UFO:Alien Invasion
Development => Mapping => Topic started by: Latino210 on January 16, 2012, 12:23:26 am
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I just finished my first map. Any comment and testing help would be appreciated. It's a small map appropriate for any Eastern or Western urban/suburban area, with a lot of brutal close quarter fighting. Any alien with short ranged or hand to hand weapon would be very appropriate here.
I added some textures made by me (the signs) and some metal textures taken from the free site www.texturemate.com (http://www.texturemate.com). Must I upload the textures, too?
The compiled .bsp is here. http://www.freefilehosting.net/mastermap2 (http://www.freefilehosting.net/mastermap2)
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Cool! Yes, we will need the textures as well to see them in-game.
Just took a quick look. I think you want your info_player_start entities to be info_human_start. The info_player_start are only used for multiplayer so you need two sets with different teams. The info_human_start is where there player will start when playing in campaign/skirmish mode.
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post some screenshots please.
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^^ you guys are too fast for me.
Nice to see somebody else is challenging Radiant, too. Welcome back.
You are on a good way with your map. As people love pics in threads i made one of your your map. Hopefully this is ok for you.
(http://www9.pic-upload.de/16.01.12/ng2b6m1d1q3y.png) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-12645770/ufo24.png.html)
Two things you might want to take a close look at :
a) As far as I know having walkable terrain below zero may cause errors in pathfinding. You can change this easily this way :
by setting the grid to 64 (<7>) - hit <shift>+<h> - selecting the whole map - shifting it up one level. After this using -> 'Tools' -> 'one level up' will change the levelflags accordingly.
b) All starting positions should fit into grid 32 (<6>). If they do not, the game will refuse to place the actors. Also, to make it playable in scirmish-mode you will have to use 'info_human_start' instead of info_player_start. Those are used for multiplayer.
If you post an updated map, I will further investigate and come up with some suggestions how you can improve it.
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@ShipIt: thanks for the screenshot.
@Latino210: you got the dimensions right (which if often the hardest part) - keep on going, we really need new maps.
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Thanks for the screenshot and for the advice. I will post the textures later.
a) As far as I know having walkable terrain below zero may cause errors in pathfinding. You can change this easily this way :
by setting the grid to 64 (<7>) - hit <shift>+<h> - selecting the whole map - shifting it up one level. After this using -> 'Tools' -> 'one level up' will change the levelflags accordingly.
OK, I will do that.
b) All starting positions should fit into grid 32 (<6>). If they do not, the game will refuse to place the actors. Also, to make it playable in scirmish-mode you will have to use 'info_human_start' instead of info_player_start. Those are used for multiplayer.
Stupid mistake on my part. Correcting now. I will post the updated map later.
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Here are the signs. I found them to be useful and pretty. I made them myself in five minutes.
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I have taken these textures from texturemate.com. I think I should add a disclaimer, but I do not know how.
I have corrected the map. Do you think it can be included in the next upgrade? I do not want to spend much more time on it, I already have a bigger project in my mind! I l have learned a lot of useful skills with this simple map, now I am ready for something bigger.
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We try to no use textures with readable texts — because it is impossible to translate they.
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I do not want to spend much more time on it, ...
This is not the way you should think about it, imho.
You had a problem with testing your map ingame. Could you solve this or do you need further help ?
Also please make sure you attached the right map.
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before we can include it, the remaining glitches must be fixed and we have to know the licenses of your own textures. we either need "gpl 2 or later" or "cc-by 3" to include them in the game.
i also don't think that texturemate is using a compatible license and i think we will have to replace the textures you used from them.
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i just saw that we linked texturemate.com in our art section. sorry for this - i've removed the link there.
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So, is this your final word? Texturemate is a no-no? Where can I find some good textures, then? Those included with the radiant are a bit... limited...
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Creative Commons License, CC BY 3.0 is no good for us?
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So, is this your final word? Texturemate is a no-no? Where can I find some good textures, then? Those included with the radiant are a bit... limited...
yes - we can't use them. check e.g. out http://opengameart.org
http://www.photos-public-domain.com/
http://www.burningwell.org/gallery2/v/textures/
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Creative Commons License, CC BY 3.0 is no good for us?
yes of course - i modified my post above.
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Creative Commons License, CC BY 3.0 is no good for us?
Legal statement from texturemate:
Every resource provided on texturemate falls under a Creative Commons License, except credit is not required. The stock textures, texture packs, brush packs, and any other resources available for download on this site are completely free and may be used in commercial or non-commercial applications. Credit to texturemate for use of available textures or brushes is appreciated, but not required.
