MuffMode Server Host Guide

README | Player Guide | Gameplay Reference | Rulesets | Configuration Reference | Build Guide

This guide is for lobby owners, dedicated server hosts, event organizers, and admins who want a practical setup path before diving into the full cvar reference. It is written around real server use: casual public play, private friend lobbies, pickups, scrims, and competitive events.

Install

1. Download the latest Muff Mode release.
2. Use the Windows installer when available. It detects Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, and Xbox app / Microsoft Store installs, while still offering an Other location choice for custom library folders.
3. If you use the zip instead, extract it into the outer Quake 2 install folder and allow file replacements.
4. Start the game or dedicated server normally.
5. Lobby hosts should execute one bundled lobby-*.cfg preset before creating the lobby. Dedicated and hand-built servers can instead start with exec server-base.cfg, then select factory <id>.

The release package installs the four lobby presets, server-base.cfg, factories.cfg, the production KEX map database, MuffMode map pool and cycle, and CONFIGS_README.md into rerelease/baseq2. For additional community-maintained examples, see the MuffMode Server Configs repository.

Lobby Host Presets

Open the console at the main menu and execute exactly one preset before using the KEX Create Match flow:

exec lobby-casual.cfg
exec lobby-competitive.cfg
exec lobby-party.cfg
exec lobby-horde.cfg

Preset	Capacity and starting style	Direct map choice
lobby-casual.cfg	16 connected slots, House Deathmatch, unranked random rotation, broad classic factory voting	Map votes and MyMap enabled
lobby-competitive.cfg	16 connected slots, Duel Competition, ranked ordered rotation, competition factories	Map votes and MyMap disabled
lobby-party.cfg	16 connected slots, Instagib Jump, unranked random rotation, curated mutator factories	Map votes and MyMap enabled
lobby-horde.cfg	8 connected slots, Classic Horde, unranked random rotation, Horde factories only	Map votes and MyMap disabled

Loading the preset first is important: it aligns maxclients with the separate kexmultiplayer maxplayers lobby request before the lobby exists. Each preset executes server-base.cfg, enables the production structured pool and cycle, and selects its starting factory. These are package-owned templates. For a custom lobby, copy server-base.cfg, the chosen lobby, the pool, and the cycle to operator-owned leaf names; change the copied lobby's first exec and its two map filenames to those copies. Copying only the lobby would still reload the package baseline and map policy. They can also be used as dedicated-server startup configs.

Config Startup Flow

Two layers, in this order:

Step	Command	Purpose
1	exec server-base.cfg	Package-owned baseline template: server identity, client capacity, voting/admin policy, and the legacy fallback rotation. Copy it before customizing; load your chosen file once at server start.
2	factory <id>	The gameplay preset: gametype, ruleset, limits, map rotation, player limits and settings. Sets the gametype for you and changes map to start it.
3	doctor	Checks for risky or inconsistent cvar combinations after your changes.

From a dedicated console with no client, use sv factory <id> in step 2.

Later gametype and factory changes — by admin command or by vote — re-apply the same way, and restore what the outgoing factory changed. See Factories.

Choose A Server Style

Server style	Prioritize
Casual public server	Easy joining, clear map rotation, player voting, relaxed ready-up rules, and a short MOTD explaining the server style.
Competitive pickup or scrim	Ready-up, locked match flow, controlled voting, known gametypes, known rulesets, timeouts, and admin/captain tools.
Private lobby	Fast setup, flexible voting, a small map list, and enough admin control to recover quickly from bad settings.
Testing or development server	Debug logging, doctor, map/entity overrides, and focused gametype configs.

