Populous Reincarnated Matchmaker

• Getting Started
• Reporting Problems
• List of Features
• Version Changelogs
• Free Download

Matchmaker Tutorial

The Populous: Reincarnated Matchmaker is a fan made software combining IRC with the multiplayer features and protocols of Populous: The Beginning. To keep this simple, the Matchmaker is a multiplayer client allowing you to connect with others to talk and play PopTB games. In order for this to work properly, you must have a download of The Multiplayer Essentials or the full game, a download of The Matchmaker, and have registered an account with PopRe.net. You may need the 1.03 collective patch if you downloaded the game from another source. When your downloads are fully installed and you have registered an account with PopRe.net open the MatchMaker to continue with this guide.

1. Your username is the same username you registered with on PopRe.net
2. Your password is the same password you registered with on PopRe.net
3. This is the login button. You must enter your username and password to connect to the server
4. Quick link to PopRe.net
5. Your matchmaker version number is displayed here. You must have an updated Matchmaker to connect

Center: Lobby

1. This is the chat room. This stores all conversations, welcome messages, news, player logins/logoffs, and more.
2. Welcome message is always the first message.
3. This informs players of any new changes or additions to the community. Below recent update is where the the conversations are held.
4. On the bottom of the Matchmaker is the text-entry bar. This is where you may type your messages and commands. All commands can be found here. *NEEDS A HYPERLINK

Right side: Online Lists

5. The far right side of the Matchmaker is the player waiting list. At the top of this box is a white bar to reorganize players based on rank "R", name "Name", and status "S". Below this white bar is a list showing the players waiting, a list showing the players idling, and a list showing players in a game.
6. At the bottom right corner of the player waiting list box is a tab for legend. This box shows you the different symbols for the statuses we see in the lists.

Left: Game Room

7. On the far left side of the Matchmaker is the game room. At the top of this area is the "Join Autohut" button. It'll semi-randomly place you in a hut to help get you into a game. Below the autohut button is a series of "Empty huts". Populous supports up to 4 players each taking one of the 4 tribes in the game. Each set of 4 huts will participate in the same game. Players who are capable of hosting will control all this game's settings. Unless you have hosting enabled, don't join the top hut. A link to our hosting guide. *NEEDS A HYPERLINK

Top: Features and boxes

8. Map of the Day box is dedicated to a randomly selected map and Populous mods. The mods button will take you to another screen where you can view all of the game's mappacks and install the mappack you want to host.
9. The Welcome Message box stores your welcome message even after conversations have drawn on for hours.
10. Profile box gives a brief overview of your rank, points, wins this month, and how many more points you need to reach the next grade.
11. Links box displays links for resources you may need.
12. Hosting box informs you if your port check is capable of hosting, successful, unlikely to host, or unsuccessful. The port check button allows you to test your port. If you don't have the universal hosting functionality on your router, don't have your computer set to DMZ enabled through your router, haven't manually opened your ports on your router, or your firewall is blocking your ports, you will be unsuccessful when port checking. Refer to our hosting guide for more help. *NEEDS A HYPERLINK

Options Button and Logout

12. The options button will open a new screen giving you access to different Populous and Matchmaker settings. You can enable twitch, manage blocked players, change in-game settings like resolution, find your Populous directory, and much more.
13. Logout is going to disconnect you from the server. You will need to login again to connect to the server.

Mappack Browser

1. Allows you to switch between mappack views. This image is showing the "Search" page.
2. Allows you to set your search criteria when seeking maps to play. Types, style, # of players, amount of land, amount of trees, map rating, ranked/unranked, and played/unplayed are all different criteria you may change to find something fitting your taste.
3. This is your mappack and map list. In order to play a map you will need to install the mappack with that map.
4. This button allows you to install the mappack with the map you have selected.
5. If a change is made to the mappacks/maps while you're viewing you may press this to refresh the list. Useful if you're trying to test a newly submitted map.

*Anyone can create new maps with ALACN's World Editor and submit them for testing. Learn how to create new maps by checking out this Map Making Guide *NEEDS A HYPERLINK.