This is good, but it continues like:
These textures may be used in 3D modeling software packages where their appearance is altered, such as Blender, 3DS Max, Solidworks, CAD, or Second Life. They may also be used in scrapbooking applications. The only exception is that they cannot be redistributed commercially in their unedited form. These textures cannot be re-packaged and resold without significant modifications to their appearance. Brush packs may be used to create unique images in Gimp or Adobe Photoshop, but they cannot be redistributed without being significantly edited. Any resource on texturemate may be linked to when sharing information or resources to others.
There are some restrictions in it that aren't compatible with GPL, maybe they're in conflict wit the original CCBY 3.0, but I don't know...
-geever
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Please do not use non-power-of-2 textures.
Also you should update to the latest development version as you seem to use old textures on your map. A lot of those have already been upgraded in latest master.
power-of-2 textures have x,y resolutions of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, ... pixel. Ofc. our engine can deal with other resolutions as well, but those get upscaled to the next power-of-2 res first and cause unnecessary scaling artifacts then...
Other than that: Nice work 4 a first try. :)
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I use the 1.6.0, what do you mean with "old textures"? Where can I find the new one?
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Which system are you using: win/linux ?
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Win
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http://ufoai.ninex.info/snapshots/ufoai-latest-win32.exe
^^ this version will have all the new textures included in 0textures.pk3. Simply decompress it (it is a zip) to have all of them in the base/textures folder. Then change the ufoai base dir in uforadiant to use the folder of the new version (v2.4dev nightly build).
If you plan to be part of the team in the future, you should probably follow these instructions: http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Getting_the_source
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Thanks. Quite a big file, innit? However, I don't think I will ever need the source since I cannot tell a line of code from a wheelbarrow!
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You obviously do not need the sourcecode to contribute map files.
But you should install the latest development version to have up-to-date textures available and you will also get the latest version of the game to play with by doing that as well.
To be able to easily follow ongoing development and to be able to update steadily I suggest you maybe start with that tool: http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php/topic,3843.msg47029.html#msg47029
It is specially designed for non-coders.
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Hello! Forgive me for the long absence, a lot of RL problems. However, I am ready to finish working on my map, especially after seeing the new version. So, to get the new textures and the new functions for the UFORadiant I must download the http://ufoai.ninex.info/snapshots/ufoai-latest-win32.exe (http://ufoai.ninex.info/snapshots/ufoai-latest-win32.exe) file, right? However, I think that the map looks fine enough this way. Can somebody help me testing the map ongame? I just cannot understand how to do that myself. Any help would be appreciated.
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Welcome back Latino210. Check our UFORadiant tutorial here (http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/Mapping_for_Dummies/Lesson1#Build_and_play.21)for links to compiling the map and testing it in-game.
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That tutorial reads like it was written by a starving Ethiopian boy that was just beaten half to death with an Amharic-English dictionary...
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No one can help you unless you tell us what part of the process is not working for you.
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Right, right, just joking. BTW, I downloaded the 2.5dev version, unpacked the textures (they ended up in a "base/textures" directory), ran the uforadiant and tried to load my map. May textures disappearead, I guess it's because I used the old textures and in the 2.5 dev version there are only the new textures. Am I right?
I am starting to apply the new textures now. Then I will compile the map with the ufo2map, then I will add rename my maps.ufo file and make a new one with the map definition and try to load it as a "skirmish". I will keep you posted.
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You can attach the map, so we will be able to help you with textures and so on.
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That tutorial reads like it was written by a starving Ethiopian boy that was just beaten half to death with an Amharic-English dictionary...
:-[
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You can attach the map, so we will be able to help you with textures and so on.
Ok, thanks. I think I will have to replace all textures by hand.
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Ok, thanks. I think I will have to replace all textures by hand.
Check the 'texture overview' tool for this.
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Ok, done. I have the compiled .bsp and made a maps.ufo file. Can somebody tell me how to test the map ingame? I try to load the "suburb" skirmish but the screen just becomes black.
http://www.freefilehosting.net/mastermap3
http://www.freefilehosting.net/maps
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press ` to get in-game console, and write /map day name_of_map_without_extension. (or, to be correct — path to the map from base/maps
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Ok, done. I have the compiled .bsp and made a maps.ufo file. Can somebody tell me how to test the map ingame? I try to load the "suburb" skirmish but the screen just becomes black.
http://www.freefilehosting.net/mastermap3
http://www.freefilehosting.net/maps
The first link did not work for me. Please give the .map file rather than the .bsp as a simple (compressed) attachement to the post.
