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How to play Split Screen in Official Servers.

By R󠀡F

..or any server that uses "sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 1" like official servers.

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Created by

R󠀡F
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Category: Co-op, Multiplayer

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

25 Mar, 2021 @ 3:03am

10 Feb @ 2:01pm

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99	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Some Info

The Thing

Comments

Some Info

This guide assumes you already know how to use dev console and play in split screen with working controls, there is plenty of guides for those.

Normally if you tried to connect to a Valve server using "connect_splitscreen" command, it would only connect one player. This is because it must go through a lobby before connecting to the actual server, thus losing the second player in the process.

But there is a way to bypass this.

The Thing

First you need to bind the "connect_splitscreen localhost 2" command to an function key. It must be a function key or else it won't work in menus. I'll be using F8 in this guide.

Type in console: (include quotes)
bind f8 "connect_splitscreen localhost 2"

For Hosting:
Make a lobby like you normally would and when ready press the start button to find the server. Now as soon as you see the Campaign Poster press F8 on your keyboard, nothing might happen visually, but when you load in the game you should be playing in split screen.

For Joining:
As soon as you see the Campaign Poster when joining game, press F8 on your keyboard, it should load 2 players now. It won't work if server had only 1 player slot left.
EDIT: Above doesn't seem to work, see below for workaround.

For lobbies that haven't been started yet, as soon as you see loading poster, press F8, you should be now stuck in infinite loading, open console and type "connect_splitscreen localhost serveriphere:porthere 2" and now it should load. Server IP can be found at top of the green text spam.

For lobbies that are already started, as soon as you join a session, RAPIDLY press F8 until you see loading poster, you should be now stuck in infinite loading, open console and type "connect_splitscreen localhost serveriphere:porthere 2" and now it should load. Server IP can be found at top of the green text spam.

NOTE:
If you got red text in console that says "Sending connect packet to unexpected address iphere" then you were lucky enough to connect to the server with the split screen packet and the connect_splitscreen step isn't necessary.

Does NOT work on local servers.

41 Comments

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Futatsu 12 Sep @ 10:51pm

"For Joining:
As soon as you see the Campaign Poster when joining game, press F8 on your keyboard, it should load 2 players now. It won't work if server had only 1 player slot left."

Its really works, but it need to do really fast as you see the poster of compaugn, and it nor work for local servers, only official from valve servers

Futatsu 12 Sep @ 10:49pm

If you can't use in_forceuser 1 and sv_cheats 1 you can start steam remote play together, and the controller for 1 player replace for player 2, now keyboard is player 1, and the controller player 2 (drag and drop controller icon from 1 player to 2)

kebab 14 Apr @ 6:26am

cant use in_forceuser 1 cuz it's a cheat command what do i do

R󠀡F [author] 10 Feb @ 1:06pm

@charity I found a workaround, when you join a session, press the bind RAPIDLY during the "joining lobby" screen and dont stop until loading poster appears, now you should be stuck on loading, open the console and use "connect_splitscreen localhost serverip:port 2" and then it should work. IP of the server should appear at the top of the green text in console.

R󠀡F [author] 10 Feb @ 12:37pm

After doing some testing, it seems you cant use this trick if server is already running a map.

charity 21 Jan @ 8:15pm

https://imgur.com/a/AtNCQWX
yeah, instant terminate
if timed any later than this, simply disconnects to main

charity 21 Jan @ 7:46pm

can't seem to get this type of join working on pubs, is there a sweetspot for when you should press the bind? only seems to either: boot me to main menu, or connect infinitely to localhost

ItsCrazy 1 Dec, 2024 @ 4:41pm

is it possible to do Mouse and Keyboard with a controller online?

R󠀡F [author] 30 Nov, 2024 @ 9:55pm

Yes it does.

ItsCrazy 30 Nov, 2024 @ 9:19pm

Does this still work?

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