[Trooth]

I don't know if anything can be done to fix this, but I need to bring it up anyway. On the "valve maps, no mods" server, I'll often use the auto-retry function to get into that server, then go play in some other server for a while as I wait. Though half the time that I can supposedly join the game, I'm yanked out of my current game only to be met with a little box saying "server is full."

I'm just saying "NO DUH IT'S FULL!" and I have to once again start up the auto-retrying to get in again and once again find a different game to join.

Why does this kind of thing happen, and is there really anything that can be done about it? I've never had this happen when trying to auto-retry on any other server, so I figure it must be that there are many people auto-retrying simultaneously so all that the server can do is rudely boot me back to the title screen, thinking for a moment that a spot had opened up for me when really one hadn't.

I came close to paying for a reserved slot, but I got to reading some things around here that led me to believe that any day now a reserved slot will no longer be any good, what with so many people having them that even the people who paid can't immediately get in, and also this talk of starting a monthly payment system... No way I'd go for that.......

[Drunken F00l]

It's possible there was a slot available, the auto-retry thing saw it, tried to join, but by the time you joined somebody else had taken the slot and then you got the full message.

Reserved slots still work fine. There can be as many as 16 people with slots on at a time before you must wait like a normal player. I'm open to ideas for a better system if anyone has one.

[SilverFox]

I imagine because at any time, there are multiple people doing what you're attempting to. I'd guess that the person with the fastest machine and/or quicker connection gets there first, then everyone else is denied.

It kinda sucks, but when 5 people are attempting to do what you are and 1 slot opens, there is little else the game can do.

[Kou]

Maybe all the people trying to connect could play russian roulette with a handy dandy 9mm that comes with the slightly off colored yellow box.

[Trooth]

I imagine because at any time, there are multiple people doing what you're attempting to. I'd guess that the person with the fastest machine and/or quicker connection gets there first, then everyone else is denied.

It kinda sucks, but when 5 people are attempting to do what you are and 1 slot opens, there is little else the game can do.

It seems like it should just give it to the first person who started their auto-retry.

[SilverFox]

Well, the game has no way to tell how many people are attempting to connect the moment a slot opens up. All it knows is when there is a slot - it will attempt to connect you. It takes a few moments for a client to connect to a server, so I don't really have a hard time imagining that several potential clients would attempt to connect at the same time.

Sure, it'd be nice if it took other people into account and perhaps made a queue system of some sorts, but I think the Source OP servers are unique in the amount of traffic they receive. I doubt Valve feels like it's important enough to work on.

[Retribution]

you should make the reserver slots like assigned, so that this dosen't happen, don't give out more reserve slots then you can have on the server at once, theres any number of ways to do this, either buy holding a lottery or just stop giving them away when there maxed

[Drunken F00l]

So, only 16 people can have slots and the other 246 people are screwed? Great.

[avy]

You can take my reserved slot and give it to someone else, I believe I have only used it three times in the last 6-8 months and I very rarely stray away from my own server nowadays.

STEAM_0:1:7306652

I do appreciate the slot but I dont think my $10 is worth a lifetime of kicking someone else out. (0=

[Hell-met]

That'd be really helpful for my case, heh :?

The only time I can really join is when I click JOIN GAME like crazy until my fingernails start bleeding.

pentium 4 ftl