Online Subsystem
Introduction
Online Subsystem and the Steam variant Online Subsystem Steam are fully compatible with Heathen's Toolkit for Steamworks SDK, however in general we do not recommend you use them as they greatly limit some of the most valuable features of the Steamworks SDK and the Steam platform as a whole.
In order to use Steam Networking Sockets you will find it necessary to install Online Subsystem Steam as it is a technical requirement for the Steam Sockets plugin. You don't have to use its features for matchmaking, session discovery or management and in general wont want to.
So much more than just matchmaking, never the less it is an industry-leading tool for matchmaking. We have extensive documentation on the features of Steam Lobby and many tools to help you easily and efficiently make the most of it.
Dedicated servers initialize the Steam API similar to your client build, they do so as a Steam Game Server which lets them avail of Steam ID addressing for multiplayer, Steam Game Server Browser for matchmaking and discovery as well as leverage other core features of Steam such as Authentication.
Put simply, it lets your local multiplayer game be an online multiplayer game with no additional work from you.
Steam is much more than just multiplayer tools, its also one of the first social networks and its rich presence leverages those features exposing invite features, join functions and rich details that can help your players find, join and entice friends to paly more!
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