Integrations: Steam API
There are many Steam Web APIs. The ones used by TF2BD are called ISteamUser and IPlayerService. These provide information about Steam user accounts. This information includes but is not limited to player bans, friends, owned games, and play time. You can read more about these APIs here and here.
TF2BD will attempt to obtain the following information using the API:
- Accounts on your friends list
- Steam name and avatar of users in your game
- Any VAC bans on users in your game
- Play time of users in your game
- Age of user accounts in your game
- The status of user profiles in your game
This information is displayed in a tool tip when you hover over users in the main window of the tool. If there is a user with a VAC ban in your game, their name will have a small white VAC shield next to their name. If there is a user in your game that is on your friends list in your game, their name will have a small heart next to it.
Your Steam Web API key is not like your Steam username/password, and will not allow anyone to log into or steal your account. The reason it should not be shared is for privacy reasons: it allows you to view steamcommunity.com as the user who created the Steam API key. If you or your friends have information on their profiles that is set to "Friends Only", anyone with your Steam Web API key would be able to view that information.
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Go to https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey and log in
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Enter botdetector.tf as the domain name
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Click Register
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Copy and paste your new key into the "Steam API Key" field in settings
If you accidentally share your Steam Web API key, you can revoke it at any time by going to https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey and clicking "Revoke My Steam Web API Key". You can then follow the same steps above to generate a new key.