CSS Server Not Visible on LAN

[Diacide]

Hi everyone

1st post I need some urgent help with a issue I am having with all of the CSS servers I have tried to setup. I have been struggling with this for 2 weeks now without a glimmer of hope.... I am posting this under Linux as 2 out of the 3 servers I have tried are Linux Based.

Background info:

I am the organizer of a monthly offline gaming event in South Africa. Due to the crappy nature and cost of bandwidth in SA, LAN partys has become very popular. We do not have a internet connection at the LAN. This coming weekend our event (MPLD) will be hosting a CSS comp for about 16 teams. Most of the people taking part in the comp play online as well. So they are mostly steam ligit copy owners. What we have done in past comps is ask all the players to set their steam to offline before coming to the event. We would update our servers to the latest before taking them to the event as well, to ensure that everyone is on the same version. The last CSS comp we hosted was in September 2009. This seem to have workied well in the past, but now for some reason we have run into 2 issues:

Problems:

1. Servers do not show up in the LAN section of the game browser.
2. Players can connect to the servers by using the "connect IPORT" method from the console, but it takes up to 3 min to connect. It also takes 3min to reconnect after a map cycle. This only happens when the steam client is in offline mode, in online mode, it's fine, takes about 20 seconds.

BASIC INFO
Server OS'es: 1 x Win XP sp3 ; 2 x Gentoo xxxxx.xxx (Will confirm version and update, but not old) ; 1 x RHEL 3.9
Processors: 2 x P4 2.8 (1 gentoo, 1 RHEL) ; 1 system running 2 x Xeon 2.6 (Gentoo) ; 1 x 2.0ghz Dual Core (XP)
Ram: 3GB, 1.5GB, 512MB, 512MB
Game(s): Counter Strike Source
Start Up Commands: Variants I have tried:
1. srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server8.cfg (XP)
2. srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.9 -port 27015 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (XP)
3. srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.9 -port 27016 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (XP)
4. srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.9 -port 27025 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (XP)
5. srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +hostip 192.168.102.9 -port 27015 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (XP)
6. srcds.exe -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.9:27015 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (XP)
7. ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server02.cfg (Linux)
8. ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.10 -port 27015 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server02.cfg (Linux)
9. ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.10 -port 27025 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (Linux)
10. ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +hostip 192.168.102.10 -port 27025 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (Linux)
11. ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +hostip 192.168.102.10:27025 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (Linux)
12. ./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +ip 192.168.102.10:27025 +maxplayers 20 +map de_dust2 +servercfgfile server01.cfg (Linux)

Admin Mods: None

INSTALLING INFO
Win:
hldsupdatetool
hldsupdatetool -command update -game "Counter-Strike Source" -dir D:\srcds

Linux:
./hldsupdatetool.bin
./steam -command update -game "Counter-Strike Source" -dir .

NETWORK AND BANDWIDTH INFO
Bandwidth: 1Gig (LAN)
Router: No Router Between Servers and Clients
Local IP of Servers: 192.168.102.6 ; 192.168.102.9 ; 192.168.102.10 ; 192.168.102.11
External IP: NA

Things I have tried:
1. Disabled all firewalls on all systems in question. Linux systems are not running any firewalls.
2. Tried connecting from 2 different machines, one XP, one Win7.
3. Ran Server and Client on same system (XP), client running the server, can see server, no one else can.
4. Tried 2 different server.cfg's
5. I have tried so many things, I am starting to loose track.....

server.cfg's:

1.

Code:

// server name
hostname "MPLD Comp 2"

// rcon passsword
rcon_password "xxxxxxx"

// Server password
sv_password "Clan02"

// server cvars
mp_friendlyfire 1
mp_footsteps 1
mp_autoteambalance 0
mp_dynamicpricing 0
mp_autokick 0
mp_flashlight 1
mp_tkpunish 0
mp_forcecamera 1
sv_alltalk 0
sv_pausable 1
sv_cheats 0
sv_consistency 1
sv_allowupload 1
sv_allowdownload 1
sv_pure 2
sv_maxspeed 320
mp_limitteams 0
mp_hostagepenalty 0
sv_voiceenable 1
mp_allowspectators 1
mp_timelimit 120
mp_chattime 15
sv_timeout 65
sv_voicecodec vaudio_speex
sv_voicequality 11200
sv_aim 0
sv_gravity 800
sv_airaccelerate 10
sv_bounce 0
sv_friction 4.000
sv_stepsize 18
sv_stopspeed 75.000
sv_wateraccelerate 10
sv_waterfriction 1

