Get public IP via console

Question

Do source engine based games (in my case Portal 2) have a console command to display the public IP steam will use e.g. when inviting someone for coop?

Please do not suggest me windows commands like ipconfig or one of the "get my ip" websites; I know very well how to find out my current public IP. What I'm looking for is an easy way to debug why steam suddenly started to use my private (192.162.*) IP instead of the public one. And displaying the IP steam uses would be much easier than asking someone to try to join my game and then check his console for the ip.

Asked by ThiefMaster

Answer

When in-game, and with a level loaded, the 'status' command in the game's developer console will show the exact detected public IP address that would be used to invite others.

The developer console can be enabled under Options -> Keyboard/Mouse.

Answered by psychonic

Check more discussion of this question.

Almost every server on every Source game is not responding

Question

Whenever my friends are playing servers, and I try to join, it always says "server not responding." Also, there are very few servers on the list of online servers. This happens in every source game. My firewall is disabled. Any help? Even when I try direct connection, it still fails.

Asked by CommunistPancake

Answer

I've had that problem several times and one of two fixes has always worked for me:

1. Turn off your firewall (which you've already done). I've had the Windows 7 firewall turn itself back on without my intervention, however, so it can't hurt to double-check, if you haven't already.
2. Delete the ClientRegistry.blob file in your Steam install folder. You'll need to exit Steam before doing so, and Steam will run its updater when you launch it again, but it should only take a minute.

Answered by Ben Blank

Check more discussion of this question.

How do you turn on “windowed fullscreen” in TF2 and other Source games?

Question

I'm sure Arda mentioned this in chat, and it was mentioned in the site too, but for the life of me I wasted 15 minutes trying to get back into TF2 after alt-tabbing out, then wasted 15 minutes trying to find the relevant piece of information again.

So I'll ask: how do you turn "fake fullscreen" (windowed mode maximized without border) in TF2, L4D, HL2 and the other Source games?

Answer

Use the following as your command line: (From the library right click on the game, then pick Properties → Set Launch Options.)

-sw -noborder

-sw means "Start Windowed." -noborder tells Windows to not draw borders (titlebar, window buttons) around the window.

You can also designate screen size (e.g. -w 640 -h 480), skip the intro video (-novideo), turn on low violence mode in L4D (-lv) and other options that may or not mean anything to you. A fuller list can be found here.

Check more discussion of this question.

TF2 “ERROR” displayed on head items

Question

In game instead of hats (any other than default) a big 3D red "ERROR" is displayed. At first it worked very good then the update came (the one when everyone got that paper boat hat), after loading a characters hat (in menu or in game no difference) the game would crash, and after few more updates I'm stuck with the "ERROR hat".

Anyone else got this, are there any fixes or updates planned?

NOTE: I didn't use any mods, touch Steam files or other things that would result in missing data.

Screenshot

Answer

From the screenshot I'd say that looks like the model is missing or corrupt.

First thing to do in this case is verify your TF2 file cache, this will check your TF2 install is up to date and no files are corrupt or missing - and download anything it needs to make your game correct.

Go to the game's properties from the Steam Library and you'll find a "Verify Integrity of Game Cache..." button, hit that and let it check for anything broken and re-download it (this may take some time depending on how much has to be redownloaded). You might need to re-start Steam before trying again.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I query data from a source game server?

Question

After reviewing things like Game Tracker, xqf, and HLSW I've come to the bold conclusion that most source games are publicly queryable for basic information like map, player count, player list, etc. Is there some standard for this? I ultimately want to create my own script to poll this information I just can't find any documentation on how it's retrieved.

Answer

Valve's wiki has an article on the topic. Too much to quote, but the link should be stable.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Server_queries

Check more discussion of this question.

What is strafe jumping?

Question

I've seen people rocket and sticky jump, but make incredible turns in the air. In Team Fortress 2, for example, I've seen people on 2Fort jump out of one side of the battlements, do a 180, and land in the other side. Is this an example of strafe jumping? How is it done?

Answer

Yes, that is strafe jumping.

If you hold down one of the strafe keys, and at the same time move your mouse in the same direction, you will move through the air in that direction.

You should be able to find some "surf" maps to help train your strafe jumping.

---

Edit:

I forgot that there are also "klimberz" maps to train on. You can search Google for "KZ Maps". Since CS:S uses the same physics engine, you may be able to train your strafe jumping there.

Check more discussion of this question.

How do you turn on "fake fullscreen" in TF2 and other Source games?

Question

I'm sure Arda mentioned this in chat, and it was mentioned in the site too, but for the life of me I wasted 15 minutes trying to get back into TF2 after alt-tabbing out, then wasted 15 minutes trying to find the relevant piece of information again.

So I'll ask: how do you turn "fake fullscreen" (windowed mode maximized without border) in TF2, L4D, HL2 and the other Source games?

Answer

Use the following as your command line: (From the library right click on the game, then pick Properties → Set Launch Options.)

-sw -noborder

-sw means "Start Windowed." -noborder tells Windows to not draw borders (titlebar, window buttons) around the window.

You can also designate screen size (e.g. -w 640 -h 480), skip the intro video (-novideo), turn on low violence mode in L4D (-lv) and other options that may or not mean anything to you. A fuller list can be found here.

Check more discussion of this question.

Where is the config file for Portal 2 located on OSX?

Question

I am having trouble finding the config.cfg config file for the Source engine on OSX. It isn't in an obvious place in the package.

Does anyone know where I can find it?

Thanks,

Matt

Answer

It should be in SteamApps/common/portal 2/portal2/cfg/config.cfg.

Source (The Portal 2 folder should be under common like all recent Valve games, if it's not, try SteamApps/yourusername/portal 2)

Check more discussion of this question.

Is there any way to play Left 4 Dead on a LAN?

Question

It seems the only option for playing Left 4 Dead with my friends is to have all computers online, even though I bought the 4 pack from Valve. Is there anyway to plan a LAN game on Left 4 Dead 1?

Answer

It is possible. If you use srcds to set up a dedicated server and note the LAN IP of the computer hosting it, you can enable the developer console in-game (under Keyboard settings then advanced) press the ~ key (on foreign keyboards, it is usually whichever key is next to the 1 key) to open it and enter the command connect <LAN IP of server> into it. You'll then be dropped into the game. Make sure to edit the key of the server so that random people don't start joining. Consider setting it to LAN-only.

If you're using a non-QWERTY keyboard, sometimes binding the developer console may not work. If so, you can edit the launch options and add --console. Then, whenever you launch the game, you'll have console open.

Check more discussion of this question.

Do TF2 dedicated servers require special config to allow players to get item drops?

Question

I was planning to set up a Windows dedicated Team Fortress 2 server using this configuration guide and the linked TF2 Windows Dedicated Server page from the official team fortress 2 wiki.

However, I don't see any mention of item drops or any server cvars I should leave alone to avoid breaking them.

So is there any special configuration required (or any settings to avoid, besides the obvious sv_cheats 1) for a dedicated server to allow players to receive item drops?

Edit: Added links to pages now that I have enough rep to do so.

Answer

I believe item drops are enabled by default. When I create a game or start offline practice on my home computer, I don't need to do anything to start receiving drops.

Check more discussion of this question.