SpringLobby User's Guide
This Guide is written for people who have never made use of the Spring-RTS platform. It is taken for granted that you have already visited http://springrts.com/ and installed the Spring software package suitable to your operating system.
Getting Started
Online Multiplayer
To start discovering the interesting and exciting diversity of games you can play over the internet with different players from all over the world using the Spring-RTS engine you need a lobby client. A lobby client is a piece of software that configures the Spring-RTS engine to use the right maps, mods and to connect to the right server. On top of that a lobby client allows you to interact with your fellow player before you start playing. Springlobby is such a lobby client and it uses a Graphical User Interface that will help you find the right game. So let's get gaming.
First you will need to start the SpringLobby program. Windows users can find the executable in their Spring installation directory (e.g. C:\program files\Spring\SpringLobby.exe). Ubuntu users can start the program by going to the Applications - Games section and clicking SpringLobby icon. The first time you try to connect to the Spring Multiplayer Lobby server you will need to register, to do that first click the multiplayer tab (1). A box will appear asking you to login, inside that box click the register tab (2). Use the information fields to enter your desired name and your password.
Once you have successfully made an account, SpringLobby will automatically switch back to the login form and enter your data. If you are the only person using Spring on this computer it might be useful to tick the save password and the Log me in autoconnect next time boxes. Click OK and a license agreement will appear. Read it and if you agree click the corresponding box. You will now connect to the server. Once you are connected you will get a screen that looks something like this.
This is the chat-tab it has everything to do with sending messages into IRC-like channels. You can switch between the different channels by clicking on the different smaller tabs (e.g. Springlobby or Official Server) or you can close. To join a channel click tools -> join channel (or Alt, T, J).
At the right side of the screen you can see a list of all players present in the current channel. You can start a private conversation with them by double clicking their name, or you can right click to see in what other ways you can interact with that player, like adding them to groups, joining them in battle, give them a virtual slap, (un)muting them, kicking them or change their operator status in the channel. Right next the player names you can find their Rank, Country and Status. Rank is an indication of the amount of spent in-game, with the lowest being 1 stripe private, going up to the Big Star of the Veteran. A flag of a Country is added corresponding to the players IP-adress.
To find a game you must once again click the Multiplayer tab (1). This will bring up the Battle Window.
This window lies at the heart of the process of finding a suitable game. Each line represents a battle-room, you can join a non-locked battle-room (see the status under the S column), by double-clicking on it, you cannot join a game that is locked or has already started, the Spring Engine does not allow this. Also Watch out for the Rank Limit (under the R column), because you might not be allowed to join simply because you aren't experienced enough. Each battle-room is hosted by a player or an auto-host (you can see which player under the Host column). The country (under the C column) tells you where the host is located, joining a host in a country close to you will likely give you a better ping and improve your gaming experience. The Map and the Mod columns tell you respectively which Map and Mod are used.
Maps are files that tell the Spring engine what the environment looks like, including Heights differences, Trees, Winds, Tides, Gravity and Metal. The Mod files tell the Spring engine what the rules are for navigating and getting to dominate the environment and your enemy. If you have the same Mod and Map files on your computer as the ones the host is using the lobby will show a green tick. If you do not have that Mod or Map a black cross will be shown. You cannot play unless you have the same Mod and Map. SpringLobby has a built in Torrent system that facilitates easy downloading of maps and mods, if for some reason you cannot find the torrent in the system then you will need to download the needed files from one of the following servers and manually place them in the corresponding directory.
http://springfiles.com - http://www.darkstars.co.uk/downloads/ - http://spring-portal.com - http://www.tasdownloads.com
Map files usually go into your /spring/maps/ directory whilst mod files usually go into your /spring/mods directory.
The maximum number of players for each battle-room is displayed under the m-column. The number of active players for each battle-room is displayed under the P-column. The number of spectators for each battle room is displayed under the A-column.
Just below the Battle-List the specifics of the selected Battle-Room are shown, including map, mod, number of players, number of spectators and most interestingly the names and status of all players in the selected room. You can toggle this on and off by pressing the Battle-infos button. Next to the Battle-Infos button is the Filter button, which which you can toggle the filter tab. This filter (when activated) allows you to stop games that you are not interested in from being displayed in the Battle-list, making it easier to for you to find the right one. There is a wide range of criteria you can choose to filter for.
Ofcourse you can also host your own game by pressing the Host New button. Hosting a game yourself can be great, because it allows you to choose the map and the mod you will play. The problem is however that you have to find other people who are interested in the playing the same map and mod. Often it is just easier and quicker to join an existing game, by selecting a game and pressing the join button.
Once you have joined or hosted a battle-room you will get a screen that will look something like this:
