Map prefixes and suffixes

Common traditional naming conventions for maps for many GoldSrc and Source games use a small prefix (often two or three letters) followed by an underscore at the beginning of the map name. For example, de_dust, where "de_" is the prefix and "dust" is the map name. In addition, some custom maps are marked with unofficial prefixes, either to denote its nature or to brand it.

Suffixes are also used, albeit less frequently, to denote variation or additional information about a map. For example, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero maps are given the "_cz" suffix, to distinguish them from maps that also work in Counter-Strike 1.6 (ex: de_dust_cz vs. de_dust), and many Day of Defeat: Source and Team Fortress 2 maps that use dev textures are suffixed (or  interfixed) with "orange".

Todo: Add descriptions and prefix names for those who do not have any.

Official Games

Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Condition Zero Deleted Scenes, Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Counter-Strike 2

Prefix	Map Type	Description
Official (general)
cs_	Hostage Rescue	In CS:GO, maps with this prefix will show Hostage Scenario Mission in the loading screen.
de_	Bomb Defusal	In CS:GO, maps with this prefix will show Bomb Scenario Mission in the loading screen. The same prefix is used for Demolition and Wingman.
Official ( Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, and Counter-Strike: Source)
as_	Assasination	CS and VIP Mod only
es_	Terrorist Escape	Now defunct, originally official
tr_	Training Maps	Only official appearance in Counter-Strike 1.5 retail.
_cz	Suffix	Used as a suffix by all maps from CS:CZ, to distinguish them from their CS counterparts.
Official ( Condition Zero Deleted Scenes)
cz_	Single-player campaign map	Used as a prefix by all maps from Deleted Scenes.
Official ( Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
ar_	Arms Race	For game mode descriptions, see CS:GO Game Modes.
coop_	Co-op Strike
dz_	Danger Zone
gd_	Guardian
Unofficial
aim_	Aim Arena	Has teams that are restricted to one class of weapon and have no objectives except to eliminate the opposing team. Emphasis is placed on player's aim.
awp_	AWP Arena	Restricts players to AWPs only
bhop_	Bunny Hop Maps
cp_	Control Points
csde_	Hostage Rescue + Bomb Defusal	Map containing both hostages and bombsites
df_	Defenestration	Variant of hostage mode where the hostages start near the CTs. Sometimes have a bombsite. Windows optional.
dm_	Deathmatch Arena	Used by deathmatch mods for CS and CS:S. These maps are usually small and simple like "fy" maps but adapted in order to have multiple spawn points.
dr_	Dead Run	Race mod (unofficial gamemode)
fy_	Frag Yard / Fight Yard	Map with an assortment of weapons spawning on the ground versus player inventory.
fun_	Fun Map	Map with some strange objectives, contraptions or other mysterious things.
mg_	Minigames	Mostly obstacle courses and maps that feature a wide selection of smaller games.
gg_	Gun Game (Original Arms Race)	The only objective on this map is to kill the other team. You can level up to get better guns.
he_	Heavy Explosive Grenade Arena	Restricts players to Heavy Explosive grenades.
nade_
hg_	Hunger Games	Usually big maps with weapons scattered around the arena. Last man standing wins the round.
ka_	Knife Arena	Restricts players to knives only.
kz_	Kreedz Climbing
pa_	Prepared Assault
jb_	Jailbreak
rp_	Roleplaying	Mod only available on community servers.
surf_	Surf Maps	Surf Maps (unofficial gamemode).
texture	Secondary prefix	Denotes a map that only uses dev textures.
ze_	Zombie Escape	Zombie mod escape maps (unofficial gamemode)
zm_	Zombie Mod	Zombie mod barricade maps (unofficial gamemode)

Note: CS:CZ uses enhanced versions of the original Counter-Strike maps, denoted with a "_cz" suffix.

Day of Defeat and Day of Defeat: Source

Prefix	Map Type	Description
dod	Default Prefix	Territorial Control (Control Points) and Detonation modes
para	Para Maptype	Paratrooper mode. Players cannot respawn until the end of the round, like in Counter-Strike. Last seen in Day of Defeat beta 3.1; existing para maps were reworked for standard

Alien Swarm

Prefix	Map Type	Description
asi	Default Prefix
jac#	Jacob's Rest	Second prefix assigned to the above. Used in missions, where the hashtag defines a number for the Jacob's Rest campaign.

Deathmatch Classic

Prefix	Map Type	Description
dmc	Default Prefix	This is the default prefix for all maps in Deathmatch Classic, except DCDM5 and P_SE_3.

