introduction | getting started | installation | basics | usage | ToDo
FreeMatch is a Sauerbraten Server MOD.
It allows for more freedom of matches -
specifically for variable timelimits, fraglimits and spawning of QuadDamage.
It also has a MOTD (message of the day) and includes maprotation.
Just for larks it also nags players with a name of "unnamed" regularly to name themselves.
Current Version: v0.123
FreeMatch is a server modification based on the current version of the Sauerbraten Engine (061204 "gui" release),
with a focus on enhancing MasterMode and personalized game experience.
The overall goal is to create a cautiously modified Sauerbraten Server that behaves just about as much as a regular one, but allows for more settings.
The next day ... world domination! Muahhahahaa.
As a souce modification, you are given a patch file and a couple of prebuilt binaries.
Some sample configuration files are also included.
NOTE: You must already have, or obtain, the current full distribution of the Sauerbraten Engine.
Extract the ZIP into your sauerbraten folder, nothing (except older versions of this package) will be overwritten.
To run, put the contents of this archive directly into your Sauerbraten directory, keeping paths intact.
It will not overwrite or otherwise modify any original Sauerbraten data. If you've done this right, this html
document should be styled like Sauerbraten's included documentation.
Start your server as usual - of course using the newly installed binary instead of the default one.
So, for example, on Windows:
bin\freematchmod.exe -c2 -mlocalhost
You should always pass an appropriate -m parameter!
The default one is for unmodded servers only,
there are some links on the forum (use search) to alternative masterservers.
Note: If you are hosting a masterserver and would like to be listed here just drop a mail into my inbox!
After installation and verifying there were no errors during a start with "-mlocalhost" -
for not registering on the masterserver -
you can start tweaking the configuration to your personal liking.
There are two files:
The setup.srv file is pretty basic to edit,
just change values appropriately.
The two values sec2reset and sec2refresh are used on empty servers only.
After grace-period of sec2reset seconds an empty server will revert to the sane settings of setup.srv
and offer a new match picked from pickmatch.fmm.
To make (hopefully enticing) offers an empty server will refresh the offer every sec2refresh seconds.
The pickmatch.fmm file might be slightly irritating -
at first glance -
but is equally simple in setup.
A single line defines a single match by frequency, mapname and modenumber.
So, if you give all lines the same frequency they will all be equally likely to be picked.
But if you vary your frequencies, higher values will have a higher chance of being picked.
Of course nothing is stopping gamers of voting on another map/mode ... but this way,
it isn't so boringly obvious which map will be next ... and if you include all gamemodes in your setup
the players will be confronted with modes they might not have played much so far. ;-)
The included examples do not include all maps or all gamemodes;
the pickmatch_1on1.fmm is specifically designed for a 1on1 server and only has non-teammodes in it,
as an example of how you can try to tailor the setup to a specific flavour.
Using the server is just as a regular sauerbraten server,
with (currently just) a single added feature for regular players
but a range of additional settings available to master players.
Any player can, at any time, enter "#t" into his chat and will be informed by the server
exactly how much time is left in this match.
I strongly suggest you bind this to a key if you regularyl play on any FreeMatch servers ;)
The master has the following commands at his disposal,
which he/she can pass to the server simply by prepending them with an @ in a regular chat message.
Things that could be, or need to be done.
Enjoy this ServerMOD brought to you by MeatROme.
It'd be nice to hear of your experience with it,
or any suggestions you might have for future development.