After much discussion and weighing our options unfortunately we have decided to no longer host TF2 as a testing platform or otherwise. This was not an easy decision as it was entertaining to play and enjoy with friends and newcomers alike.

However, due to the complete lack of support from Valve, the never ending broken updates plus the sheer number of hours we've (and I've personally) spent just keeping them running after Valve screws the pooch week after week, we simply cannot justify hosting them any longer.

This game is going on 6 years old and Valve still seems completly unable to make it work properly. Trust me, we've looked at the code, we've investigated the ongoing problems and symptoms (that are essentially identical every time something would kill the servers) but this game has just become too much of a bloated and scatterbrained bag of trash to continue to support it.

Not to mention that unless Valve puts some real effort into fixing the fundamental problems with it, it's only going to get worse.

That being said, we are looking into hosting something else but for the time being we are testing some benchmarking software made by Soun and WDMD to see if it provides us with the data we require.

Further updates will be posted if and when anything changes.

Due to alarming issues with the recent update we are taking the servers offline for the time being.

Not only did the update break Sourcemod as usual but something extremely bad is happening regarding the bandwidth the servers are using.

There appears to be a memory leak in the update with causes the bandwidth usage to increase exponentially the longer it runs and it literally chokes the server offline until it ultimately crashes. Then it restarts and happens all over again.

Until this issue can be resolved they will remain offline.

First, the bad news:

Upon discussing our previously stated issues with Valve they have made it clear that they have no interest in changing these new protocols.

This is a component of the current matchmaking system and is fundamental to the function and form of the exisiting system as well as future enhancements and cannot be changed without reinventing the wheel.

The good news:

They will be adding a cvar to the next patch to allow server operators that do not use matchmaking to disable this protocol which would solve the problem for us.

For the time being we are simply blocking the ports this protocol communicates on to see if it makes any sort of difference to it's operation.

If you notice any connectivity issues or anything else odd, please reply to this post.

As some of you may have noticed they have been down for extended periods today.

We have noticed a significant increase in odd connection data and seemingly hostile connection attempts which we first thought were the actions of someone attacking the servers.

We have learned that in the last patch Valve implemented new and highly invasive 'handshake' protocols for dedicated servers which was causing the problem.

While this isn't an issue for your average dedicated server, we have ours in place for the purpose of gathering performance and other data relevant to our goals. These protocols are making that task a lot more difficult.

So, in short, we are working on a way to either circumvent these protocols or work with Valve to change how they function to make them less damaging to our work.

If we cannot do either, we may have to take them offline entirely because they are simply useless to us the way they are.

As you'll probably notice there have been some not so subtle changes to the MOTD.

The rules haven't changed but there are very specific differences outlining what the server is there for.

This is to establish very clearly that the servers are not specifically trade servers but also re-enforce that bans on them are permanent.

If you have any questions, please ask one of the the head admins.