SteamID
A SteamID is a unique identifier used to identify a Steam account. It is also used to refer to a user's Steam Community profile page.
Format
As Represented Textually
SteamIDs follow a fairly simple format when represented textually: "STEAM_X:Y:Z", where X, Y and Z are integers. In select cases "STEAM_ID_PENDING" or "UNKNOWN" are used (see the section 'Types of Steam Accounts' for more details).
As Represented in Computer Programs
When represented internally in computer programs the X, Y and Z components (see the section titled 'As Represented Textually') are all packed into a 64-bit data structure. Using the format described above:
- X represents the "Universe" the steam account belongs to (which is identified by an unsigned 8-bit value)
- Y represents the type of account and is represented as an unsigned 4-bit value
- Z is the ID number for the account (the "account number") identified by a 32-bit unsigned value. Z is not unique.
The remaining 20 bits are used to represent the 'instance' of this account and only applies for a special type of account called a 'Multiseat' account (an account for which many users can log into at the same time, for instance at Cybercafes).
Universes Available for Steam Accounts
There are 8 universes of Steam accounts.
| Number | Type |
|---|---|
| 0 | Individual / Unspecified |
| 1 | Public |
| 2 | Beta |
| 3 | Internal |
| 4 | Dev |
| 5 | RC |
Types of Steam Accounts
There are ten known account types for a Steam account, of which only 4 can be created today.
| Number | Letter | Type | Can Be Used? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | U | Individual | Yes |
| 1 | U | Individual | Yes |
| 2 | Multiseat | Yes | |
| 3 | GameServer | Yes | |
| 4 | AnonGameServer | Yes | |
| 5 | Pending | No | |
| 6 | ContentServer | Unknown | |
| 7 | g | Clan | Yes |
| 8 | T | Chat | Yes |
| 9 | P2P SuperSeeder | No |
Users of an 'Individual' account are temporarily referred to as having a 'Pending' account which have a textual representation of "STEAM_ID_PENDING" until their account credentials are verified with Steam's authentication servers, a process usually complete by the time a server is fully connected to. Accounts of the type 'Invalid' have a textual representation of "UNKNOWN" and are used for bots and accounts which do not belong to another class.
Steam ID as a Steam Community ID
A Steam ID can be converted to Steam Community ID for use on the Steam Community website by applying the following formula to the SteamID:
- Let X,Y, and Z be defined by the Steam ID: STEAM_X:Y:Z
- Let W be defined by the Steam Community ID: steamcommunity.com/profiles/W
<math>W = (Z \times 2) + 76561197960265728 + Y\,</math>
By performing the reverse operation, a Community ID can also be converted to a Steam ID.
Caveat about Cyber Café Accounts
Although it would appear sensible for Valve to put all cybercafé account SteamID's in their own universe, this has not been done. Instead, cybercafé accounts got SteamID's in the same universe as user accounts, typically from a large pool of SteamID's where the unique ID part lies within the range 7000000 and 8000000. There are also non cybercafé accounts within this range.
SteamID Uses
Aside from the obvious elements of identifying (uniquely) an account, its type and the domain (universe) it belongs to, SteamIDs can be used to approximately determine when the user associated with the SteamID first created that Steam account. Lower values of 'Z' in the format described above (i.e. the account number) indicate an account made further in the past to one with a higher value. For example, a SteamID like STEAM_0:0:1234 would mean that the user signed up for their Steam account a long time before a user with a SteamID such as STEAM_0:0:12341111.
The value of X is 0 in VALVe's GoldSrc and Episode One Engine games (For example, Counter Strike: Source), and a recent change by VALVe had changed Steam IDs in all Orange Box Games, including Team Fortress 2, to use 1, as Left 4 Dead had been since its release. However, since this sudden un-announced change broke a wide variety of community modifications, especially those playing Garry's Mod, this change was quickly reversed. Some people within the Steam community believe that this change was a precursor to VALVe implementing Lobbying systems into the other Orange Box games. The value of Y is normally 0 or 1, which used to be the authentication server the user is on, but now it doesn't mean anything.
External links
- Legit-Proof.com - Search engine to look up players and teams from all steam_id based games and more.
- SteamIDFinder.com - Tool to let players quickly look up their SteamID without launching a game.
- getSteamID - A standalone tool for Windows to look up all SteamIDs found on a local computer which were used in the past by different users.
- SteamID.com - Search engine to lookup competitive Counter-Strike players by their SteamID.
- VACBanned.com - Search engine to lookup the VAC status of a SteamID, and add the banned SteamIDs to a database.