• Fixed script error when optimising teams with player groups where a player was excluded by other mods or lack of Hive skill data.

• 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.