I have a fully constructed Arma game server launcher I have developed in C# WPF. It will work with any Steam / Steamworks API game, but I have targeted Arma games for this launcher.

To the point:

• When I query the Steamworks API for the Rules for Arma 3, they come back like this example:

{
  "Name": "\u0001\u0002",
  "Value": "\u0002\u0001\u0002\u0007\u0001\u0002\u0001\u0001k<f\u0012\u0015>\u0006d\u0019\u00040\"\u0019CUP Terrains - Maps 1.1.0A\u001e\u001f\u0004q\"\u0019CUP Terrains - Core 1.1.0mҹ\u0004sL \u0012CUP Vehicles - 1.3\u0004ڷ"
}

The code to get the game rules looks like this:

internal string ReadString()
{
    string str = string.Empty;
    int temp = 0;


    CurrentPosition++;
    temp = CurrentPosition;


    while (Data[CurrentPosition] != 0x00)
    {
        CurrentPosition++;
        if (CurrentPosition > LastPosition)
            throw new ParseException("Unable to parse bytes to string.");
    }


    str= Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Data, temp, CurrentPosition - temp);


    return str;
}

The line from above:

str= Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Data, temp, CurrentPosition - temp);

...is the part that decodes the byte[] to the string result.

If I change the Game Directory filter from 'arma3' to 'arma2arrowpc', the same code above returns this decoded result example for the Rules:

{
  "Name": "modNames:0-1",
  "Value": "Arma 2: British Armed Forces (Lite);Arma 2: Private Military Company (Lite);Arma 2;Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead;"
}

If I switch the Game Directory filter to an entirely different game (ARK: Survival Evolved), I get the following example for the Rules:

{
  "Name": "GameMode_s",
  "Value": "TestGameMode_Genesis_C"
}

The Arma 3 Steamswork API Rules do not seem to be working properly when querying Steamworks API. I have looked all over for help and used other Steamworks API query tools. All examples are showing the same Rules bytes[] decoding issue.

Another test -

If I convert the byte[] to char by char and exclude the limit it to these char types only, 'Char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) || Char.IsPunctuation(c) || Char.IsSeparator(c) || Char.IsWhiteSpace(c)'...

...this mod param Steam rule:
"\avvDQH\f@ExileServer\b\tExile Modx._Ryan's Zombies & Demons"
...turns into this:
"EvvÉDQH\f@ExileServerÌ\tExile Modx._Ryan's Zombies & Demons"

Here is the test logic:

var test = string.Empty;


foreach (var b in Data)
{
    char c = Convert.ToChar(Char.ConvertFromUtf32(b));
    if (Char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) || Char.IsPunctuation(c) || Char.IsSeparator(c) || Char.IsWhiteSpace(c))
    {
        test += c;
    }
}

References and my simple sample Console Application program that will reproduce what I have described above.

• https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/STEAMWORKSquery
  • See section: Comparsion of the current STEAMWORKS implementation to GameSpy
• https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Server_queries
  • See section: A2S_RULES
• http://querymaster.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest
• PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY FOR A FULL EXAMPLE CONSOLE APPLICATION WITH TESTS INCLUDED.

For all tests listed above, I am using this sample Steam Query tool "QueryMaster".