• Fixed regression causing commanders to get swapped by shuffle despite being set to ignore them.

Map Vote

• Improved configuration options for nominations[github.com]:
  
  • Added options to impose a maximum number of nominations, either absolute or based on a fraction of the current player count.
    
  • Added option to decide what happens if a nomination would bring the total map options above the maximum limit.
    
  • Added options to allow nominating maps that are not in the map cycle or that would be excluded due to being played recently.

• Added friend grouping, which allows players to indicate to the shuffle optimiser that they want to play on the same team.
  
  • Like team preferences, this can be configured at 4 weighting levels using the "PlayWithFriendsWeighting" option: "NONE", "LOW", "MEDIUM" and "HIGH". Higher levels may result in less balanced teams but will favour keeping groups together more strongly.
    
  • Groups have a maximum size limit that can be configured using the "MaxFriendGroupSize" option.
    
  • Joining a group is performed using the scoreboard. Simply click a player and choose "Join friend group". To leave a friend group, click yourself and choose "Leave friend group".
    
  • Players can be prevented from adding others to friend groups on the server by denying access to "sh_add_to_friendgroup".
    
  • Players can also individually opt out of being added to friend groups by others using the client config menu (or the "sh_shuffle_block_friend_groups" command).

• Fixed script errors with countdown messages.

• Fixed plugin conflicts not being applied.
  
• Altered plugin loading to ensure that all plugin names are lower case, regardless of the case of files on the file system.
  
• Groups that inherit from other groups no longer need to define a "Commands" list.

• Re-upload to fix file name casing for badges plugin.

• Fixed clients getting disconnected when switching to a gamemode where plugins disable themselves.

Base Commands

• Added "sh_reloadmap" command.
  
• Fixed local voice chat all talk using the wrong origin for spectators that are observing a specific player in first person.

• Added "BlockUntilSecondsIntoMap" option.

• Added "BlockUntilSecondsIntoMap" option, which determines how long to wait after a map change before a shuffle vote is allowed.
  
• Renamed other time-based options to clarify their units.
  
• Removed tolerance value options as they do not affect shuffle results in a positive way.
  
• Team preference configuration is now output in "sh_teamstats".
  
• Fixed all players flashing on the scoreboard when opening it for the first time with players already on teams.

• Consistency checking is now enforced for extensions and other dynamically loaded files regardless of the server's consistency configuration to ensure only those present on the server may be loaded.
  
• It is no longer possible to load/unload the client side of a shared plugin using console commands or the auto-load system.

• Extensions are now loaded in a way that permits catching and reporting syntax/execution errors during the load process. As a side effect of this, file hooks will no longer detect extension files being loaded.
  
• Added a new way to define plugins that avoids needing to call "Shine:RegisterExtension()". All plugins included in the main mod now use this approach, though the old approach will also continue to work and will not be removed.
  
• Consistency checking is now enforced on all dynamically loaded scripts automatically when using "Shine.LoadScriptsByPath" on the server.

• Fixed script error at startup with certain 3rd party plugins.

Bans

• Fixed a script error that could occur when a vanilla ban entry has a non-number "time" value.

• "sh_changelevel" ("!map") now accepts map names without the "ns2_" prefix, as well as partial map names. It will first attempt to find an exact matching map, then add "ns2_" to the start, and finally search all known maps for exactly one that contains the given map name. If a map is unknown (i.e. not in the map cycle or mounted as a ".level" file), it will no longer attempt to load it blindly and instead display an error message.

• Fixed an empty space being left at the bottom of the chatbox sometimes after many messages have been received.

• The default start delay time is now 30 seconds.
  
• Updated the configuration format[github.com] to be more clear around time units and the selected mode.

• Fixed an incorrect message being displayed when automatic score based/random teams are enabled/disabled.
  
• When auto-assigning is enabled, the "you have been placed on a team" message will no longer show when the assigned team matches the desired team.

• Fixed a script error when evaluating permissions if the "InheritsFrom" value in a group is not an array.
  
• String values for "InheritsFrom" are now interpreted as a single group whose name is the given string, rather than ignored.
  
• Using the string value ""true"" for the "IsBlacklist" group flag is now interpreted the same as boolean "true".

• Hooks are no longer duplicated when "Hook.SetupClassHook" or "Hook.SetupGlobalHook" are called with the same hook name and function/class method.
  
• Adding the same hook name more than once with "Hook.SetupClassHook" or "Hook.SetupGlobalHook" against a different function/class method will now log a warning message.
  
• Providing an unknown mode name to "Hook.SetupClassHook" or "Hook.SetupGlobalHook" will now result in an error rather than silently failing.

AFK Kick

• Fixed players not being seen as moving if a server is configured with an initial delay to AFK kicking.

Vote Shuffle

• Players that have never moved since loading in will now be treated as AFK and not placed on a team, regardless of how long they have been idle.

• Removed old NS2:Combat compatibility layer.

Base Commands

• Added "sh_listgags" command to print all gagged players to the console.

• Team preference can now be accounted for during team optimisation. Set the "TeamPreferences.CostWeighting" to one of "LOW", "MEDIUM" or "HIGH" to control how strongly to consider team preference. Higher values may result in slightly more imbalanced teams, but should better respect team preferences.
  
• Improved behaviour when team preference weighting is "NONE" to no longer ignore potential swaps when players have a team preference but are not on the team they want.
  
• Team preferences are now automatically set whenever a player intentionally joins a team using either console commands or walking through a team door.
  
  • This is set even if they cannot yet join the given team.
    
  • This preference is reset at the end of a round.
    
  • The existing team preference option is used as a default if no team has been selected.
• The vote menu now displays the current team preference if one is set.