Setup Guide for Team Fortress 2 Mann vs Machine

Required software

A player needs Team Fortress 2 and nothing more. The randomizer stays on the server.

The host needs:

• tf2ap.exe on Windows, or tf2ap-linux-amd64 on Linux, from the latest release. Docker works too.
• About 20 GB of disk space. The server downloads about 14 GB at the first start.
• The Archipelago app, to generate the seed.

The full guide is the book at m-this.github.io/tf2-archipelago.

Configure your YAML

The launcher writes the YAML for you: Settings, then Player options, then Generate seed. To write it by hand, the options are under Team Fortress 2 Mann vs Machine:

• mission_count: how many missions the run uses. Eight is about one evening.
• difficulty_pool: the easiest tier the run draws from. The run also draws every tier above it.
• goal: final_boss or missionsanity.
• missionsanity_percentage: the share of missions Missionsanity asks for.
• excluded_missions: missions the run never draws.
• start_mission and start_class: where the run starts. random by default.
• class_weapon_slots: off, progressive or any_order. Each class earns its own slots.
• mission_ticket_importance, class_unlock_importance, weapon_slot_importance, weapon_buff_importance: progression, useful, or disabled. Disabled tickets, classes and slots are all unlocked from the start and absent from the reward pool. Disabled buffs never appear; spare checks pay cash instead. Tickets, classes and slots default to progression, buffs to useful.
• cash_rewards: whether spare checks pay cash. Off by default, so every spare check pays a weapon buff unless buffs are disabled.
• weapon_buff_percentage: with cash on, the share of spare checks that pay a buff. The default is 75.
• weapon_buff_stack_chance: how often a buff adds a level to one already in the seed. The default is 25.
• trap_percentage: the share of spare checks that hold a trap. The default is 1.
• traps: which traps the seed draws from, by key. The default is team_jarate alone, and an empty list means the same.
• victory_caches, milestone_checks, giantsanity, tanksanity: more checks. Off by default.
• death_link: off by default. A lost wave kills every linked player, and one of their deaths wipes your team.

Join a game

1. Install the server with the launcher. Press Start and wait for the download.
2. Generate the seed, upload it at archipelago.gg/uploads, and create a room.
3. Paste the room address into the launcher and press Restart.
4. Give your friends the connect line from the Join line. They type it in the Team Fortress 2 console, after password <the server password> if you set one.

The server picks the mission. There is no map vote: the run decides which mission you play.

Where the state lives

The bridge holds the Archipelago session and the unlocks, and writes both to disk. The state survives a restart, a map change and a crash inside a wave. The game continues when the room is unreachable. The checks arrive when the room comes back.