[2.2] Which custom maps should be official

is there any chance that you remove those tunnels and buttons
from arid D; ,such stuff always tends to be ignored or is to complicated
for commander maps. D:

 

Exactly, so why not give them the most playable maps so that they can provide variety between servers? Custom map downloads burn bandwidth and waste time for the players. Its why many people just leave when they have to download a map. If you add up the number of official + playable custom maps its more than some of the recent steamworks mods (I'm thinking of Insurgency in particular). Lack of map variety is also killing some mods (think Eternal Silence's three maps).

However, maybe the best solution is to have two tiers of maps included in the installer. Tier 1 would be the official Empires maps that have been thoroughly tested and optimized for great gameplay. Tier 2 would be playable custom maps and/or beta official maps (such as escort_beta3). That way only the maps with the best gameplay become official, but still including significant community maps.

 

I agree with this proposal we can either do that or:

on the downloads page have a link to download a custom map pack next to the 2.2 download, just make it clear to the user that these are not official.

Honestly, some of you guys are over analysing this.

 

I've put arid on the dedicated server by dizzy's request.
Is it possible to check if files or missing before it gets used in a playtest?

The buttons certainly not. Now that you can finally see which button does what for which door, and that you can climb up from the vehiclebridge to the top where the buttons are, they should be a good feature. Perhaps not the first few times, but at least eventually people will learn their value.

The tunnels ... i get what you mean, but i've seen them being used before to get to the other side and to be immediately protected by cover (the bunker). It even worked, we got a foothold, if i used that expression correctly. So they're not totally useless.
But would it be a great loss if they got removed... not really i think.

 

emp_bush_rc2 has a LOT of potential, it just needs the fact that people can spec the starting locations fixed

 

Isn't it possible to set some map specific commands, like no spec allowed for certain maps? Then one would only have to move the "unassigned" spectator positions somewhere uninteresting.

 

i tried it with cl_spectate 0 (or whatever the right cmd was) in the map config and that doesn't prevent it..

 

are we still going to bundle a community mappack with 2.2? maps like arid, midbridge, temple, ect? maybe new slaughtered?

 

god i hope so.

 

Why not have the community map pack be a separate download on the downloads page. That way, you can can update the Empires version and the map pack independently. As mappers make newer and better versions of their maps, you can include them in future map pack releases. Also, this means that you could update the map pack more frequently (since the average time between versions is..well, i've lost count of the months). If you did this, you should also add a link or some kind of reminder in the installer to check this out on your website.

Also, filesize does matter. I've seen people use that as an excuse not to download mods before.