NAME

qstat - Get statistics from on-line game servers

SYNOPSIS

qstat [options ...] [-f file] [-server-option host[:port]]
[-raw delimiter] [-default server-type] host[:port] ...

Version 2.3d BETA

DESCRIPTION

QStat is a command-line program that displays information about Internet game servers. The servers are either down, non-responsive, or running a game. For servers running a game, the server name, map name, current number of players, and response time are displayed. Server rules and player information may also be displayed.

Games supported include Quake, QuakeWorld, Hexen II, Quake II, HexenWorld, Unreal, Half-Life, Sin, Shogo, Tribes, Quake III: Arena (Q3Test), and BFRIS.

The Quake servers can be divided into two categories: POQS (Plain Old Quake Server) and QuakeWorld. Quake shareware, Quake commercial (from CD), winquake, winded, unixded, and Hexen II are all POQS. The various versions of QuakeWorld and Quake II use a QuakeWorld type server. The distinction is based on network protocol used to query the servers, and affects the kind of information available for display.

The different server types can be queried simultaneously. If QStat detects that this is being done, the output is keyed by the type of server being displayed. See DISPLAY OPTIONS.

The game server may be specified as an IP address or a hostname. Servers can be listed on the command-line or, with the use of the -f option, a text file.

DISPLAY MODES

One line will be displayed for each server queried. The first component of the line will be the server's address as given on the command-line or the file. This can be used as a key to match input addresses to server status. Server rules and player information are displayed under the server info, indented by one tab stop.

QStat supports two additional display modes: raw and templates. In raw mode, the server information is displayed using simple delimiters and no formatting. This mode is good for programs that parse and reformat QStat's output. The template mode uses text files to layout the server information within existing text. This is ideal for generating web pages. The raw mode is enabled using the -raw option and template output is enabled using -Ts.

GAME OPTIONS

These options select which servers to query and what game type they are running. Servers are specified by IP address (for example: 199.2.18.4) or hostname. Servers can be listed on the command-line or in a file (see option -f.) The game type of a server can be specified with its address, or a default game type can be set for all addresses that don't have a game type.

The following table shows the command-line option and type strings for the supported game types. The type string is used with the -default option and in files with the -f option.

OptionType StringDefault PortGame Server
-qsqs26000Quake
-h2sh2s26900Hexen II
-qwsqws27500QuakeWorld
-hwshws26950HexenWorld
-q2sq2s27910Quake II
-unsuns7778Unreal
-hlshls27015Half-Life
-snssns22450Sin
-sgssgs27888Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
-tbstbs28001Starsiege: Tribes
-qwmqwm27000QuakeWorld master
-q2mq2m27900Quake II master
-hlmhlm27010Half-Life master
-tbmtbm28000Tribes master
-q3sq3s27960Quake III
-q3mq3m27950Quake III master
-bfsbfs44001BFRIS

The command-line options can be specified multiple times, one for each server to be queried.

Master Servers

Master server addresses don't change very often, but some times they go off-line. The following is a list of some of the master servers I know about.

Broadcast Queries

QStat has limited support for broadcast queries. Broadcast queries use one network packet to find all the game servers on a local network. A broadcast returns servers of one type on one port. You may only broadcast to networks to which you computer is directly attached (ie. local networks). In this release, broadcast queries are only supported for: Quake II servers.

A broadcast query is specified by prefixing an address with a '+' (plus sign). The address should be 255.255.255.255 or a valid broadcast address for a local network. On Unixes, 'ifconfig -a' will display the broadcast address for all attached networks.

