Editing Server Variables

The BZFlag Server (BZFS) allows administrators to configure a large number of gameplay and configuration settings from within the client.  The /set command in-game allows users with the appropriate permissions to change these values.  These may also be known as BZDB variables and "/set variables" depending on who you speak with.

Unless otherwise noted, time values are measured in seconds, distances in [[world units]], and speeds in [[world units]] per second.

{{InfoBox|Note|Some of these, such as _worldSize, may require a rejoin before they take effect.  It is recommended to apply these in the map file (if they apply specifically to the map, such as _worldSize and _tankSpeed), through the server configuration file, or from the command line.  This ensures that all players that join will have the proper gameplay experience.}}
{|{{Prettytable}}
|-
|{{Hl3}}|'''Name'''
|{{Hl3}}|'''Default'''
|{{Hl3}}|'''Description'''
|-
| _agilityAdVel || 2.25 || Multiplies _tankSpeed for tanks holding Agility flag for a specified amount of time (_agilityTimeWindow)
|-
| _agilityTimeWindow || 1 || The amount of time (in seconds) that the tank will have the speed specified by _agilityAdVel
|-
| _agilityVelDelta || 0.3 || How fast the agility accelerates the player to _agilityAdVel.
|-
| _ambientLight || none ||
|-
| _angleTolerance || 0.05 || If a tank has turned more than it was expected to, plus this tolerance, a new update is sent so the other clients are aware of the change in heading
|-
| _angularAd || 1.5 || Multiplies _tankAngVel to determine how fast tanks can turn while holding the Quick Turn flag
|-
| _avenueSize || 2*_boxBase || The amount of space to leave between boxes on randomly generated maps.
|-
| _baseSize || 60 || Width and Depth (bases have constant height) of the square bases for CTF games
|-
| _boxBase || 30 || The smallest amount of Width and Depth a randomly generated box may have.
|-
| _boxHeight || 6*_muzzleHeight || Size of radar box around tanks, as they move in Z. {up and down)
|-
| _burrowDepth || -1.32 || Determines how far down tanks drop when they have the Burrow Flag. Making this much lower makes it below the floor, and impossible to kill the tank without something like a ShockWave flag!
|-
| _burrowSpeedAd || .8 || Multiplied by _tankSpeed to determine how fast tanks holding the Burrow Flag move.
|-
| _burrowAngularAd || .55 || Multiplied by _tankAngVel to determine how fast tanks can turn while holding the Burrow flag.
|-
| _coldetDepth || 6 ||
|-
| _coldetElements || 4 || 
|-
| _countdownResumeTime || 5 || This enforces a delay when resuming a paused countdown. If the argument is lower or equal to 0 then resuming is instantly, otherwise it is delayed according to the value (in seconds). ''Available in 2.1 and later''
|-
| _countdownResumeDelay || 5 || Legacy name for _countdownResumeTime, was renamed in 2.1 and later.
|-
| _cullDepth || 6 ||
|-
| _cullDist || fog || Far plane culling distance ('fog' uses the fog parameters).
|-
| _cullElements || 16 || 
|-
| _cullOccluders || 0 ||
|-
| _disableBots || none || A value of 1 in this variable does not allow autopilot or bots on the server, equivalent to the old -prohibitbots command line option. 
|-
| _disableSpeedChecks || 0 || Allows disabling/enabling the speed kicks.
|-
| _disableHeightChecks || 0 || Allows disabling/enabling the "too high" check.
|-
| _drawCelestial || 1 || Draw the stars, sun, and moon.
|-
| _drawClouds || 1 || Draw the clouds.
|-
| _drawGround || 1 || Draw the ground plane.
|-
| _drawGroundLights || 1 || If set to 0, lights on the ground (such as the light from bullets) will not be drawn.
|-
| _drawMountains || 1 || Draw the mountains.
|-
| _drawSky || 1 || Draw the sky pyramid.
|-
| _enableDistanceCheck || 0 || Distance checking tries to verify if a player moved too far between updates (as in, cheating).
