Ready system

Before a match, scrim or hill goes live, the server waits in warmup. Players tell the server they are ready, and the match starts once enough players are ready.

The basics

Type .ready (or .r) when you are ready, .unready to take it back. Pinging (middle mouse) also toggles it (matchzy_ready_up_by_ping).
.readycheck shows who the server is still waiting for. In a loaded match it lists per team, for example Team A (CT): 4/5 players on the side, 1/1 ready and Missing: alpha5.
Only players on T or CT ready up. Spectators and coaches never count, and .ready or a ping from them is ignored.
Admins can skip the whole thing with .start.
matchzy_ready_enabled false turns the player ready-up off: only an admin starts the match with .start, also before the map veto, and the ready time limit does not run.

How many players must be ready depends on whether a match config is loaded.

Pugs (no match config)

Without a match config, the server only counts ready players:

matchzy_minimum_ready_required (or .readyrequired <n>) is how many players must be ready in total. 0 means everyone on the server.
matchzy_ready_per_team <n> changes it to n ready players on CT and n on T (1 = one player per team).

Loaded matches: team sizes come from the match config

When a match is loaded (matchzy_loadmatch_url, matchzy_loadmatch or .matchsetup), MatchZy reads the players list of team1 and team2 and counts the SteamID64s in it. That is the number of players each team needs on the server. You do not have to set anything for this.

"team1": {
  "name": "Team A",
  "players": {
    "76561198000000001": "alpha1",
    "76561198000000002": "alpha2",
    "76561198000000003": "alpha3",
    "76561198000000004": "alpha4"
  }
},
"team2": {
  "name": "Team B",
  "players": {
    "76561198000000011": "bravo1",
    "76561198000000012": "bravo2",
    "76561198000000013": "bravo3",
    "76561198000000014": "bravo4",
    "76561198000000015": "bravo5"
  }
},
"players_per_team": 5

With this config:

Team	Registered players	Needed on the server
Team A	4	all 4
Team B	5	all 5

The match starts when all 9 registered players are on the server and ready. That gives a 4v5 without anyone typing anything special. Team A does not wait for a fifth player, because only 4 are registered.

What “ready” means depends on matchzy_ready_per_team:

`matchzy_ready_per_team`	A team is ready when
`0` (default)	all its registered players are on the server and every one of them typed `.ready`
`1` (or more)	all its registered players are on the server and 1 (or that many) of them typed `.ready`

In both modes the match never starts while a registered player is missing. Players who are already in can type .ready while they wait; the server remembers it, and the match starts by itself a few seconds after the last registered player has fully connected and is on the side. Nobody has to type .ready again.

Good to know:

min_players_to_ready in the match config (only with matchzy_ready_per_team 0; with 1 or more the team must still be complete) lowers the count: when it is below what a team would otherwise need, that many ready players make the team ready, even while registered players are missing. With "min_players_to_ready": 1, one ready player on CT and one on T start the match. Leave it out (or set it to players_per_team) for the full ready-up.
The count is taken from each new match config, so the next match can be 5v5 again.
It follows the team, not the side: it does not matter whether Team A plays CT or T.
players_per_team is the most a team can have on the server. Left out of the match config, it is the larger roster of the two teams (at most 5 in competitive), so a 4v4 config with two rosters of 4 works without it. A sixth registered player (a substitute) waits on Spectator, and a team with 6 registered needs 5.
Coaches listed under players, and registered players who coach with .coach, are not counted. A team with "players": "any" or a bot team uses players_per_team.
Spectators (casters, admins) are not part of the ready-up.

Hosting tournaments (2v2 to 5v5)

For a league or tournament where players ready up themselves and no admin has to start the match:

On the server, once (cfg/MatchZy/config.cfg):

matchzy_ready_per_team 1

In every match config, the tournament’s team size:

Tournament	Match config
5v5	`"players_per_team": 5`
4v4	`"players_per_team": 4`
3v3	`"players_per_team": 3`
2v2	`"players_per_team": 2, "game_mode": "wingman"`

Then:

Players type .ready whenever they like, also while a teammate is still missing. The team sees how many it is waiting for.
A player counts once fully connected and on the team’s side. Spectators (admins, casters) and coaches never count.
When both teams are complete and one player per team has typed .ready, the match starts by itself.

Good to know:

Substitutes can be listed under players: the server never waits for more than players_per_team.
Leave min_players_to_ready out. With matchzy_ready_per_team 1 it is ignored anyway.
A team that cannot complete its line-up can start one player short with .forceready (matchzy_forceready_max_missing), or turn that off with matchzy_allow_force_ready false so only an admin (.start) can start a short team.
If players_per_team is left out, it is taken from the larger players list (at most 5), so list exactly the players then.
Check the server console after loading a match: [LOADMATCH] WARNING lines point out a roster larger than the team size, a player also listed as a spectator and similar mistakes that keep a match from starting by itself. .readycheck shows who a team is waiting for.

When a registered player is missing

If a team is waiting for a registered player, the team sees who is missing, in chat and on the ready panel, for example 4 joined (min. 5): missing alpha5 (the panel names at most 2; the chat names all, marked (Spectator) when they sit there). An open roster ("any") only shows the count. Usually you just wait for that player.

If the player will not come, one player on the team can type .forceready. That readies the whole team and the team plays without the missing player.

.forceready is optional. If the missing player joins, .ready is enough as usual.
A team may be at most one player short (matchzy_forceready_max_missing, default 1): with players_per_team 5, a team needs at least 4 players on the server for .forceready. Three players can never force-start.
min_players_to_ready in the match config can only make that stricter for .forceready (for example 5 means .forceready needs the whole team).
Turn .forceready off completely with matchzy_allow_force_ready false.

Minimum team size

By default a team registered with fewer players than players_per_team, or a match config with a low min_players_to_ready (panels often send 1), lets a short team ready up with plain .ready. matchzy_ready_max_missing sets a floor for every way of readying up: with 1, a team needs at least 4 players in a 5v5, whatever the roster or match config say. 0 = full teams only, -1 (default) = off. An admin can still start the match with .start.

Join ready mode

matchzy_ready_mode 1 (loaded matches only) removes .ready altogether: a team is ready as soon as its players have joined, and the match starts matchzy_join_start_delay seconds after everyone is in (someone leaving stops the countdown). How many players a team needs is min_players_to_ready from the match config, or the team’s registered players when it is not set.

Ready display

`matchzy_ready_hint_style`	Look
`0`	Classic center text with the ready count.
`1` (default)	HTML READY-UP panel per player with a progress bar, ready count and your own status.
`2`	A chat reminder listing the players who are not ready.

In a loaded match the panel shows the ready players per side and the minimum each side needs (Ready (min. 4): CT 2 T 3), and a short-handed side sees how many of its players have joined (3 joined (min. 4): missing alpha4, or 1 missing without a roster, shown 30 seconds after the last player joined). Style 0 shows the same per-side line. Style 1 also shows the current mode, in your language. The native WARMUP banner is hidden and the round timer shows a frozen 1:00.

Related: matchzy_ready_hint_blink blinks the NOT READY line (style 1), matchzy_ready_clantag_enabled shows [READY] / [UNREADY] on the scoreboard (not in join ready mode, where nobody types .ready). Once live, matchzy_team_clantag_enabled shows each team’s tag from the match config instead.

Warmup bots

.warmupbots [count] adds aim bots while players wait. They are removed the moment the knife round or match starts.