Minimal Server Config

This is a small public-server starting point if you are writing your own config instead of starting from server-base.cfg. Adjust the map list, player limits, hostname, voting, and ruleset for your community.

deathmatch 1
hostname "MuffMode Server"
maxclients 16
maxplayers 12

g_gametype 1
g_ruleset 1
g_map_list "q2dm1 q2dm3 q2dm5"
g_map_list_shuffle 1

g_allow_voting 1
g_allow_vote_midgame 0
g_allow_spec_vote 0
g_votable_gametypes "ffa duel tdm ctf ca ft strike rr lms horde"
g_votable_rulesets "q2re mm q2reb"
g_votable_factories ""
g_gametype_locked 0

g_dm_do_warmup 1
g_dm_do_readyup 0
g_warmup_countdown 10

map q2dm1

This deliberately small example does not create a KEX lobby. If you raise maxclients for a lobby-hosted server, set kexmultiplayer maxplayers to the same requested capacity before creating the lobby. MuffMode supports up to 128 connected slots, while the active lobby provider may enforce a lower limit.

Run doctor after changing server settings. It checks common misconfigurations and reports suggested fixes.

Production Structured Map Pool

The package now includes muffmode-map-pool.json and muffmode-map-cycle.txt as production defaults. The lobby presets enable them; to use them from another server config, set:

set g_maps_pool_file "muffmode-map-pool.json"
set g_maps_cycle_file "muffmode-map-cycle.txt"
set g_maps_random "1"
set g_maps_repeat_delay "1800"

The pool controls map-vote and MyMap membership. The cycle is the eligible set for automatic transitions: random mode gives entries marked popular twice the normal weight, while g_maps_random 0 follows file order. A valid structured cycle supersedes the active factory's maps rotation for normal automatic transitions and factory/gametype changes. The factory rotation stays available as the legacy fallback when structured selection is disabled, invalid, or cannot find a compatible map. Use mappool [filter], mapcycle [filter], and maplist to inspect the live state. After editing, an authenticated in-game admin can run load_mappool (pool and configured cycle) or load_mapcycle (cycle only). From a dedicated console, use sv load_mappool or sv load_mapcycle.

Pool min and max values are inclusive bounds on active human players. Bots, spectators, and unused connected slots do not count. Automatic rotation and the post-match next-map pick enforce mode tags and these bounds. Direct map votes and MyMap requests only validate catalog membership; they do not enforce mode suitability or player bounds. That is why the Competitive and Horde lobby presets disable both paths, while Casual and Party leave intentional host/player overrides available.

mm-rail101 is a specialist Railgun/Instagib practice map with no weapon pickups. The pool format has no ruleset-or-factory requirement, so the production automatic cycle excludes it. It remains in the catalog and KEX map database for an explicit choice when an Instagib or rail-start factory supplies the weapon.

Do not confuse the strict pool with the packaged mapdb.json. That file is a full stock-derived KEX engine/UI database, including the stock campaigns and the nine bundled MuffMode maps. Its root and accepted keys use the KEX schema; it is not a valid MuffMode pool and must never be assigned to g_maps_pool_file.

These production files are package-owned and may be replaced by an update. Copy the baseline, pool, cycle, and chosen lobby preset to new leaf filenames, then update the copied lobby's exec, g_maps_pool_file, and g_maps_cycle_file references before customizing them. With no valid structured pool, the safe BSP-stem entries in g_map_pool and g_map_list remain active as the legacy fallback. A valid pool without a valid cycle supplies voting/MyMap choices while g_map_list still rotates maps. Even with an active cycle, an impossible mode selection falls through to g_map_list. Failed live reloads preserve an existing last-known-good snapshot. If the first pool load succeeds but its configured cycle fails, the valid pool still supplies voting/MyMap choices and g_map_list rotates maps. Clearing g_maps_pool_file returns immediately to the legacy sources.

Updates and backups

The Windows installer and current updater preserve existing package-named server/map-policy files under rerelease/baseq2/MuffModeBackups before replacing them. The updater backs up a file when it differs from the incoming release; the installer backs up existing files in that named bundle. Operator-owned leaf copies are outside the install plan and remain untouched. A current-updater failure during file application rolls this mutually-referencing bundle back as one unit. After updating, merge useful template changes into your copies or restore a package-named edit from the newest server-configs-before-muffmode-* directory.

