AlliedModders - [Help] Noob needs help with slot reservation CSGO

here is a conversation about reserved slots between very smart people... it should help you understand about it and then how to correctly configure your server...

<blue> I want to have 4 reserved slots, so that I can have 2 admins always be able to join, and two others that I designate. What's the best reserve type to use?

<red> it entirely depends on you
<red> there is no best, which is why there are 3 options
<red> + connect/cbaseserver for kicking ones

<blue> basically i want all 24 slots to be able to be occupied by anyone, and only kick when someone with reserve joins

<red> then you'll need connect/cbaseserver
<red> or you need at least one wasted slot

<red> sm_reserve_type 2; sm_reserved_slots 1; sm_hide_slots 1; sm_reserve_maxadmins 4;

<blue> ok so that will let it look like 24 slots, and the one slot will be used to swap in anyone with the reserve or root flag, up to 4 people
<red> yes

<grey> bumping it by 1/2 and then hiding it really is the best method
<grey> that way people won't complain about getting kicked for being in a reserved slot

<blue> and yeah grey i dont want anyone to see the server not full, and try to join and get kicked

<pink> blue: no, what he's saying is that it's pretty mean to kick people for reserved slots
<pink> and explicitly illegal if you're in TF2 quickplay

<blue> pink: im agreeing with him
<blue> i dont want people to be kicked for a reserve slot
<blue> i guess then I'm not understanding what this is doing

<pink> how do you plan to do this without kicking anyone?
<pink> with the one-hidden-slot method, reserved people will join that one slot
<pink> after authenticating, the server will boot someone else to reopen that slot

<blue> so then i should use type 0? and just bump maxplayers and hide it

<pink> that's the preferred method for players
<pink> add 4 additional slots and hide 'em
<pink> sm_reserve_type 0; sm_reserved_slots 4; sm_hide_slots 1
<pink> with maxplayers being 4 more than your visible amount
<pink> (if you have replay and/or sourcetv this can get funky, just set sv_visiblemaxplayers manually)

<pink> how many public slots?
<blue> i set maxplayers to 28

<pink> how many slots are supposed to be visible, 24?
<blue> yes
<pink> okay
<pink> so when it's full it'll appear as 24/24
<pink> someone with a reserved slot joins through the console, and it becomes 25/24
<pink> it can go up to 28/24, at which point even reserved people get "Server is full" when connecting
<pink> someone leaves at this time, it's 27/24 and another reserved can join
<pink> nobody else can join unless it drops below 24

<blue> so admins will have to join through console, server browser will fail
<pink> yes
<pink> server browser will see the server as being full, since that's what it's reporting, so it won't let you join that way
<pink> console bypasses that check

<pink> "reserved slots" don't kick in until it's 24/24
<pink> the server browser will always report the number of players in-game
<pink> the reserved slots system merely allows admins to join when it's "full"

<pink> here's another way of thinking about it
<pink> the reserved slots system merely controls who can join after visiblemaxplayers is hit
<cyan> its not really who can join, because someone has to be able to join so it can do its checks ?
<pink> you knew what I meant, who can join without immediately getting kicked