User:B Ju/Sandbox

The Server Browser in Team Fortress 2 (Note: Screenshot from 2015).

The Steam Server Browser is an available Main Menu option that allows a player to search from a list of available servers and find a map or game mode of their choosing. Beyond basic searching, the server browser is equipped with a range of customizable filters, such as location, ping, player count, and more, allowing for a refined search experience tailored to individual preferences and requirements.

Features Overview

The Steam Server Browser in Team Fortress 2 provides a comprehensive suite of tools for players to locate, filter, and join game servers. Below are the key functionalities offered by the Server Browser.

Comprehensive Server Search

• Customizable Filters: Players can refine their search using various filters, such as server location, game mode, map type, ping, and others. This enables the identification of servers that align with individual gameplay preferences and connectivity requirements.
• Favorites and History: The Server Browser allows for easy tracking of preferred and recently visited servers through the Favorites list and History tab, facilitating quick access to favored servers and streamlining the start of a game session.

Diverse Server Selection

• Internet and LAN (Local Area Network) Searches: The Server Browser supports the discovery of servers on both global and local (LAN) networks, accommodating players' preferences for either wide-scale online gameplay or localized LAN sessions.
• Spectate and Friends Tabs: Features include tabs for joining servers where friends are currently playing and for entering Spectate mode to view live matches via Source TV, enhancing the community and social aspects of the game.

Advanced Filtering Options

• Map and Game Mode Specific Searches: The browser includes filters for narrowing down server searches to particular maps or game modes, catering to players with specific gameplay interests.
• Server Tags and Icons: Servers are accompanied by descriptive tags and icons, providing at-a-glance information on various server features, such as password protection, VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) security status, and replay support.

Server Information

• Server Data: The browser presents detailed server information, including the current player count, active map, and ping, to aid players in making informed server selection decisions.
• Latency Indicators: Latency (ping) indicators are available to assess server performance, assisting in the choice of servers that offer a smooth and lag-free gaming experience.

User-Friendly Interface

• Simplified and Detailed Views: Players have the option to toggle between simplified and detailed views of the server list, allowing for a user experience that can be tailored to individual preferences for quick browsing or detailed investigation.
• Convenient Server Management: The Server Browser enhances player experience by making it easy to add servers to the Favorites list, blacklist servers, and join games quickly, improving both usability and control over server selection.

Detailed Guides

Main Navigation

At the top of the server browser lies the Main Navigation bar. There are a total of seven tabs that all contain a list of servers, but each serves to show a different group of servers. Each tab also has identical filtering options (except the "Blacklisted Servers" tab) underneath the server list.

• Internet

  Generates a list of available servers from the Internet. Servers that do not meet one or more of the filters are temporarily omitted from the results. The list is not generated until "Quick refresh" or "Refresh all" is pressed.

• Favorites

  Generates a list of all available servers added to the player's "Favorites" list. A specific server can be added to the "Favorites" list by right clicking the server name in the browser and clicking "Add server to favorites".

• History

  A list of the current status of all the recent servers a player has visited. Servers can be deleted from the list by right-clicking the servers name and left-clicking "Remove server from history".

• Spectate

  Not usually used for normal servers. Spectate is a link to servers running the Source TV option. It allows an unlimited amount of players to watch a slightly delayed match running live on the server through a "camera man" (either run by an AI or human). This is often used by competitive\tournament groups to allow an audience to view their matches.

• LAN

  Looks for a server running on a LAN.

• Friends

  Lists which servers a player's friends are currently on.

• Blacklisted Servers

  Generates a list of servers the player has previously blacklisted. The servers in this list will not appear in your server browser when searching for a server. Servers can be placed on the list by right clicking the name and selecting "Add server to blacklist". A count of how many servers you have blacklisted will be shown next to the server count in the main server window. Blacklisted servers may still be joined. Only the server name and the blacklist date filter options are shown. The bottom part of the window will show three options exclusive to this menu:

• Import Servers From File - brings up a file browser to open a txt file containing a list of IP addresses to be blacklisted.

