Hello. Using a plugin made by one of our members @EricZhang456, we now have a spectator queue system which allows you to spectate while the server is full!
Here's the brass tacks of how it works
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All servers now have 32 player slots, 24 being playable slots, 8 being spectator slots. The server still shows up as having 24 in the server browser, as the additional 8 slots are hidden
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If the server has 24+ players, you can join through console with the connect command. The server browser will NOT let you join at 24+, it must be done through console. To connect easily you can issue a command like connect va1.castaway.tf, as the domain name works the same as the IP address
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When you get in the server and attempt to join a team, you will be placed in spectator mode and be added to a join queue. It is first come first serve, so the 25th person in the server is first in line, the 26th is second in line, etc. Note you have to actually attempt to join a team (any team, spectator included) to be added to the queue, sitting on the "select a team" menu does not put you in queue. Make sure you get into queue before you get up to go take a piss or get a snack
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When a slot opens on a team, the first person in queue will automatically be placed on that team as soon as the slot is available
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If you switch to spectator manually when you are on a team, you will not be placed in the queue. To join the queue if you do this, type !autojoin in chat. If you connect through console you do not need to issue this command, it will be done automatically for you
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If you are in queue and want to check your position in queue, you can type !checkautojoin
We've been trial running this for about a week or two and all the issues have been ironed out. If you know any friends who play on the server and who don't check the forums or the steam group, let them know about this change so we don't get people sitting on the main menu trying fruitlessly to auto join