The way you did the map definition, it should give you the option to select 'mastermap' in the skirmish menu. This will start the '/base/maps/suburb.bsp'.
You can find some more information about the maps.ufo here (http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/UFO-Scripts/maps.ufo#Parameters).
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rather use shift+esc to open the console as ` isn't portable
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Ok, here's the zipped .map. The map appears in "skirmish" mode, but as soon as I try to load it the game either crashes or gives me a blank screen. Please, stop giving me link to that tutorial, it's horribly useless.
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Warning: func_door has no brushes assigned (entnum: 25)
Warning: func_door has no brushes assigned (entnum: 72)
Warning: func_door has no brushes assigned (entnum: 75)
Couldn't load textures/tex_buildings/streetbricks14
Couldn't load textures/tex_buildings/cementwall_btmmtl
Couldn't load textures/tex_buildings/concrete016
Couldn't load textures/tex_ctp1/tiles_r_2
Couldn't load textures/tex_material/metall022
Couldn't load textures/tex_mattn/wall082
Couldn't load textures/tex_buildings/wallpaper004
Couldn't load textures/tex_buildings/wall038
Couldn't load textures/tex_mattn/wood028
Couldn't load textures/tex_pics/sign-privateblack
Couldn't load textures/tex_nature/stone001
Couldn't load textures/tex_pics/sign-forsaleblack
Couldn't load textures/tex_ctp1/concrete_g_6
Couldn't load textures/tex_ctp1/door_w_1
Couldn't load textures/tex_ctp1/door_w_2
these are the warnings ufo2map prints to me
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ERROR: Game Error: No spawnpoints for team 1
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this is the error that appears on the game console after loading the map (the shift+esc thing i said in my previous post)
so just add some spawnpoints for your soldiers and you are ready to go.
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"Couldn't load textures/tex_mattn/wall082"
There are this texture in master.
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Just put in some info_human_start and it will work.
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"Couldn't load textures/tex_mattn/wall082"
There are this texture in master.
oh - sorry - i was on 2.4
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My fault, I have added some handmade textures for the signs (the sign-forsaleblack and sign-privateblack). Ufo2map gave me no error signals, and I have put eight player_start entities. Screenshot included.
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info_player_start (http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/Mapping/Entities/info_player_start) is for multiplayer - place info_human_start (http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/Mapping/Entities/info_human_start) as ShipIt said
you can get an overview about the available entities here (http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/Mapping/Entities)
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Right, I added some human_start and it works... bad! There are some strange graphic glitches! However, the map works fine, the aliens are popping out of the buildings giving some nasty ambushes. Now, I will "lower" everything one level and try to fix the glitches. Thanks for your help and support, see you later.
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Ok, I have updated the map, fixed the glitches and the levelflags. Now I have a door that just won't open (the first on the right, just behind the truck) and a door opening the wrong way (the first one on the left)
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I am short on time atm, but I will take a look over the weekend for sure.
Did you run ufo2map -check maps/suburb already ? If this gives you any output, you will have to fix this.
Also, you need to make a statement about the licencing. Something like "I release this under the GNU General Public License 2.0 or later versions." and the author name you want to see in the credits for the map.
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OK, I fixed the map with the -fix. Just another stupid question, maybe I made an horrible mistake from the start: to make a stair climbable by actors I must make it BOTH at least 32 pixels wide and aligned to grid32? In this case, I must redo everything from scratch. F**K ME!
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Yes, every unit in the battlescape moves within the 32x32 grid tiles. In order for them to access a space on the tile they must be able to access the whole grid, minus a 4 unit edge. That means that stairs must take up at least an entire grid's width.
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I just had a look at your map and it does seem like a lot of it is not aligned to the 32x32 grid very well. You shouldn't need to rebuild everything from scratch, but you will probably want to make minor adjustments to the sizes of most of your buildings and anything that will obstruct the pathing.
A good way to think about this is to place actor_clip brushes over every grid tile you don't expect the player to be able to walk. I often do this just to help me visualize the grid and be sure I'm building within it.
You might also want to check out some other maps to see how they are constructed. The houses in /oriental/ are probably a good place to start. A more complex map that is well constructed is the /mansion/mansion_main.map.
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Right! I managed to fix everything, now the stairs are usable and the second floors are accessible. I tried the map several times with the console "MAP" command, no glitches until now. I am using the 2.6 version, much more interesting. The map has 13 alien spawn point, 8 human start points and start points for 2 teams of players. I think I am done with the map, this was just a warm up for a more ambitious project. Now, here's the disclaimer:
I, Davide "Deadman" Amato release this under the GNU General Public License 2.0 or later versions. I also include the textures named "sign-forsaleblack" and "sign-privateblack" in the tex_pics directory, both made by me.