• Add Current Server - adds the server you are connected to onto the blacklist.

• Add a Server - lets you add a server to the blacklist by entering the web address or IP address.

Server List

The top of the server list shows a bar that can be toggled to filter servers alphabetically, numerically, and by icon.

• Server List

  Displays the name of all available servers as the list is updated.

• Game

  Show what type of game is in play. Normally shows Team Fortress 2 as the main game, but server mods, such as Freeze Tag and Prop Hunt, may be shown here instead.

• Players

  Shows the current number of players and the maximum number of player slots in a server.

• Bots

  Shows the current number of bots in a server.

• Map

  Displays the current map being played.

• Latency

  Displays the ping, or how long it takes to send and receive packets to and from the server, when the browser was last refreshed.

• Tags

  Shows what tags have been assigned by the server. This is used to some effect to show what features are enabled in a server and to filter out servers that don't have said features.

Commonly Used Tags

• cp - This server mainly plays Control Point mode.
• ctf - This server mainly plays Capture the Flag mode.
• Payload (or pl) - This server mainly plays Payload mode.
• plr - This server mainly plays Payload Race mode.
• koth - This server mainly plays King of the Hill mode.
• arena - This server mainly plays Arena mode.
• alltalk - Players can hear voice chat from both teams on this server.
• norespawntime - On this server, there is minimal or no delay between death and respawning.
• nocrits - This server has critical hits disabled.
• allcrits - On this server, every hit will be a critical hit.

• Icons

  Displayed on the left-hand side of the server browser are three icons that each indicate information about the server.

• Password Protected

  A picture of a golden lock is shown to indicate that a password is needed to enter the server.

• VAC-Secured

  A shield showing the server is secured with Valve Anti-Cheat technology. It is not a guarantee that other players using unwanted software tampering will not join, but is a deterrent against said players with a warning that detected tampering will result in a permanent account ban.

• Replays Enabled

  An icon of a film reel frame is shown to indicate that the server supports Replay recording.

Filter Section

These are the filters that can narrow server searches into a tight group of similar servers.

• Workshop

  Displays subscribed maps from the Steam Workshop or any maps that were uploaded to the Steam Workshop but not necessarily subscribed by the player. If <All> is selected, it will show the normal server list together with the Steam Workshop maps.

• Tags Bar

  Adding certain words or "Tags" to this bar allows a player to refine searches by special features of listed servers. The first box can be selected to show "include" or "do not include" for the following tags inside the box to the right. The middle box is where a player may enter tags, separating each tag by a comma, with no spaces. The third box that says "Add common tags..." is a popup box that shows a list of the most commonly used tags.

• Game

  This option is grayed out and permanently set to Team Fortress 2.

• Map

  Allows a player to type in the name of the desired map, including the map type prefix. The browser will purge any current servers not playing maps with the typed name.

• Max Player Count

  Allows players to set a maximum threshold of total player slots per server. Setting the number to 24 will purge any servers from the list that have 25 or more player slots in a server.

• Simplified List

  A clickable box that changes the text list into a picture list showing the map and groups of servers playing on that map, with the most optimal server based on filters showing first.

• Latency

  The time it takes to send and receive packets to and from the server. Omits servers which have ping above the filter's limit.

• Location

  Can be selected to give a general location of where a particular server is located.

Selectable Locations

• <All>: Displays all servers no matter which location. The box is left blank.
• US - East: Relatively eastern part of the United States.
• US - West: Relatively western part of the United States.
• South America: Includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, and others.
• Europe: Includes the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Germany, Spain, Russia, and others.
• Asia: Includes China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and others.
• Australia: Includes New Zealand and others.
• Middle East: Includes Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and others.
• Africa: Includes over 50 countries on the African continent.

• Anti-Cheat

  Selects a server with or without VAC.

• Server Not Full

  When checked, will not show servers that have no available player slots.

• Has Users Playing

  When checked, will not show servers that have no players on them.

• Is Not Password Protected

  When checked, will not show servers that require a password to join.

• Filters Button

  The filters button shows and hides options for the server configuration. Options include max players, password protected, VAC-secure, server full, has users playing, map, and tags, e.g bots.

