I concur w/ TheNob on this from our experience. I will note one difference
though.
We have had randoms in our L4D servers (with search key in place). Only way
they entered the server was via the OpenServerBrowser command from the
Console. They were not in our Steam Group either. I have confirmed that
action myself.
[FLASH] MjrNuT
Arise from Flames and Ash, Behold Immortality
www.flamesandash.com
Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:09:45 +0100
> From: TheNob HLDS <h...@thenob.de>
> Subject: Re: [hlds] L4D Client Update
> To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list
> <hlds@list.valvesoftware.com>
> Message-ID:
> <5f59b6e30903160709l499a211bg10a0447873b29...@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> Yes it does restrict! sv_search_key must be ("") empty to be accessable for
> matchmaking.
>
>
>
> 2009/3/16 Alec Sanger <eclyp...@hotmail.com>
>
> >
> > Sorry if this sounds incredibly stupid, but does sv_search_key actually
> > restrict cleints from connecting who don't have the proper sv_search_key
> on
> > their end? All of my servers have been dead since friday. I removed
> > sv_search_key, rebooted the server, and it's been full for the last 2
> hours.
> > I was always under the assumption that sv_search_key didn't restrict
> > pubbers.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Alec Sanger
> > www.stompfest.com
> >
> >
> >
> > > Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:42:40 -0500
> > > From: inflatablesoulm...@brothersofchaos.com
> > > To: hlds@list.valvesoftware.com
> > > Subject: Re: [hlds] L4D Client Update
> > >
> > > Actually, you just sparked in my mind another reason that the lobby
> > > server browser would be a good idea. Private L4D servers that are
> > > passworded. Right now, I'm not really sure how you can even connect to
> > > a L4D server that has sv_password set. If you had the server browser
> > > working like it does in TF2, when you double-click on the server, it
> > > pops up a dialog box to type the password in. So, when the lobby
> leader
> > > chooses the private server to connect to, do the same thing. Not only
> > > would this guarantee that your server is available, but it would also
> be
> > > welcomed by GSPs and players alike, because the GSPs would be able to
> > > sell private L4D servers, and the players would have a less-costly
> > > alternative to a public server (generally GSPs sell private servers at
> a
> > > discount because the private servers aren't full eating bandwidth and
> > > CPU resources all the time). Also, only the lobby leader should need
> to
> > > know the password, because they are the one picking the server to play
> > on.
> > >
> > >
> > > StevoTVR wrote:
> > > > That would be awesome if the GUI let you pick the server from a list
> > and
> > > > skip all the searching. The cheat command ms_force_dedicated_server
> > lets
> > > > you do this and I've had to use that since the las update messed up
> > > > sv_search_key for us, but most users don't know about that. The
> system
> > > > you suggested would be perfect for us, and probably most other
> > > > communities with private L4D servers.
> > > >
>
My 2 cents also Matt, with one exception. We use Teamspeak as you're able
to talk to ppl in different channels. ;)
I changed our previous public L4D to a private one now. It saw no traffic
since the update. Course, I may not have the correct server.cfg now, i.e.,
remove all setmaster lines?
It's not an issue for us. I'm glad Valve has decided to support with their
own servers with this type of game. Some of the modded L4D servers out
there are just not my cup o tea. I'm actually mixed about wither L4D should
be modded, but that's just me, not putting it on anyone. One annoyance I do
have is that I've been on L4D server that constantly, constantly runs adds
of: Join our Community, join our steam group, join our blah balh, etc.
These adds are in all kinds of colors to really get your attention _and_ are
right near or overlap the vanilla game messages. Just so much spam in my
opinion. It was quite annoying and actually took attention away from
playing. This was my own personal annoyance of mine and I'm sure many
players are able to ignore them, but I just started our own servers. I
don't need to name the Community. Point is, I think it's good that Valve
has own set of servers, and the Communities out there may still have their
_intended_ public servers still used.
Matt, I would add that instead of looking at HLSW, just do OpenServerBrowser
from Console, find your server and you'll be able to see if it is occupied.
Unless you have HLSW on a 2nd PC or your CTRL+ESC command works dandy to
minimize apps. Seems L4D handles that very well actually.
I agree it's a bit of a chore educating the members about the search_key.
Pictures do resounding things though.
[FLASH] MjrNuT
Arise from Flames and Ash, Behold Immortality
www.flamesandash.com
Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:31:07 -0500
> From: Matt Stanton <inflatablesoulm...@brothersofchaos.com>
> Subject: Re: [hlds] L4D Client Update
> To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list
> <hlds@list.valvesoftware.com>
> Message-ID: <49bdd60b.5040...@brothersofchaos.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Ok, given the way the game is played, the lobby system *does* make the
> most sense. You want to be able to connect with all of your friends at
> the same time. The server browser can't really give you this option
> unless everyone is in a ventrilo channel relaying to each other which
> server they are planning on connecting to.
>
> The solution I would pose is: Keep the lobby system. Allow a lobby to
> just connect to an official server or best available server, but also
> offer the lobby leader the option of browsing the servers manually.
> Have it so the leader can pop up the server browser, with only servers
> that are in hibernate mode listed. Then, the lobby leader can choose a
> server that has a decent ping, with whatever plugins and addons they
> like (or none if they choose to). Has anyone at valve looked into
> this? I mean, the server browser is how every other game out there
> works... it's not like the people who play left 4 dead are driveling
> idiots who can't figure out which server would be the best for them.
> Also, allow them to put servers that work well for them consistently in
> a favorites tab just like with TF2. The way the lobby system works now
> is kind of an insult to our intelligence.
>
> It would also make it easier for people like me, who are members of a
> gaming community that would like to branch out into running L4D servers
> (we do run one) to make sure we get connected to our own server. The
> way the sv_search_key thing works, you have to have a copy of HLSW up so
> you can make sure the server doesn't have people on it before you connect.
>
> We pay for a dedicated box through our GSP, so we can run whatever we
> want within the limits of the hardware and bandwidth, so I could care
> less whether our L4D server stays empty all the time. Our bread and
> butter is TF2. But since L4D came out, a lot of our members have gotten
> really into the game, myself included, and so it's nice to have an empty
> L4D server laying around with pings that we have all been extremely
> happy with from our TF2 servers.
>
> Teaching people the little search key hacks you have to pull to allow
> them to connect to our server is a lot of work. Not everyone is very
> technical when it comes to this stuff, but everyone is used to the
> server browser. If they aren't, they could still choose to just connect
> to the nearest valve box.
>
> Just my two cents.
>
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