Why do I need a masterserver?

To play multiplayer games, you need a list of available gameservers. This list is compiled and maintained by one or more masterservers. If you have no (working) masterservers in your game settings, no online servers will appear to you.

Game Client Configuration

It is possible that your game supports masterservers through the configuration file. We will use Unreal Tournament as an example game to show you where to find the options and how to set a masterserver.

If the game does not support masterservers in the configuration, there is another method to configure the HOSTS file. We will first discuss the options in the client configuration file.

Configuration file

Find the installation directory of your game. You can do this by right-clicking on the icon on your desktop and selecting "Properties". This will show a dialog box similar to the one below. Pay attention to the executable name "UnrealTournament.exe" in the "Target" field, and the folder name in "Start in" field. The latter is where you will likely find the configuration file.

Dialog box for Unreal Tournament.

In this folder you will find a configuration file that has a similar name to the executable that you found in the "Target" field, in our case "UnrealTournament.ini". If you can not find a file similar to the game's name, search for an abbreviated version of the name or something more trivial, such as "config.ini". Open this file with a text editor and search for the following lines.

These sections may be found in different places of the configuration file. Please pay attention to the following: the line with master0.gamespy.com may be removed as it no longer resolves to a masterserver. The lines with master.333networks.com, master.newbiesplayground.net and master.errorist.eu are added. It is also important to set bFallbackFactories to False and bKeepMasterServer to True, otherwise your settings will be cleared at the moment you restart your game, assuming these options exist.

Important: Do not blindly copy these lines of code into your configuration file. This may cause your game to crash or settings to be ignored. Instead, look for existing masterserver addresses and replace them with one of the 333networks masterservers from the table below. Also notice the array-indices in the brackets, these should be numbered properly.

Changing the HOSTS file

It may be possible that your game does not have a file that conforms to the game.ini naming, or that your game.ini does not support a masterserver setting. In this case, it is also possible to edit your "HOSTS" file instead. By editing this HOSTS file, we overwrite the DNS setting of the current masterserver with a 333networks entry.

The HOSTS file is a file in all types of computers, that is used to override the (computer-readable) IP address which a (human-readable) hostname/domain would normally resolve to, from a DNS query. An example would be to forward all requests your computer makes to the gamespy.com domain to the IP address of a 333networks masterserver.

Editing⁽¹⁾ your HOSTS file is as easy as opening the file with a text editor, but you will need Administrator or ROOT privileges, either by logging in as Admin or elevating your chosen text editor to Admin.

(1) The file does not have a file extension, but is a normal plain text file.

By editing the HOSTS file, we override the DNS settings of the currently configured masterserver and replace it with a 333networks masterserver address. For this, you need to know what the current masterserver address is, and you need to choose a new IP address to override it with.

Luckily, we have done most of that work for your. As it turns out, almost all legacy games that do not have the config option use the former GameSpy masterserver. That means that we can update the HOSTS file with a masterserver address from the table below. You may pick any of these IP addresses.

The following line contains the current IP address of master.333networks.com, copy it to your HOSTS file and save the file. You may have to restart your computer.

81.205.81.173    master0.gamespy.com

Additional notes:

• If you use AntiVirus softwarte, it may block changes to the HOSTS file. You may have to temporarily disable this function, or the entire AntiVirus software, before you can save the change. You can re-enable the AntiVirus afterwards. Take notice that when you disable your AntiVirus, your computer may be at risk.
• If you use your HOSTS file to block sites and use a HOSTS manager, it may be preferable to add the 333networks/gamespy entry in the manager tool. This should save it from being lost after a HOSTS file update.
• This change in your HOSTS file may show as a possible hijack. Since this actually is a hijack so you must make sure that a # (hash) is not added at the front of the new entry. A # (hash) in front of the entry means that the entry is disabled and will therefore NOT work.

Server Side Configuration

As server administrator, you can configure your server to broadcast beacons in the following way: find your configuration file, usually called "GameName.ini", where GameName is the name of the game. It is often located in the "System" directory of the program files of the game. Then, find and add/alter the following lines.

The line with master0.gamespy.com may be removed as it no longer resolves to a masterserver. The lines with master.333networks.com, master.newbiesplayground.net and master.errorist.eu are added.

Masterserver Addresses

The following masterservers are associated with 333networks and support the instructions on this page.

Domain names and IP-addresses last verified and updated on November 27, 2023.

If this does not work for you, we will try to help you in our discord server.