Serverlistingscreen

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-10

Overview

The ServerListingScreen component provides the complete user interface for browsing, filtering, and selecting servers in Don't Starve Together. It handles both online and LAN server discovery, supports multiple filter types (playstyle, world progression, game mode, season, etc.), sorts and groups listings, processes server metadata (mods, tags, player lists, world generation), and enables server joining or reporting. Built as a subclass of Screen, it manages UI lifecycle, focus navigation, and periodic refreshing of server data via TheNet, with persistent settings stored to Profile and filtering logic enforced through customizable rules.

Usage example

-- Instantiation and setup
local screen = ServerListingScreen(
    THEEPOCH + 5, -- Optional event_id
    false,        -- should_save
    { forced_settings = { playstyle = "survival" } }, -- forced_settings
    function() print("Cancelled") end -- cb
)
TheFrontEnd:PushScreen(screen)
-- User interaction (keyboard/controller) triggers filtering, selection, and joining

Dependencies & tags

Components used:

Screen (base class)
ServerPreferences (profanity filtering, name/description hiding, filter persistence)
TheNet (server search, query, details download, report, profile view)
TheFrontEnd (screen push/pop, focus management)
Profile (playstyle, filters, world progression filters persistence)
WorldProgressionFilterPicker (widget)
PlaystylePicker (widget)

Tags: None found.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
`self.event_id`	string \| nil	nil	Optional event identifier for screen lifecycle tracking
`self.playstyle_defs`	table	built by BuildPlaystyleDefs()	Table of available playstyle definitions
`self.should_save`	boolean	false	Whether settings should be persisted to profile
`self.forced_settings`	table		Table of forced server-listing settings (e.g., fixed playstyle)
`self.server_playstyle`	table		Current playstyle filter state
`self.session_mapping`	table		Session-to-player-data mapping cache
`self.cb`	function \| nil	nil	Optional callback invoked on screen cancel
`self.offlinemode`	boolean	false	Whether offline/LAN mode is enforced
`self.tickperiod`	number	0.5	Refresh interval in seconds for periodic server polling
`self.task`	TimerTask \| nil	nil	Timer task for periodic server list refresh
`self.unjoinable_servers`	number	0	Counter of unjoinable servers in the current list
`self.view_online`	boolean	true	Whether currently viewing online tab (vs LAN)
`self.selected_index_actual`	number	-1	Unfiltered server list index of selected server
`self.selected_server`	table \| nil	nil	Currently selected server data entry
`self.viewed_servers`	table		Filtered and sorted list of server entries
`self.servers`	table		Full raw server list from TheNet
`self.filters`	table		Active filter definitions for UI controls
`self.sessions`	table		Cached session player data
`self.sort_column`	string \| nil	nil	ID of the active sort column (e.g., "ping", "players")
`self.worldprogressionfilters`	table		World progression filter definitions
`self.worldprogressionfilters_overlay`	Widget \| nil	nil	World progression filter picker widget instance
`self.searchbox`	Widget \| nil	nil	Reference to the search input widget
`self.connection_spinner`	Widget \| nil	nil	Spinner widget for Online/LAN mode selection
`self.filters_shown`	boolean	false	Whether the filter sidebar is currently visible
`self.servers_scroll_list`	Widget \| nil	nil	Scrollable grid of server list rows
`self.grid_root`	Widget \| nil	nil	Root container for server list rows
`self.heading`, `self.content_root`, `self.server_details_additional`	Widget \| nil	nil	UI layout reference widgets

Main functions

`BuildPlaystyleDefs()`

Description: Constructs a table of playstyle definitions by combining the base PLAYSTYLE_ANY entry with definitions retrieved from Levels.GetPlaystyles().
Parameters: None.
Returns: Table — a list of playstyle entries, each with an id and text field, where index 1 is always PLAYSTYLE_ANY.

`GetBetaInfoId(tags)`

Description: Checks if the server’s tags string matches any known beta version mismatch identifier in the global BETA_INFO array.
Parameters: tags — comma-separated string of server tags.
Returns: Number — the 1-based index of the matching BETA_INFO entry, or 0 if no match is found.

`ShouldAllowSave(filters, forced_settings)`

Description: Determines whether user-set filters and settings should be persisted to the profile based on whether any filters are marked as forced.
Parameters: filters — list of active filter definitions (may include is_forced); forced_settings — table of externally enforced settings.
Returns: Boolean — true only if forced_settings is nil and no filter has is_forced = true.