Hosting

The numbers in the picture correspond with the numbers below.

This picture is showing you what the MM looks like when you enter a "hosting hut" and/or installed a mappack/map. If you can't host, a red text may appear in the chat box informing you that you may experience difficulty trying to host.

1. [War]Fireproof is in the hosting position (the top hut of this set of 4 huts).
2. [War]Fireproof has moved out of the "Idle" list and into the "waiting" list.
3. This box has changed to the "Players" box. You may request host, set the number of players, set spectators, manually change player tribe/color, and/or randomize colors.
4. This box has changed to "Hut Settings". You may change your mappack, set a password, and limit which player grade is allowed to enter your hut.
5. This box has changed to show your "Level". You may change the map but you're limited to the maps in your currently installed mappack. Change your mappack in the "Hut Settings" box.
6. This box has changed to "Map Additions". These settings will give players 1 of any building you choose to have added. There's an added option to give players 50 starting braves and extra starting mana.
7. This box has changed to "Game". In this box you can determine if your game is ranked/unranked, a timed game, and if there's a victory condition to win the game.

*Once all your settings have been decided and your huts are full, you may press the launch button to go into the game with the chosen settings and players waiting in your set of huts.

Settings

On the Matchmaker, this screen will popup when you press the "Options" button.

1. This is your Populous directory. It's important to know where your Populous game is installed because the Matchmaker needs your Populous folder in order to connect you into a game with other players. Altered files, changes to the game, changing game mechanics, and more is all done through the MM into your Populous directory.
2. Populous version 1.01 is the original version of the Populous game. It does not reflect the collective 1.03 and modified 1.04 patches to improve the game. Beta is a specialty option if you enter the !beta command into the chat bar. It'll grant you the option to change your Populous game to the modified Beta version the PopRe team is working on, in order to improve the game.
3. Software and Hardware modes change the quality of the game. It's rare but some people can run hardware so if you can't there's probably nothing you can do to make it work. Software mode is what most players use to run Populous. If you can run the Direct3D version of the game, Hardware mode should work for you on the MM, otherwise the game will crash every time.
4. These are some game options. You may turn on/off enemies in the minimap, disable matchmaker conversations while playing online Populous, send screenshots to PopRe.net every minute (for collecting game information), and the number of allowed spectators.

This page allows you to adjust your in-game Populous resolution, game quality, and enable DxWnd. DxWnd is a very important part of this page. Anyone who has difficulty running, playing, and/or issues with textures may need to use DxWnd for resolve. This works for some but not all.

Fix mouse should be enabled by default, which if it isn't it may cause the mouse to be inaccurate and/or jumpy. Autocast happens when you tell your Shaman to cast outside her max range for any spell and she'll move close enough to the target to cast her spell. Flip rotation changes your left/right keys when rotating the world. Stay selected allows you to select any units, issue a command, and stay selected. With it off, you'll issue a command and deselect the commanded units automatically. Rotation with CTRL requires you to hold CTRL to rotate the world, otherwise with it on your left/right keys will move the world left/right.

This page allows you to enable/disable sound and music or adjust the volumes of each. You may choose to enable High Quality but there's a really tiny difference that's unnoticeable unless you're trying to notice it.

Useful for hosting if you know what you're doing. The port check, which is available in the lobby under the "Hosting" box, does the same thing. Dial-up mode is probably most useful for anyone with a very limited dial-up connection. Unless you know what you're doing, don't touch Custom External IP or Custom Binding IP. You may have a number like xx.xxx.xx.xxx and if you do, don't change it.

Would you like to stream your Populous matches? You can enable twitch streaming and once you have a twitch account, you can connect your Populous streaming to your Twitch account. Connected accounts will show the live stream on PopRe.net and a recording symbol on your username in the matchmaker when playing.

These functions are Matchmaker specific. You can have the MM open automatically when you turn your computer on, auto connect, save password, save chat log, and check for updates. The game settings option allows you to move the game settings to the bottom of the matchmaker.

