Not letting me join server.

I have done what you requested I try and it has not fixed it. Though I come with good news. I was clicking the join game, and I connected. I had joined right as the server restarted. So I got in contact with the server owner again and told him this. He restarted again to see if I’d be able to join another time right as it restarts. It worked. So I can only join the server right as it restarts. If this helps at all trying to find a solution please let me know! There’s specific times the server restarts and if I miss that time frame by a few seconds I won’t be able to join until the next time it restarts.

This is the log from when I initially try to connect. It only sends two lines in the log.

1 -> Joining server: Name:Mayhem Industries Scrapyard Plus ConnectionString:steam://45.47.129.150:27029

1 -> MyGuiScreenProgress MyGuiScreenBase.UnloadContent

I have at least one player on our server that has this issue too, and I've seen this a few times over the years. Sad part is that if the issue gets triggered, it's usually game over for that player.

Sometimes complete reinstall and redownloading of the mod cache works, but the issue often reoccurs and it's not reasonable to expect players to redownload all mods whenever they want to play.

Server-side, there is no trace in the log that a connection attempt has even happened. On the client log, one can see a similar pattern as Dillon has:

1. Client begins to join

2. Client unloads progress window

Our gut feeling is that it's related to querying mods from Steam. Maybe some sort of cache mismatch, but it's hard to say because there's no logging.

Maybe you guys could add some logging hooks in there so we can investigate further?

Here's an AI analysis, if it helps:

Bug: Clicking "Join" on a server produces no error feedback. The progress screen closes and the client returns to the server browser with no indication of failure.

Affected code: MyJoinGameHelper.JoinGame() in Sandbox.Game

Root cause: The failedToJoin callback parameter defaults to null and no caller ever supplies a value. When GetServerRules fails (timeout, unreachable, malformed response), the failure delegate invokes JoinGame(server, null, ...), which reaches:

else{ failedToJoin?.Invoke(); // failedToJoin is null — nothing happens}

Contributing factors:

• The MyGuiScreenProgress shown during the preceding ping step closes on ping success, before GetServerRules is called. The user sees the screen disappear and interprets it as the join failing instantly, but the rules query is actually still pending in the background.
• GetServerRules is a Steamworks SteamMatchmakingServers.ServerRules() A2S_RULES UDP query. It can fail due to packet loss, firewall rules, or server load — all common in production.
  
• The same null-action pattern exists at three other early-return points in JoinGame (version mismatch, data hash mismatch, UGC consent failure). Those paths at least attempt a MessageBox, but the version mismatch dialog is itself suppressed if another MessageBox is already on-screen.

Impact: Any failure of the A2S_RULES query — the most network-fragile step in the entire join flow — results in complete silent failure with no user recourse.

Fix: Supply a non-null failedToJoin action from all call sites (or add a fallback inside JoinGame itself) that shows an error dialog and logs the failure. Optionally add retry logic for the rules query.