Community servers often differ significantly from the original 2009 experience:
The original XLabs project was shut down via a DMCA. Community forks have risen to replace it. If you have an old 2022 build, the master server URL is hardcoded to a dead address. You need a modern fork (search GitHub for "iw4x client 2025").
: Specialized servers designed to prevent players from using custom configurations (CFGs) to cheat or gain unfair mechanical advantages in trickshotting. Bot-Filled Lobbies
It is very common to open the server list and see zero servers. Here are the fixes, ranked from most common to least common: