Networking5 min read
Game server ports explained: query ports, RCON and why your server is not listed
What the extra ports on a game server are for, why your server runs but does not appear in the browser, and how to fix it.
Most games need more than one port, and the second one is almost never the one people think about - right up until the server runs perfectly and refuses to appear in anybody's server browser.
The three kinds of port
- The game port. What players connect to. Always allocated, always published.
- The query port. What the server browser and third-party trackers ask for the player count and map. If it is not reachable, your server works and is invisible.
- RCON, SourceTV, WebAdmin and friends. Optional extras - remote administration, spectating, a web panel.
Why a running server can be invisible
Three different causes look identical from the outside. The query port is not allocated, so nothing answers on it. The game wants a login token you have not supplied. Or the game lists through its own service rather than Steam, and that service has not been reached.
Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, Unturned and Insurgency: Sandstorm all want a Steam game-server login token, free from Valve, issued per server to a person. We cannot create one for you - a random string that satisfies the validator is rejected by Steam, which turns a clear failure into a server that starts and never lists. Where a game will not run at all without one, we hold the installation until you supply it rather than handing you a broken server.
Adding a port
- 1.Open the server's Network tab and allocate an additional port.
- 2.Set the game's own port variable on the Startup tab to match it.
- 3.Restart. The console will say what it bound to.