KEX's mapdb.json is the exception to the leaf-copy strategy: the engine loads that exact singleton filename. Keep the newly shipped full database in place and merge private UI rows into it after an update; never rename it and never use it as g_maps_pool_file.

An upgrade may retain the retired muffmode-map-pool.example.json and muffmode-map-cycle.example.txt files because package installers preserve unrelated files. They are inactive; preserve any custom work, then remove or archive them to avoid confusing them with the production files.

See Structured Map Pools for the JSON schema, filters, selection rules, and full fallback matrix.

Competitive Match Baseline

For pickups, scrims, and events, start stricter than a casual public server and then loosen only what your group actually wants.

g_dm_do_warmup 1
g_dm_do_readyup 1
g_warmup_ready_percentage 1.0
g_allow_voting 1
g_allow_vote_midgame 0
g_allow_spec_vote 0
g_vote_limit 2
g_votable_gametypes "duel tdm ca ctf ft"
g_votable_rulesets "q2re mm q2reb"

Use readyall, startmatch, resetmatch, shuffle, balance, lockteam, and unlockteam to keep match administration quick without giving every player full control.

Gametypes

Set g_gametype by index, or use the admin command gametype <shortname>.

Value	Short name	Gametype
1	ffa	Deathmatch
2	duel	Duel
3	tdm	Team Deathmatch
4	ctf	Capture the Flag
5	ca	Clan Arena
6	ft	Freeze Tag
7	strike	Capture Strike
8	rr	Red Rover
9	lms	Last Man Standing
10	horde	Horde Mode
12	instagib	Instagib
13	nadefest	NadeFest
14	arena	Arena Rooms (Rocket Arena)

Value 11 (ball) is reserved/removed in the current build. See Gametypes for descriptions and work-in-progress notes.

Rulesets

Set g_ruleset by index, or use ruleset <shortname>.

Value	Short name	Ruleset
1	q2re	Quake II Rerelease
2	mm	Muff Mode
3	q3a	Quake III Arena style
4	q2reb	Q2RE Balanced
5	q	Quake style
6	qc	Quake Champions style

See Rulesets for the player-facing gameplay differences.

Match Flow

Good match flow matters for both audiences: casual players should not get stuck waiting, and competitive players need predictable starts, pauses, and finishes.

Cvar	Default	Purpose
g_dm_do_warmup	1	Enables warmup before match start.
g_dm_do_readyup	0	Requires ready status during warmup.
g_warmup_ready_percentage	0.51f	Percentage of ready players needed to start.
g_warmup_countdown	10	Countdown length once match conditions are met.
g_round_countdown	10	Round countdown for round-based gametypes.
g_dm_overtime	120	Overtime session length in seconds, currently for Duels.
g_dm_tie_max_time	1800	Maximum total tied-overtime duration before forced resolution.
g_auto_ghost_time	120	Seconds an auto-ghost reservation remains available, up to 3600; 0 disables auto-ghost capture.
g_auto_ghost_max	3	Maximum active auto-ghost reservations, capped by client capacity; 0 disables auto-ghost capture.
g_auto_ghost_timeout	0	Auto-pauses an active match for disconnected players, in seconds capped by g_auto_ghost_time; 0 disables.
g_dm_timeout_length	120	Timeout length in seconds. Set 0 to disable timeouts.
g_dm_timeout_resume_countdown	30	Countdown announced before a paused match resumes, in seconds up to 120; 0 resumes immediately.
mercylimit	0	Score gap that ends a match. 0 disables.

Team Controls

Cvar	Default	Purpose
g_teamplay_allow_team_pick	0	Allows players to pick a specific team.
g_teamplay_auto_balance	1	Rebalances teams during a match.
g_teamplay_force_balance	0	Blocks joining an over-stacked team.
g_teamplay_item_drop_notice	1	Sends team notices for dropped major items.
g_friendly_fire	0	Enables friendly fire.
g_match_lock	0	Adds automatic playing-team locks during countdown and active play. Full Duel challengers still enter the spectator queue; turning it off preserves separate captain/admin locks.