Half-Life and Half-Life: Source

The campaign maps in Half-Life are labeled c#a#*, wherein c is "chapter" and a is "act". The "acts" line up with the in-game chapters.

Prefix	Map Type	Description
c0	Chapter 0	Train Ride
c1	Chapter 1	Black Mesa Sectors
c2	Chapter 2	Black Mesa Trainride
c3	Chapter 3	Black Mesa Outside
c4	Chapter 4	Xen
c5	Chapter 5	Ending
t0	Training	Training Maps
Unofficial
dm	Deathmatch	Deathmatch Maps (unofficial prefix for custom maps)

Note:The vanilla deathmatch maps do not have any prefixes.

Half-Life: Uplink

Prefix	Map Type	Description
hldemo	Half-Life Uplink maps	Maps made specifically for Half-Life Uplink (being the demo for Half-Life).

Half-Life: Blue Shift

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ba	Default Prefix	This is the default prefix for all of the game's maps.

Half-Life: Opposing Force

Prefix	Map Type	Description
of	Default Prefix
op4cp	Capture Point
op4ctf	Capture The Flag

Half-Life: Decay

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ht	Default Prefix
dy	Default Prefix	Prefix for maps on the PC ported version.

Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

Prefix	Map Type	Description
d1	Day One	Used in Half-Life 2 singleplayer campaign for "Day One" of the story. Point Insertion to "We don't go to Ravenholm...".
d2	Day Two	Used in Half-Life 2 singleplayer campaign for "Day Two" of the story. Highway 17 to Entanglement. Also used by Lost Coast.
d3	Day Three	Used in Half-Life 2 singleplayer campaign for "Day Three" of the story. Entanglement (continued) to Dark Energy.
ep1	Episode 1	Used in Half-Life 2: Episode One singleplayer campaign maps.
ep2	Episode 2	Used in Half-Life 2: Episode Two singleplayer campaign maps.

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

Prefix	Map Type	Description
Official
dm	Deathmatch	Default prefix, used by all vanilla maps except halls3.
Unofficial
tdm	Team Deathmatch	Used for maps that are designed specifically for Team Deathmatch, and may or may not support free-for-all deathmatch
js	Coop and Puzzles	Used for coop and puzzle maps
coop	Coop	Used for Coop maps
puzzle	Puzzle	Used for puzzle maps

Half-Life Deathmatch: Source

Prefix	Map Type	Description
Unofficial
dm	Deathmatch	Deathmatch Maps (unofficial prefixes for custom maps)
dms	Deathmatch Source

Note: The vanilla maps do not have any prefixes.

Left 4 Dead

Prefix	Map Type	Description
l4d	Co-op	Storyline based gameplay
l4d_sv	Survival
l4d_vs	Versus

Left 4 Dead 2

Prefix	Map Type	Description
c#m#	Campaign #, Mission #

Portal

Prefix	Map Type	Description
testchmb	Test Chambers	Early levels (Test chambers 1-19)
escape	Facility Escape

Portal 2

Prefix	Map Type	Description
sp_a1	Single Player Maps (Act 1)
sp_a2	Single Player Maps (Act 2)
sp_a3	Single Player Maps (Act 3)
sp_a4	Single Player Maps (Act 4)
mp_coop	Coop Maps

Note: The player will spawn with a portal gun dependent on the map prefix; for example, starting with sp_a1 will start you with a single portal gun.

Ricochet

Prefix	Map Type	Description
rc	Default Prefix

Team Fortress Classic

Prefix	Map Type	Description
Unofficial
conc	Concussion	Using concussion grenades to do a climb/jump sort of map.

Note: The vanilla maps do not have any prefixes.