Option Usage

-server-option host[:port]
Query game server host for status. The GAME OPTIONS table lists the available server-options and their default port.
-master-server-option host[:port]
Query a game master for its server list and then query all the servers. The GAME OPTIONS table lists the available master-server-options and their default port.
-master-server-option,outfile host[:port],file
Query a game master for its server list and store it in file. If the master cannot be contacted, then file is not changed. If file is - (a single dash), then stdout is used. The GAME OPTIONS table lists the available master-server-options and their default port.
-f file
Read host addresses from the given file. If file is -, then read from stdin. Multiple -f options may be used. The file should contain host names or IP addresses separated by white-space (tabs, new-lines, spaces, etc). If an address is preceded by a server type string, then QStat queries the address according to the server type. Otherwise QS is assumed, unless -default is used. The GAME OPTIONS table lists the available server type strings and their default port.
-default type-string
Set the default server type for addresses where the type is not obvious. This affects the addresses at the end of the qstat command-line and those in a file not prefixed by a server type (see -f). The GAME OPTIONS table lists the available server type strings and their default port.

INFO OPTIONS

-R
Fetch and display server rules.
-P
Fetch and display player information.

DISPLAY OPTIONS

The QStat output should be self explanatory. However, the type of information returned is different between game types. If QStat queries multiple server types, then each server status line is prefixed with its type string. The GAME OPTIONS table lists the available type strings.

-u
Only display hosts that are up and running a Quake server.
-nf
Do not display full servers.
-ne
Do not display empty servers.
-nh
Do not display header line (does not apply to raw or template output.)
-cn
Display color names instead of numbers. This is the default.
-ncn
Display color numbers instead of color names. This is the default for -raw mode.
-hc
Display colors in #rrggbb format. This is nice for HTML output.
-tc
Display time in clock format (DhDDmDDs). This is default.
-tsw
Display time in stop-watch format (DD:DD:DD).
-ts
Display time in seconds. This is the default for -raw mode.
-pa
Display player addresses. This is the default for -raw mode. Only available for Quake and Hexen II.
-sort sort-key
Sort servers before display. Servers are sorted according to the sort-key which is one or more of:
  • p - Sort by ping
  • g - Sort by game
    -hpn
    Display player names in hex.
    -old
    Use pre-qstat 1.5 display style.
    -raw delimiter
    Display data in "raw" mode. The argument to -raw is used to separate columns of information. All information returned by the game server is displayed.
    POQS output -- General server information is displayed in this order: command-line arg (IP address or host name), server name, server address (as returned by Quake server), protocol version, map name, maximum players, current players, average response time, number of retries. Server rules are displayed on one line as rule-name=value. If significant packet loss occurs, rules may be missing. Missing rules are indicated by a "?" as the last rule. Player information is displayed one per line: player number, player name, player address, frags, connect time, shirt color, pants color. A blank line separates each set of server information.
    QuakeWorld and HexenWorld server output -- General server information is displayed in this order: command-line arg (IP address or host name), server name, map name, maximum players, current players, average response time, number of retries. Server rules are displayed on one line as rule-name=value. Player information is displayed one per line: player number, player name, frags, connect time, shirt color, pants color, ping time (milliseconds), skin name. A blank line separates each set of server information.
    QuakeWorld, Quake II, and Quake III master output -- Master server information is displayed in this order: command-line arg (IP address or host name), number of servers. No other information is diplayed about master servers.
    Quake II, Quake III, Half-Life, and Sin server output -- General server information and server rules are the same as a QuakeWorld server. The rule names are somewhat different for Quake II. The player information currently returned is very limited: player name, frags, ping time (milliseconds). A blank line separates each set of server information. Unreal server output -- General server information is displayed in this order: command-line arg (IP address or host name), server name, map name, current players. No server rules are available. Player information is displayed one per line: player name, frags, deaths, team number, skin. A blank line separates each set of server information.
    -raw-arg
    When used with -raw, always display the server address as it appeared in a file or on the command-line. Note that when -H is used with -raw, the first field of the raw output could be a hostname if the server IP address was resolved. This can make matching up input servers addresses with raw output lines fairly difficult. When -raw-arg is also used, an additional field, the unresolved server address, is added at the beginning of all raw output lines.
    -progress
    Print a progress meter. Displays total servers processed, including timeouts and down servers. The meter is just a line of text that writes over itself with <cr>. Handy for interactive use when you are redirecting output to a file (the meter is printed on stderr).
    -Tserver file
    -Tplayer file
    -Theader file
    -Ttrailer file
    Output templates. Each template should be a text file containing QStat variables that are substituted for results from the server query. The -Tserver flag must present to enable template output. The other -T flags are optional. The server template is output once for each server queried. The player template, if present, is output once for each player (if -P is also used). The header template is output once before any servers are output. The trailer template is output once after all servers are processed. See Appendix A for the output template formatting and variables.
    NOTE: All of of the -T flags may be abbreviated with two characters: -Ts, -Tp, -Th, and -Tt.
    -errors
    Display errors.
  • SEARCH OPTIONS