Team captains can lock or unlock their own team and can ready their team. Admins can transfer players, shuffle teams, balance teams, and force ready state.

Arena Rooms (Rocket Arena)

Arena has two supported map profiles. Tagged multi-room maps are the native MuffMode path: worldspawn declares from 1 through 31 playable rooms with an explicit arena value, arena 0 is the lobby, and each positive room needs at least two tagged deathmatch starts so both active sides can spawn safely. Tagged spawns, teleporters, destinations, and triggers remain local to their room. A tagged info_player_intermission can supply a room name and fallback observer view, but is not required for a room to activate. Classic RA2 misc_teleporter_dest observer positions take precedence. Negative legacy tags remain shared/reserved markers.

Classic RA2 idmaps use the one-room compatibility profile. An explicit worldspawn arena 0 selects it without a cvar; a map with no arena key is accepted only when the latched g_arena_legacy_idmap is set to 1 before the next map load. It uses one shared deathmatch-start pool and treats every per-entity arena tag as shared within its one virtual room. This opt-in keeps otherwise untagged idmaps intentional. If either profile does not validate, Arena stays inactive and none of its spawn, loadout, combat, isolation, HUD, command, or menu hooks run; the selected mode behaves as FFA. A disagreement discovered only after entities have spawned rejects the map instead of leaving a partially activated Arena session behind.

Every room has an independent state machine, teams, queue, settings, ballot, ready state, round clock, pause, timeout allowance, HUD, and scoreboard. The four types are rocket, clan, rover, and practice. Rocket uses a winner-stays challenge queue; Clan Arena uses fixed red/blue elimination; Red Rover transfers defeated players; Practice makes player attacks non-lethal while retaining knockback and damage progress, keeps unlimited ammunition, and immediately respawns environmental deaths.

MuffMode intentionally supports RA2 map compatibility and familiar RA3 play terms, but their original game DLLs, protocols, menus, administration models, and exact quirks are not replication targets. MuffMode's Q2RE-native teams, menus, voting, HUD, administration, and match policies remain authoritative.

Cvar	Default	Purpose
g_arena_config	arena.cfg	Global/map/room configuration file under baseq2.
g_arena_legacy_idmap	0	Latched opt-in for an otherwise untagged classic RA2 idmap. Explicit worldspawn arena 0 needs no opt-in; the one-room profile treats all entity arena tags as shared.
g_arena_default_type	rocket	Type inherited when a more specific layer does not set one.
g_arena_players_per_team	1	Default team size.
g_arena_rounds	1	Default odd best-of length.
g_arena_start_health	200 (100 in the shipped Arena factories)	Shared arena-loadout health; the shipped Arena factories select the classic value.
g_arena_start_armor	200 (100 in the shipped Arena factories)	Shared arena-loadout armor; the factories select the classic 100-armor value.
g_arena_health_protect	1	Protect health from self and team damage.
g_arena_armor_protect	2	Permit self-armor damage, protect against team armor damage.
g_arena_falling_damage	1	Enables falling damage during MuffMode Arena rounds.
g_arena_weapon_mask	255	Spawn-weapon bitmask; 255 grants every standard weapon except the BFG.
g_arena_grapple	0	Grants the room's selectable Grapple and enables the offhand hook command.
g_arena_competition	0	Enables per-room competition readiness and timeouts.
g_arena_unbalanced	0	Allows unequal sides.
g_arena_lock / g_arena_max_players	0 / 0	Default entry lock and player cap (0 means no explicit cap).
g_arena_timeouts	3	Competition timeouts per side. Duration and time-in countdown reuse g_dm_timeout_length and g_dm_timeout_resume_countdown; the arena_ra2 factory selects 60 / 5.

