Solar plant RMA map 2.0

[Latino210]

All right, I managed to give the "procedure" to my map. The only problem is that as soon as I put a door underground the weird effect starts again. Strange bug, I wish I could do something for that. Now I understand why there are no underground maps! Could you put this in the release, please? I will add the doors as soon as anyone figures how to fix that bug, in the meantime I've put some fake sliding doors, they will suffice.

[Anarch Cassius]

I just had a Corrupter shrug off my attacks again and this one set down at a Solar Plant so I'll be giving you some feedback on play soon

[Anarch Cassius]

It's very good, but it is quite hard and feels a little spacious. I'd consider reducing the size of some rooms or adding more stuff to some of them.

The entrance is just far enough from the dropship to be a real pain and that long hallway is deadly. I like the challenge and it makes sense but the current setup results in a lot fighting in the halls and the fighting will be largely over by the time you make in to either wing of the complex.

I love the little message you get but it has a tendency to keep going off as you move around the opening and I tend to spend most in the  opening since there's no where to take cover until you can clear the halls.

And finally, what are the holes in either side of the map? I can think of 3 possibilities, an oversight, future blast damage points, future connections for underground maintenance tunnel tiles. I'm imagining another area with more solar panels and an alien ship on the surface and the access tunnel beneath. This would give you another way inside instead of the shooting gallery hallway, you could move on the ship first and then drop down and come in through the tunnel.

[Latino210]

Thanks for the feedback, Anarch! I hope you have downloaded the last version of the map, ShipIt had worked a lot to help me with the shadow bug. That long hallway is supposed to be deadly, but it can be less deadly with a sniper shooting through the floor. However, the map is still supposed to be brutal and deadly. I haven't tried the "auto mission" with it, I wonder what results will I get.

About the holes, well, I still have the mad idea of building a total conversion mod. I will post something about that as soon as I can cobble together a working version, then maybe somebody more skilled than me will help.

Now that I think about that, the map needs some downed UFOS. I will get to that.


EDIT: I've modified the East tile to include some landed or downed ufo. Can anyone tell me how to set up the .ump for that? My idea was to include several assemblies made this way:

Code: [Select]

assembly supply
{
size "12 8" //Size in RMA (256x256) tiles
grid "4 4" //All pieces are multiple of 4 x 4 (in this case they are exactly 4x4)
*rm_drop +craft_drop_firebird "1 1"
+northwest "1 1"
+northeast "1 1"
+main "1 1"
*rm_ufo craft_ufo_supply "1 1"
+west "1 1"
}

assembly fighter
{
size "12 8" //Size in RMA (256x256) tiles
grid "4 4" //All pieces are multiple of 4 x 4 (in this case they are exactly 4x4)
*rm_drop +craft_drop_firebird "1 1"
+northwest "1 1"
+northeast "1 1"
+main "1 1"
*rm_ufo craft_ufo_fighter "1 1"
+west "1 1"
}


And so on. I hope it works! What should I do to include an assembly without an UFO?

[ShipIt]

modify maps.ufo

Code: [Select]

//////////////////////////////
// SOLARPLANT RANDOM MAPS  //
/////////////////////////////

mapdef solarplant_noufo
{
map "+solarplant"
description "_Solar Power Plant"
param "noufo"
maxaliens 16

aircraft
(
craft_drop_firebird
craft_drop_herakles
craft_drop_raptor
)

ufos
(
// any
)

terrains
(
"desert"
"wasted"
)

cultures
(
// any
)

populations
(
"village"
"rural"
"nopopulation"
)
}

mapdef solarplant_ufo
{
map "+solarplant"
description "_Solar Power Plant"
param "ufo"
maxaliens 16

aircraft
(
craft_drop_firebird
craft_drop_herakles
craft_drop_raptor
)

ufos
(
craft_ufo_supply
                // extend this list by available UFOs
)

terrains
(
"desert"
"wasted"
)

cultures
(
// any
)

populations
(
"village"
"rural"
"nopopulation"
)
}

modify solarplant.ump

Code: [Select]