I also need to make the maps.ufo entry. Do I just need to add the text to the maps.ufo? Will this be good?
mapdef suburb
{
map "suburb"
param small
description "A suburban street in a poor area of the city"
size "small"
teams 2
multiplayer true
maxaliens 13
hurtaliens false
aircraft
{
}
ufos
{
}
terrains
{
tropical
grass
cold
}
cultures
{
western
eastern
}
populations
{
urban
suburban
village
}
}
I am including the .map and the compressed .bsp. Thanks to everybody for your help and support. I would never have managed to finish the map without you! Do you think that this map is good enough to be included into the new release?
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8 human start points
As the Herakles dropship can take 12 soldiers into battle we need at least 12 info_human_start. Also 3 info_2x2_start for team 1, because there will be UGVs in the game.
If we add it, will you take responsibility for the map, e.g. make fixes if someone reports a bug?
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there are missing textures - please also upload your new textures
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Right, here are the textures. They should be added to the tex_pics directory. I will add the start points today. I think I can take responsibility for the map and try to fix any reported bug. BTW, can somebody help with the maps.ufo entry? I just cannot make it work!
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HELP, how can I activate the entity inspector in UFOradiant? I have some errors with the ufo2map -check but I cannot find them!
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As MCR mentioned in a previous post in this thread (http://ufoai.org/forum/index.php/topic,6428.msg50372.html#msg50372), all of your textures must be power of 2. That means their dimensions should be 32/64/128/256/512. Please resize your textures along these lines. You'll probably need to realign them in the editor as well (on the Surface Inspector tab, look for the Fit button).
Also, do not edit the maps.ufo. We will do that when we integrate your map. To test, simply create a new file with the mapdef entry you posted. You can name it whatever you want and place it into the /ufos/ folder. Your map should then be playable in skirmish mode.
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HELP, how can I activate the entity inspector in UFOradiant? I have some errors with the ufo2map -check but I cannot find them!
Disregard that, I am an idiot. I forgot the "find brush" tool.
As MCR mentioned in a previous post in this thread (http://ufoai.org/forum/index.php/topic,6428.msg50372.html#msg50372), all of your textures must be power of 2. That means their dimensions should be 32/64/128/256/512. Please resize your textures along these lines. You'll probably need to realign them in the editor as well (on the Surface Inspector tab, look for the Fit button).
Also, do not edit the maps.ufo. We will do that when we integrate your map. To test, simply create a new file with the mapdef entry you posted. You can name it whatever you want and place it into the /ufos/ folder. Your map should then be playable in skirmish mode.
Will be done. The mapentry def are wrong and I cannot make them right, until now I tested the map with the map console command.
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Try this mapdef. I just used it for a test myself:
mapdef suburb
{
map "suburb"
description "suburb"
teams 2
multiplayer false
maxaliens 8
aircraft
{
}
ufos
{
}
terrains
{
//any
}
cultures
{
//any
}
populations
{
}
}
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Here are the new textures, 512 x 256. I have some "brush overlap" error, but I do not think they will impair map functionality, I will leave them be. I am finishing to align the starting position for some civilians and I think there will be no more to do.
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Next problem — we try to no use textures with readable text, because of translation reason.
This is not mandatory, but desired.
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Next problem — we try to no use textures with readable text, because of translation reason.
This is not mandatory, but desired.
Is it not possible to use a map only for missions in specific areas? There texts in a local language would seem logical. But of course that would limit a map's use if translations are preferred.
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We have only rough approximations: western/easter/oriental/africa. At the moment we can't pin a map to a specific language area.
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Next problem — we try to no use textures with readable text, because of translation reason.
Yes, indeed. Take a look at the pic. However, the signs are just a "flavor note" to make the map more pleasing to the eye. You can find similar signs in all the world.
I have finished debugging the various errors. The stairs have been remade, the second floor is accessible, the -check gives me only some overlapping brushes errors that I have nor the time nor the will to fix. I have developed a lot of respect for the game level editors, it's quite a long and difficult job. Now, what about the civilians? Should I put some more? They will end up slaughtered in no time, the map is small and crawling with aliens. Now I will need some playtesting, I have tried several skirmishes against aliens and I could not find any glitches. Please keep me posted if anyone can find any.
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please also post the map sources.
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Ok, here's the .map. Anything else?