// round specific cvars
mp_buytime 0.25
mp_freezetime 10
mp_roundtime 1.75
mp_startmoney 800
mp_c4timer 35
mp_fraglimit 0
mp_maxrounds 0
mp_winlimit 0
mp_playerid 0
mp_spawnprotectiontime 0

// bandwidth rates/settings
sv_minrate 25000
sv_maxrate 25000
decalfrequency 10
sv_maxupdaterate 66
sv_minupdaterate 66
sv_mincmdrate 66
sv_maxcmdrate 66
sv_client_interpolate 1
sv_client_predict 1
sv_client_min_interp_ratio 1
sv_client_max_interp_ratio 1
sv_client_cmdrate_difference 20

//Source TV settings.
tv_enable 1
tv_maxclients 50
tv_delay 90
tv_delaymapchange 1
tv_relaypassword " "
tv_password " "
tv_transmitall 1
tv_allow_camera_man 0
tv_autorecord 1
tv_name "MPLD Comp 2 S:TV"
tv_maxrate 10000
tv_title "MPLD Comp 2 S:TV"
tv_relayvoice 0

// operation
sv_lan 1
sv_region 7
sv_contact diacide@mpld.co.za
sv_consistency 1
zb_active 1

2.

Code:

// server name
hostname "MPLD Clan Server 8"

// rcon passsword
rcon_password "xxxxxxxx"

// Server password
sv_password "Clan08"

// Advanced RCON
sv_rcon_banpenalty 10
sv_rcon_maxfailures 4
sv_rcon_minfailures 5
sv_rcon_minfailuretime 30

// server cvars
mp_friendlyfire 1
mp_footsteps 1
mp_autoteambalance 0
mp_autokick 0
mp_flashlight 0
mp_tkpunish 0
mp_forcecamera 1
sv_alltalk 0
sv_pausable 1
sv_cheats 0
sv_consistency 1
sv_allowupload 1
sv_allowdownload 1
sv_maxspeed 320
mp_limitteams 2
mp_hostagepenalty 5
sv_voiceenable 1
mp_allowspectators 1
mp_timelimit 60
mp_chattime 10
sv_timeout 120

// round specific cvars
mp_freezetime 6
mp_roundtime 3
mp_startmoney 800
mp_c4timer 45
mp_fraglimit 0
mp_maxrounds 0
mp_winlimit 0
mp_playerid 0
mp_spawnprotectiontime 5

// bandwidth rates/settings
sv_minrate 4000
sv_maxrate 8000
decalfrequency 60
sv_maxupdaterate 60
sv_minupdaterate 10

// server logging
log off
sv_logbans 0
sv_logecho 1
sv_logfile 1
sv_log_onefile 0

// bots
bot_add
bot_quota 10
bot_quota_mode fill
bot_difficulty 3
bot_chatter off
bot_auto_follow 1
bot_auto_vacate 1
bot_join_after_player 0
bot_defer_to_human 1
bot_prefix "bot_"
bot_allow_rogues 1
bot_walk 0
bot_join_team any
bot_eco_limit 2000
bot_allow_grenades 1
bot_all_weapons
bot_allow_grenades 1
bot_allow_pistols 1
bot_allow_sub_machine_guns 1
bot_allow_shotguns 1
bot_allow_rifles 1
bot_allow_snipers 1
bot_allow_machine_guns 1

// operation
sv_lan 1
sv_region 7
sv_contact diacide@mpld.co.za

// execute ban file
//exec banned_user.cfg
//exec banned_ip.cfg

Any Assistance would be greatly appreciated...

[Diacide]

OK, I solved the "connecting forever when connected to steam" issue. Let's just say I used some 3rd party software as a fix.

As for the not showing in browser issue, I came accross this on http://server.counter-strike.net/ :

Quote:» LAN-server
The LAN-server has a different commandline. He doesn't show up in the masterlist, he doesn't load the anti-cheat-stuff and is only for LAN - so we should tell him this:
./hlds_run -game cstrike -insecure -nomaster +sv_lan 1 +maxplayers 18 +map de_dust

After typing the above you should see this:
Using JWM Optimised binary.
Auto-restarting the server on crash
Console initialized.
Protocol version 46
Exe version 3.1.1.1
Exe build: 21:44:58 Jun 5 2003 (2415)
Auth Server
Server IP address 192.168.1.1:27015
Master server communication disabled.

Now the server should be visible in your game-browser - except for 2 cases:

1) either your server or/and your client has internetaccess at the same time
2) you're trying to use the +ip - switch with a LAN-server

Don't ask me why this happens - but it happens. In this case you have to connect via giving the IP (at the console, type connect XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX).

Allthough that applies to hlds and nor srcds, I heard rumours that srcds works on the same principal. So I will be trying it out