Frequently asked questions

I've compiled a list of the questions that I get asked over and over again on Xfire or by email. Please take the time to read this page before sending me a message.

Q. The server won't start at all

A. Try setting 'logfile' to '0', if it is set to 1 or 2 the server will fail to start with a 'cannot cast string to bool' error. This only disables console logging on the server and will not disrupt the normal logging.

Q. My server keeps changing maps by itself.

A. The mod does this when it finds one of the errors below:

-there are any extra IWD's in the modfolder
-z_zomdb_ext.iwd has been modified and you are using the stock modfolder (mods/zom_db)
-you are using the modfolder mods/zomdb or mods/zomdb1.2
-'g_gametype' has not been set to 'zom' (do this in a config file)

Q. I can't run custom maps because I can't put IWD's in the modfolder

A. There's a good reason the mod tries to stop you doing this - it is the wrong way to run custom maps and can cause all sorts of problems for clients (besides having to download every single one to play on any map). Put map IWD's in the corresponding cod4\usermaps folders, with the fastfiles, e.g. cod4\usermaps\mp_burg\mp_burg.iwd.

Q. When joining the game, players can auto-assign to hunters even though there are zombies playing

A. Turn teambalance off.

Q. What are red healthpacks?

A. By default, dead zombies will drop red healthpacks that turn green after 4 seconds. Red ones can only be picked up by the person who killed the zombie, green ones by anyone. Mines do this too.

Q. When I joined the game, a message came up saying I lost 5 ranks. Why?

A. You lose 5 ranks if you quit within a minute of being picked as the first zombie, or you go to spectate.

Q. Zombies can pick up guns at the very end of the game...what's with this?

A. This isn't a bug, but a feature introduced in v1.25.

Q. Why is no zombie picked at the start of the game/why is the lastman not picked at the end of the game

A. The server must contain at least 3 active players so pick a zombie, and must have at least 7 active players to pick the lastman. (note, if the two last hunters alive are killed within 0.2 seconds of each other, there will be no lastman.)

Q. As a dog, I can sometimes get stuck trying to mantle over a ledge. Why?

A. As there are no animations for dogs climbing over objects (I have to use the SP animations), I had to try and disable mantling for dogs. The only way to do that is by disabling mantling for every player, so I made a system to try and pull the dog back to where it was before it started mantling. It's a bit buggy, but if you get stuck you can just suicide.

Q. On servers with lots of players on, I sometimes can't see my health.

A. This seems to be a bug in COD4, when the server reaches around 40 players it doesn't create the hud element for health on newly connecting players.

Q. Custom maps crash the server. Why?

A. Due to an arbitrary model limit in COD4, some custom maps will not work with the mod. Any client connecting will have their game crash to the desktop. You should test all custom maps locally before trying them on a server, but the vast majority of them will work.

Q. How can I rebind a key to use something from the quickmessage menu?

A. Like this: \bind <key> openscriptmenu z <keyword>

where <key> is the key you want to bind, and <keyword> is one of the following:

Q. Punkbuster is kicking people off my server with dvars like 'cg_laserforceon' and 'cg_thirdperson'. How do I fix this?

A. Go into COD4\PB\pbsv.cfg (and maybe also pbsvuser.cfg) on the server and remove any of the lines with the following text:



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