Team Fortress 2

Prefix	Map Type	Description
Official
arena	Arena	Added with the August 19, 2008 update. Kill the entire enemy team, or capture the point once it unlocks.
cp	Control Points	Original Shipping Map Type. Two main variants. One ( "5CP") gives each team two capture points, with a third one in the center. These points can be captured by standing on them for a certain amount of time if your team controls all points closer to your spawn; the game is won when one team captures all five points. The second variant ( "Attack/Defend") starts out with the BLU team locked in spawn and RED team controlling all points. After a brief setup period, BLU must capture all the points before time runs out, or else RED wins.
ctf	Capture the Flag	Original Shipping Map Type. Grab the enemy flag from the base, bring it back to your base, repeat as necessary (usually twice). Capturing a flag rewards your entire team with a brief damage boost.
pl	Payload	Added with the April 29, 2008 update. Like the aforementioned "Attack/Defend" variant of Control Points, except rather than capturing control points, the BLU team must push a cart along a track. Essentially an escort mode.
tc	Territorial Control	Original Shipping Map Type. A series of small, semi-random "stages" with one control point owned by each side. Capturing the enemy point ends the stage and pushes them back, allowing you to attack their next point. A team wins when they capture all points on a map. There's only one official TC map, tc_hydro.
plr	Payload Race	Added with the May 21, 2009 update. Like Payload, except both teams have a cart to push, and instead of one team owning the points at the start, each team has a different set of points they must capture.
koth	King of the Hill	Added with the August 13, 2009 update. Each team has a timer that starts counting down when they capture the single control point. The other team can stop this timer by taking the point from them, which starts their own timer in turn. A team wins when their timer reaches 0.
tr	Training	Added with the Mac update. For training maps.
sd	Special Delivery	Added with the Pyromania update. Like Capture the Flag, except there's only one "flag" and one destination, both of which are neutral.
mvm	Mann vs. Machine	Added with the MVM update. A player-versus-environment mode where a team must cooperate to hold off sucessive hordes of robots.
rd	Robot Destruction	Not yet officially released. Like Capture the Flag, except instead of bringing back a flag, you must destroy robots in their base and pick up the "cores" they drop. A team wins when they pick up enough cores, but the other team can win by sneaking into their base and stealing from their core vault.
pd	Player Destruction	Added in the Invasion community update. The two teams duel each other, gaining pickups upon killing enemies. At regular intervals, a deposit point will temporarily become available where either team can turn their pickups in. A team wins after depositing a certain number of pickups.
pass	PASS Time	Added with the Meet Your Match update. A deadly game of soccer-hockey-basketball.
vsh	VS Saxton Hale	Added with the Summer 2023 update. Vscript-based version of the custom sourcemod gamemode of the same name.
zi	Zombie Infection	Added with the Halloween 2023 update. RED team (Humans or Survivors) fight to survive against the undead hordes of BLU team Zombies.
Unofficial
ccp	Cyclic Capture Points
db	Dodgeball
dm	Deathmatch
duel
dom	Domination
es	Escort
jump	Rocket Jumping	Jump maps (rocket or sticky jumping). Fun skill maps that have little or no competitive fighting, but rather are for players to practice using Soldier or Demoman classes, using their explosive weaponry to propel themselves to difficult heights, or through difficult obstacles. (Examples include: rj_rocketeer, JUMP_HOBO)
rj
kotf	King of the Flag	The intel must be held for an allotted amount of time for a successful capture. Only one flag. This mode is sometimes referred to as 'Hold the Flag' (htf).
ktf
melee	-	Melee only map
sniper	-	Sniper only/preferred map
toy	-	Players are small compared to the level scale. Example: cp_degrootkeep_rats
rats
rc	Random Capturepoints	Capture Point match where the points are randomly assigned
vip	Hunted map	Hunted map, to be used with the Hunted mod
core	Core Destruction	Must destroy the primary core to win the round.
surf	Surfing map	Players strafe into angled surfaces, exploiting the game's physics to reach high speeds. Servers require an increased "sv_airaccelerate" value, ususally 100 or 150. Maps may be played as cp, ctf, dm, arena, or skill. (skill-surf simply being a challenging map that involves no deathmatch).
ph	Prophunt	Red team is turned into various props, and given an amount of time to hide around the map. Blue team must find them all before the round ends. Usually when there is one prop left alive, they are given their weapons back and Blue team is coated with Jarate. To be used with the Prophunt (Hide and Seek) mod.
vsh	VS Saxton Hale	VS Saxton Hale, used with the Versus Saxton Hale mod and the Freak Fortress mod. Also used by the official vscript-based gamemode of the same name.
pf	Parkour Fortress	Used with the Slag Gaming Parkour Fortress mod.
dr	Deathrun	Red team must survive a course of map-based traps activated by a singular player on Blue team. Used with either VSH or a similar mod.
mge	My Gaming Edge	One-on-one deathmatch with the "My Gaming Edge" mod
td	Tower Defense
achievement	Achievement Idle
fw	Fort Wars
ba	Jail Break
jail
slender	Slender Fortress
sb	Smash Fortress
zf	Zombie Fortress
szf	Super Zombie Fortress
zom	Zombie Mod
tf2ware	Team Fortress 2 Ware
tfkart	Team Fortress 2 Kart
tf2kart
kr
trade	Trade maps
orange	Suffix or Secondary prefix	Denotes a map that only uses dev textures. Named after cp_orange, a TF2 port of the Day of Defeat: Source map dod_orange.

