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XMaps' Basic Features

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XMaps has a series of Setup windows to let you configure all of its features - no more mucking about with INI files. All the XMaps Setup windows support tooltip- style help on the UnrealTournament status bar - that should be enough to get you started.

XMaps reads all the Game Types you have installed, including mods, by checking out your UnrealTournament installation. You can set up Extended map lists, Favourites and Mutators for absolutely any Game Type supported in UT. What's more, if you want to set XMaps to only use specific map prefixes for a mod - for example, CTFM for MultiCTF - you can configure this too.

XMaps can switch between any set of game types or mods you like, at random. All of the Extended map lists, Favourites and Mutators are supported while XMaps is switching games - you simply select the list of games types and mods that you'd like XMaps to switch between. As with all other XMaps features, this is both optional and completely configurable.

XMaps adds one very important feature to the 'Use All My Maps' functionality of Map Randomizer - a 'most recently used' (MRU) list. XMaps uses this MRU to track the random maps it picks, so you won't see the same map for quite some time. Guaranteed. Unless, of course, that's what you want. In which case, use...

Random map selection is all very well, but what if you want to see some of your favourite maps every now and then? Well, you use XMaps Favourites - set up a list of up to 250 maps for any game type or mod, and XMaps will pick a map from that list every now and then. Favourites work alongside Random map selection or Extended map lists, so they're always available.

Just how often the Favourites are picked is controlled from the Game Options window - from every other map (or so) to every ten maps (or so). The frequency of Favourites is slightly randomised, so it won't feel too formulaic. XMaps still uses the MRU even when Favourites are on, so you won't see maps repeated too often.

XMaps gives you complete control over a game using a series of key bindings. These allow you to skip or repeat a level, and even switch game types on the fly.

XMaps supports an in-game HUD menu that you can use in stand-alone or multi-player games to switch game types or pick a map from any of your lists - Favourites or Extended - for any game type. You can also load any map installed in UT using the Maps Installed option, or load any type of map in any game type using the Game Override feature. Most XMaps options are also available: change the Extended map list for a game type, turn Game Switching on or off, toggle the use of Favourites, change player matching options, change the XMaps map selection mode and add the current map to a suitable map list.

Since the menus can hold a lot of options, the menu scroll buttons move the menus a page at a time with a left-click. A right-click moves the menu down by a single line.

Assign a key binding to open the HUD menu. Use the Escape key or the Close option to close it.

Extended map lists are the real advance in XMaps - and there are 100 of them that you can assign to any game type or mod. The lists are called Extended because they'll hold up to 250 maps, instead of the built-in limit of 32 maps that UnrealTournament map lists support.

Each map list can be individually named, and they can be played sequentially (where each map is selected in the order of the list), or at random (when no map will be picked again until all of the maps in the list have been picked). You can also use your Favourites when playing an XMaps' Extended map list, and set up a list of Mutators that XMaps will load when the Extended map list is in use.

When a level designer publishes a map, they usually recommend an 'ideal' number of players, sometimes a fixed number like "10", sometimes a range like "8-12", "12+" or "2 to 16". To get around the problem where you have too many players in a small map, or too few in a large map, XMaps can automatically change the number of players to match the level designer's recommendation.

While UT is running, you can use XMaps to add, remove or replace bots by name. The HUD Menu offers you all the available bots by name; a replacement bot will 'inherit' the kills and deaths of the bot it replaces. Alternatively, you can just set the number of players for the game using the HUD Menu and XMaps will add or remove the right number of bots for you.

If you're fed up of having to change your Mutators list every time you change Game Types, then XMaps' Mutators list is for you. Add as many Mutators as you like for each Game Type, and when it starts up, XMaps will load them for you.

In addition to the Game Type Mutators, you can also add as many Mutators as you like to each of your Extended map lists.