    -H
    Resolve IP addresses to host names. Use with caution as many game servers do not have registered host names. QStat may take up to a minute to timeout on each unregistered IP address. The duration of the timeout is controlled by your operating system. Names are resolved before attempting to query any servers.
    -Hcache cache-file
    Cache host name and IP address resolutions in cache-file. If the file does not exist, it is created. If -Hcache is used without -H, then the cache is only used for host to IP address resolution. WARNING A host cache file should not be shared by QStat programs running at the same time. If you run several QStats at the same time, each should have its own cache file.
    -interval seconds
    Interval in seconds between server retries. Specify as a floating point number. Default interval is 0.5 seconds. This option does not apply to master servers (see -mi.)
    -mi seconds
    Interval in seconds between master server retries. Specify as a floating point number. Default interval is 2 seconds.
    -retry number
    Number of retries. QStat will send this many packets to a host before considering it non-responsive. Default is 3 retries.
    -maxsimultaneous number
    Number of simultaneous servers to query. Unix systems have an operating system imposed limit on the number of open sockets per process. This limit varies between 32 and 100 depending on the platform. On Windows 95 and Windows NT, the "select" winsock function limits the number of simultaneous queries to 64. These limits can be increased by minor changes to the code, but the change is different for each platform. Default is 20 simultaneous queries. This option may be abbreviated -maxsim.
    -timeout seconds
    Total run time in seconds before giving up. Default is no timeout.

    NOTES

    The response time is a measure of the expected playability of the server. The first number is the server's average time in milli-seconds to respond to a request packet from QStat. The second number is the total number of retries required to fetch the displayed information. More retries will cause the average response time to be higher. The response time will be more accurate if more requests are made to the server. For POQS, a request is made for each server rule and line of player information. So setting the -P and -R options will result in a more accurate response time. Quake and Hexen II are POQS. For most other game servers, QStat makes just one request to retrieve all the server status information, including server rules and player status. The -P and -R options do not increase the number of requests to the server. Half-Life supports three different requests for information; general status, players, and server rules. Each requires a separate request packet, so a total of three are used to retrieve player and rules.

    Quake supports a number of control codes for special effects in player names. QStat normalizes the codes into the ASCII character set before display. The graphic codes are not translated except the orange brackets (hex 90, 10, 91, and 11) which are converted to '[' and ']'. Use the hex-player-names option -hpn to see the complete player name.

    POQS do not return version information. But some small amount of info can be gathered from the server rules. The noexit rule did not appear until version 1.01. The Quake II server rules include a "version" key that contains the id build number. Recent releases of QuakeWorld have a "*version" key in the server rules. Unreal servers include a "gamever" key in the server rules that contains the server version without the decimal point. Most other game servers include some kind of version info in the server rules.

    EXAMPLES

    The following is an example address file that queries a QuakeWorld master, several Hexen II servers, some POQS, and a few Quake II servers.