|-
| _endShotDetection || 5 || This setting controls how many "end shot" messages can be sent without corresponding deaths (or other reasons, such as a shield drop).
|-
| _explodeTime || 5 || After a tank is killed, this is how long it takes to blow up, and then "respawn". Larger values translates into longer explosions and more client processor time. Note that an explosion is invisible if you are inside it, so large values may make it invisible up close, and extremely large values may make explosions entirely invisible.
|-
| _flagAltitude || 11 || The height that the flag flies up when dropped and the height that a flag spawns at.
|-
| _flagEffectTime || 0.64 || How much time it takes for the flag to go into effect and how quickly the tank spawns from miniature to full size.
|-
| _flagHeight || 10 || The height of the flag (not its pole).
|-
| _flagPoleWidth || 0.025 || The diameter of the flag pole.
|-
| _flagPoleSize || 0.8 || The height of the flag pole.
|-
| _flagRadius || 2.5 || Determines how close a tank must be to a flag to pick it up.
|-
| _fogMode || none || Valid values: linear, exp, or exp2.
|-
| _fogDensity || 0.001 || Used for exp and exp2 fog modes.
|-
| _fogNoSky || 0 || 1 will turn off fog drawing on the sky. The default is fog everywhere.
|-
| _fogStart || 0.5*_worldSize || Used for linear fog mode, the distance where fog begins to occlude vision.
|-
| _fogEnd || _worldSize || Used for linear fog mode, the distance where the fog occludes everything.
|-
| _fogColor || "0.25 0.25 0.25" || "RED,GREEN,BLUE" values between 0.0 and 1.0 and/or basic colors such as blue, teal, black, pink, gray3, red4, etc.
|-
| _forbidHunting || 0 || If turned on (1), prevents players from hunting others.
|-
| _forbidIdentify || 0 || If turned on (1), prevents players from identifying others on the world map.
|-
| _forbidMarkers || 0 || If turned on (1), removes the large flag markers that appear to indicate where your team flag(s) is.
|-
| _friction || 0  || Zero is normal friction, the closer to 0 the harder it is to start and stop, and the higher the number the easier it is to start and stop.
|-
| _gmActivationTime || 0.5  || The amount of time (in seconds) it takes for a Guided Missile to become active after it is fired. Any contact under this time will not result in detonation (setting it too low could cause its owner to run into its own GM and be blown up!
|-
| _gmAdLife || 0.95 || Multiplied by _shotRange to determine the distance guided missiles will go.
|-
| _gmSize || 1.5 || The size (in WU) of the GM missile shown for players with good graphics settings.
|-
| _gmTurnAngle || 0.628319 || The angle at which a Guided Missile will turn to follow its target. (Measured in radians)
|-
| _gravity || -9.8 ||  The rate at which a tank will fall (or be kept from jumping) Measured in [[World units]]/Seconds^2. Setting this to a zero or positive value will result in tanks being unable to stay down and will float away.
|-
| _handicapScoreDiff || 50 || How much of a score difference from the average of all player's scores there must be for a player to get a handicap
|-
| _handicapVelAd || 2 || Player with handicap will receive this much more (_tankSpeed * _handicapVelAd) velocity than the normal _tankSpeed value.
|-
| _handicapAngAd || 1.5 || Player with handicap will receive this much more (_angularAd * _handicapAngAd) turning ability than the normal _angularAd value.
|-
| _handicapShotAd || 1.75 || Player with handicap will receive this much more (_shotSpeed * _handicapShotAd) bullet speed than the normal _shotSpeed value.
|-
| _hideFlagsOnRadar || 0 || No flags will appear on the radar.
|-
| _hideTeamFlagsOnRadar || 0 || No team flags will appear on the radar.
|-
| _identifyRange || 50 || If a flag is this distance or closer to a tank carrying the Identify (ID) flag, it will display the closest flag's type.
|-
| _inertiaAngular || 38 || Sets the maximum angular acceleration. Available in version 3.0. Replaces the "-a" option. 
