How to check if a server is local/official dedicated in-game?

[Kafka]

Is there any way to see if a server is local, official dedicated, or best available dedicated in-game?

[Tsuey]

There's a few ways to check, but some servers easily spoof the "status" name and might be using VScript to avoid needing SourceMod at all. The only sure-fire way is to check the IP address.

Short answer:

Open console and type "status", if you see that it's a Linux-based server with a name like "Valve Left4Dead 2 US SouthWest Server (srcds...)" then it's most likely Official Dedicated. Anything else is local or third-party.

Longer answer:

Do the above combined with typing SourceMod commands like "sm plugins all" (which will list all the plugins installed on the server) and, if the server responds and prints anything to console, then it has SourceMod installed and is therefore modded.

Longest answer:

Do all the above and also use a website like https://whois.domaintools.com/ to paste in the IP addresses and if it doesn't resolve to VALVE CORPORATION, then it is modded.

[The Mighty Mighty BossTofu]

Originally posted by Tsuey:

There's a few ways to check, but some servers easily spoof the "status" name and might be using VScript to avoid needing SourceMod at all. The only sure-fire way is to check the IP address.

Short answer:

Open console and type "status", if you see that it's a Linux-based server with a name like "Valve Left4Dead 2 US SouthWest Server (srcds...)" then it's most likely Official Dedicated. Anything else is local or third-party.

Longer answer:

Do the above combined with typing SourceMod commands like "sm plugins all" (which will list all the plugins installed on the server) and, if the server responds and prints anything to console, then it has SourceMod installed and is therefore modded.

Longest answer:

Do all the above and also use a website like https://whois.domaintools.com/ to paste in the IP addresses and if it doesn't resolve to VALVE CORPORATION, then it is modded.

Why is your longest answer your shortest?

[Tsuey]

Originally posted by The Mighty Mighty BossTofu:

Why is your longest answer your shortest?

I have a habit of always doing all the above whenever joining a server. Guess I'm not really a fan of surprises, I like to know where I'll be spending an hour+ of my time.

[Sharpie The Dragon]

Generally what Tsuey has said works. Though one thing to note is that server owners can be scumbags and have the host name set to 'Valve Official EU West' or something like that to try and mask the server as official. I know there are a couple IP's that do it. But in 99% of cases it's actually official or some modded server name.