// e= east, UFOs

tile +craft_ufo_supply
{
6 6
0 g g g g 0
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
0 g g g g 0
}

assembly noufo
{
size "12 8" //Size in RMA (256x256) tiles
grid "4 4" //All pieces are multiple of 4 x 4 (in this case they are exactly 4x4)
+east "1 1"
+main "1 1"
+northwest "1 1"
+northeast "1 1"
+west "1 1"
*rm_drop +craft_drop_firebird "1 1"
}

assembly ufo
{
size "12 8" //Size in RMA (256x256) tiles
grid "4 4" //All pieces are multiple of 4 x 4 (in this case they are exactly 4x4)
+main "1 1"
+northwest "1 1"
+northeast "1 1"
+west "1 1"
        *rm_ufo +craft_ufo_supply "1 1"
*rm_drop +craft_drop_firebird "1 1"
}

Beside that, please make sure to base all your work on the maps we have in master.

edit: attachement added

[Anarch Cassius]

That looks great, almost exactly what I was thinking.

[Latino210]

Awww, please, man! I have spent hours working on modifications... Can you upload this as a new master? It would save a lot of time for the both of us!

I have drawn tiles for the following ufo, making all ufo's empty and sometimes closed and unaccessible. I want the action to take place underground, on this map.

Scout
Crashed scout
Supply
Fighter
Harvester


I will not add support for the other ufos, they are too big for my 1024 X 1024 tiles. I was able to fit the Harvester in, but just barely.

I have modified the .ump as follows, please tell me if that's ok:

Code: [Select]

// e= east, UFOs

tile +craft_ufo_supply
{
6 6
0 g g g g 0
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
0 g g g g 0
}

tile +craft_ufo_fighter
{
6 6
0 g g g g 0
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
0 g g g g 0
}

tile +craft_ufo_scout
{
6 6
0 g g g g 0
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
0 g g g g 0
}

tile +craft_ufo_harvester
{
6 6
0 g g g g 0
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
0 g g g g 0
}

tile +crash_ufo_crashed_scout
{
6 6
0 g g g g 0
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
a +e +e +e +e a
0 g g g g 0
}



assembly noufo
{
size "12 8" //Size in RMA (256x256) tiles
grid "4 4" //All pieces are multiple of 4 x 4 (in this case they are exactly 4x4)
+east "1 1"
+main "1 1"
+northwest "1 1"
+northeast "1 1"
+west "1 1"
*rm_drop +craft_drop_firebird "1 1"
}

assembly ufo
{
size "12 8" //Size in RMA (256x256) tiles
grid "4 4" //All pieces are multiple of 4 x 4 (in this case they are exactly 4x4)
+main "1 1"
+northwest "1 1"
+northeast "1 1"
+west "1 1"
      *rm_ufo +craft_ufo_harvester "1 1"
*rm_drop +craft_drop_firebird "1 1"
}


And the map as follows:

Code: [Select]


mapdef solarplant_ufo
{
map "+solarplant"
description "_Solar Power Plant"
param "ufo"
maxaliens 16

aircraft
(
craft_drop_firebird
craft_drop_herakles
craft_drop_raptor
)

ufos
(
crash_ufo_crashed_scout
craft_ufo_supply
            craft_ufo_fighter
craft_ufo_scout
craft_ufo_harvester
)

terrains
(
"desert"
"wasted"
)

cultures
(
// any
)

populations
(
"village"
"rural"
"nopopulation"
)
}


[H-Hour]

If you rotate a UFO or craft, you will destroy it's pathfinding. Many areas are going to be inaccessible.

[Latino210]

If you rotate a UFO or craft, you will destroy it's pathfinding. Many areas are going to be inaccessible.

That's not important, I've sealed the UFOS and removed all alien spawn points inside. I want underground action in my map, not fighting inside the UFO.

[ShipIt]

For the crashed Scout it should read craft_crash_scout. Beside that the defs seem ok to me.

