[swiftswing1]

i'm planning a L4D2 LAN party w/ some friends on my custom dedicated server - probably no more than 8 in total. unfortunately, about 2-3 don't have access to a PC, so i figured splitscreen might work - which it can, in some circumstances, but it also comes with issues itself.

L4D2 doesn't officially support splitscreen and already has bugs to begin with, like splitscreen player's weird shadows (which i can live with) and player2 becoming a fakeclient at the start of a new chapter in coop, thus being unable to access/interact with some of the server plugins. fyi, i believe the fakeclient bug only occurs during a map change, since multiple survival rounds don't seem to enact this bug.

i've done some testing with a program called nucleuscoop, which allows you to run 2 instances of the game at once, eliminating the problem above. however, i've had issues with the configs not saving, as well as getting the STEAM VALIDATION REJECTED message unless i delete the steamappid from the server files and making it read-only.

then there's the controller issues, since having multiple keyboards and mouse seem more complicated than just using controllers (most of my friends are mainly console players anyway, so i guess this won't inconvenience them). i've yet to find an efficient way for controller users to navigate through the various sourcemod menus e.g. shop. there's a program called GlosSI, which allows for system-wide SteamInput. initially, this seemed very promising due to the huge customisability of controls and the ability to create macros through radial menus and such. however, there are a bunch of issues with this too (not super important to the topic at hand, so i won't bother listing them).

this seems to be quite a niche/specific issue to begin with but anyways, i was wondering if anyone's also been through this and has found their own solution? or if anyone has any ideas for potential solutions regarding L4D2's native splitscreen mode or other means. i'd appreciate the help. thanks.

[aviaiva]

It sounds like you're facing a number of challenges in setting up a LAN party for L4D2 with split-screen support. It's unfortunate that L4D2 doesn't officially support split-screen and has bugs like player2 becoming a fakeclient during a map change. You've tried using programs like NucleusCoop and GlosSI to resolve these issues, but have encountered other problems such as configs not saving, the STEAM VALIDATION REJECTED message, and difficulties for controller users to navigate the sourcemod menus.

As a potential solution, you may want to consider using custom plugins or modifications to the game to resolve these issues. You can check the L4D2 modding community to see if they have created any modifications to address these issues. Additionally, you could reach out to the developers of NucleusCoop or GlosSI to see if they have any solutions or plans to address these issues in future updates.

Finally, another option could be to have the players without access to a PC join the game through remote play. This would allow them to join the game as a remote player and play split-screen on their own device.

In any case, I hope that some of these suggestions are helpful in resolving your issue. Good luck with your LAN party!

[swiftswing1]

whoops, i totally forgot i posted this haha. thanks for the reply. i've posted in the nucleuscoop discord but haven't gotten much of a response. ah well. not that big an issue i guess. i don't think my friends mind too much anyway - as long as they get to kill zombies lol.
anyway, thanks again for helping. appreciate it!