Hosting a Private Killing Floor 2 Server for My Kids (and My Sanity)

I have three kids. Two of them are boys, and like a lot of kids their age, they love video games.

What’s been especially fun for me is that I actually enjoy playing video games with them. It’s one of those rare overlaps where everyone genuinely wants to be there.

One game that keeps coming back into our rotation is Killing Floor 2. It’s fast, cooperative, and easy to pick up for a quick session after dinner or before bedtime.

Unfortunately, playing online came with a big downside.

The Ping Problem

Some nights, the game was borderline unplayable:

Enemies lagging or teleporting
Shots not registering
Everything feeling delayed and sluggish

After checking where we were connecting, it became clear that we were often landing on servers halfway across the world—sometimes in Europe or Russia. There’s nothing wrong with global gaming communities, but high ping absolutely kills the experience.

So I asked myself a simple question:

Why not host the server myself?

Why a Private Server Works So Well

Running a private server locally solved a lot of problems at once:

Extremely low ping
No random players joining
Full control over difficulty and maps
A predictable, kid-friendly environment

Even better, it turned out to be far easier than I expected.

A Quick Note on Killing Floor 3

Yes, Killing Floor 3 exists.

I do own a copy, but not multiple licenses for the whole family.

More importantly, Killing Floor 2 is still perfect for what we want:

Mindless co-op fun
Easy drop-in gameplay
No heavy progression or long sessions

If you’re a parent looking for something quick and fun to play with your kids, KF2 still delivers.

What You Need

You don’t need anything fancy:

An Ubuntu server (VM, bare metal, or cloud)
Or a Docker-capable system
About 40 GB of disk space
Roughly 20–30 minutes

I ran this on an Ubuntu VM, but the same idea works in Docker or on a home server.

Installing the Server (The Important Commands)

1. Install Dependencies

On Ubuntu, start by installing the required 32-bit libraries and tools:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y lib32gcc-s1 lib32stdc++6 curl wget tmux

2. Download SteamCMD

SteamCMD is Valve’s command-line tool for installing dedicated servers.

mkdir ~/steamcmd
cd ~/steamcmd
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
tar -xvzf steamcmd_linux.tar.gz

You should now see steamcmd.sh in the directory.

3. Install the Killing Floor 2 Server

This is the key command. It:

Forces Linux binaries
Logs in anonymously
Downloads the KF2 server files

./steamcmd.sh \
+@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType linux \
+force_install_dir ~/kf2server \
+login anonymous \
+app_update 232130 validate \
+quit

This downloads about 30–40 GB, so give it a few minutes.

When it finishes, you should see folders like:

Binaries Engine KFGame

Running a Local-Only Server

1. Find Your Local IP

ip addr show | grep inet

192.168.1.214

2. Start the Server
2. Start the Server

From the server binaries directory:

cd ~/kf2server/Binaries/Win64

./KFGameSteamServer.bin.x86_64 \
KF-BurningParis?Game=KFGameContent.KFGameInfo_Survival \
-Port=7777 \
-QueryPort=27015 \
-Multihome=192.168.1.214 \
-NoSteamServer

What this does:

-Multihome binds the server to your LAN IP only
-NoSteamServer prevents public internet advertising
The server stays entirely local

The first launch takes a minute or two while everything initializes.

Connecting to the Server

On the gaming PC:

Launch Killing Floor 2
Open the console (~)
Run:

open 192.168.1.214:7777

That’s it. Instant connection. No lag.

Why This Was Worth It

The difference was night and day:

Near-zero latency
Smooth combat
No frustration
Just fun

Most importantly, it turned gaming nights back into something we all looked forward to instead of something we had to tolerate.

Final Thoughts

This wasn’t about building the “perfect” server or learning new tech for its own sake.

It was about removing friction and creating better shared experiences with my kids.

If you already have Ubuntu or Docker running somewhere, you can absolutely get this running in under half an hour—and the payoff is immediate