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How to increase the chance of playing on a Valve server in matchmaking
By Eric Zhang
Tired to being queued on Chinese RPG P2W servers even if you select "Official Server Only"? This guide will show you how to be queued on Valve servers in a region where official servers are rarely selected in matchmaking.
   
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Created by
Eric Zhang
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Category: Co-op, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer
Languages: English
Game Modes: Campaigns, Mutations, Survival, Versus
Posted
Updated
13 Jun @ 9:41pm
13 Jun @ 9:47pm
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Guide Index
Overview
Changing your region to a place where official servers are available 
Connecting to an official server manually 
Comments
Changing your region to a place where official servers are available
  1. Go to Steam, open the "Steam" menu in the upper left corner
  2. Click "Settings", then go to "Downloads"
  3. Change "Download region" to somewhere in the US or EU, I am using "US - Seattle".
  4. Remember to change this setting back to its original value when you are downloading a game or playing other multiplayer games that use Steam matchmaking

Note that you may still be queued on unofficial servers when using "Quick Match" and even "Play Online". A way I found to avoid this is by searching for lobbies only in "Play Online". Not really ideal but it works™.
Connecting to an official server manually
To do this you will need to open the Source server browser used in games like Counter-Strike: Source or Team Fortress 2 through the developer console.

Enabling the developer console
  1. Launch the game, go to "OPTIONS", then click on "Keyboard/Mouse"
  2. Set "ALLOW DEVELOPER CONSOLE" to "Enabled"
  3. Press the tilde (labled "`/~", the one below Esc) key to toggle the developer console

Finding an official server
  1. Type
    openserverbrowser
    in the console, press Enter
  2. Go to the "Custom" tab and find servers that start with "Valve Left4Dead 2 ... ", you can click "Servers" on the top bar to sort the servers by name
  3. Double-click on a server that's not full

Note that you may run the risk of sniping someone's friend-only lobby by using this method