Actually, I'll just post the entire list of things not allowed in
QuickPlay according to the new FAQ:
* Opening a MOTD window (hidden or visible) that is not requested
* Forcing clients to view the MOTD until a timer has expired
* Giving or selling gameplay advantage to players
* Kicking players to make room for reserved slots
* Modifying stock maps, models, or materials
* Running non-default game modes: prop hunt, dodgeball, etc
* Enforcing class limits
* Browser popups
* Granting or modifying economy items, or taking actions that devalue
players' items, or interfering with the TF2 economy
On 2/5/2014 6:52 PM, Fletcher Dunn wrote:
There are some changes coming that TF2 server operators should know about.
CHANGES TO QUICKPLAY
-------------------------------
The next TF2 update will make two changes to quickplay:
* "Show servers" button. This runs the ordinary quickplay search, but instead
of joining the server with the highest score, it presents the user with an ordered list
of about 20 servers and lets them pick. This gives players much of the convenience of
quickplay by finding servers with a good ping and players on them, but also an easy way
to express a preference over the map, server community, etc.
* We've added an advanced options page that allows players to opt into the most
commonly-requested non-vanilla rules changes: nocrits, maxplayers, and instant
respawn.
There are no more scoring penalties for maxplayers or rule changes; your server
either matches their search criteria or it doesn't.
At this time, we are keeping the default quickplay option to Valve servers.
However, note that if a player wants to find a server with any of the supported
modifications, then they must land on a community server, since Valve servers
do not run with these settings.
We've updated the quickplay policy to more clearly specify what sorts of server
modifications are allowed in quickplay:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2825-AFGJ-3513
STEAM GAMESERVER ACCOUNTS
-----------------------------------------
Gameserver accounts are now a Steam feature. The feature is currently in beta.
Using a steam gameserver account provides one important advantage right now:
client favorite lists are keyed by the Steam account if present. This means
that you can move your server to another IP address, and clients who have your
server in their favorites or history will follow you to your new location.
CREATING AN ACCOUNT:
Creating an account is currently only possible via WebAPI. (Remember, this
feature is currently in beta. We'll add a nicer interface for this soon.)
Make a HTTPS POST request to the following URL:
https://api.steampowered.com/IGameServersService/CreateAccount/v0001/
The POST arguments should be:
appid=440 (for Team Fortress)
key=<your WebAPIKey>
<your WebAPIKey> is the WebAPI key associated with the user account that will
own the server accounts. See http://steamcommunity.com/dev for how to get one of
these. (WARNING: Make sure and keep this key secret. This key is an authentication
token in some respects and makes it possible to do certain actions on your behalf.
Don't feed the key into anybody's nice convenient web page that automates this. With
your WebAPI key they could impersonate you for some actions. If you don't want to go
through the pain of making a WebAPI call, just wait until we have a nicer interface
implemented.)
The output of the WebAPI will be the (permanent) SteamID of your gameserver,
and a login token. The login token is a random string of text that allows you
to actually login to your account.
You can view a list of the servers owned by a user account by making a HTTPS
GET call to:
https://api.steampowered.com/IGameServersService/GetAccountList/v0001/?key=<yourkey<https://api.steampowered.com/IGameServersService/GetAccountList/v0001/?key=%3cyourkey>>
LOGGING IN TO YOUR ACCOUNT (TF only for now):
Once you have a gameserver login token, you can specify your login credentials
on a Source engine server by executing this console command sometime before it
loads the first map:
sv_setsteamaccount <login token>
The server output should make it clear when you are using a Steam gameserver
account and when you are logging in anonymously. (The ordinary gameserver
login that has always been used.)
Remember, for now you will need to login to both your Steam gameserver account
and also your TF account. The two accounts are not related. The TF account is
the one that determines quickplay eligibility, and the Steam one does favorites
migration. Eventually we will remove the TF accounts and only use Steam
gameserver accounts.
HOW FAVORITES MIGRATION WORKS:
In the next few days we will release an updated Steam Client beta that knows
how to migrate favorites. On the client, each favorite has an IP:port and a
gameserver account. The account might be empty --- that will of course be the
case for all previously existing favorites. Periodically, a client will try to
sync up the favorites list IP:port addresses and accounts. If there is an
IP:port without an associated account, it will ask the master server for
information about that address. If a server is running on that address and
logged into an account, the client will record the account. Once the client
has an account associated with the favorite, the account becomes the primary
key and will not change. Instead, we will periodically try to refresh the
address from the account. (Again, this is done by querying the master server,
and it depends on your server bring logged into the account and running on the
address.) The client always caches the last known IP:port of a favorit
e, even though the account ID is the main "key". That way, if Steam is down,
or the gameserver is down, it will used the cached IP:port. All of the above applies to
history as well as favorites.
In the future, when a client adds a favorite or history item, the account will
be recorded immediately.
If you know you have many clients that have your server in their favorites or
history, then you should not move your server yet. You need to give clients
time to logon with new Steam client binaries and get their favorite entry
linked up with your account. We'll let you know when you can try out migrating
favorites, as well as when the feature is active in the public client and all
users have it.
QUESTIONS?
Since Steam gameservers are a Steam feature, all of the above will apply to all
Steam games. (Provided that the game exposes a method for the gameserver to
log in to an account.) Eventually, the TF2 gameserver accounts will be going
away and replaced with these accounts. For now, they are separate.
Any further questions about the quickplay changes or gameserver accounts?
Please direct them to this list so that all answers will be public.
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