No bundled map is Arena-compatible, so the production pool/cycle and all four lobby presets exclude Arena. Install maps you are licensed to host, add them to operator-owned pool/cycle copies with arena: true, then load server-base.cfg and select arena_ra2. Tagged multi-room maps are preferred; the preset leaves g_arena_legacy_idmap at 0 so ordinary untagged maps fail closed. Set it to 1 only for a known rotation of untagged classic RA2 idmaps. The preset uses the MuffMode ruleset, preserves the familiar 100-health / 100-armor protection model, uses the non-BFG weapon set, and leaves individual rooms free to override those values. Add arena to votable modes and factories only after that rotation is configured.

For durable per-room rules, put top-level defaults in baseq2/arena.cfg, then nest map and numeric room blocks:

type rocket

map mm_arena_hub {
    room 3 {
        type clan
        playersperteam 4
        rounds 5
        competitionmode 1
    }
}

Built-in defaults resolve first, followed by global cvars/top-level file values, the matching map block, and finally the matching room block. Both // and # comments are accepted. arena <id> remains an alias for room <id>; bare RA2 blocks remain accepted for imports. See the configuration reference for every setting and alias.

Players can use room selectors or arena go <id>. Existing MuffMode commands such as team, captain, lockteam, readyteam, vote, time-out, and time-in automatically target the current room. Original RA3 aliases including teamlock, teamcaptain, teamkick, specinvite, timeout, and timein are retained as compatibility conveniences. If Q2RE owns a token locally, notably timeout, use arena timeout or MuffMode's time-out spelling. Player readiness and captain, naming, kick, mute, spectator-invite, and timeout commands are competition-mode controls. Team locking follows the same policy but permits an explicit administrator override outside competition mode. The arena dispatcher owns room selection plus room queue and settings operations; arena line is the retained historical queue-toggle spelling and arena queue inspects the queue. Administrators can target their selected room with startmatch, endmatch, and resetmatch, or an explicit room with arena admin <arena> <setting|reset|start|abort> [value]. say_arena, arena say_team, and say_world provide explicit room, logical-team, and map-wide channels. Q2RE/KEX consumes bare say and say_team before the game DLL can scope them, so bare say remains map-wide and bare say_team follows the projected engine red/blue side. Bind say_arena for room chat and use arena say_team for reliable room-local logical-team chat.

Freeze Tag Controls

Cvar	Default	Purpose
g_freezetag_arena_loadout	0	Preserves map/item-control loadouts by default; set 1 to give spawned and thawed players the arena-style Freeze Tag kit.
g_freezetag_thaw_time	3	Seconds a live teammate must stay near a frozen player to thaw them.
g_freezetag_multi_thaw_scale	0.5	Extra thaw speed per additional live teammate near the same frozen player; total thaw rate is capped.
g_freezetag_thaw_radius	96	Thaw proximity radius in units.
g_freezetag_auto_thaw_time	0	Optional forced thaw timer in seconds; 0 disables.
g_freezetag_bot_rescue	1	Lets bots route to frozen teammates and hold position for thawing.
g_freezetag_frozen_knockback_scale	1.0	Knockback multiplier for frozen players.
g_freezetag_thaw_respawn_at_location	0	Respawns thawed players at normal player spawn points by default; set 1 to restore them at the safe thaw location.
g_freezetag_round_respawn_all	1	Respawns every round participant for the next round; set 0 to respawn only frozen, dead, or waiting players.
g_freezetag_round_reset_alive_inventory	1	Resets live survivor inventory/loadout when full round respawns are enabled; set 0 to preserve survivor inventory.

Frozen-player help calls use the regular g_loc / g_loc_items location system for teammate markers and location text when map .loc data or item landmarks are available.

Thaw assist credit is automatic: the finishing rescuer scores for the thaw, and teammates who spend meaningful time helping the same successful thaw score assist credit. The assist threshold scales with g_freezetag_thaw_time.

