That is amazing news..... Thanks for looking into it. I am guessing the beta client is on their site somewhere

Thanks for the writeup, MultiplayerX. I appreciate the effort you put into researching this with Gemini.

We are happy to announce that Valve released a Steam beta update that addresses this issue. More info here.

The GE:S team does not recommend using an outdated Steam client.

Issue:

Starting with the December 19 Steam update, players get an "Account Used Elsewhere" message when joining servers in Steam.

Fix:

As of December 30, Valve has fixed this in the Steam client beta.

To opt into the Steam client beta:

• Open the Steam window
• At the top-left of the window, go to Steam > Settings
• Click on the Interface tab
• Next to “Client Beta Participation,” choose Steam Beta Update

Due to the risk of breaking changes, we do not recommend that most users stay opted into the beta long-term. When the fix makes its way to the stable client, we recommend opting out of the beta unless you have a specific desire to use it.

If you'd like to be notified when to opt out of the Steam client beta, check this thread. I'll post an update when the fix has been rolled out to the stable client. You can also click "Notify" at the top of this thread to receive an email when an update is posted.

Edit:

As an important note, if you previously created steam.cfg (in your Steam folder) as described in other tutorials, please delete it. This will allow the client to update normally (otherwise opting into the beta won't work)

I have been testing gesource and just to be safe have designed a legacy tutorial and workaround for source SDK 2007. This is only an option if you have any issues on Windows 10 or experience anything breaking or not working as well in the new 64 bit clients Steam has forced upon the community. The older source SDKs were designed for 32 bit and connection accuracy was designed for that architecture. The simple rollback option below is for gesource stability until betas or anything else Steam randomly releases as QUOTE "a fix for source SDK" etc. Steam has broken the mod countless times in the past with absurd beta releases and updates causing servers to not show up in game and a slew of other nonsense. This option guarantees the last stable build that worked perfectly starting in May of 2023. I highly recommend using a build that was designed to still work with older source SDK. Hope this is useful for all of you. MultiplayerX

GOLDENEYE SOURCE: COMPLETE CONNECTION & CHAT FIX
This guide fixes the "Account Used Elsewhere" error, Source SDK 2007 crashes, and the "Friends Network Unreachable" bug. By rolling back to the May 2023 build, you restore the legacy authentication needed for GE:Source servers while keeping your Friends list active.

Step 1: Force Downgrade the Steam Client
Close Steam completely. (Check the bottom-right system tray).

Right-click your Steam Shortcut on your desktop and select Properties.

In the Target box, delete everything and paste this exact line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -overridepackageurl http://web.archive.org/web/20230531113527if_/media.steampowered.com/client -exitsteam

Click Apply and launch. Steam will download the May 2023 files and close automatically.

Step 2: Lock the Version (steam.cfg)
You must prevent Steam from auto-updating back to the broken 2025 version.

Open your Steam folder (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam).

Right-click in the folder > New > Text Document.

Name it steam.cfg (ensure you delete the .txt at the end so it is a CFG file).

Open it with Notepad and paste:

Plaintext

BootStrapperInhibitAll=Enable
BootStrapperForceSelfUpdate=False
Save and close.

Step 3: Fix Friends Chat
This patch redirects Steam's internal browser to a working version of the chat servers.

Download: QuickPatcher v6.0.0 (Direct Zip)

URL: https://github.com/TiberiumFusion/FixedSteamFriendsUI/releases/download/Release-v6.0.0/QuickPatcher_Patch_v6.0.0+.zip

Extract the zip, run QuickPatcher.exe, and click Patch.

Step 4: Final Launch Setup
Since the patcher handles the chat connection, you only need the -vgui flag to keep the lightweight classic interface.

Right-click your Steam Shortcut > Properties.

Delete the existing Target and paste this final line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -vgui

Click Apply and launch Steam.

Summary of Fixes:

May 2023 Build: Restores the legacy handshake to fix "Account Used Elsewhere" and SDK 2007 crashes.

v6.0.0 Patch: Manually fixes the Friends list so it connects even on this older build.

-vgui Flag: Restores the classic, stable Steam library UI.

Verification: In Steam, click Help > About Steam. It should list the build date as May 30 or 31, 2023.

There is now a workaround courtesy of eepycats on GitHub

https://github.com/eepycats/sdk2007-auth/releases

Download the latest release.zip and extract it to gesource.

You should have an addons folder with steamhook.vdf and steamhook.dll in it

After that, restart GE:S and you should be able to join servers


Edit: This has been fixed in the latest Steam client beta.

Thanks for looking into this, I had suspected it was steam breaking things. Do you know if steam are looking at it (I know the sdk is old) or if you anticipate a usable workaround for it?

Our Sundays won't be the same without shooting Bond in the back of the head as a group!

The work put into building this has been greatly enjoyed weekly since we couldn't meet in person due to COVID!

You can log in to your account on your web browser to CHAT as well. It works fine. The coding is completely different for the Steam UI so it no longer connects properly using Steam 2023. This seems to be the most stable source sdk 2007 fix for now. Thank goodness it works. Happy New Year to all of you      

Edited title to clarify that this is an unofficial (community-supplied) fix.

Please note that this is not sanctioned or tested by the GE:S team. Proceed at your own risk.

GOLDENEYE SOURCE WORKING SOURCE SDK 2007 FIX

Step 1: Force Downgrade the Client
You can use a command-line argument to force Steam to download an older version of its own client files from the Internet Archive.

Completely close Steam (ensure it is not running in the system tray).

Right-click your Steam Shortcut on your desktop and select Properties.

In the Target box, add a space after the existing text and paste the following:

-forcesteamupdate -forcepackagedownload -overridepackageurl http://web.archive.org/web/20230531113527if_/media.steampowered.com/client -exitsteam

Note: This specific URL points to a May 2023 version. You can replace the date (20230531...) in the URL if you need a specific version found on the Wayback Machine.

Click Apply and launch Steam via this shortcut.

Steam will open, download the older package files, and then immediately close itself (due to the -exitsteam command).

Step 2: Block Auto-Updates
If you launch Steam now, it will immediately detect it is "out of date" and update back to the latest version. You must disable this check.

Navigate to your Steam installation folder (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam).

Create a new text file and name it steam.cfg (ensure it is not steam.cfg.txt).

Open the file with Notepad and paste the following lines:

Plaintext

BootStrapperInhibitAll=Enable
BootStrapperForceSelfUpdate=False
Save and close the file.

Step 3: Cleanup and Launch
Go back to your Steam Shortcut properties.

Remove all the extra commands you added in Step 1 so the target ends with steam.exe".

(Optional) If you want to use the classic UI, you can add -vgui to the end of the target.

Launch Steam.


NOTE:  Your FRIENDS list may not be accessible due to this older version of the client however it does fix GESOURCE   Just use a web browser if you have to use chat to talk to friends   MultiplayerX

This is a known issue affecting all Source 2007 mods since the Dec 19 Steam update.

The only current known fix is to roll back the Steam client, but we're not releasing those instructions publicly as we don't want to encourage people to run outdated clients.

Edit: Note, however, you can still play with bots by creating a new server and ticking the "Run on LAN" checkbox. This also works for LAN parties, you can set `sv_lan 1` on your server and local clients should be able to connect.