• Refresh

  Completely refreshes the list of servers, updating all the server data.

• Quick/Stop Refresh

  Refreshes only the current servers listed.

• Connect

  Connects to the current selected server; if the server is full, it shows the "Server Info" tab.

Update history

October 5, 2007 Patch

• Fixed columns and row bunching up in server browser.

February 28, 2008 Patch

• Added "Custom" tab to the server browser.
  • Servers can now specify metatags describing the custom rules they've adopted.
  • Players can use tag filtering to find servers running the custom rules they want to play.
  • Added options for servers who want to become custom games: Disable critical hits (tf_weapon_criticals), eliminate respawn times (mp_disable_respawn_times), and raise maxplayers above 24.

February 29, 2008 Patch

• Fixed Internet and Custom tabs in the server browser not correctly displaying the server info when going back and forth between the two tabs.

March 6, 2008 Patch

• Removed sv_alltalk from the list of convars that affect custom server tags.
• Updated the URL used for the "Click for more info on custom servers" link on the Custom tab.
• Fixed Internet and Custom tabs in the Server Browser not correctly displaying the server information for servers when going back and forth between the two tabs.
• Fixed SourceTV servers not being displayed in the Spectate tab for servers with custom server tags.
• Fixed servers with maxplayers <= 24 that are running SourceTV having the "increased_maxplayers" tag added for their server.

March 20, 2008 Patch

• Replace underscores in map names with spaces so custom maps with names like cp_gravel_pit will show as "GRAVEL PIT".

April 1, 2008 Patch

• Added Custom Tab explanation dialog to be shown the first time the server browser is opened

January 12, 2009 Patch

• Added a Quick List view to the server browser.

May 21, 2009 Patch

• Removed "Final" from map names in the serverbrowser quick list.

January 6, 2010 Patch

• Added a client-side server blacklist.
  • Supports blacklisting of specific servers, all servers on an IP, and all servers on a class C range.
  • Saves the server list to a file, and has an Import button to allow easy sharing (cfg\server_blacklist.txt).

May 27, 2010 Patch

• Fixed a crash caused by leaving the server browser open while playing.

June 26, 2010 Patch

• [Undocumented] New filter option: "Max Player Count".
• [Undocumented] New option: "Simplified list".

July 21, 2010 Patch

• Fixed the server browser not saving filter settings properly.

October 6, 2010 Patch

• The Server Browser now sorts by ping by default once again.

November 10, 2010 Patch

• Updated the server browser localization files.

January 24, 2011 Patch

• Added missing chalkboard/serverbrowser materials for 5Gorge.

June 27, 2011 Patch

• Fixed server browser not including servers from all regions with the location "All" selected.

August 15, 2011 Patch #1

• Fixed zombie players created when banning players, causing player count in the server browser to be incorrect.

January 26, 2012 Patch

• Changed the way bot counts are displayed in the server browser: the bot column is now next to the player column and always visible. Bot count is no longer subtracted from maxplayers.

January 27, 2012 Patch

• Fixed a bug with the Replay icon.

August 17, 2012 Patch #1

• Updated the matchmaking ConVar tf_mm_strict .
  • A value of 2 will hide the server from the server browser but will still allow direct connections.

August 17, 2012 Patch #2

• Fixed a bug where rejected players could leave a "ghost" player that takes up a slot on the server browser.

August 21, 2012 Patch

• Fixed the server browser showing an incorrect player count in MvM games.

August 23, 2012 Patch

• Server browser will now show MvM mission name in the "map" column. (E.g. "mvm_mannworks_advanced").

September 4, 2012 Patch

• Fixed bots not displaying in the server browser properly.
• MvM changes.
  • Fixed an issue in the Server Browser where replay bots would add to the player count.

September 21, 2012 Patch

• Fix bug allowing server browser network activity to continue after choosing a server.

June 2, 2015 Patch

• [Undocumented] Added "Workshop" filter to the Server Browser.

See also

• Main menu
• Servers
• List of maps
• List of game modes