AutoHost is a bot that I created whose sole purpose is to host games 24/7 for people to join. All games are intended to be All Welcome games so that anyone can join and be able to play without fear of being kicked due to rating or due to low game count. As part of this AutoHost games are Full Share, Optimal Balance mirrored, hosted on mapgen maps. the purpose of these settings is to try and create an environment where any player can get a game and not be punished or flamed for dying early or not knowing a map meta and additionally FullShare has seemed more conducive to games with larger rating disparities.

AutoHost Games will launch once all players slots are filled and every player is X'ed. It will notify players to X and will kick anyone who is AFK for greater than a minute when all the player slots are full.

Additionally if AutoHost does not have any players join the lobby for greater than 10 minutes then a new lobby with a new map will be created.

Feel free to join an AutoHost lobby and get playing.

Please note this is an alpha implementation which is running on my local machine and is not an official FAF bot so there may be times when AutoHost is down. Feel free to report any bugs or issues here and I can work on fixing them and implementing additional features.

The FAF Association General meeting for 2022 has concluded and a new board has been elected. I would like to thank the outgoing President Sheeo and Board Members Nostalgic Futurist, Dragun101, Fury, and Swkoll for the work they have done over the past year.

I am pleased to announce the elected board for the next year:

• Archsimkat
• Askaholic
• Brutus5000
• BlackYPS
• Giebmasse
• Jip
• Rezy-Noob
• Tagada
• Sheikah - Elected President

The board and I look forward to working to improve FAF throughout the year.

The Board of the FAF Association has decided to issue the following statement after the military action launched by Russia in Ukraine:

The Board expresses its grave concern about the military action started by Russia in Ukraine. Alongside the UN, we stand united against war as well as condemn any use of military means to resolve political conflicts.

Since the 24th of February the war between Ukraine and Russia has widely impacted us as a community. On one hand we've had people dropping out of tournaments, while on the other there have been discussions about the war that, at times, spread blatant misinformation regarding the military action. As a board, we've decided to take steps to provide a safe online environment for all of our community members.

All discussions about the war between Russia and Ukraine must happen within #politics on Discord and in the IRC client chat. Any discussions or statements that are a reference to the war outside of the designated channels can be reported to the moderation team, regardless of their nature. By doing this we create an opt-in environment for those who desire it, and preserve the regular FAF experience for those who do not.

Any claim or statement in the designated channels that is not supported by the United Nations may be subject to moderation. We understand that the first casualty of war is truth and especially in the information era today this is even more the case according to experts appointed by the Human Rights Council. We consider the United Nations as our ground truth, and we will use it as our standard for moderation.

We understand that the actions of a country do not necessarily reflect the views of its citizens—therefore, we will not ban or otherwise suppress Russian members of our community over the actions of their government. That being said, with tensions so high, we ask our members to refrain from engaging in excessive political discourse.

The Board notes that the FAF Association is based in Denmark, and as a direct consequence it is not possible to transfer FAF prize funds towards Russian players. We are bound to Danish laws as they are enacted with respect to this conflict.

New Map Generator UI!

With Downlord's Client 1.1.9 the map generator has gained a new UI for generating maps with user specified terrain options.
In order to GENERATE and PLAY maps which utilize the UI options you MUST HAVE Downlord's Client Version 1.1.9 or higher

The following options are available as inputs to map generation:

Number of Spawns: Number of spawn points the map is generated with. Supports 2 to 16 players. Currently only supports balanced team spawns.
Map Size: Size of the map to be generated. Only supports square maps (5km, 10km and 20km).
Water: The probability/amount of water appearing on the map
Plateaus: The probability/amount of plateaus appearing on the map
Mountains: The probability/amount of mountains appearing on the map
Ramps: The probability/amount of ramps appearing on the map (Note: Ramps are the connections between plateaus and ground level)

It is also now possible to regenerate a map by using the name of the form neroxis_map_generator_(version)(seed)(options)
This can also be utilized to specify the options directly. The format for parsing the options from the map name can be found in the source.

Client Version 1.1.9 also supports watching replays of generated map games

Notes:

• Generation time increases with map size. Optimizations are underway.
• Generating 16 player 5km maps may occasionally fail due to space constraints. If this occurs generate with new seed.
• Map Terrain Generation originally optimized for 10km maps. Optimization for 5km and 20km maps still underway.
• Terrain control options are not a guarantee that a certain amount of that feature will be present in the generated map. They are used for initial seeding only.
• Maps with mostly water will generate water mexes where possible rather than clumping mexes on small amounts of land
• Map Generation not supported on the python client
• Maps Generated Names of the form neroxis_map_generator_(version)_(seed) where seed is numeric will be compatible with older clients

Feel free to stop by the Map Generator Discord: https://discord.gg/XZW62UdYfm

Additionally new features have been added and are included below

Version 1.0.10

• Unit Wrecks now spawn as reclaim (T1-T3 Land, T2 Destroyers, T2 Navy Factories)
• New Symmetries Added (Symmetries: X, Y, XY, YX, QUAD, DIAG, POINT)
• Reclaim Generation Improved (Added cliff rocks and variation of placement)
• Mex Expansions Added (Expansions of 2-4 mexes randomly placed on map)
• Support Mexes Added (Each Base will have 1-3 support mexes nearby)
• Generate previews with better coloring and lighting
• Guarantee space for base building at spawn points
• Odd/Even Teams are guaranteed on all maps and represent mirror positions

As always if you have any suggestions for features of the map generator please comment in this thread.
If a generated map has issues please let me know by messaging me with the map name so that the cause can be investigated.