|-
| _inertiaLinear || 45 || Sets the maximum linear acceleration. Available in version 3.0. Replaces the "-a" option. 
|-
| _jumpVelocity || 19 || The speed a tank moves vertically while jumping.
|-
| _laserAdVel || 1000 || The length of each laser shot. Lasers aren't exactly "infinite" as their description states, they go on for as long as this variable states.
|-
| _laserAdRate || 0.5 || Multiplied by _rFireAdRate to determine the firing rate for a laser.
|-
| _laserAdLife || 0.1 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a laser remains after being fired.
|-
| _latitude || 37.5 ||  The latitude at which the world exists. This affects the timezone.
|-
| _lgGravity|| 12.7 ||  Modifies the gravity for owners of the Low Gravity flag. Similar to the _gravity variable. ''Available starting in version 2.1''
|-
| _lockOnAngle || 0.15 || Angle (in radians) in relation to tanks heading (positive or negative) that will allow a Guided Missile to lock onto a target.
|-
| _longitude || 122 || The longitude at which the world exists. This affects the timezone.
|-
| _lRAdRate || 0.5 ||
|-
| _maxBumpHeight || 0.33 || Any difference between the surface a tank is on and the top surface of an object the tank runs into that is less than this value will allow the tank to simply move up to the object rather than being stopped by it.
|-
| _maxFlagGrabs || 4.0 || How many times a flag can be dropped before it respawns. At the first spawn, flags are assigned a random # between 1 and _maxFlagGrabs. Each grab reduces that number by 1, until zero is reached, then the flag spawns at a new location. Flags will always respawn no matter how many flag grabs they have left if dropped over an 'unsafe' zone.
|-
| _maxLOD || 32767 || The max level of detail to allow.
|-
| _mirror || none || Options: '''white''', '''black''', '''red''', '''blue''', '''pink''', '''purple''', '''orange''', etc... ("black 0.75" is a good setting, some invalid options such as '''mirror''' will give a mirror look)
|-
| _momentumLinAcc || 1 || Momentum flag's effect on going forwards and backwards.
|-
| _momentumAngAcc || 1 || Momentum flag's effect on turning.
|-
| _momentumFriction || 0 || Friction (same as _friction) when holding the Momentum flag.
|-
| _mGunAdVel || 1/_mGunAdRate || The speed of the machine gun's bullets.
|-
| _mGunAdRate || 10 || _reloadTime divided by _mGunAdRate gives how long machine gun bullets take to reload.
|-
| _mGunAdLife || 1.5 || Multiplied by _shotRange to determine the distance machine gun bullets go.
|-
| _muzzleFront || _tankRadius + 0.1 || Location of muzzle of tank (affects bullets and player camera location).
|-
| _muzzleHeight || 1.57 || See _muzzleFront.
|-
| _noClimb || 1 || Allow or disallow climbing on sloped surfaces. A value of 0 allows, 1 disallows.
|-
| _noShadows || 0 || Enables or disables shadows. A value of 0 allows, 1 disallows.
|-
| _noSmallPackets || 0 ||
|-
| _notRespondingTime || 5 || The amount of time (in seconds) the server should wait before reporting a tank as not responding.
|-
| _obeseFactor || 2.5 || Multiplier of normal size that determines how big a tank gets when carrying the Obese flag.
|-
| _pauseDropTime || 15 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a tank needs to be paused before its flag is dropped automatically.
|-
| _positionTolerance || 0.09 || If a tank has moved more than this amount in position, send a new update to all tank players.
|-
| _pyrBase || 4 * _tankHeight || Base size of pyramids generated by the default random map generator.
|-
| _pyrHeight || 5 * _tankHeight || Height of pyramids generated by the default random map generator.
|-
| _radarLimit || _worldSize || The maximum area that the radar can see (when not rotated).
|-
| _rainBaseColor || none || When _rainType = rain, sets color of the bottom of raindrops.
|-
| _rainDensity || none || Determines how many drops of rain are in the space defined by _rainSpread.
|-
| _rainEndZ || none || The height above the ground where rain should stop falling.
