CSS EventScripts Remastered

EventScripts 2.1.1, running again on today's Counter-Strike: Source.

If you ran a Counter-Strike: Source server between 2005 and 2013, you probably used EventScripts, Mattie's scripting plugin: classic es_ scripts, Python addons, GunGame, WCS, eXtensible Admin, popups, keygroups… Its last build (2.1.1.379, April 2013) stopped working long ago: Valve kept updating the engine, the EventScripts websites went offline, and the core binary was never open sourced.

This repository brings that last build back to life on the current CS:S (the 2025 engine branch, ServerVersion 11003710) without modifying the original binary: a small loader (es_shim.so) fixes, from the outside, everything that breaks on the modern engine, and three script files of the original package are patched. Everything is documented, the sources of both the original release and the fixes are included, and the result is a drop-in cstrike/ folder.

Note

Warcraft Source (WCS) runs on this version: CSS WCS Remastered is a drop-in add-on for this repository.

Status

Tested on a clean dedicated server installed the classic way (repository cstrike/ folder copied over a stock server, started with ./srcds_run) on Ubuntu 22.04, and on a Debian 13 server:

Test	Result
EventScripts' own test suites (unittest.cfg, es_unittest, pyunittest)	84/84 script tests, 10/10 Python tests
verify_data — engine data, network props and events cross-checked during real games with bots	484/484 (and 623/623 with WCS loaded)
Keygroups saved and reloaded from disk (accents, [U:1:…] SteamIDs, decimals)	9/9
Timers: gamethread.delayed ±9 ms, es_xdelayed ±44 ms, repeat, firing order, cancelling	9/9
SQLite 3.6 from Python (integrity, UTF-8, rollback, persistence, database = memory counters)	4/4 and 15/15
UTF-8 text in commands and chat ("ajoutés à vous")	intact
Popups, keymenus, playerlib, usermsg, es_give, props, events, map changes, plugin_unload	working
Endurance (bots, map changes, addons reloaded in a loop)	no crash

Requirements

• A Linux Counter-Strike: Source dedicated server, up to date (Steam app 232330).
• The 32-bit server binary, which is what ./srcds_run starts by default (srcds_linux). EventScripts only exists in 32 bits: the 64-bit binary (srcds_linux64) cannot load it.
• Nothing else: EventScripts ships its own Python 2.5. The loader only needs glibc 2.3.3, and CS:S itself needs 2.29, so any distribution able to run the game will do.
• Optional: Metamod:Source 1.12 and SourceMod 1.12, only for the est_* commands of optional/est_compat. EventScripts itself does not need them.

Windows servers are not supported (see Limitations).

Installation

1. Download the repository (Code → Download ZIP, or git clone).
2. Copy the cstrike/ folder of the repository over the cstrike/ folder of your server (merge the folders; nothing of the game is overwritten).
3. Restart the server.

That's it. Check in the server console:

plugin_print

It must list Mattie's EventScripts, http://www.eventscripts.com, Version:2.1.1.379. At startup, the console also shows the loader at work:

[es_shim] relocations redirected: printf 283, Tokenize 302, Dispatch 1, ClientCommand 1
[EventScripts] Loading Mattie's EventScripts Beta 2.1.1.379...
[es_shim] module es_C: 197 functions wrapped
[EventScripts] Loaded successfully.

Loading addons

EventScripts addons go in cstrike/addons/eventscripts/<name>/ and are loaded with es_load <name>. To load them at every start, add the lines to cstrike/cfg/autoexec.cfg (create it if needed):

es_load popup
es_load keymenu
es_load myaddon

es_unload <name> and es_reload <name> work as before. es_install is disabled: its addon site is gone (see Limitations); install addons by copying their folder.

Try it: test addons

test-addons/ contains seven small addons written for this version, in classic script and in Python. They are not installed by default: copy the ones you want into cstrike/addons/eventscripts/ and load them. Details and commands: test-addons/README.md.

Addon	Type	In-game commands	What it shows
test_chat	classic script	!testhelp !hello !hp !money !ak !countdown	chat commands, colors, props, es_give, es_delayed
test_menu	Python	!menu !info !motd	popuplib menu, playerlib, usermsg (HUD, shake, fade, MOTD), gamethread
test_stats	Python	!stats	events, kill streaks, sounds, HUD messages
verify_data	Python	!verify !tests	continuous data checks (engine = props = events = game rules)
leaderboard	classic script	!top !me	keygroups saved to disk, sorting, disk round trip test
timer_test	Python	!timers	timer accuracy
sql_rank	Python	!rank !toprank	persistent stats in SQLite

Optional: es_tools commands (est_compat)

Most EventScripts addons of that era also needed es_tools (est_* commands), whose binary is dead. optional/est_compat is a SourceMod plugin that brings back the most used ones with the same syntax: est_setgravity, est_setplayercolor, est_burn, est_extinguish, est_healthadd, est_sethealth, est_setarmor, est_setspeed, est_god, est_noclip, est_freeze, est_damage, est_spawn, est_getwallbetween, est_rounddecimal. Install Metamod:Source and SourceMod 1.12, then copy optional/est_compat/cstrike/ over your server's cstrike/ folder.