Third-Party Games and Mods

Black Mesa

Prefix	Map Type	Description
bm	Default prefix	Used for all singleplayer missions
dm	Deathmatch	A multiplayer PvP match.

BrainBread

Prefix	Map Type	Description
bb	Default Prefix

Paranoia and Paranoia 2: Savior

Prefix	Map Type	Description
p	Default Prefix

Adrenaline Gamer

Prefix	Map Type	Description
agctf	Capture The Flag

Dino D-Day

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ddd	Default Prefix

D.I.P.R.I.P.

Prefix	Map Type	Description
diprip	Default Prefix

Dystopia

Prefix	Map Type	Description
dys	Default Prefix
pb	Phistball

Empires

Prefix	Map Type	Description
emp	Empires	Fully featured empires map. Has FPS and RTS gameplay with commander role.
con	Conquest	FPS only gameplay. Does not have a commander. Sometimes has vehicles.
fun	Fun	Fun map generally not meant to be taken seriously.

Eternal Silence

Prefix	Map Type	Description
es	Default Prefix

Fortress Forever

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ff	Default Prefix

Garry's Mod

Prefix	Map Type	Description
Official
gm	Default Prefix
gmdm	Garry's Mod Deathmatch
mr	Melon Racer
ifn	Infection	Unreleased test gamemode
ttt	Trouble in Terrorist Town
ph	Prophunt
Unofficial
rp	Roleplay
sb	Space Build
gms	Stranded
zs	Zombie Survival
fw	Fort Wars
trash	Trash Compactor
cinema	Cinema

Gunman Chronicles

Prefix	Map Type	Description
demo	Gunman Chronicles demo
cinematic	Cutscene
city	?
mayan	?
rust	?
west	?
rebar	?

Half-Life 2: Capture The Flag

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ctf	Capture the Flag
dom	Domination

Hidden: Source

Prefix	Map Type	Description
hdn	Hidden
ovr	Overrun

Insurgency

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ins	Default Prefix

Iron Grip: The Oppression

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ig	Default Prefix

Jabroni Brawl: Episode 3

Prefix	Map Type	Description
jb	Default Prefix
jb3	Unoffical Alternative Prefix	For distinguishing from mounted Jailbreak maps from other games

Jailbreak

Prefix	Map Type	Description
jb	Default Prefix

Note: Jailbreak appears to be defunct. None of the download links work.

Natural Selection

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ns	Default Prefix
co	Combat

Obsidian Conflict

Prefix	Map Type	Description
oc	Default Prefix
oc_vs	PvP

SiN Episodes

Prefix	Map Type	Description
se1	Default Prefix	Used by all of the singleplayer campaign maps in the game.
arena	Arena Maps	Arena maps are where the player has to survive for as long as possible against infinite spawning enemies.

Sourceforts

Prefix	Map Type	Description
sf	Default Prefix

Confirm: This mod may need to be deleted. The page is a stub, and the links don't work.

The Specialists

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ts	Default Prefix

Sven Co-op

Prefix	Map Type	Description
sc	Default Prefix	Older Sven Co-op maps tend not to have prefixes, but, to stop confusion with third-party single player levels and original Half-Life multiplayer add-ons, this prefix has come into use.

Synergy

Prefix	Map Type	Description
syn	Default Prefix

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Prefix	Map Type	Description
ch	Chinatown	Singleplayer Chinatown based maps
hw	Hollywood	Singleplayer Hollywood based maps
la	Los Angeles	Singleplayer Los Angeles based maps
sm	Santa Monica	Singleplayer Santa Monica based maps
sp	Story	Singleplayer storyline-related maps

Zombie Master

Prefix	Map Type	Description
zm	Default Prefix

Zombie Panic and Zombie Panic! Source

Prefix	Map Type	Description
zps	Survival
zpo	Objective Mode
zph	Hardcore
zpa	Arena

Unclassified prefixes

Prefix	Map Type	Description
jp	?
kz	Climbing/jumping
nrp	?
proto	Prototype map
rwp	?
sa	Snipers Alley
sdk	SourceSDK example map
test	Test map
perftest	Performance Test map
zoo	Object Gallery

Thematic

Prefix	Map Type	Description
killbox	Killbox (DM)	Map consisting of at least one box-shaped arena.