You may enter a player's name in the white bar toward the bottom and block/unblock that player. Their name will appear on the right where they will be blocked. The only option you can change is allow/disallow them from joining your games. If these players change their name, they're no longer blocked.

You can show private messages in chat or in a popup window. Auto-away on mouse idle means you'll appear !away in the MM when you leave the mouse for awhile. Ignore clan tags means sorting players based on their name in alphabetical order, rather than based on tag. Group players by game will show players in game grouped together, if not they may be spread out in the playing list. Group chat allows multiple players to privately message each other at the same time, ignoring group chat invites disallows players from inviting you to these conversations. Time stamps will stamp each message in the lobby with a time.

Too young or dislike profanity? Use language filter to hide bad words. Dislike people who talk in nothing but caps? Force lowercase.

Notify on private messages allows to make a gong sound and flash orange at the bottom of your screen. Notify on full hut allows you to do something else until your game is full of people. Play alert sound allows the gong sound. Nick alerts allows the MM to notify you if someone mentions any words you add into the Nick Alerts.

This page is where you can install a custom designed skin for the Matchmaker. Icons, buttons, colors, and text will change from skin to skin. Choose a design you like and install. You may also create your own skin, here's how! *NEEDS A HYPERLINK

This last page allows you to start a bot for other players to command and use in order to host their matches. You may start bot when idle, start bot on MM startup, and run Populous in headless mode (no graphics).

This completes the navigation of the MM and location of the many features found throughout. If you have any questions or need further help, please refer to other tutorials *INSERT OTHER LINKS TO TUTORIALS! and the forums for additional assistance.

Version Changelogs

2.2.3.0s

Allow headless mode for non Bots

2.2.3.0r

Allow spectating players 5-8

2.2.3.0q

Fix player ready message for hostbot in 1.5

2.2.3.0o

Add support for spectator view change in 1.5

Add player ready message for hostbot in 1.5

2.2.3.0n

Fix error showing loaded mods

2.2.3.0l

Fix DPI issues

2.2.3.0k

Fix line-wrap for long names in Huts

2.2.3.0j

Fix Scripts not being cleared from previous levels

Upgrade Delphi version

2.2.3.0h

Fix mod panel display

2.2.3.0f

Fix modloader being added with no mods

2.2.3.0e

Update mod system to create and use loader script

Added mod panel visible when in hut

2.2.3.0d

Automatically connect to alternative server on connection failure

2.2.3.0c

Mods actually get installed

2.2.3.0b

Added conversion of levl2 maps for mods

Fixed ClearAll button

Fixed deleted scripts showing errors

2.2.3.0a

Added Mod Script support

2.2.2.0

Delphi Upgrade

Ikani library support

Added support for .wav and .ogg files in mappacks

Fixed custom sounds not extracting

Ensure ddraw used with 1.01 beta

Select new local port if desired port taken

Fix best teams not working when empty spot in hut

Fix .txt files not extracted in mappack

Helper Icon

Run connection tasks when connecting offline

Check for MS redistributable

2.2.1.5

Fix 1.5-b not selectable for levl3 maps

ddraw.ini updated if missing pop3 section

2.2.1.3

Added color selection menu

Added best teams color selection

Log files are split by day

2.2.1.2

Fixed spam filter

.json files no longer copied from SAVE dir

Added auto-pop updates after login

Added option to disable Populous updating

2.2.1.1

Added support for more mappacks

2.2.1.0

Added discord link support

Disabled game switching to full screen

Side panels expand with text size

Version always visible in hut

Moved Pop version selection to game settings panel

Changed default skin to PopBoots

2.2.0.6

Added 8p best teams

Added right-click on color to randomize

Improved reconnect delay

Fixed skin emoji size

Fixed error downloading new test maps

Fixed color selector

Fixed best teams display

Fixed freeze on loading new test map

Fixed launching issue

Fixed beta games reported as out of sync

2.2.0.5

Fixed spectators not working when joining Blue

Fix missing preview with random colors

2.2.0.4

Random colors hidden in tooltip

Added more colors to kick in game

Disable ratings for test maps

Removed feature panel from MM (builtin to pop)

