How to Set Up a Map Cycle on Your Insurgency: Sandstorm Server

A map cycle tells your Insurgency: Sandstorm server which scenarios to rotate through automatically once a match ends, instead of replaying the same map every time. This guide covers creating a MapCycle.txt file, the two formats it supports, and how to point your server at it.

Step 1: Create MapCycle.txt

1. Log into your MintServers panel and click the Stop button to shut down your server before editing.
2. Navigate to the Files tab on the left-hand sidebar.
3. Browse into your Insurgency folder. As with Admins.txt, the Config and Server folders inside it usually don't exist by default, so you may need to create them yourself.
4. Inside Insurgency/Config/Server, create a new file named exactly MapCycle.txt.

Step 2: Choose Your Format

MapCycle.txt supports two formats. Use whichever fits what you need, and don't mix them in the same file.

Scenario_Crossing_Checkpoint_Insurgents
Scenario_Crossing_Checkpoint_Security
Scenario_Hideout_Checkpoint_Insurgents
Scenario_Hideout_Checkpoint_Security

Just the scenario name on each line, with no blank lines in between. This is all you need if you're not setting per-scenario options like a player cap or lighting.

(Scenario="Scenario_Crossing_Checkpoint_Insurgents",MaxPlayers=28)
(Scenario="Scenario_Crossing_Checkpoint_Security",MaxPlayers=28,Lighting="Day")
(Scenario="Scenario_Hideout_Checkpoint_Security",Mode="CheckpointHardcore")

Starte deinen Insurgency: Sandstorm-ServerUnbegrenzter RAM · Unbegrenzte Slots · Ab $9.99/MonatServer starten

Step 3: Point Your Server At The File

To load your MapCycle.txt on startup, add the following to the Additional Switches field on your Game Settings tab:

-MapCycle=MapCycle

Save your changes and start your server. As with -AdminList=, leave off the .txt extension, and the value is case-sensitive.

Understanding Scenario Names

Scenario names generally follow the pattern Scenario_, though there are two exceptions: Team Deathmatch scenarios end in _Team_Deathmatch with no faction, and Skirmish scenarios have no faction segment at all since it's a free-for-all mode. The map segment isn't always the map's display name, some maps use an internal alias instead:

This internal name only matters for the Map/starting scenario field, not the scenario name itself, for example, Crossing's scenarios are still written as Scenario_Crossing_.... Not every mode is available on every map. For the complete, up-to-date list of every scenario name, check the official mod.io Server Admin Guide.

Once your map cycle is saved and your server has restarted, it'll rotate through your chosen scenarios automatically after each match. If you run into any trouble getting the format right, no worries! Just open a support ticket and our team will gladly help you sort it out.