    QWM 192.246.40.12:27004
    H2S 207.120.210.4
    H2S 204.145.225.124
    H2S 207.224.190.21
    H2S 165.166.140.154
    H2S 203.25.60.3
    QS 207.25.198.110
    QS 206.154.207.104
    QS 205.246.42.31
    QS 128.164.136.171
    Q2S sm.iquest.net
    Q2S 209.39.134.5
    Q2S 209.39.134.3
    

    If the above text were in a file called QSERVER.TXT, then the servers could be queried by running:
    qstat -f QSERVER.TXT

    IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

    QStat sends packets to each host and waits for return packets. After some interval, another packet is sent to each host which has not yet responded. This is done several times before the host is considered non-responsive. QStat can wait for responses from up to 20 hosts at a time. For host lists longer than that, QStat checks more hosts as results are determined.

    The following applies only applies to POQS. If QStat exceeds the maximum number of retries when fetching server information, it will give up and try to move on to the next information. This means that some rules or player info may occasionally not appear. Player info may also be missing if a player drops out between getting the general server info and requesting the player info. If QStat times out on one rule request, no further rules can be fetched. This is a side-effect of the Quake protocol design.

    The number of available file descriptors limits the number of simultaneous servers that can be checked. QStat reuses file descriptors so it can never run out. The macro MAXFD in qstat.c determines how many file descriptors will be simultaneously opened. Raise or lower this value as needed. The default is 20 file descriptors.

    Operating systems which translate ICMP Bad Port (ICMP_PORT_UNREACHABLE) into a ECONNREFUSED will display some hosts as DOWN. These hosts are up and connected to the network, but there is no program on the port. Solaris 2.5 and Irix 5.3 correctly support ICMP_PORT_UNREACHABLE, but Solaris 2.4 does not. See page 442 of "Unix Network Programming" by Richard Stevens for a description of this ICMP behavior.

    Operating systems without correct ICMP behavior will just report hosts without Quake servers as non-responsive. Windows NT and Windows 95 don't seem to support this ICMP.

    For hosts with multiple IP addresses, QStat will only send packets to the first address returned from the name service.

    QStat supports Unreal version 2.15 or greater.

    BUGS

    The Unreal support has some flaws. If some of the status packets are lost, QStat won't try to refetch the values. This will be fixed in a later release.

    PORTABILITY

    UNIX - QStat has been compiled and tested on Solaris 2.x, Irix 5.3/6.2/6.3/6.4, FreeBSD 2.2/3.0, BSDi, HP-UX 10.20/11.0, and various flavors of Linux.

    WINDOWS - The Windows version of QStat (win32/qstat.exe) runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT as a console application. On Windows 95 and NT 4.0, short-cuts can be used to set the arguments to qstat. On Windows NT 3.51, use a batch file.

    OS/2 - An OS/2 binary is no longer included. Try contacting Per Hammer for an OS/2 Warp binary. per@mindbend.demon.co.uk.

    VMS - The source includes a VMS patch from John Ross Hunt. This patch was tested on QStat 2.0b, but has not been tested on the current version. See COMPILE.txt for instructions.

    VERSION

    This is QStat version 2.3d BETA. The QStat webpage is updated for each new version and contains links to Quake server listings and pages about the Quake and Unreal network protocols. The page can be found at
    http://www.activesw.com/people/steve/qstat.html

    Quake, Quake II, QuakeWorld, and Quake III created by id Software. Hexen II and HexenWorld created by Raven Software. Unreal created by Epic Games. Half-Life created by Valve Software. Sin created by Ritual Entertainment. Shogo: Mobile Armor Division was created by Monolith Productions Inc. Tribes was created by Dynamix, Inc. BFRIS created by Aegis Simulation Technologies.

    AUTHOR

    Steve Jankowski
    steve@activesw.com

    COPYRIGHT

    Copyright © 1996,1997,1998,1999 by Steve Jankowski

    Permission granted to use this software for any purpose you desire provided that existing copywrite notices are retained verbatim in all copies and derived works.


    APPENDIX A - Output Templates

    QStat output templates provide greater control of the appearance of server status information. The results of a server query can be organized, formatted, and wrapped within any other text. The most obvious use is to generate HTML for web pages. However, it could also generate custom output for redisplay within another tool.