Fixed scripts installation

Fixed color rotationa assignments

2.2.0.3

Disabled spectators from reporting stats

Mappacks download file based on version

Fixed random colors per player

2.2.0.2

Added support for mappack.txt SCRIPT: line, made HDR: line optional

For sure fixed game stats now for beta games

Disabled loading save games

Extended password field length

Rearranged map player filter

Disabled collapsing mappacks in search box

Fixed huts not appearing in Offline Mode

Improved dropdown updates

Allow saving position on second monitor

Allows unix line endings in mappack.txt

Delphi update

Automatically set Beta when players over 4

Improved pop updating on launch

Chat Threading Fix

Reduced timers

Updated display libraries

Updated random color selections allow randomize per player

Right clicking rotation second time restores colors

Randomize colors more

Fix beta specatators

2.2.0.1

Right/double click on rotate button will randomize

Textures are copied to pop runtime dir

Changed pop updates to https

Added 8 player support

Minimap shows new colors

Huts resize to players

Reduced network traffic joining hut

Protocol data update

Moved campaigns into own folder

Messages from mobile users marked as such

Moved update Populous install functions into background

Updated beta with new working dir

Added Direct3D 9 (ddraw) config options

Updated empty hut text

Disable spectating for cursed players

Added bot option: set version

Disable ratings for specators

Beta version always updated when running update

Disable Obelisks in beta

2.1.4.0

Added XP notifications

Added level-up sound

Added betting notification on game headers

Don't remove objects of extra players (for beta AI)

Emoji are stored locally after first download

Resend dropped packets to watchers from earliest to latest

Default compression is zip

Allowed extra files to be installed in levels dir

Updated max bitrate for capture to 6k

Fixed game link not showing at end of game

Fixed end game pop being 0 if host quit

Fixed settings panel freeze

Fixed end game report message

2.1.3.0

Added campaign support through Multiverse Launcher

Added player 'played' field

Added image support

Added emoji shortcodes

Fixed blacklist blocking people with similar names

Added changelogs to welcome message

2.1.2.3

More efficient loading of user data

Removed block/unblock on game header

Fixed tab complete showing same name twice

Fix for Test0 pack download

2.1.1.2

Fix for Mobile MM chat being hidden

Fix laggy status on enter

2.1.1.0

a:

Added message rate limiting

Refactored chat systems

2.1.0.1

Bug fixes for 2.1.0.0

2.0.6.1

Enabled support for encyption to server

2.0.5.1

Fixed problems with 2v2 games not being reported

2.0.5.0

Experimental patch support

Better spectator connections

Added Features Selection

Fixed conference colors

Hut settings copied from last hosting

Added simple host bot functionality

2.0.4.4

Fixed 3D Preview

Fixed alignment of boxes at bottom

2.0.4.3

New and improved chat box

Players cannot join restricted huts

Fixes for joining spectators

2.0.4.2

Fixed mappack different error

Fixed chat not displaying after selecting text

1.7.5.6

New and exiting curses

1.7.5.5

Updated streaming notification for new version of OBS

Added support for XSplit streaming

1.7.5.4

Fix connect issue when server down

1.7.5.3

Error handling of some messages

1.7.5.2

Fix for players joining with varying IP

1.7.5.0

Added help for setting twitch stream name

Error messages on closing removed

Fixed Matchmaker 'deleted' on update

Hosting level shown in options

Hosting tweaks

Map offsets for watchers disabled

1.7.4.9

Better non-host detection

1.7.4.8

Hosting fixes/improvements

Added ffmpeg support for streaming notifications

1.7.2.0

Populous relay added to matchmaker

Improvments to allow better hosting

Game data shown on launch

1.7.1.9

Fix for levels directory not being fully copied and causing Populous crash

1.7.1.8

Restore command is much faster

Matchmaker automatically requests elevation when needed

1.7.1.7

Random maps show starting points in previews

Test maps have 3D previews

Added high framrate option

Matchmaker correctly identifies program directory

Added built in registration and password recovery

1.7.1.6

Removed Obelisk -> Gargoyle option (now default)

