - Continue to click
Save
at the top again, thenRestart
from the main panel. - Once it loads, join the CSGO server and confirm the CSGO mapcycle works properly.
Common Issues with the CSGO Mapcycle
If you’re unable to join the server after doing everything and restarting, then this indicates that the workshop maps weren’t downloaded properly. Remember, their files must be obtained before anything. This occurs after setting up the collection on the server, then loading it in-game. Once you’ve done this, proceed to either redo the other steps or double check you’ve successfully entered valid IDs. For example, using the collection ID instead of the map one for the workshop_start_map setting won’t work. Alternatively, the issue can be caused by incorrectly using the mapgroups name for any of the options in the files. We encourage you to contact our Support if the situation persists so they can help you resolve the situation.
In some situations, the server itself will not come online. This tends to happen when you’ve failed to implement the Steam Account Token in the Customizations
. It’s also possible that you didn’t enter any API Key either, which is required to operate any CSGO server. Make sure to do this so everything works as intended. If the situation persists, then this is a sign that you’ve made errors along the way for this process. Due to the complexity of this setup, we encourage you to double check file formats, values, and anything else that may be causing the problem. For example, forgetting to rename the gamemodes_server.txt.example file may result in this issue. Once the error is identified, make the correct changes and try to see if that worked.
Useful Links
CSGO Server FTP Guide
How to Use Workshop Maps for CSGO
Editing CSGO Server Settings
How to Change the Map for CSGO