This topic is meant to introduce the new features and updates that are being added to the client for version v2021.10.0. As the new PRs are merged they will be added here. Please note with this release we are switching to a calendar based release versioning. As well I will try to have the beta and release candidates out for a longer period of time prior to release. The pre-release is now available at https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/releases/tag/v2021.10.0-RC1

• Add Ability to play games offline from the login screen https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2353
  This allows launching games from login. Note that this option requires you to have launched an online game at least once in order to download and install the necessary files. It will use whatever default faf version you currently have installed.

• Fix bug that stops opening local replays https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2358

• Allow uploaded maps to be ranked https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2357

• Fix Bug stopping matchmaker's map lists from being displayed https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2356

• Allow searches by number of players in a map https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2364

• Allow game options to be set by matchmaker queue https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2339

• Use client language to auto join language channels https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2369

• Add ability to generate maps in 1.25km increments https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2375

• Increase timeout for dns resolution https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2377
  This aims to resolve the issue some people have with not being able to login.

• Bump ice adapter to 3.1.2 https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2378

• Log all exceptions thrown to enable better debugging capabilities https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2394

• Add retry for when api is temporarily down due to restart or reconfiguration https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2385

• Close match maker game when the game has been cancelled by the server and is stuck in setting up auto match https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2389

• Add names for 4v4 queues https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2376

• Add version labels to map cards and allow authors to see all versions https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2392

• Add more detailed error messages during map and mod upload https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2388

• Remove the downlord branding from the UI and installation in the client https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2379

TL;DR The Council of Setons has been replaced with FAF teams of contributors who are responsible with maintaining the core aspects of FAF. Members of each team and their descriptions can be found on the wiki here FAF Teams.

During the previous General Meeting of the FAF Association, the members of the association decided to transition the maintenance of FAF away from the previously known Council of Setons into a more distributed set of teams that are each responsible for a distinct area of the FAF community. This was done to hopefully increase transparency of the inner workings of FAF as well as help to keep contributors and players engaged in the community.

Previously the Council of Setons was made up of 8 councilors: Administration, Balance, Game, DevOps, Promotions, Creative, Player, Moderation. The duties of the councilors has been split between the following 11 teams: Trainer, Community, Promotions, FAFLive, Tournament, Matchmaking, Balance, Game, Creative, Moderation, and DevOps. The members and elected leaders of each team can be found on the wiki. If you are interested to start contributing to FAF in any of the areas feel free to reach out to the members on the team for more info.

Additionally the Player Councillor position has been removed and its various responsibilities split up. The aspect of community engagement will be picked up by the newly introduced Community Manager who is elected by the general FAF player base in May.

We would like to thank all the past councilors who helped to make FAF what it is today and look forward to continuing to work with the board and new teams.

From a practical standpoint there should be no disruptions to FAF operations due to any of these changes.

Please note that due to changes to how content is retrieved from the server the minimum client version will be increased.

What's Changed

New Features

• Set process priority to high on Windows by @micheljung in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2761
• Remove mirrors and use header for hmac verification by @Sheikah45 in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2771
• Download all matchmaker maps before joining queue by @Sheikah45 in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2775

Bug Fixes

• Use case insensitive sorting for map names by @Sheikah45 in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2772
• Update game before queue and add better game start error logging by @Sheikah45 in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2773
• Use proper version for featured mod updates and use scenario file as primary source for map folder path by @Sheikah45 in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2760
• Remove size from ReplayDetailController by @Sheikah45 in https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2779

My cat killed the computer I was using to run autohost

As some of you may have noticed there has been new missions and development of the SCFA and FAF Custom Campaigns.

FAF has been excited to see these continuing developments in Coop to support the PvE community at FAF. To help faciliate further development the board has approved the formation of the Campaign team who will be responsible for the developement of the Coop featured mod as well as the campaign maps.

The initial point of contact for the campaign team is @Rezy-Noob who helped coordinate the efforts to form this team. Feel free to reach out to him to see how you can get involved.

We look forward to future developments!

This topic is meant to introduce the new features and updates that are being added to the client for version v1.4.7. As the new PRs are merged they will be added here. The pre-release is now available at https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/releases/tag/v1.4.7-RC2

• Rework game and player server messages to not be processed on the UI thread https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2276 https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2280

• Add traditional chinese language https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2256

• Highlight games with friends in them https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2264

• Author text no longer intersects with version https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2277

• Fix mention for usernames with dash https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2271

• Remember set password on rehost https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2267

• Reset client after log out https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2265

• Use new recommended maps and mods list https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2260

• Add rating filter for replays https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2144

• Don't crash on invalid map file names https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2262

• Stop multiple ping sounds in a row https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2263

• Show rating on hover in rating graph https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2228

• Update mods before hosting https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2255

• Change invite UI to be button based https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/pull/2182

Old features in 1.4.5 that didn't have an announcment

• Number of teams option for map generator https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/issues/2252

• Private User game status will properly update https://github.com/FAForever/downlords-faf-client/issues/2242

@magge

This has been tested and experimented with and was ultimately decided to not be changed.

You can see the conversation here https://github.com/FAForever/fa/pull/3361

I would check your antivirus isn't blocking it

What settings are you running with?

If this is an error you are getting from the steam login page there is not much we can do

Don't put your maps in OneDrive. The cloud syncing really messes with the game and it can't open sometimes

Nope, have been using the same version for a while.

The client can't open a browser because it doesn't have permission to access the function that opens the browser

It was a bug with not setting the default teams since ladder implicitly assumes it is set to two by default. This has now been fixed, so shouldn't happen again.

I rolled back the version so it should be fine while I look into what caused it

That is definitely a bug. I will investigate