Error requesting server list from master server: Timeout

[orion486]

The program was working fine. Then it starts throwing this message every time when hitting F4 (requesting new server list from steam master server). Previously, I could override this problem by changing my master server address from hl2master.steampowered.com:27011 to <Steam Web API>, which required getting an API key from Steam; I, however, lost this key and can't make a new one due to personal reasons; my only alternative is to use direct addresses. But for some reason hl2master.steampowered.com:27011 keeps throwing the Error requesting server list from master server: Timeout error.

Nothing at all changed on my system since the time it was working fine to when it stopped working (no windows update, no new firewall/connection settings. I am not sure what the cause may be.

I tried deleting the entire folder where the exe is and reinstalling from scratch, the problem persists. Are there any registry keys or other folders storing app settings that I should also delete to ensure a full reinstall?

[PredatH0r]

The Steam Web API Key that was previously built into the browser was disabled by Valve due to abuse. People were using my browser to stalk players and then launch DDoS attacks on the servers they are playing on.

Therefore players have to get their own indivudual API keys now, allowing Valve to enforce their ToS.

I did not change anything about the legacy master server queries via hl2master.steampowered.com. It seems that Valve shut them down. This may be unintentional and temporarily (as it happened in the past a few times) or deliberate to prevent above mentioned abuse. Time will tell.

[orion486]

Ah I see, it's good to know it is not a problem on my end at least. At least I still have the addresses of some of the servers I frequented in my favorites tab and that list can still be updated using this app; it will have to make do for now. Thanks a lot for your reply!

EDIT 1: I noticed I had not included the error message I was getting from the app. Fixed my first post to include the error message.

EDIT 2: Oddly enough, the app started working again just now, using master server address hl2master.steampowered.com:27011. It must have been a temporary downtime thing for the last few days. Regardless, thanks a lot for the support!

[howardkent]

PredatH0r, I think it's a little unclear to users, unless they read the version notes, that it's possible to paste their personal Steam web API key into the Master server combo box.

[PredatH0r]

I reached out to Valve yesterday, trying to clarify if the master servers are offline by mistake (starting on a Feb 29th) or on purpose. So far I haven't received any response yet. It's particularly strange since the DNS entry hlmaster resolves to 3 different IPs. The first 2 aren't working, but the 3rd is.

I didn't promote the option to use a personal Web API Key because at the time I made the change, I wasn't sure if that's ok with Valve's ToS. Since the registration process requires to specify a domain name where the key is going to be used, it's targeted at web site operators and not individual players. And since the hl2master was working at that time, I left that as the default option.

It's all in a limbo atm.

[orion486]

That's an interesting finding! It then sounds like a good temp fix for now, as hl2master.steampowered.com keeps randomly timing out.

Temp fix when getting the error message Error requesting server list from master server: Timeout and without using the <Steam Web API> key method:

1. Go to your router's DNS lookup page or to an online DNS lookup service like https://ping.eu/nslookup/.
2. Enter the URL hl2master.steampowered.com and take note of the list of IP's that it returns.
3. In the SteamServerBrowser application, find the Master server combo box and enter one of the IP's from the previous step (don't forget to append the port number to every IP, it can be either 27011 or 27015).
4. Repeat the previous step for each IP until you find one that works.

Valve says in their dev page here that the domain hl2master.steampowered.com:27011 indeed points to 3 IP's and that these may or may not change:

hl2master.steampowered.com:27011 (numeric IP may change)
This domain name points to 3 A records (IPs), one of them using a different port (27015) according to the MasterServer2.vdf.

The above manual temp fix could be implemented to have the app automatically run through each of the returned master server IP list to find one that doesn't time out and which will returns a valid game-server list.

[PredatH0r]

I was able to contact someone at Valve who looked into the issue and was able to fix it. The DNS now returns the new IPs of the servers after they were migrated.