Watch a live match
Watch a Forts match in your own copy of the game while it is still being played — about a minute behind, live. You look wherever you like and use everything the game gives you. It is the real game, not a video.
Get the viewer
This is all a watcher needs. Download it, unzip it, and run it — it finds your game and opens the match for you. There is nothing to install and nothing is added to the game.
Download forts-live-viewer.zip
What you need:
- Your own copy of Forts on Steam, signed in on an account that owns it. Family Sharing will not do.
- The same version of the game as the match. Steam keeps it up to date; if yours differs, the viewer tells you rather than guessing.
- One saved match of your own first — any skirmish, once. That is all it takes.
To watch:
- Unzip the download to a folder of its own.
- Run it. A window opens showing how far behind live you are.
- It opens the game by itself once there is enough to watch. You can join at any point and always see the match from its start.
You always watch a little behind live. How far behind is a floor the broadcast sets, and you cannot get any closer to the play than it allows — it keeps the picture smooth and keeps every watcher the same distance from the match.
Are you hosting a broadcast?
Most people want the viewer above. This second download is for the person running the broadcast — the one playing or carrying the match — not for watching one.
It passes your match on to everyone watching. Only the person hosting needs it, and it is a separate download so nobody runs it by accident.
It reads only the folder the game saves matches into and never touches the game itself. Setup, including the one port to open, is explained inside.