    There are four output templates:
    TemplateOption 
    server-TsOutput once for each server queried. (required)
    player-TpOutput once for each player. Must be used with -P. Invoked by the $PLAYERTEMPLATE variable.
    header-ThOutput once before any servers are queried.
    trailer-TtOutput once after all servers are queried.

    The server template must be specified to enable template output. The other templates are optional.

    Each output template is a file containing text and QStat variables. The text is output unchanged by QStat, but the variables are processed and replaced by QStat. Most variables are replaced by values from a queried server. Some variables have hardcoded values, and some generate no output, but affect how the template is processed.

    Variables are grouped according to the templates where they can be used. General variables may be used in any of the templates. Server variables may be used in the server template. Player variables may be used in the player template. Expression variables may only be used with the $IF and $IFNOT variables. If a variable is used where it doesn't make sense, it is ignored and generates no output.

    Variables are specified using one of several syntaxes:

        $VAR
        $VAR:OPTION
        $(VAR)
        $(VAR:OPTION)
        $(VAR:OPTION(ARGUMENT))
    
    The syntax used does not affect the output. However using the $() syntax is somewhat more readable when the text gets cluttered. If you want the variable to be followed immediately by text, then the $() syntax must be used.

    Download considerations

    If you are generating output to be downloaded, then you'll want to make your output as small as possible. In the case of HTML, you can reduce the size of your pages by excluding stuff.
  • Remove unneeded spaces (indenting and newlines)
  • Remove unneeded end tags. The HTML spec says the following tags can always be left out: </TD> </TR> </TH>
  • When creating a table, "width" modifiers are only needed on one cell of a column. Put them on the cells of the first row of the table.

    General Variables

    $QSTATURLOutput the web address of the QStat home page.
    $QSTATVERSIONOutput the version of QStat being run.
    $QSTATAUTHOROutput the name of the QStat programmer.
    $QSTATAUTHOREMAILOutput the email address of the QStat programmer.
    $HTMLEnable HTML friendly string output. Server results may include characters that have special meaning in HTML. These are replaced by equivalent SGML entities. QStat converts '<', '>', and '&' to '&lt;', '&gt;', and '&amp;'. Use this variable once in the header template.
    $IFConditional output. If the variable option is "true," the template is output up to a matching $ENDIF variable. If the variable option is "false," the template is ignored until after a matching $ENDIF. See Conditional Options for a list of supported conditional options.
    $IFNOTConditional output. Same as $IF, but the opposite sense.
    $ENDIFEnd conditional output. There must be one $ENDIF for each $IF and $IFNOT within a template.
    $NOWOutput the current local time.
    $TOTALSERVERSThe total number of servers to be queried.
    $TOTALUPThe number of servers up and running.
    $TOTALNOTUPThe number of servers either DOWN or TIMEOUT.
    $TOTALPLAYERSThe number of players found on all servers.
    $\Ignore the next newline. Not really a variable, but a way to curtail the output of extra newlines. Saves space in the output while the template remains readable. Must be the last thing on the line.
    $DEFAULTTYPEThe full name of the default server type specified with -default.

    Server Variables

    $HOSTNAMEOutput the host name of the server if known, otherwise the server address as given to QStat.
    $SERVERNAMEOutput the name of the server.
    $PINGThe time in milli-seconds to get a response from the server. If the server is DOWN or TIMEOUT, nothing is output.
    $PLAYERSThe number of players on the server.
    $MAXPLAYERSThe maximum number of players allowed on the server.
    $MAPThe name of the map being played.
    $GAMEThe name of the game being played.
    $RETRIESThe number of retries needed to get the server status. This is a measure of packet loss.
    $IPADDRThe IP address of the server. Does not include the port number.
    $PORTThe port the server is running on.
    $ARGThe server address as given to QStat.
    $TYPEOutput one of the following depending on the server type:
        Quake
        Quake II
        Quake II Master
        QuakeWorld
        QuakeWorld Master
        Hexen II
        HexenWorld
        Unreal
        Half-Life
        Half-Life Master
        Sin
        Tribes
        Tribes Master
        Shogo: Mobile Armor Division
        Quake III: Arena
        Quake III Master
        BFRIS
    
