Nail in the Bloody "Missing Map" Glitch

[RubbishyUser]

So I don't know about you guys, but the main reason I end up playing on the same bloody stock maps is because I get a missing map error like this whenever I join a server running custom maps:

I got this image from a reddit page where some one had exactly the same problem, and I know from looking around that there are many threads on many TF2 forums and subforums, from steamcommunity to probably here as well. I also perfectly realise that many, many solutions have been suggested and all of those have worked for someone at some point in time, and yet for me personally nothing has worked. The only reason why this problem doesn't get more attention, is that after a couple of months, TF2 suddenly decided it wants to download custom maps again and I continue as if nothing was ever wrong.

Except then it happened again, and just fixed itself when I went to make a thread. Yet I do not want to just shrug and wait until the next time it rears it's ugly head. Let's get to the bottom of this: after all, as TF2's biggest custom mapping community we have a vested interest in fixing this.

So, I propose that the temporary solution is just to list all the fixes we find and hope that people are patient enough to try everything. However, if any of you are smart and talented enough to dig a bit deeper and find a panacea to this issue, it'd be very welcome. As far as I can tell, this issue has been around for years and not been fixed. Let's see if we can pick up where Valve has failed.

I'll update this soon with the first few fixes when it isn't late when I should be sleeping.

 

[Dr. Spud]

Most likely what is happening is you're trying to join a server that is not properly configured to let clients download that map.

When you join a server, the game checks whether the map being played is in your files. If it is not, it will attempt to download the map from the server. If the server does not redirect you to a download, then your game attempts to join anyways and hits the "missing map" error.

 

[nightwatch]

Do you think that the way the maps were added to the server makes any difference? I used to play a lot on JumpIt and JuJumpit (rip in pizza) and certain maps would disconnect me with the same error, and others would download fine.

 

[Dr. Spud]

Yeah because when you add a map to your server you have to add it to your download redirect (or whatever it's called I don't remember the specifics). So a server could have some maps download and others not.

 

[Ravidge]

This is not something that can be "fixed". It's on the shoulders of the server operators to make sure this isn't happening. As a player just connecting you can't really do anything to solve this except going out of your way and finding the exact .bsp map file elsewhere on the internet.

As spud said, typically this happens when you try to connect to a server running a map that you don't have stored in your local files and the server is unable to send you the map.

What causes this though?
- The map simply doesn't exist on the redirect. In other words it's missing!
- The server isn't configured to allow downloads of maps.
- The server is pointing to a dead/unavailable/nonexistent downloadurl redirect ftp.
- The name of the map on the server differs from the map on the redirect ftp. Typically this happens when a Linux server interact with a Windows based ftp or the other way around, Linux sees capital letters as different characters entirely while windows doesn't care. So if ctf_8fort.bsp is running on the server, but the redirect has ctf_8FORT.bsp.bz2 there's a mismatch and it won't find it.
- You have turned off downloading all content in the multiplayer options. (I don't even remember if you can do that for maps?)

These two are somewhat related, but I believe they usually have another error message shown:
- A corrupt upload has occurred somewhere and you download something garbled that doesn't match what the server is playing.
- If there's multiple maps with the exact same name you may get this error if you have a variant that doesn't match the server copy. Maybe the map author thought it would be fine to just overwrite and reupload a small change with the same name, well then you have to manually go and delete the 'old' file.

There's probably more causes that I can't think of atm. But the point is you can do very little as just a player/connecting client to "solve" this by yourself. It's all server-side except the "allow downloads from server" setting you do yourself, IF that affects maps, I can't remember.

 

[Garuda112]

As strange as it sounds, I've had this error crop up for others trying to connect via LAN to me (I know this is talking about servers, but hear me out). Normally we could playtest maps fine, even older versions of the same map, but once the problem came up that no matter what the others could not connect, having that same issue (if memory serves correct). The issue?

I had to look online for this: The map file name simply had too many underscores - 3 or more. I looked in the map file and that was true. I deleted some of the underscores, and the problem was solved - others could connect.

The only reason I bring up this weird story was that I see the map file in question has 3 underscores. Maybe if the map's file name was altered that could solve the problem. Unfortunately, that is in the hands of the .bsp holder. Also, I have no idea if this was present in all the other times that error occurred for you. Still, this might be a simple fix to try.
~Garuda112