Left 4 Dead Demo Update - 11/6/08

Valve has released a new server update for the Left 4 Dead demo (as well as a client patch) with fixes for matchmaking and private servers. Jason Ruymen sent the following message to the HLDS mailing list. Please note these instructions are only for dedicated server owners, you as players get your updates automatically through Steam

The Left 4 Dead Demo has been updated. Please run hldsupdatetool to receive it. The specific changes include:

- Fixed several issues with matchmaking and password protected servers
- Tuned matchmaking to provide better search results
- Fixed bug where servers could stay reserved by matchmaking forever
- Performance optimizations and fixes to networking layer
- Fixed issue where game could cause Steam executable to use too much CPU
- Fixed music resetting when changing video settings
- Fixed some issues with not being able to chat and/or connect to other users

In addition to those, we've also added some early features to help enable "private" servers. There are two ways to enable this:

Set a sv_search_key to a unique string on the server
Do the same on each client that will want to connect
Start a map on the server
Searches for games should be restricted to only finding servers with that search key

Or

Set sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 0
Set sv_password to a non-empty string
Start a map on the server
Tell the client the IP address of the server
Client uses console to "connect [ip]" just like the good old days
Should result in password prompt during connect to server

These features are still a work in progress.

Go Valve.