Counter-Strike 1.6
Valve's dedicated server, secure with Steam and VAC on, 12 players, your pick of the stock maps.
GoldSrcFree beta, hosted in Helsinki
Light a server.
Your friends will find it.
Lanthorn runs your game server and carries it over an open mesh network, so friends join from the launcher by name. No port forwarding, no IP address to read out over voice chat.
- Ports to open
- 0
- Games in the launcher
- 24
- Invite
- 1 link
How a game night goes
Three steps, and the third one is your friends'.
-
01
Pick a game and a map
Choose Counter-Strike 1.6, a map and how many can join. The server starts on our machines in Helsinki, on its own, with nothing on your computer.
-
02
Send one invite
Copy the invite link, or show it as a QR code for someone on a phone. The invite names the server. It carries no IP address, yours or anyone's.
-
03
They click. The launcher joins.
The invite opens Lanthorn on their computer with your server selected. One button, and their own copy of the game connects.
Games
The beta starts with one classic. The launcher already knows twenty-four.
Hosted servers open game by game as the beta grows. Every game below already runs on Lanthorn, on your own machine or a community's.
The mesh
Not a server list on someone's website. A network your launcher can hear.
Every Lanthorn server announces itself over Reticulum, an open networking protocol. A hub next to our machines passes those announcements on, and your launcher lists what it hears. The game's traffic travels the same way, so nobody has to open a port or give out an address.
- Nothing to configure. Your router stays exactly as it is.
- Works without us. Two launchers on the same network find each other with no internet and no account.
- Open source. Run your own node for your clan or your kids, free. The code is on GitHub.
What we keep
As little as a game server needs. Here is all of it.
No email address
An account is a name and a password, stored scrambled with Argon2id. An authenticator code is optional.
Yours to take, or delete
Download everything we hold about you, or delete your account and every server with it, from your account page. No request form.
Each server sealed off
Every server runs in its own container with no system privileges, and cannot reach the others.
No tracking
No advertising, no analytics, no tracking cookies, nothing sold. This page loads nothing from anyone else.
Machines in the EU
Servers and their files sit in Helsinki, Finland. The website passes through Cloudflare to keep attacks off.
Report anything
Anyone can report a server, or write to us, from the sign-in page. No account needed, and a person reads it.
The free beta, plainly
Free while we learn what a server costs.
The limits are there so the beta stays open to everyone. They are written down, and we tell you on the site before any of them change.
Start here- Servers at a time
- 1
- Players per server
- 12
- Sleeps when empty for
- 15 min
- Removed after stopped for
- 14 days
- Backups kept
- 2
- Price
- Free
Questions
Before you start
Do my friends need anything installed?
The Lanthorn launcher, which is free for Windows, macOS and Linux, and their own copy of the game. The launcher finds your server and connects the game to it; it never asks them for an account.
Do I need to own the game?
Not to run the server. Anyone who plays needs their own copy, bought from Steam as usual. Servers run secure, with Steam checks and VAC on.
What happens when nobody is playing?
After 15 minutes with nobody on, the server goes to sleep. Start it again from your page and it comes back with the same name, so invites keep working. A server stopped for 14 days is removed; download a backup first if you want it.
What happens when the beta ends?
We aim to tell you at least 14 days ahead on the site, so you can download your servers' files.
Can I run Lanthorn myself instead?
Yes. The software is open source and free for a clan, a community or a family, on your own machine. Start from the code on GitHub.
How do I report a server or reach you?
From the sign-in page, choose "Report or contact us". It takes reports about a server, questions, requests about your data, security problems and legal requests, with no account.