Hey team,

Many of you have asked me how I am able to skip Pinion ads and waiting times on GamersUN servers, so I thought I would post step by step instructions of how to do this.

Firstly, you need to edit your Windows hosts file. This is located in the following folder:

C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc

The Hosts file has no extension so when you click on it Windows won't know how to open it, select Notepad from the list of suggested programs. Add the following line at the bottom:

127.0.0.1 motd.pinion.gg

When saving the file, ensure you change the dropdown box at the bottom from "Txt files" to "All Files", this prevents the .txt extension from being added to the filename. Save the file and close it. Adding this line to your hosts file will prevent Pinion ads from appearing when you join a GamersUN server, however the long wait time to join a team will remain. The only way to remove the wait time is to use the Console to join the server instead of the Server Browser or joining off a Steam friend. You will need to activate the Console in TF2's advanced options if you haven't already, and then press the tilde (`) key to open it. The Console join command is as follows:

connect x.x.x.x matchmaking

For example, to join GamersUN Dustbowl #00, the Console command would be:

connect 27.50.71.3:21035 matchmaking

Now, obviously this is rather inconvenient to type each time you want to join, as well as the fact that no one will be able to remember the IP of each GamersUN server. So to fix this problem, we create some aliases. This is the alias I use for GamersUN Dustbowl #00:

alias gu0 "connect 27.50.71.3:21035 matchmaking"

What this means is that I simply type "gu0" into the Console, and it will connect me to GamersUN Dustbowl #00 without any wait times. In order to make TF2 remember aliases, we need to put them in the autoexec.cfg file. This file is located in the following folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\Common\Team Fortress 2\tf\cfg

Depending on your version of Windows, or if you installed Steam somewhere other than the default location, this may location may vary.

So in this folder there should be a file called "autoexec.cfg". If there is not, then create it. Open it with Notepad, and add the following lines at the bottom:

// Dustbowl
alias gu0 "connect 27.50.71.3:21035 matchmaking"
alias gu1 "connect 27.50.71.3:21045 matchmaking"
alias gu2 "connect 27.50.71.3:21055 matchmaking"
alias gu3 "connect 27.50.71.3:21065 matchmaking"
alias gu4 "connect 27.50.71.3:21075 matchmaking"
alias gu5 "connect 27.50.71.3:21085 matchmaking"
alias gu6 "connect 27.50.71.3:21095 matchmaking"
alias gu7 "connect 27.50.71.3:22025 matchmaking"
alias gu8 "connect 27.50.71.3:22015 matchmaking"
// Gold Rush
alias gu20 "connect 27.50.71.3:23015 matchmaking"
alias gu21 "connect 27.50.71.3:23025 matchmaking"
alias gu22 "connect 27.50.71.3:23035 matchmaking"
alias gu23 "connect 27.50.71.3:23045 matchmaking"
// Turbine
alias gu30 "connect 27.50.71.5:22015 matchmaking"
alias gu31 "connect 27.50.71.5:22025 matchmaking"
alias gu32 "connect 27.50.71.5:22035 matchmaking"
// Payload
alias gu40 "connect 27.50.71.6:22055 matchmaking"
alias gu41 "connect 27.50.71.6:21045 matchmaking"
alias gu44 "connect 27.50.71.6:21075 matchmaking"
// Bad Maps
alias gu48 "connect 27.50.71.6:21035 matchmaking"
// Koth King
alias gu62 "connect 27.50.71.6:22035 matchmaking"
// Medieval
alias gu75 "connect 27.50.71.6:22085 matchmaking"

Again, when saving, ensure you change the "Txt files" to "All Files" at the dropdown box at the bottom.

Once you next launch TF2, these aliases will be always ready to use. So as long as you know the GamersUN server number, you can simply type "gu#" to join that server without wait times.

That's it! If you have any issues with any of this, don't hesitate to ask me and I will be happy to help.

- Rtwice