|-
| _rainMaxPuddleTime || none || The amount of time (in seconds) a rain puddle should exist before disappearing.
|-
| _rainPuddleSpeed || none || The speed at which puddles should spread out.
|-
| _rainPuddleColor || none || Color of rain puddles. none means no puddle.
|-
| _rainPuddleTexture ||none || Texture of puddles. Best to leave default.
|-
| _rainRoofs || 1 || '''0''' rain falls through everything<br>'''1''' rain hits buildings, but puddles are only on the ground<br>'''2''' rain hits buildings, and creates puddles on them
|-
| _rainSpread || none || The radius from center of map where rain will fall.
|-
| _rainSpeed || none || The speed at which the rain falls.
|-
| _rainSpeedMod || none || Randomizes _rainSpeed by adding/subtracting up to this number from each raindrop's speed
|-
| _rainSpins || none || '''0''' Rain does not spin as it falls<br>'''1''' Rain spins as it falls.
|-
| _rainStartZ || none || The height above ground that rain should fall from.
|-
| _rainTexture || none || The name of the texture in data directory.<br>''Works with _rainTypes of frog, particle, bubble, snow, fatrain''
|-
| _rainTopColor ||none || When _rainType = rain, sets color of the top of raindrops.
|-
| _rainType || none || Adjusts all _rain* and _use* variables automatically<br>Valid Options : '''frog''', '''particle''', '''rain''', '''bubble''', '''snow''', '''fatrain'''
|-
| _rejoinTime || _explodeTime || The number of seconds before clients can rejoin a game, after they leave.
|-
| _rejumpTime || 0.01 || From version 3.0. Time a tank has to wait before he can jump again after landing. Any value higher than 0 will make it difficult to jump away from sloped faces like pyramids.
|-
| _reloadTime || _shotRange/_shotSpeed || Time between shot reloads, note that this can cut shot range short.
|-
| _rFireAdVel || 1.5 || Multiplied by _shotSpeed to determine the speed of the rapid fire bullets.
|-
| _rFireAdRate || 2 || The reload time (in seconds) for rapid fire bullets.
|-
| _rFireAdLife || 1/_rFireAdRate || How long the rapid fire bullets last.
|-
| _shieldFlight || 2.7 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a shield flag floats in the air (after you drop it) before coming down again.
|-
| _shockAdLife || 0.2 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a shockwave lasts.
|-
| _shockInRadius || _tankLength || The starting radius of the shockwave. Negative values will make the shockwave shrink and expand.
|-
| _shockOutRadius || 60 || The outer radius of the shockwave. If greater than _shockInRadius, the shockwave expands outward. If less than _shockInRadius, the shockwave starts big and shrinks inward.
|-
| _shotRadius || 0.5 || For collision detection.
|-
| _shotRange || 350 || Range of shots, note that they can be cut short by _reloadTime <small>(run <code>/reset _reloadTime</code> after setting _shotRange to avoid this)</small>.
|-
| _shotSpeed || 100 || Speed of shots. If you're experiencing issues after changing the value of this variable (e.g. players not shooting or shots not killing), you should call <code>/reset _reloadTime</code>.
|-
| _shotTailLength || 4 ||
|-
| _shotsKeepVerticalVelocity || 0 || If '''0''', shots always move straight in relation to the ground. If '''1''', shots are affected vertically by the tank's speed, and can fly up and down. Lasers are also affected. 
|-
| _skyColor || white || Sets the sky to a specific color.
|-
| _spawnMaxCompTime || 0.01 || This controls the maximum amount of time to attempt finding a safe spawn location. If this time is exceeded, the tank will just get dropped in from maximum height. The time should be in seconds, so the default is to only wait for 10ms.
|-
| _spawnSafeRadMod || 20 || How far away players are forced to spawn from enemy tanks.
|-
|_spawnSafeSRMod || 20 || How far away players are forced to spawn from tanks with Steamroller.
|-
|_spawnSafeSWMod || 1.5 || How far away players are forced to spawn from tanks with Shockwave.
