Setup Configuration

The Setup Tab is the first to appear in the MapMixer mutator configuration interface.  It contains the main settings that are used to control the way MapMixer affects a game.

Match

Skip Match Start Countdown
Enabling this feature will abort the match start countdown (ie 3..2..1..) that appears before match start.  It is important to understand that the game will always first start in waiting mode, requiring you to press a key to start the match.  This waiting state is required in network games to allow users to connect to a server before the game starts, allowing players to connect before the server adds bots for missing players. This way everyone can start at the same time!

Auto Map List Advance
This is just a technical way of saying what UT2003 does by default at the end of the match :)  The difference here is that you can stop the next map from loading automatically at the end of the match or simply change the time until the next map follows.  You may prefer to disable this option and navigate to the next map at your leisure using the Navigation Keys, for example.

Player Matching

Enable
Each map contains a recommended minimum and maximum player count and enabling this setting allows MapMixer use these settings when moving from map to map to set the player counts.  When enabled, a slider control will appear below allowing you to configure the way these recommended settings are used.

Lowest, Low, Medium, High, Highest, Random
The first five options indicate the level in between the recommended minimum and maximum player counts to use.  For example: Lowest and Highest will use the recommended minimums and maximums, and Low, Medium and High are placed evenly between.  The Random option will pick any number in between the minimum and maximum recommended player count.  Team games are taken into account and the player count will always equal an even number for these games.

Lowest, Highest
These settings allow you to control what the absolute minimum and maximum player count will be after the previous step above.  This can be useful if you are playing in a network situation and you want to make sure there is space for everyone playing.

Note: When playing the Team Deathmatch Game Type with maps that have a recommended minimum player count of 2, MapMixer will automatically change this to 4 (and also maximum player count if need be) to differentiate normal DeathMatch and Team DeathMatch in maps such as DM-1on1x style maps.  Lowest and Highest settings then take effect.

Map List

Session Start
This drop-down-list allows you to determine whether the map list is initialised at the beginning of a session or whether the last session's map list is resumed.  Some of the controls below this will be hidden, depending on what is selected.

Init Map List
The map list is initialised/created and the map index is reset to the beginning of the list.

Resume First Map
The previous session's map list is used and the map index is reset to the beginning of the list.

Resume Current Map
The previous session's map list is used and play continues from the last map from that session.

Resume Next Map
The previous session's map list is used and play continues from the next map after the last map from that session.

Note: The Session Start options that resume the last session's map list force the Reload First Map option.  This means that you can use any map to start the session (from the UT2003 game menu) and MapMixer will automatically continue the last session with the respective map.

The map list resuming feature can be useful if the game crashes and you want to continue the same map list when you start again, eg when you are running a UT2003 server.

Init Map List For Next Game
This check box becomes visible if the Session Start option is set to resume the last session's map list (ie any other setting than Init Map List).  This option forces the Map List to be initialised once only at the beginning of the next session.  So it lets you force a new map list if you normally have the Session Start option set to resume a map list, otherwise you would be stuck with one map list!

Source Type
This drop-down-list allows you to pick between the following three choices as a map list source for the game.  Each choice will show or hide certain controls, so you know which ones are applicable in each case.

Menu Map List
Uses the map list that is created from the Instant Action or Host Multiplayer game menus.  The game type that you pick from these menus will determine the game type of the map list (or just the first map if Game Type Switching is enabled)..

All Maps of Game Type(s)
This option enables automatic map list generation.  MapMixer will scan for all compatible maps for the current game type and load them as the current map list.  Note that some game types that have been designed by people in the UT community are compatible with different gametypes.  An example of this is the Greed game type which works with map types such as DM, BR and CTF.  So in this instance you can expect MapMixer to load the entire lot into the map list!

Custom Map List
MapMixer allows custom map lists to be created and when you select this option, another drop-down list appears below allowing you to select the custom map list.

Note that MapMixer contains in-game map list navigation controls to skip through a list and choose the next map to switch to.

Switch Game Types
This option will appear for the Map List Sources of All Maps of Game Type(s) and Custom Map List. It enables game type switching in both map list sources but works slightly differently for each one.  Read the Game Type Switching section for a full description.

