Missing "join game" and "view game info" buttons

[Lia_Rein]

Since having the updated version of steam I no longer have a "join game" or "view server info" button when I right click people in game on my friend's list. I also own the game that they are playing in these situations.

Is there any fix for this?

[Zukabazuka]

If the person has a private game list, you wont be able to join or view the server he is playing on. Same goes for you. This was added some months ago.

[Lia_Rein]

Unfortunately it applies to all my friends. I've found other people posting about it online but no solutions yet. I opened a steam support ticket about it and they asked me to post here.

[Dïngus]

This should be the norm. If someone wants you to join they can send an invite.

[Lia_Rein]

Oh I also can't invite people to games - thanks for the reminder!

[Lia_Rein]

The buttons reappeared today, so not sure if something happened that changed it! Dunno if it's still an issue for others.

[Crater Creator]

Yes, this is still an issue for me. I surveyed all my friends currently playing games, and I don't think it has to do with people's privacy settings. It seems to be game specific. For all 14 friends playing Left 4 Dead 2 at the moment (the only game for which I really care about this feature), there is no View Game Info option. For every other game friends are playing (17 people at the moment), there is a View Game Info option. So it would seem the games that actually report useful View Game Info data are the ones where View Game Info is disabled.

Edit: aaaaand in the 5 minutes it took me to write this post, View Game Info is back again for people playing Left 4 Dead 2. I just can't make heads or tails of why it disappears sometimes. I'd like consistency here.

[®omano]

Linux user here, it was missing "lsof" dependency last year on my distro, just stumbled upon this thread while searching something else, so just in case if you're on Linux you're missing these because of the missing dependency.

[[GWJ] Keithustus]

From another post:
Open main Steam window > “View” > “Servers” > “Friends” tab > right click on server

[Crater Creator]

Since posting, I’ve learned that you can get “View Game Info” back. You go to View Game Info on a user in your friends list playing some other game - even a game that doesn’t provide any game info but has that menu option. Then you try again on the user you actually want to check, and the option will be there. This method hasn’t failed since I learned about it about a week ago.

[[GWJ] Keithustus]

What? crazy. Will give it a try.

[Netzeek]

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/1733216261939197945/?ctp=4

[Blood Saige]

It's obvious the endless updates to steam, perhaps 5 updates a day, things get locked behind in relentless ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ executable coding that fails to finish.

So, loading up steam in a different mode with less features, is something you just need to resurface things back to normal.

Step 1: Close steam.
Right-click steam executable icon on desktop. Navigate to properties.

Step 2:
find the shortcut tab, (in properties) in it you will see "target"

step 3:
You should see a directory tree establishing where the target opens.

Should look like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe"
at the end of this press space, and paste this in it

-no-browser +open steam://open/minigameslist

it should look like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -no-browser +open steam://open/minigameslist

click apply, and click ok. Now open that, steam will open, look for friends tab. and find a friend and view their game info.

Leave that window open. Now exit out of steam


Go back to properties, delete what you typed in. then re-open it.

You should have join game/view server info
back on.

Worked for me.

[Crater Creator]

In the last month or so, the workaround I mentioned in post #9 no longer always works for me. It's hard to tell, but it appears that View Game Info can disappear on users sitting in a lobby, while still working on other users that are in a game session.