The thing that confuses new PVKII hosts: there is no separate mode setting. The mode is baked into the map, and you can tell which mode a map is from its name prefix. Load a bt_ map and you are playing Booty. So picking a mode means picking maps with the right prefix, which the deploy page does for you.
The modes (and their map prefixes)
- Booty (
bt_): Grab chests of loot and bank them for your team. Part combat, part smash and grab. The classic PVKII mode and the one most servers run. - Territory (
te_): Teams capture and hold areas of the map, and every area you hold runs down the enemy tickets. More tactical than Booty. - Trinket Wars (
tw_): Each team has a trinket. A kill only scores while you carry your trinket or stay near your carrier, so you protect it and hunt theirs. - Last Team Standing (
lts_): No respawns. The last team with anyone alive wins the round. Tense, and great with a smaller group. - Team Deathmatch (
dm_): Team versus team fighting with no objective. The simplest way to warm up or mess around.
Choosing and switching modes
- Pick the mode when you deploy. The server loads maps of that prefix and rotates within them.
- To switch live, changelevel to a map with a different prefix (over the web console or rcon). Load a te_ map and you are in Territory, load a dm_ map and you are in Team Deathmatch.