Game Rules
This drop-down-list will appear when Game Type Switching is enabled.  A Game Rules List is required when using Game Type Switching.

First Map
Because MapMixer is a mutator and mutators don't come into operation until a level is loaded, it cannot select the first map to start a session with.  So the user has to select this first map in the usual manner from the game menu, whether it is a single player game or a server based game - then MapMixer can take over the map selection process.  So the question remains: what should MapMixer do with the first map that is chosen from the game menu to start a session?  Should it simply ignore it and then proceed through the designated map list or should it try and do something with this map with regard to its own map list?

The First Map option allows you to determine what MapMixer does with the first map you choose from the game menu to start the game with regard to the chosen map list source.

Ignore in List
MapMixer ignores the first map (ie the map that was selected from the game menu to start the game), with regard to the chosen map list (whatever the source is) and then proceeds with the map list from the beginning.

Move to start of List
The game menu map is located in the chosen map list and moved to the beginning of the list.  If the map is not found in the list then it is inserted at the beginning.  Successive map choices then follow this map in the list.

Jump to position in List
If the game menu map can be located in the chosen map list then MapMixer jumps to that point in the map list.  If the map cannot be located in the map list then it starts at the beginning of the list.

Note that this last option will not be available if the Map List Source Type is All Maps of Game Type(s) and Game Type Switching is enabled.

Shuffle Map List
When you start a new session from the UT2003 game menu (via Instant Action or Host Multiplayer) the Map List is loaded using the above settings and then shuffled if the Shuffle Map List option is activated.  You may use the Map List Navigation keys to move backwards and forwards through the list.

Reload First Map in Map List
As MapMixer can only be invoked as a mutator, it doesn't gain full control of the game options until it runs for the first time and can then take control over successive maps.  This means that you have to set up the first game manually via the UT2003 game menu.  By using the Reload First Map option the first map is reloaded by MapMixer giving it full control over the match options.

With network games, the first map will take longer to reload.

It is important to understand how the Reload First Map in Map List option interacts with the First Map option (above).  If you choose the First Map option "Ignore in List", then the MapMixer will not reload the map you chose from the UT2003 Game Menu - instead, it will reload the first map in the MapMixer Map List.  On the other hand, the other two First Map options "Move" and "Jump" will cause the original map to be reloaded at the corresponding point in the list.

Mutators

MapMixer provides a more powerful way to select mutators based upon either Custom Mutator lists, per Game Type lists or per Map Mutator lists. 

Source Type
You can create custom mutator lists to select and use in a game.  This way you can create mutator scenarios for easy selection whenever you need them, which means you won't forget to enable certain mutators before starting a match.  When you select this option, a drop-down box appears below allowing you to select the list.

If you select the Source Type "Game Type Default" then MapMixer will attempt to locate a Game Type Mutator list for the current map.

Mutator List
If the Source Type "Custom Mutator List" is selected then this drop-down list will appear, allowing you to select a Custom Mutator List.

Misc

Use Game Rule Maps
Enables the use of individual game rules for maps of a gametype.

Use Mutator Maps
Enables the use of individual mutators for maps of a gametype.

Use Game Rule Maps
Enables the use of individual player counts for maps of a gametype.

Saving and Loading a MapMixer Configuration

The Setup Page allows you to configure how all the features of MapMixer work together.  MapMixer allows you to save these settings for instant recall, either in the Configuration Menu or in-game via a console command.  If you load a configuration in-game, you also have the option to re-initialise the map list with the new configurations settings.

At the bottom right of MapMixer's Setup Page is a drop-down list and two buttons: Save and Delete.  These controls allow you to Manage your Configurations.

To save the current configuration, simply type a name into the drop-down list (or combobox) and click on save.

To load a current config, simply select the pre-saved list in the drop-down list.  To load a config in-game, see the LoadConfig console command.

To delete a saved config, select it and click on the delete button.

Note that only items in the Setup Page of the Configuration are saved!  Map Lists, Mutator Lists, Game Rules Lists etc are not affected by saving and loading a MapMixer config.