Configuration

All the normal user settings of Armagetron are configurable in the menu system. Since it is quite easy to get lost, here is a (not always up-to-date) map of all submenus (the menuitems have an autohelp display below if you don't touch any keys for some seconds, so to let you keep the overview here, I omit the simple items):

Main Menu

Game Menu (start and setup a game)

Start Game (Starts a local game)
Network Game (Connects to or creates a network game)

Misc Stuff (things that did not fit anywhere else: Moviepack, console text output, menu wrap option and global keyboard configuration)

Global Keyboard Configuration (keyboard setup for player-independent functions (console, scores))

Player Menu (Player customisation: keyboard input, camera setup, multiplayer mode on one computer)

Player 1-4 (the settings for this player)

Input Configuration (keyboard and mouse setup)
Camera Input Configuration (keyboard and mouse setup for camera controls)
Instant Chat (things you can say with one keystroke)
Camera Setup (camera keyboard setup and options)

Assign Viewports To Players (which player sees himself on wich part of the screen)

Sound Settings (sound quality)
Display Settings (screen resolution and graphic details/preferences)

Detail Settings (things that affect visual quality and depend on your system's OpenGL power)
Preferences (things that depend more on your personal taste)
Performance Tweaks (settings that increase graphics speed, but may not work on your system)
Screen Mode (resolution and windowed/fullscreen selection)

Modify internal settings

The game is too slow for you? Then take a look at the file settings.cfg (best save all your changes to autoexec.cfg if you don't want the next release of Armagetron overwrite them). Play a bit with CYCLE_SPEED and all the other nice variables and see what happens; as you probably guessed, you can place comments preceeded by #. If both server and client in a network game support it, the game physics settings are transferred from the server to the clients. That is, you just have to modify the CYCLE_* settings on the server, and all the cycles on the clients will obey the same laws.

The acceleration caused by the wall at distance D is

acceleration=CYCLE_ACCELL / (CYCLE_ACCELL_OFFSET + D)-
             CYCLE_ACCELL / (CYCLE_ACCELL_OFFSET + CYCLE_WALL_NEAR)

if the wall is closer than CYCLE_WALL_NEAR. the stuff in the second line just makes sure that the acceleration is 0 if D=CYCLE_WALL_NEAR, so there are no "jumps".)

The CYCLE_RUBBER setting is a niceness thing, especially useful in an internet game where player prediction is poor: if you hit a wall, you are not directly deleted; you are stopped for a short time and your supply of "rubber" is decreased. If you manage to turn fast enough, you won't die. the rubber supply will slowly increase again (on a timescale of 10 seconds, approximately). CYCLE_RUBBER gives the maximum amount of rubber you have got. Setting it too high (~1000000) will make all cycles (your opponents, too!) immortal, setting it to zero is the way it used to be until version 000518. One is a good value for single player games, 3 .. 10 for network games (the more ping, the higher the setting should be). In the current version, the setting on the clients is in efect, so you can cheat a little bit in network mode if you increase your rubber.

A special feature are the CAMERA_FORBID_* settings; if you think for example that using the free floating camera is cheating, simply set CAMERA_FORBID_FREE to 1 on your server; none of the clients will then be able to use the free camera. (Of course, it is possible for a modified client to cheat at this point, using the forbidden camera perspectives anyway.) Try a match with all but the internal camera disabled :-)

The settings that affect only the visual appearance (FLOOR_* ...) are not transferred; It stays a matter of taste if you want the floor red or yellow.

The Console

All the settings you alter do permanently in the .cfg-files can be tested temporarily if you enter them at the console. To enter a line to the console, you have to bind a key to it (in "Misc Stuff/Global Keyboard Configuration") and press it, of course. The line you enter will be interpreted just as if it was read from a config file. if you type in an incomplete name, you'll get a list of settings that contain that name. Just typing the name of a setting will print the current value.
If you run a dedicated server, everything you type will be considered console input.

Special Console Commands

x always is a real number, n an integral number, b a boolean value (0=false,1=true) and s a string (all the rest of the line will be read).

`START_NEW_MATCH`	reset the scores and start a new match in the next round
`DEDICATED_IDLE x`	Only used by the dedicated server: after running for x hours, the server takes the next opportunity (when noone is online) to quit.

Other Console Commands

`CYCLE_SPEED x`	basic cycle speed (m/s)
`CYCLE_START_SPEED x`	cycle speed at startup
`CYCLE_ACCELL x`	acceleration multiplicator (whoops. One L too much...)
`CYCLE_ACCELL_OFFSET x`	acceleration offset (higher means lower acceleration)
`CYCLE_DELAY x`	minimum time between turns
`CYCLE_WALL_NEAR x`	when is a wall near?
`CYCLE_SOUND_SPEED x`	sound speed divisor; the speed at which the cycle sound is played at normal speed
`CYCLE_BRAKE x`	brake strength
`CYCLE_RUBBER x`	niceness when hitting a wall
`CYCLE_PING_RUBBER x`	niceness when hitting a wall, influence of your ping
`FLOOR_RED/GREEN/BLUE x`	floor color (without moviepack)
`FLOOR_MIRROR_INT x`	floor mirror intensity(if enabled)
`GRID_SIZE x`	distance of the gridlines
`CAMERA_FORBID_SMART b`	forbid smart camera
`CAMERA_FORBID_IN b`	forbid internal camera
`CAMERA_FORBID_FREE b`	forbid free camera
`CAMERA_FORBID_FOLLOW b`	forbid fixed external camera

`SCORE_WIN n`	points you gain for beeing last one alive
`SCORE_SUICIDE n`	points you gain for every stupid death (race into the rim/your own wall); should be negative
`SCORE_KILL n`	points you gain for everyone racing into your wall
`SCORE_DIE n`	points you gain for every time you race into someones wall (should be negative)

`LIMIT_SCORE n`	score limit (all limits for one match)
`LIMIT_ROUNDS n`	maximum number of rounds to play
`LIMIT_TIME n`	maximum time (in minutes)
`MESSAGE_OF_DAY_1/2/3/4 s`	message lines sent to the clients upon connection

Settings for single player highscore hunt on this server:

SP_SCORE_WIN n points you gain for beeing last one alive

SP_LIMIT_ROUNDS n max number of rounds to play

SP_LIMIT_TIME n max time (in minutes)

SP_AIS n number of opponents you will face

COLOR_STRINGS b draw strings in color?

Ladder league constants:

LADDER_PERCENT_BET x percentage of your score to be put in the pot

LADDER_MIN_BET x minimum credits to be put in the pot

LADDER_TAX x percentage the IRS takes from the pot

LADDER_LOOSE_PERCENT_ON_LOAD x you loose this percentage of your score every time the server is restarted

LADDER_LOOSE_MIN_ON_LOAD x but minimum this value

LADDER_GAIN_EXTRA x the winner gets his ping+ping charity (in seconds) times this value extra

This document was created by Manuel Moos.

Last modification: Don Nov 16 21:34:28 CET 2000

First Start

Network Play

Configuration

FAQ

Bugs

Todo List

Changelog

Compilation