What was fixed

The core binary (mattie_eventscripts.so) is used as released in 2013; es_shim.so is loaded in its place by addons/mattie_eventscripts.vdf, loads it and fixes the following from the outside. Full details, root causes and how each bug was found: docs/TECHNICAL.md.

Problem on the current engine	Fix
The server hung, then was killed by the watchdog, on every map start: es_checkversion called the dead api.eventscripts.com without a timeout (it also sent the server IP to a domain that can change hands)	Version check disabled in corelib/es_corelib.txt
Crash (SIGSEGV, movaps) as soon as Python called an ES function that calls the engine (e.g. es.ServerVar('sv_gravity').set(800)): Python 2.5 and psyco do not keep the 16-byte stack alignment the modern engine relies on	Every es.* function is called through a trampoline that realigns the stack
Python heap corruption, then a crash somewhere else, when an es.* function ran inside another one (es.load of an addon whose load() calls es.entitygetvalue). A bug present since 2013: the shared return value g_pPyReturn was never reset	The trampolines reset g_pPyReturn after every call
Keygroups and files in folders with upper-case letters were not found (corelib/interfaces/AuthorizationService, interface constants missing): the engine now looks folders up in lower case	The loader creates lower-case links next to such folders
es_keygroupsave/es_keygroupload without a path failed: paths like cfg//es_x_db.txt are refused	// collapsed in the paths ES builds (283 call sites)
UTF-8 text split in the middle of characters (ajoutés → ajout � �s): the engine tokenizer uses a signed char	Commands re-tokenized from their raw text with unsigned bytes
corelib while broken: its alias had the name of a server variable, which the engine now refuses	Alias renamed in corelib/es_corelib.txt
plugin_unload did not really unload EventScripts	ES unloaded together with the loader
es_install would download and run whatever addons.eventscripts.com serves (dead domain, can change hands)	Every ESAM request refused in _libs/python/esamlib.py

The script changes against the original package are in original/changes-vs-bld379.patch; the loader source is src/es_shim/es_shim.c.

Limitations

• Linux only. The loader is a Linux library; the Windows build of EventScripts (kept in original/) would need an equivalent Windows DLL, which does not exist.
• 32-bit server only (srcds_linux, the default). EventScripts was never built for 64 bits.
• No es_tools visual effects (est_effect): only the commands listed above are provided by est_compat.
• es_install and the update check are disabled: their servers have been offline since 2013.
• A future Valve update may break something, as for any server plugin. The fixes target the engine as of 2025 (ServerVersion 11003710).
• Old scripts saved in ANSI/Windows-1252: accents go through EventScripts unchanged but display wrongly for players (the game expects UTF-8). Save scripts as UTF-8.
• quit prints Steam assertions (invalid hSteamUser): the stock server does the same without any plugin.
• Behaviours of EventScripts itself, unchanged since 2013, that addon authors should know (events handled at the end of the frame, "noisy" events, variable expansion rules…) are described in docs/DEVELOPERS.md.

For developers

docs/DEVELOPERS.md covers writing addons for this version: addon layout, classic script and Python examples, the APIs that were verified, the behaviours to know (several surprised even long-time scripters), Python 2.5 constraints, debugging, and the est_* commands.

Repository content

cstrike/                     drop-in folder: EventScripts 2.1.1.379 + es_shim.so + the 3 patched scripts
optional/est_compat/         SourceMod plugin with the es_tools commands (compiled + source)
test-addons/                 seven test addons, not installed by default
src/es_shim/                 source and build script of the loader
original/                    the original 2013 builds (Linux and Windows) and the patch against them
docs/                        developer guide and technical details

Building from source

The two binaries are prebuilt; to rebuild them (Docker required):

• src/es_shim/build.sh builds cstrike/addons/es_shim.so in the manylinux2014_i686 image (glibc 2.17);
• est_compat.smx is built with the SourceMod 1.12 compiler: spcomp64 est_compat.sp.

The GitHub Actions workflow builds both on every push.

Credits

• Mattie Casper — creator and author of EventScripts (2005–2013), and of most of its libraries.
• The EventScripts development team and community, credited in the package: freddukes (Steven Hartin), GODJonez, Hunter, Errant and the eXtensible Admin team, SumGuy14 (SoccerDude), XE_ManUp, Satoon101, SuperDave, Venjax, Chun, Don, Wonder, cagemonkey, MyFly, Einlanzers, Carlsagan43, HitThePipe, Rio, [OMEGA] - K2, and the ES 2.0 beta testers.
• Python 2.5 by the Python Software Foundation (Guido van Rossum and contributors), psyco by Armin Rigo, both shipped with EventScripts.
• AlliedModders for Metamod:Source and SourceMod, used by est_compat.
• The Internet Archive, whose Wayback Machine kept the last EventScripts builds after every official site went down.
• This remaster: CSS EventScripts Remastered contributors.

License

EventScripts and the libraries written for it are distributed by Mattie Casper under the MIT License (cstrike/addons/eventscripts/license.txt); the bundled Python 2.5 keeps its own license. The new code of this repository (the loader, the test addons and the documentation) is released under the MIT License as well (LICENSE). The SourceMod plugin est_compat is released under the GNU GPL v3, like SourceMod plugins (optional/est_compat/LICENSE).

This project is not affiliated with Valve, Mattie Casper or the former EventScripts team.