Rapid-Assign
A new feature introduced in version 1.0.2.28, is the Rapid-Assign feature. This feature uses the ZoneFriends list to quickly sign-up players into the tournament.
There are two modes for using ZoneFriends: sign-up a player when a player is added to the ZoneFriends list or when a player is removed from the list. The first option is the most common, and can be used for most tournaments. The second mode is used for tournaments that have a list of invited players, typically TOC tournaments. In this mode, a list is created first and are removed as the player signs-up. Most of these instructions will relate to the first mode to keep it simple.
When the tournament is closed, the ZoneFriends list is restored to the state it was in before the feature is enabled. If this doesn't happen, there is a manual way of restoring your ZoneFriends list.
Activating Rapid-Assign
There are two ways to activate it:
- Enable it when creating a new tournament.
- Enable it by ticking the Rapid-assign Active menu item in the Options menu.
When creating a new tournament, select "added to ZoneFriends" from the Rapid-Assign option to the right of the times. This will activate Rapid-Assign and also set the appropriate mode.
If using the menu (for example, you either forgot to set it when creating a new tournament or are restoring a tournament during sign-ups), select the appropriate mode in the Options / Rapid-assign mode menu and then clicking on Rapid-Assign Active so there is a tick next to the item.
In either of these examples, and you are using the "add to ZoneFriends" mode, you will be asked if you would like to clear the existing friends first. If you use your ZoneFriends for friends, click on Yes. But in some cases, hosts use the ZoneFriends to contain a list of players DQed from the room! In this case, click on No.
You are now ready for rapid sign-ups!
Signing up players
To sign-up a player, right-mouse click on their name in the lobby list (the list of players on the right!) and mark them as a friend (assuming you are using the "add to ZoneFriends" mode!). Their name will appear in the bracket and if auto-post is on, they will also be told where to sit. It is as simple as that!
Also, all assignable players will be in the list under Users, and assigned players will move into the Friends section. As can be seen, this feature can be used in the situation where the ZoneFriends is used as a list of DQed players from the room. The DQed players will already be "friends" and therefore never get assigned to a table!
In the reverse situation, that is TOC tournaments, where the "remove from ZoneFriends" mode is used. To assign a player, unselect them as a friend. This also makes it very easy to assign only invited players into the TOC.
Restoring the original ZoneFriends list
Your ZoneFriends list can be automatically restored in one of three ways:
- Closing the tournament
- Deactivating the feature manually
- Closing the tool
By far the most normal method will be the closing of the tournament! When you close the tournament, the Rapid-Assign feature is deactivated and the ZoneFriends list will be restored to the same list of players before this feature was activated.
To deactivate the Rapid-Assign feature, un-tick the Rapid-Assign Active menu item in the Options menu. This will also restore the original ZoneFriends list.
If you close the brackets normally (ie. the computer doesn't crash or reset!), the list is also restored.
Manual restoration of the ZoneFriends list
If, for unknown or unusual circumstances, the ZoneFriends list isn't restored, you can manually restore this list your self. First, open Windows Explorer by double-clicking on My Computer. Double-click on your C: drive. Next, find the Program Files folder and double-click on that. If the folder is empty (ie. Windows 2000 or ME users), click on the link that can show the contents. Now find the folder MSN Gaming Zone and double-click on that. Next, double-click on Favorites to go into that folder. Finally, locate the folder with the name of the nick that you were using when using ZoneFriends. Double-click on that folder.
In that folder, there will be at least one file, and possibly two. The one file that must exist is Friends.txt and the other file that may exists is Friends.bak. If Friends.bak doesn't exist, then the list is fine. If Friends.bak does exist, it contains your original ZoneFriends list. To restore it, delete Friends.txt and rename Friends.bak to Friends.txt (to rename the file, right-mouse click on it and select Rename). If ZoneFriends is active, it should automatically update with the original list.
How to set up ZoneFriends for TOCs
To create a friends list for TOCs, you need to make a text file with a list of all invited players. The first line in the file must be:
[Friends]
The rest of the file is all the player's nicknames, one on each line with no spaces or anything else before or after the name.
Rename your existing friends list to something (see above on Manual restoration to see where the file is) suitable, and then copy your new TOC friends file there with the name Friends.txt. When you start ZoneFriends (or if it is already running), it should show the name of all the TOC players in the list if it is set up correctly.
