Players

Parsed player limit that the engine never uses.

This setting has no runtime effect

The engine accepts and loads it, but no gameplay code uses the stored value.

Specification

Applies to: global rules
File: rules.ini
Section: [Maximums]
Value: integer
When omitted: 8
Used by the game: No — loaded but not used

The multiplayer player limit is fixed at 8, whatever this key holds. The engine sets its limit once at startup, before it reads the [Maximums] section, and never updates it from this key.

That fixed limit has two visible effects:

The LAN lobby turns away a player who tries to join a game that already holds 8 players, with the message that the game is full.
In a network game, F1 to F8 open the in-game message line. F8 addresses everyone, and F1 to F7 address the other players in connection order. The multiplayer message keys cover when each key responds.