    If the server type is not known, nothing is output.
    $TYPESTRINGThe server's type string (see GAME OPTIONS table.)
    $RULE:nameThe value of a server rule. If the rule is not returned by the server, nothing is output. Must be used with the -R flag.
    $ALLRULESOutput all the server rules in the format name=value separated by commas. Must be used with the -R flag.
    $PLAYERTEMPLATEInvoke the player template. The player template is output once for each player on the server. Must be used with the -P flag.

    Player Variables

    The player template is only invoked if $PLAYERTEMPLATE is used in the server template.

    $PLAYERNAMEThe name of the player.
    $FRAGSThe number of frags scored.
    $PLAYERPINGThe player's ping time to the server. This value is not available from Half-Life servers.
    $CONNECTTIMEHow long the player has been playing. This value is only available from Quake, QuakeWorld, Hexen II, and Half-Life servers.
    $SKINThe name of the player's skin. This value is not available from ?? servers.
    $MESHThe name of the player's mesh (model). This value is only available from Unreal servers.
    $SHIRTCOLORColor of the player's shirt. This value is only available from Quake, QuakeWorld, and Hexen II servers.
    $PANTSCOLORColor of the player's pants. This value is not available from Quake, QuakeWorld, and Hexen II servers.
    $PLAYERIPThe IP address of the player's computer. This value is only available from Quake and Hexen II servers.
    $TEAMNUMThe player's team number. This value is only available from Unreal and Tribes servers.
    $TEAMNAMEThe player's team name. This value is only available from Tribes servers.
    $PACKETLOSSThe player's packet loss. This value is only available from Tribes servers.

    Conditional Options

    These options maybe used with the $IF and $IFNOT variables. For example, to display player information, the following could be used in the server template:

        $(IF:PLAYERS)$(IF:FLAG(-P))
        The server has $(PLAYERS) players:
        $(PLAYERTEMPLATE)
        $(ENDIF)$(ENDIF)
    
    The template between the $IF and $ENDIF variables will only be displayed if the server has one or more players and the -P flag was given to QStat.

    GAMETrue if the server has a game set.
    PLAYERSTrue if the server has one or more players.
    QUAKETrue if the server is running Quake (the original).
    QUAKE2True if the server is running Quake II.
    Q2MASTERTrue if the server is a Quake II master.
    QUAKEWORLDTrue if the server is running QuakeWorld.
    QWMASTERTrue if the server is a QuakeWorld master.
    HEXEN2True if the server is running Hexen II.
    HEXENWORLDTrue if the server is running HexenWorld.
    UNREALTrue if the server is running Unreal.
    HALFLIFETrue if the server is running Half-Life.
    HLMASTERTrue if the server is a Half-Life master.
    SINTrue if the server is running Sin.
    TRIBESTrue if the server is running Tribes.
    TRIBESMASTERTrue if the server is a Tribes master.
    SHOGOTrue if the server is running Shogo.
    QUAKE3True if the server is running Quake III.
    Q3MASTERTrue if the server is a Quake III master.
    BFRISTrue if the server is running BFRIS.
    RULE(name)True if the rule name is set on the server.
    FLAG(name)True if the flag name was used on the QStat command-line. The only flag names supported are: -H, -P, and -R. Any other flag name returns false.
    UPTrue if the server is up and running.
    DOWNTrue if the server is known to be not running. This is true if the server computer returns an ICMP indicating that nothing is running on the port. Only supported by some operating systems.
    TIMEOUTTrue if the server never responded to a status query.
    HOSTNOTFOUNDTrue if the host name lookup failed.
    ISEMPTYTrue if the server has no players.
    ISFULLTrue if the server has the maximum players.
    ISTEAMTrue if the player is a team. Only available with Tribes servers. Only applies to the player template.