How to Fix a Squad Server Missing From the Browser

A Squad server that is running but invisible is nearly always a browser problem, not a server problem. Prove which one you have first.

1. Prove the server is joinable

At the Squad main menu press tilde and run:

open YOUR_IP:YOUR_SERVER_PORT

If you get in, the server is fine and only the listing is wrong. If you do not, it is a server problem and the panel console has the reason.

2. Look in the right tab

Community hosted servers appear under the Community or custom browser, never under the official list. Clear the search box, reset the player count and ping filters, and untick any mod or licensed filters, which hide most community servers by default.

3. Check the query port

The browser talks to QUERY_PORT, not SERVER_PORT. Both are allocated to your server and shown on the server overview. If the query port assignment was changed by hand, put it back and restart.

4. Read the startup for config errors

Open Console in the panel and read from the top of the last start. Squad reports:

• How many admins it loaded from Admins.cfg. Zero means the file did not parse.
• Layers it could not find, named individually.
• Mods it failed to load.

A server that cannot resolve its first layer will not finish starting, and will therefore never register.

5. Give it time after a restart

Squad has to load a layer before it advertises itself. On a first start, or after a large mod download, that takes several minutes. Watch the console rather than the browser.

6. After a game update

A server on an old build is not shown to updated clients. Restart the server so it pulls the new version, and update any mods before putting their layers back in rotation.

Server name and licensing

Set a clear ServerName in SquadGame/ServerConfig/Server.cfg. An empty or default name makes the server almost impossible to find by search even when it is listed correctly.

What to send support

Open a ticket with your IP, your SERVER_PORT and QUERY_PORT, whether the direct connect works, and the last hundred lines from the console.