|-
| _speedChecksLogOnly || 0 || If set to 1, someone moving too fast will not get kicked - it will just log it to the stdout.
|-
| _srRadiusMult || 2 || Radius of steamroller effect.
|-
| _squishFactor || 1 || How much tanks squish when landing.
|-
| _squishTime || 1 || How much squishy time you get after falling to the ground.
|-
| _syncTime || 1 || Whether or not to sync the players time with the servers'.
|-
| _syncLocation || 0 || Whether or not to sync the location time with the servers'.
|-
| _tankAngVel || 0.785398 || How fast the tank can turn.
|-
| _tankExplosionSize || 3.5 * _tankLength || How large the tank's explosion is.
|-
| _tankHeight || 2.05 || The height of the tank.
|-
| _tankLength || 6 || The length of the tank.
|-
| _tankRadius || 0.72 * _tankLength || The radius of the tank.
|-
| _tankSpeed || 25 || The speed of the tank
|-
| _tankWidth || 2.8 || The width of the tank.
|-
| _targetingAngle || 0.3 || How far in radians the player can be offset in facing a target to still target them. (Identify or Guided Missile Lock On)
|-
| _teleportBreadth || 4.48 || How much width a randomly generated teleporter has.
|-
| _teleportHeight || 10.08 || How much height a randomly generated teleporter has.
|-
| _teleportTime || 1 || If a teleporting tank exceeds this time, it no longer teleports.
|-
| _teleportWidth || 1.12 || How much width a randomly generated teleporter has. Note that this is not to be confused with the "X" size of teleporters. It is the size of a border.
|-
| _thiefAdLife || 0.05 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a thief shot lasts.
|-
| _thiefAdRate || 12 || The amount of time (in seconds) that the Thief "shot" reloads.
|-
| _thiefAdShotVel || 8 || The speed of thief.
|-
| _thiefTinyFactor || 0.5 || Multiplied by the normal tank size to shrink a tank carrying the thief flag.
|-
| _thiefVelAd || 1.67 || Multiplied by _tankSpeed to determine how fast tanks holding the thief goes.
|-
| _thiefDropTime || reloadTime * 0.5 ||The amount of time you must wait to fire a shot after stealing a flag.
|-
| _tinyFactor || 0.4 || Multiplied by the normal tank size to shrink a tank carrying the tiny flag.
|-
| _trackFade || 3 || The amount of time (in seconds) before track marks fade.
|-
| _updateThrottleRate || 30 || The maximum number of position updates clients will send every second. Higher values mean higher bandwidth consumption and more server processing time.
|-
| _useLineRain || none || '''0''' Rain is not a vertical line<br>'''1''' Rain is vertical lines, smoothly shaded from _rainTopColor to _rainBaseColor
|-
| _useRainPuddles || none || '''0''' Rain does not create puddles<br>'''1''' Rain creates puddles
|-
| _useRainBillboards || none || '''0''' Rain is lines or polygons<br>'''1''' Rain is billboards, textured and look the same from all angles
|-
| _velocityAd || 1.5 || Multiplies _tankSpeed to determine the speed of a tank carrying the high speed (V) flag
|-
| _wallHeight || 3 * _tankHeight|| The outer wall height.
|-
| _weapons || 1 || Used with world weapons, '''0''' world weapons will not fire<br>'''1''' world weapons will fire
|-
| _wideAngleAng || 1.745329 || The viewing angle when a tank has the Wide Angle bad flag.
|-
| _wingsGravity || _gravity || How much gravity affects tanks with the WG flag.
|-
| _wingsJumpCount || 1 || The number of jumps a tank with the wings flag can do before returning to the ground.
|-
| _wingsJumpVelocity || _jumpVelocity || The initial velocity of a jump with wings, in [[world units]]/sec.
|-
| _wingsSlideTime || 0 || When in the air, the tanks will slide for this long.
|-
| _worldSize || 800 || The size of the world from one end to the other. This would not be the same as the [[World_(object)|World Object]] '''size''' option as that one accepts a size parameter from the center to one end.
|}

[[Category:Server]]