You and your friends are stuck at home with no internet or there is but it sucks and you have dota2 installed on each computer ( sad life 😦 ). Worry no more you can still play dota2 on your LOCAL AREA NETWORK. Steps Below that should be done on all machines.
TERMINOLOGY
Server – the computer you want to host the dota2 it could be your machine
Clients – computers that will be connecting on the server – could be your friends computers
I. LAUNCHING WITH CONSOLE (Server And CLIENT)
- Launch Steam
- Right Click on DOTA2
- Hit Properties
- On GENERAL tab -> click SET LAUNCH OPTIONS
- Type in “-console” – don’t be an idiot don’t include the quotes
- Then Launc DOTA2
jointeam good/bad
connect IP:PORT jointeam good/bad
dota_bot_populate
II. USING CONSOLE (Server)
- With your dota2 open type “\” – this will launch the console something like this

THIS IS THE CONSOLE – Clients should also launch console
- TYPE IN
sv_cheats 1
dota_bot_set_difficulty 4
dota_start_ai_game 1
dota_force_gamemode 1
map dota.bsp
jointeam good/bad
- This should start the server
III. USING CONSOLE (Client)
- Launch Console type in “/”
- TYPE IN (IP is the ip address of the Server PORT is the port the server is using)
connect IP:PORT
jointeam good/bad
- Then clients should be connected on the server
IV. ONCE clients are CONNECTED
Client are connected and all of have heroes of your choice but your number is less than 10 you can populate your team with bots
So the SERVER should type in
dota_bot_populate
BOOOM! ENJOY