L4D2 motd.txt and host.txt

[jmeier64]

Everytime I restart the gameserver, the motd.txt and host.txt files seem to be overwritten and put back to default. Is there a way to prevent this? I want to be able to use my custom pages and banners on my l4d2 servers. Thanks

[darren]

I tested this on my dev box, apparently the steam update deletes the files when the --verify-all option is added to the update command. I'll try removing it in 0.7.3 and see if it causes any problems, I know sometimes the --verify-all catches broken files that the regular version does not.

[jmeier64]

So if I turn off the automatic update it should work ok until the next time I need to update?

[darren]

Yep, exactly. Turn off the autoupdate option and it shouldn't wipe out those files anymore until you enable it again to update, but hopefully 0.7.3 will be out before a major release of L4D2

[Trag]

A way around this is to :

Make copies of the hosts.txt.and motd.txt files.
Call them my_hosts.txt and my_motd.txt for example.

Modify your new my_XXXX files as you like.

In your server.cfg file add the lines :

motdfile "my_motd.txt"
hostfile "my_host.txt"

This way even when there is an update your motd and host files remain intact

I use this for L4D2, I do not know if it works on other games.

Hope it helps.

Steve

[RasterMan]

Can't get motdfile "my_motd.txt" to work at all on l4d1 but hostfile "my_host.txt"
Works!

Both work for l4d2