The in-match HUD shows the match limit (fraglimit, capturelimit, or roundlimit as applicable) as a single number below the miniscore, so hosts should tune that cvar as the visible match target for the mode. When g_freezetag_arena_loadout is enabled, freezes do not drop the player's starter weapon; timed powerups still follow the normal death-drop cvars.

Players who join a Freeze Tag team during a live round are held as round spectators until the next round begins, preserving the active/frozen balance of the current round.

Voting

Voting is menu-driven and console-driven. For casual servers, keep enough voting open that players can self-serve maps and modes. For competitive servers, restrict voting to the decisions players should actually make during a match session.

Cvar	Default	Purpose
g_allow_voting	1	Global voting switch.
g_allow_vote_midgame	0	Allows votes during active matches.
g_allow_spec_vote	0	Allows spectators to vote.
g_vote_limit	3	Maximum votes per client per match. 0 disables the limit.
g_vote_flags	0	Bitmask disabling specific vote commands.
g_votable_gametypes	empty	Space-separated gametype short names allowed in votes. Empty allows all implemented options.
g_votable_rulesets	empty	Space-separated ruleset short names allowed in votes. Empty allows all options.

See Vote Commands for command names and Vote Flags for the bitmask.

Factories

A factory is a named gameplay preset: one base gametype plus its ruleset, limits, map rotation, player limits and settings. Factories are how you configure a MuffMode server for play. They replaced the per-gametype gt-*.cfg presets, so nothing runs underneath one — a setting no factory states holds whatever server-base.cfg left in it.

The shipped factories.cfg provides 58 selectable presets. They follow one naming scheme, so factory list all reads as a structure:

Id	What it is
<mode>_classic	The standard version of the mode — what a public server runs.
<mode>_comp	The same mode set up for organised play: everyone readies up, nobody joins or is thrown into a running match, ties go to overtime, teams are force balanced. Available for ffa, duel, tdm, ctf, ca, ft and strike.
insta* vamp* frenzy* nade* quad*	The mutator presets, one per mode where the mutator makes sense.
_base_<mode>	Hidden layer holding a mode's baseline; everything visible for that mode inherits it.

A _comp factory changes match conduct, not weapon numbers — those belong to the ruleset, which a factory selects by name and never overrides.

Command	Access	Purpose
factory	all	Show the active preset and the others that fit the current gametype.
factory list [gametype|all]	all	List ids. all shows every one.
factory info <id>	all	Show exactly what a preset changes, line by line.
factory cvars [prefix]	all	List the cvars a factory may set, optionally filtered by prefix.
factory diag <cvar>	all	Show where a setting's current value came from and what it restores to.
factory <id>	admin	Select one. Sets the gametype and changes map.
factory none	admin	Clear back to your server-base.cfg values.
factory reload	admin	Re-read factories.cfg from disk.
sv factory <id|none>	console	The same, from a dedicated server console.
callvote factory <id>	all	Vote for one, subject to g_votable_factories.

Selecting a factory writes everything it carries and then changes map, so map rotations, latched mutators and spawn-time settings are all live when the level comes up. Switching factories restores every setting the outgoing one changed and the incoming one does not — back to the value your own config produced.

Controlling what players can change

Everything a player can do to the mode is gated by cvars in server-base.cfg, which no factory and no vote can reach:

Cvar	Default	Purpose
g_votable_factories	empty	Space-separated ids players may vote for. Empty allows every non-hidden factory.
g_vote_flags	0	Add 131072 to disable factory votes entirely.
g_votable_gametypes	empty	Which gametypes may be voted directly.
g_allow_admin	1	Whether players may authenticate as admin and use factory <id>.
g_gametype_locked	0	1 pins the gametype and factory: admin commands and passed votes are both refused. The server console and rcon still work, so you cannot lock yourself out. Use it for a server that plays one mode and stays there.

hostname, maxclients, admin and vote policy are outside what a factory can set, by design — a vote must not be able to rename your server or resize its slab.

