Frequently Asked Questions

What is this and why did you make it?

This is a "server browser" website that displays current server, player, and ranking information for id software's popular title Quake Live.

I made it for fun and because I thought it could be useful. Other solutions exist but they either require you to download standalone desktop utilities or install and launch the game in order to view the current servers. My goal was to make this process more accessible and convenient by having everything on a single website.

How does it work?

I wrote a backend service that polls Valve's Steam master servers at timed intervals (using the Master Server Query Protocol) to retrieve all of the worldwide Quake Live servers. After retrieving the servers, the service individually queries each one (using the Steam Server Query Protocol) in order to gather its information (such as settings, player info, etc.) This website then periodically makes a request to this service to get the servers to display to the user.

Known limitations / issues

  • There's no ping information! This isn't really possible without cumbersome hacks/complicated browser plug-ins.

  • Clicking "refresh" appears to do nothing! My server receives game data every 90 seconds in order to conserve resources. If no new game data has been retrieved then the info will be the same when you click "refresh". Just wait and the data will automatically refresh itself. If you need more up-to-date information, consider using the API and individual server queries.

  • Some players have "0" or empty Elo ranking information or an empty team! This is an issue with QLStats's API. I have no control over this.

  • It appears a server location is incorrect. I use a geolocation database provided by a third party, which might not always be accurate. If you know of a server with incorrect geographical information, contact me and I will fix it as soon as possible.

I'm a developer and I'd like to use your API.

No problem! Check out the API documentation. More detailed documentation and examples are available on on Github along with the source code in case you would like to host it yourself. Also note, a2sapi can support many different Steam games out of the box in addition to Quake Live.

Is the source code available?

The source code for my backend service and API, known as a2sapi, is available on Github.

I have a question, suggestion, etc. How can you be contacted?

Click here or click the "Contact Me" link at the top or bottom of the page.

Written by syncore in 2016.

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