About the UFO tiles I am not sure. I think right now they would add nothing to the map other than a somewhat different look. That seems to be not worth the additional MBs it would add to our installers. But we could provide them as a part of a mod for v2.5. I thought about moving parts of my good ol´ Mansion map that way and include some nice animations MCR did some time ago. Maybe doing a map exclusively for this mod.

I cannot revert the changes I made and keep the map in the game. Most of those changes were necessary to either solve the lighting problem or to make the map fit the technical part of our mapping conventions. And I will not spend time to backport this. You always need to base your work on the maps we have in master. What we have now is already very good, although I would really like to see some aliens on the surface, the holes in the outer wall plugged (those fit your mod idea, but not the game) and some cover or niches for the soldiers to hide behind in the long hallways. I know you want the map bloody, but a lot of players will simply auto the map if the risk for their soldiers is too high.

Did you ever think about not extending the map, but the theme? Maybe there is some Com-station nearby the prospector camp, or some water distillation.

[Latino210]

Did you ever think about not extending the map, but the theme?

Explain yourself, please. I do not understand what you mean.

That seems to be not worth the additional MBs it would add to our installers

It's your choice to make, not mine. Do as you like. I will not add any other ufos, if you think it's not worth it.

Most of those changes were necessary to either solve the lighting problem or to make the map fit the technical part of our mapping conventions

I've worked on the map you gave me after the modifications and I kept them, apart for the solar panel textures (you put it in a "solar" dir, while I put it into a "burningwell" dir). Can you check if my last .zip respects the mapping conventions and the lightbug? In case, I will plug the holes, obstruct the corridors, put the solar panel texture in the directory you prefer and give it to you to reupload as a master.

[ShipIt]

Explain yourself, please. I do not understand what you mean.

I just think the solarplant map is really good as is. There are the points I mentioned above, but it is up to you to follow this opinion or not. So I thought, instead of adding UFOs to your map without much gain, doing a similiar map (same desert theme, same ground textures, other building) and adding UFOs there would be better.

It's your choice to make, not mine. Do as you like. I will not add any other ufos, if you think it's not worth it.

My personal opinion in this case may be different from the team. I just cannot promise you those additional tiles will make it into the game.
If I manage to make the mod I want to do, we can put them in.

I've worked on the map you gave me after the modifications and I kept them, apart for the solar panel textures (you put it in a "solar" dir, while I put it into a "burningwell" dir). Can you check if my last .zip respects the mapping conventions and the lightbug? In case, I will plug the holes, obstruct the corridors, put the solar panel texture in the directory you prefer and give it to you to reupload as a master.

I will check this, needs some time, though.

[ShipIt]

@Latino210

There are some glitches (like visible nodraws) in your version, that are already fixed in master. The textures are not a problem.

I still have the the light fence on the map, because it looks very cool and gives a futuristic touch.
I changed the direction for the solar panels so all of them have the same orientation - that seems make sense from the technical pov, at least to me  . I wanted to change change the sunlight direction to fit the orientation of the solar panels, didn´t finish this, though.

The latter two points are not technical, so I will revert these changes on demand. So you should be able to use the maps from master without losing something.

[Anarch Cassius]

If anyone cares, I'm actually pretty torn on the ships.

They look awesome but if they aren't adding to the map tactically it seems like we could just they they're off screen. I'd actually really like to see some fighting around the panels myself, I suppose there's always multiplayer.

If they were made real UFO sites you could possible reduce their spawn points to encourage more fighting below. I rarely see more than a skeleton crew by the ship on most levels in 2.5 anyway.

[Latino210]

@Latino210
The latter two points are not technical, so I will revert these changes on demand. So you should be able to use the maps from master without losing something.

LOL, I thought that the light fence was an abomination! Please remove it, since it's too futuristic for the map, it has a lot of errors and it slows the play horribly (too many light sources and polygons). For the solar panel, your idea is much better. Can you remove the light fence on the master, so I can work on that. By the way, where is the master to download?