A server banner is a small image that shows your server's name, map and live player count, usually links straight into the game, and lives in a forum signature, a Discord, or a website. Done right it is free, always-on advertising that puts your server in front of people already looking for one. Done wrong it shows "offline" and does the opposite. This explains how banners and connect links actually work and how to make one that converts.
1. How a banner image works
A live banner is an image generated on demand by a tracking service that queries your server with the standard A2S protocol and draws the result — hostname, current map, players/slots — onto a PNG. Because it is queried fresh each time the image loads, it reflects the real state: a banner showing "18/24" tells a viewer the server is alive and worth joining. The service needs to reach your server's query port, which is your game port (default 27015) over UDP, so the same A2S traffic that puts you in the master list feeds the banner. If A2S queries fail, the banner cannot render your state.
2. The connect link that actually joins
The point of a banner is to turn a viewer into a player in one click. The game registers a URL scheme so a link like this launches CS and connects:
steam://connect/203.0.113.10:27015
Put that behind the banner image and a viewer who has the game clicks once and lands on your server. Always use the literal IP and port — a hostname that has not propagated, or a missing port, breaks the jump. For players who prefer to do it by hand, also show the raw connect line so they can paste it into the console:
connect 203.0.113.10:27015
See connecting via console for the client side.
3. Use a real tracking service, do not hand-roll
You do not need to draw the image yourself. Established server trackers such as GameTracker generate a banner and a signature image from your server IP and port for free, keep it live, and give you the HTML/BBCode to paste. Register your server on one, grab the signature image URL, and wrap it in your steam://connect link. This also gets you a tracker profile page — a place your server exists on the web that people can find and bookmark.
4. What makes a banner get clicked
- Show live players. A static logo is ignored; "20/24 on de_dust2" is a signal the server is fun right now. Live counts convert far better than art.
- Readable hostname. The banner inherits your server name — keep it short enough to read at banner size.
- Put it where CS players are. A signature on a CS 1.6 forum, a pinned image in a Discord, your community site. See where to advertise.
- One clear action. The whole image is the connect link; do not bury it behind three menus.
Common errors
- Banner shows "offline" but the server is up — the tracker cannot query your port. Confirm UDP 27015 is open and A2S responds; see firewall ports.
- Player count is always zero — a query-port or
sv_lanissue, or an A2S-flood protection dropping the tracker's probe. Check A2S flood handling is not too aggressive. - Connect link does nothing — the viewer does not have the game installed, or the link used a hostname/port that does not resolve. Use the literal IP and port.
- Banner shows the wrong map or a stale count — the tracker caches for a short interval; it catches up within a minute. Persistent staleness means intermittent query timeouts.
- Image hotlink blocked — some forums strip external images; use the BBCode the tracker provides rather than a raw
<img>.
Verification
Open your banner image URL directly in a browser — it should render your current hostname, map and live player count, matching what the in-game browser shows. Then click your own connect link from a machine with CS installed and confirm it launches and joins the right server. Finally, have a friend on a different network click it; if it works for you locally but not for them, your public IP or port forwarding is the problem, not the banner. A banner that renders live and connects in one click is doing its job.
