Any small map tweaks needed? Resource node amounts, etc?

Discussion in 'Mapping' started by GregariousJB, Mar 20, 2016.

  1. complete_

    complete_ lamer

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    you can always try and post in one of his topics to see if he gets an email from it. Cause i dont see him visiting this forum anytime soon
     
  2. [lodw]keef

    [lodw]keef Hobbit

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    You're probably having a missing texture problem with your decompiled maps due to the fact that we packrat textures into the .bsp, so they dont actually exist in the folder path location, just in the .bsp internal representation of that file path with the file actually in the .bsp.

    Also please don't try to re-do maps with decompiled versions, it screws up weird little things. Mvalley vmf in the dev directory was just a demcompiled version, and I had to rebuild the entire map from scratch due to problems working with it.

    On the palmbay NF building start are note, I kinda tried to enlarge it, I mean it is actually larger now than it originally was, but source map dimensions really cramped my style on that one, I still wanted it to flow well. It could probably be helped out some more with maybe some horizontal plateau stretching, or go build elsewhere :P. TBH though what it and every empires map has really needed, is modification of the building placement code, to not require such damn perfectly flat surfaces. I realize that would require probably redoing that code since I don't think it takes 'spikes' very well for flatness requirements, but that code has pretty much been the bane of mapping forever. Rougher terrain would help empires so much. /end rant
     
  3. complete_

    complete_ lamer

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    more flexible building placement? theres good news for you in the current version:
    [​IMG]
    now if only you were around when xya was complaining that not being able to place buildings anywhere was "part of empires", placement might have been even more flexible
     
  4. [lodw]keef

    [lodw]keef Hobbit

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    oh my god, you guys did? you angels you! but really? "part of empires" I would make buildings placeable on 45 degree slopes if it wouldnt make them retarded
     
    complete_ likes this.
  5. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    told him multiple times already.
     
  6. DocRabbit

    DocRabbit Member

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    Those kinda look like cubemap textures :) You should probably be running the decompiler without extracting textures, it should work much better this way. Any custom textures that have been pakrat'd in you should use pakrat to extract them.
     
  7. DocRabbit

    DocRabbit Member

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    Try running pakrat on emp_coast.bsp, those textures he is talking about are there. I had to run it myself just to see. :)
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2016
  8. [lodw]keef

    [lodw]keef Hobbit

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    I went and played through a bit, I have to say, quite a fan of the flexible building placement, and you're right lamer, I wish I had been around to advocate the higher flexibility placement. Super flat placement has been the bane of mapping for empires forever, you cant make areas that are for infantry combat, tank combat and buildable. However if you could roughen the terrain up a little while still making it usable it would loosen up mapping requirements significantly. While I think the current iteration of more flexible building placement is great, I would yes still advocate for even more flexible building placement. In my opinion you should be able to drop a VF on the beach in palmbay right outside north of BE's main in that big flatish sandy area there.
     
  9. DocRabbit

    DocRabbit Member

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    The program is called entspy, it's a java app that will allow you to tweak your numbers in the bsp. You can't really add stuff with this, as it would alter the lump size. I would suggest if you use this, make a backup of your original file first, as if you mess up, you can easily tank your bsp file.
     
  10. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    why not make use of the cvars available to tweak income? all it would need is a simple <mapname>.cfg file
     
  11. DocRabbit

    DocRabbit Member

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    I checked a decompile of the map, it has no leaks. Make sure you didn't turn something off in the visgroups that would have caused it.
     
  12. complete_

    complete_ lamer

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    if you're still doing this emp_manticore_b4_2013 has unbuilt cameras with the model of brenodi armouries scattered throughout the map. might need to fix that.
     
  13. [lodw]keef

    [lodw]keef Hobbit

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    I mean....I have the files, if someone wants to compile it, setting hammer and stuff up sounds like a lot of work right now though.
     
  14. complete_

    complete_ lamer

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    i have not been able to get hammer compiles working for a couple years now.
     
  15. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    you dont need to set up hammer anymore. just open the version in <steamapps>\common\Empires\bin
    anyways, if its only about compiling, give me the vmf and tell me which compile options.
    i played manticore today, so i should have everything needed other than the mapfile.

    i just dont want to find all the vtfs and vmts, fix the res file, pack stuff up and whatnot ...

    same for you, just use the hammer.exe in the folder above. also if it crashes during vrad, try compiling ldr and hdr seperated (means in advanced options, change -both to -ldr in the vrad options, copy that, add a new line, paste it and change -ldr to -hdr in the new line)
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2016
  16. [lodw]keef

    [lodw]keef Hobbit

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    alright, I'll try to remember this when I get back home sunday or monday, if I forget just make Complete poke me. Have a mountain of stuff to do on my plate right now so this isn't super high on my remember list atm.
     
  17. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    Remember a lot of the time you can use Entspy or Ented to just edit the bsp without a decompile. Just remember to change the mapname and rebuild the cubemaps afterwards.
     

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