Writing your own

Copy factories.cfg before editing it: a package update overwrites the shipped file. Point g_factory_file at your copy, or load both so later files override earlier ones by id and you only redefine what you care about:

set g_factory_file "factories.cfg my-factories.cfg"

factory scrim_ctf {
    title    "Scrim CTF"
    desc     "Locked competitive CTF."
    base     ctf
    ruleset  q2reb
    inherit  _base_ctf

    maps     q2ctf1 q2ctf2 q2ctf4
    rotation sequential
    players  8 8

    set capturelimit 8
    set timelimit 20
    set g_dm_do_readyup 1
}

maps, mappool, rotation and players are directives rather than set lines because they carry structure a bare string cannot — map tokens are validated the same way the map system validates them anywhere else, and the player limits are range-checked against each other. Everything else is a set against a fixed allowlist of 219 gameplay cvars.

A malformed definition is rejected on its own, named by file, line, id and reason; the rest of the file still loads. If the document is unusable — a missing file, unbalanced braces, a bounds overrun — nothing is published and the previously working registry is kept, so a bad edit cannot leave the server with no factories. factory reload says which of the two happened.

See Factories for the full key reference, the allowlist categories, and the layering and restore rules.

Per-Level Configs

When g_dm_exec_level_cfg is 1, MuffMode executes exec <mapname> at level start. It is off by default.

Per-gametype config files (gt-FFA.cfg and friends) are retired. Update ZIPs may carry inert marker files solely for v0.60.20 updater validation; MuffMode does not execute them, current updaters skip them, and the Windows installer does not install them. The v0.60.20 updater cannot replace itself while running and will install those accepted names, so preserve customized legacy files and use the current installer once (or replace the closed updater manually) to bootstrap the modern update path. If you are migrating an older server config, see the migration notes in baseq2/CONFIGS_README.md.

Admin Commands

Command	Purpose
startmatch	Force warmup to progress into match start.
endmatch	End an active match.
resetmatch	Reset the current match to warmup.
map_restart	Restart the current level and session, applying latched cvar changes.
gametype <name>	Change gametype and reset the level.
ruleset <name>	Change gameplay ruleset.
setmap <map>	Change to a map in the map list.
nextmap	Move to the next map.
shuffle	Shuffle and balance teams, then reset the match.
balance	Balance teams without a full shuffle.
setteam <player> [auto|red|blue|spectator]	Inspect or force a player team change.
`lockteam <red	blue>`
`unlockteam <red	blue>`
readyall	Mark all players ready during ready-up warmup.
unreadyall	Clear ready status during ready-up warmup.
doctor	Print diagnostics for server cvar combinations.

The Configuration Reference includes additional admin and vote details.

Debug Logging

Enable debug logging with:

g_muffmode_debug 1

Logs are written to muffmode_debug.log in the game directory. The default is 0. Turn it on while diagnosing a server issue, then turn it back off for normal public or match play. When enabled, the log captures match state transitions, player joins and team changes, vote progress, gametype and ruleset changes, entity spawning, map loading, errors, and other diagnostics.

Host Checklist

• Set hostname, connected-slot maxclients, active-player maxplayers, the separate KEX lobby capacity, and passwords before going public.
• Add a short MOTD so casual players know what kind of server they joined.
• For a KEX lobby, execute the chosen lobby-*.cfg before creating it and keep maxclients aligned with kexmultiplayer maxplayers.
• Decide whether the production structured pool/cycle or legacy factory maps own automatic rotation; copy package-owned templates before editing them.
• Pick a starting preset with factory <id> when not using a lobby config, and copy factories.cfg before editing it.
• Decide whether players can vote during matches with g_allow_vote_midgame.
• Restrict votable modes with g_votable_gametypes, g_votable_factories, and g_votable_rulesets if your server has a focused identity.
• Set g_gametype_locked 1 if the server should play one mode and stay there.
• Run doctor after config changes.
• Turn on g_muffmode_debug 1 only while investigating issues, then turn it off again for normal operation.