NetworkRoles

How NetworkManager.IsActive, IsServer, and IsClient combine across single-player, multiplayer host, multiplayer client, and dedicated server modes, and why the IsActive && !IsServer guard is the correct remote-client check.

Role flag matrix

Scenario	IsActive	IsServer	IsClient
Single-player	false	false	false
Multiplayer host (listen host)	true	true	false
Multiplayer client	true	false	true
Dedicated server	true	true	false

The IsActive && !IsServer guard correctly identifies remote clients without catching single-player.

A listen host and a dedicated server are indistinguishable by these three flags. Both reach NetworkManager.StartServer through the same GameManager.StartGame branch (if (Settings.CurrentData.StartLocalHost || IsBatchMode), Assembly-CSharp.decompiled.cs:204603), so the two rows cannot differ. To tell them apart, read GameManager.IsBatchMode, or NetworkManager.LocalClientId (0 on a dedicated server, because Cookie is only loaded when not in batch mode, :273983). See ListenHost.md.

The three flags are one enum, not three booleans

public enum NetworkRole
{
    None,
    Server,
    Client
}

(:272571-272576)

public static NetworkRole NetworkRole = NetworkRole.None;   // :272668

public static bool IsActive => NetworkRole != NetworkRole.None;   // :272706-272710
public static bool IsClient => NetworkRole == NetworkRole.Client;
public static bool IsServer => NetworkRole == NetworkRole.Server;

There is no Host value, and IsServer and IsClient are mutually exclusive by construction. No process can ever report both. Beyond the representation, CanBecome (:273434-273451) returns NetworkRole == NetworkRole.None for both the Server and Client cases, so a process that is already one cannot become the other without first resetting to None (:272777).

Every write to NetworkRole across every decompiled assembly (Assembly-CSharp, StationeersLaunchPad, LaunchPadBooster, BlueprintMod) lives inside NetworkManager, five in total: = None at :272777 (network reset), = Server at :273120 (ProcessP2PSessionRequest) and :273274 (StartServer), = Client at :273402 and :273423 (the two StartClient overloads). No third-party assembly writes it.

NetworkManager.HostClient and the Client record with IsHost = true created by NetworkServer.PopulateHostClient() (:213672) describe the host player in the roster. They are not role flags and do not affect IsClient.

Verification history

• 2026-04-20: page created from the Research migration; verbatim content lifted from F0017 (Mods/SprayPaintPlus/RESEARCH.md:128-137).
• 2026-08-09: conflict on "IsClient on a multiplayer host". Previous claim: a multiplayer host reports IsActive/IsServer/IsClient as true/true/true. New finding: a listen host reports true/true/false, because the three properties are mutually exclusive views of one NetworkRole enum that has no Host value. Fresh validator verdict: the new finding is correct, quoting the enum declaration at Assembly-CSharp.decompiled.cs:272571-272576 and the property definitions at :272706-272710. Result: the host row's IsClient column corrected to false; a new section added recording the single-enum representation, the five write sites, and CanBecome's refusal; note added that a listen host and a dedicated server cannot be distinguished by these flags; page restamped to 0.2.6403.27689.

Open questions

None.