Since we don't have a decent current mappack, I thought I'd throw this idea out here. A map pack of maps that aren't (or can't be) official, but are decent, professional looking, and played on the servers. These would be representative of the maps empires is meant to be played on, and hopefully reduce the emphasis on ridiculous maps in empires. I made this preliminary list off of Vipers' map rotation, comment on any you think should or shouldn't be a part of this map pack: emp_bush_26022011 emp_dune_ob1 emp_eastborough_b4 emp_frozensummit_b2 emp_manticore_b3 emp_mesa_b4 emp_midbridge_rc2 emp_moors emp_palmbay_b2 emp_raiders_b1 emp_research_1_2 emp_escort_alt5 emp_chain_13072011 emp_snowstorm_rc6 emp_shadows emp_district402_alt4 emp_slaughtered_alt_rc3 Again, decent, professional looking maps that are played on the servers. Let me know what you think and I'll throw this together. Hopefully servers could put a download link to this on their MOTD as well as a link on the empires main page.
What all is required for a map. I see the bsp file and the res file. The ain graph comes from the server I think and the sound cache is generated from the map right? Also for moors did you mean moors or moors_b1? And another thing, Chain is up to 15052011 now I think. Not sure what the difference is except the name. Surprisingly the maps you selected compact down to about 160mb. Even though in the uncompressed form its over 600mb.
Open the .res file in notepad for each map and you will see what needs to be included. I was also planning on having a bzipped version so people could quickly set up fastdl servers. The names I listed are the names of the maps currently on Vipers rotation, so I assume they are the latest, but I will double check them all.
"emp_moors" is the one with the rocks and a mountain in the skybox use that one, zanarias finished it dug up the thread: http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=15272&highlight=moors
The number at the end of Bush/Chain is the date, in the correct format (dd/mm/yyyy). So the one you mentioned isn't the latest one Viroman, there's one from July. I've been planning (and I know I always say this, but this time I have a legitimate excuse) to make a new map pack for a while, but it seems pointless whilst many maps are broken due to the current release. Insurrection, Silo, Hazard, TropicVendetta just to name a few. I think there's around 12-14 broken in total. Also, if it's of any help, here's EPIC server's current mapcycle in the plugin format, I'm too lazy to pull the mapnames out of it, just scroll down and see if there's anything you missed that you think is decent. As I said, a lot of maps are missing due to the current version, but I still think we've got a few maps VIPER doesn't cycle. Code: "umc_rotation" { "Mapcycle" { "maps_invote" "6" "emp_2islands_b2" { "min_players" "16" "max_players" "42" } "emp_alpinerush_b3" { "min_players" "16" "max_players" "42" } "emp_arid" { "min_players" "36" "max_players" "64" } "emp_blackmountain_alpha" { "min_players" "42" "max_players" "64" } "emp_blah4" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "42" } "emp_bush_26022011" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "50" } "emp_canyon" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "50" } "emp_cdr_canyon_ob2" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "32" } "emp_coast" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "50" } "emp_crossroads" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "32" } "emp_cyclopean" { "min_players" "22" "max_players" "64" } "emp_district402_alt3" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "26" } "emp_dune_ob1" { "min_players" "24" "max_players" "64" } "emp_duststorm" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_eastborough_b4" { "min_players" "18" "max_players" "30" } "emp_escort" { "min_players" "12" "max_players" "40" } "emp_forest_ob" { "min_players" "26" "max_players" "64" } "emp_frozensummit_b2" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_glycencity" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "30" } "emp_homeland_b9" { "min_players" "12" "max_players" "42" } "emp_isle" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_king_r5" { "min_players" "40" "max_players" "64" } "emp_lake_b5" { "min_players" "32" "max_players" "64" } "emp_manticore_b3" { "min_players" "22" "max_players" "50" } "emp_mesa_b4" { "min_players" "18" "max_players" "50" } "emp_midbridge_rc2" { "min_players" "22" "max_players" "64" } "emp_moors" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_mvalley" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_palmbay_b2" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "42" } "emp_plunge_ob2" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_raiders_b1" { "min_players" "22" "max_players" "64" } "emp_railroad_ob1" { "min_players" "16" "max_players" "64" } "emp_research_1_2" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "48" } "emp_shadows" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "30" } "emp_slaughtered" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "42" } "emp_smokies_rc2" { "min_players" "32" "max_players" "64" } "emp_streetsoffire" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "42" } "emp_territory_ob1" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "64" } "emp_traders_a8" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "36" } "emp_urbanchaos" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "32" } "emp_ward_rc2a" { "min_players" "22" "max_players" "64" } "emp_stalemate_rc2" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "32" } "emp_snowstorm_rc6" { "min_players" "0" "max_players" "48" } "emp_chain_13072011" { "min_players" "22" "max_players" "64" } "emp_atomic_rc6" { "min_players" "40" "max_players" "64" } }
Trickster, I just played tropicvendetta on Vipers, looks like somesome has fixed the map. No purple pudding Hills and everything in it works.
Yeah, Steve took the map and fixed up the missing materials, whether by adding them or changing them I don't know. I think the next one he's going to work on is Snowbound.
Varbles and Steve just explained one of the main reasons the maps broke, and chances are that very few will be fixed by the patch. They all just need recompiling for steampires because they pakratted all their textures into the BSP. And decompiling is messy, so ideally the original vmf is needed. After that it's a doddle.
see thats what i always figured was the problem. i was always kinda lost because i didnt know why nobody wanted to recompile their maps
I thought it might be that, but the thing is, I'm 90% sure that Omneh told me he didn't pakrat his maps, and they've all got missing textures. I'm going to speak to him again about it to be sure.
Isn't it just a case of extracting & deleting the pakratted files out of the bsp, placing them into the correct directories and including them in the .res file?
I just looked at emp_insurrection and there are files pakratted inside the bsp. EDIT: I just had a go at fixing one of the broken maps and had no luck.
They have to be recompiled, Varbles said too much bsp stuff is written into the terrain. I'm going to get the VMFs out of Omneh.