Added Randomize Colors option

Updated localizations

Added in-game hint for new players

Fixed a couple exceptions with skins and updating

Game data shown on hover over hut

1.7.1.5

Range Checking Error Disabled

1.7.1.4

Fix for quitters not reporting game results

1.7.1.3

Watchers report games

Armageddon timed games with watchers don't crash

Armageddon activates if shamans are dead

1.7.1.2

Games over 1.5 hours report length correctly

Mappack List updates from server on refresh

End game user agent set to PopMM

Unwieldly ping reports fixed

Only capable hosts allowed in host spot

Fix for players being excessively kicked

1.6.6.6

Chat Windows Flash Less

Conference Invite changes

Ghosts leave huts on rejoin

1.6.6.5

Chat Windows Flash

PM Settings not lost on Language change

1.6.5.1

Added multi-language support

1.6.4.10

Fix for AVG warning

1.6.4.9

Fix for dismantle crash (found by Brandan)

Added support for other version

1.6.4.0

3D map previews (created by Onkar)

Improved autohut to be useful

Bug fixes including PM to players with ghosts, and ordered launch

1.6.3.0

Merged in autoupdate to mm

1.6.2.2

Previews for all skins on server work

Hut menu works and other bug fixes

1.6.2.1

Anti-spam filter

Context menu for players in huts

Bux fixes including similar names reporting

1.6.1.0

User Profile shortcuts

1.6.0.9

Hut data box can be minimized

1.6.0.8

Added hut data box

Added tribe rotation

Added player override

Added ordered launching

Added rank filtering

1.5.6.7

Autoupdate waits until game completed

1.5.6.6

Security Fixes

Number of huts reduced

Buttons under huts consolidated

1.5.6.2

Populous options in mm

MM will report last good state of crashed game

English only language filter

Fix for Windows 7 color glitch

1.5.5.6

Ping functionality

Fix for Mappacks with strange letters

1.5.4.5

Skin loading fixes

Huts loading fix

Games not reporting on second game fix

Better feedback on game reports

1.5.4.1

Hosting mode options

Game reporting improvements

1.5.3.8

More specific ranks

Rank ordering according to league table

Performance Improvements

1.5.3.7

Status icons and legend

Error numbers

Auto Hut: Automatic matchmaking

Best Teams notification on launch

1.5.2.6

End population reported

Improved report reliability

Advanced network settings hidden

1.5.2.4

Fix for long usernames not reporting games

1.5.2.3

Added Restore Levels function

Improved Error Messages

Scrolling and link bug fixes

1.5.1.0

Improved PM and Hut Password Security

Back-end command changes

Networking/SSL libraries upgraded

Ident Server built into Matchmaker

Added Hosting Ability Checks on Start

Added UPnP and NATPMP Automatic Port Forwarding

Added Clickable Links in chat

Chat area scrolling/selection improvements

Players no longer show up in wrong places on startup

Host can't kick people already in hut

Custom grades no longer allowed

Login Screen Changes

Added Tribe Starting Points on Map Preview

MM stored data directory changes

Improvements to mappack install system

Advanced game reporting

1.4.7.1

Minor Bug Fixes

Network Test

1.4.6.8

Security Fixes

Player list sync issues fix

Speed increases

1.4.6.6

Fixed hut freezing bug

Added "The Beginning" Mappack

1.4.5.2

Added Skin Manager

1.4.4.3

Fixed "excess flood" and auto-update bugs

1.4.4.1

Versioning modified + small fixes

1.4.1.4

Fixed problems with MM lagging and disconnecting players

1.4.1.3

Added Hut Passwords

Minor stability fixes

1.4.1.2

Added Custom Away Messages

1.4.1.1

Added Mappack Downloader

Added Mappack Download/Install on Launch

1.4.1.0

Added Auto-away

Added Nick Alerts

Added /me command

Added Nick Complete

Added Map Hash Comparisons

Added Random Map Generator

Added Ident Server for faster connections