But things like that are exactly the small pitfalls and traps that make Spring unfriendly for new players.

Go to a random page from the maplist on springfiles and browse around a bit.
Notice how few of those files are actually worth downloading.
Maybe 10% of the maps are "worth having", rest is ballast.

I often clear out my map folder. Some of us have internet connections that are so fast that I would actually like to go the opposite direction - a system that deletes the map from my machine after every battle. Using zklobby, whenever a new map is loaded for battle it automatically downloads within seconds anyway. It's gaming on the spring map cloud!

Maybe we should separate players with shitty connections into another server :D

On my rather fast notebook SL takes 14sec to show its face, and continues for another 34sec until heavy CPU+IO load stops. I have 360 maps. If it were 4x more maps SL would need 2m30s to settle. But it is usable after 14sec... just that everything feels slow :)

I may not be a hard-core-gamer with a dedi game-pc, but if I could choose, I'd always go for a smaller installation-size for a game.
Think: a single game you want to try out uses 2 GB or 20GB - which one sounds more appealing?

So I suggest to offer both torrents explaining things:
* popular-map-pack.torrent : 100 most popular maps, prob. all you ever need, 2GB
* all-maps-ever-made-pack.torrent : 1436 maps collector edition, incl. crap and all maps from popular-map-pack, 20GB

That way it's up to the user to decide what she wants.

im using my magic mindforce to download this: YOU MUST DO IT. YOUR FREE WILLY VANNISHES. YOU ARE A MINDLESS SLAVE WHO MUST ALWAYS CLICK DONWLOAD. DO NOT RESIST THE VOICE OF CHOICE, YOU ARE READING THIS IN RIGHT NOW.

LEHUGE DE BYTANNIA COMANDS YOU TOO!

I think I'll make a mappack too
demands:
-for *A games (other games already have their mappacks)
-"clear" pathing
-different maps with land/sea/air, playable in 1v1/team/ffa
-maps playable not only on supercomputers
-visible metalspots
-100 to 150 MB
-"finished" maps, ie no map that was released last week and will have a version 5 next week

List so far, flame on:

4084_Frozen_Gauntlet_TNM03-V2.sd7
1v1 or teams. land & sea means you can use all units *A has to offer.
Barren.sd7
1v1 or teams.
Comet_Catcher_Redux.sd7
1v1 or teams. dont really like it but is popular.
DeltaSiegeDry.sd7
teams. mappack without most popular map would be pointless.
DesertCliffsV1.sd7
another small map for 1v1 or teams.
DesertTriad.sd7
3 ffa
Eye_Of_Horus_v2.sd7
medium sized teams. works 1v1 too.
hotstepper.sdz
5ffa or anything else, also its my map and trololo.
HundredsIsles.sd7
water map that is playable 1v1, teams and ffa.
Ternion.sd7
land/water map for 3ffa or other setups.
Valley Of Unrest V3.sd7
1v1 or teams, interessting layout.
--------------------------------
11 maps, 78 MB

should also be included but not decided yet:
-some chickenmap
-ffa map for > 5 players
-some metalmap that does not suck
-maybe an alternative to DSD (Tabula or Folsom Dam etc)

How about metal heck? Or some other classic metal map, that actually has a story (metal heck is on core prime).

IMHO 50 most played BA maps (don't know most popular versions of some maps though) - sorted by map size

Cooper Hill
Duck
Brazilian Battlefield
Desert Triad
Chicken Farm
Chicken Nuggets
Chicken Roast
Small Divide Remake
Red Comet
Fields of Isis
Rusty Delta
CCR
Eye of Horus
Speed Metal
The Cold Place
Kappa Basin
LLTA Complex
Seths Ravine
Terra
DSD
Tabula
Titan
Desert Siege
Mescaline
Nuclear Winter
Altored Divide
Centerrock
Charlie in the Hills
Emain Macha
Green Fields
Small Supreme Battlefield (Wet)
Dead Reaf Dry
Folsom Dam Deluxe
Frozen Fortress
Talus
Tangerine
Tundra
Xanthe Terra v5
Koom Valley
Lost_v2
The Rock Final
The Rock Jungle
Tropical
DSD RevX_v3
Blindside
neurope_a7
Tempest
DWorld_V1
Mearth_v4
Throne v1

yes, was thinking of either metalheck or that one speedmetal variante that is 12x6.
I think it is not such much about given new players as many maps as possible, eventually they will use automatic downloaders anyway.
Idea is that when 2 people try to play their first BA game that they have any maps at all to chose from. Does not really matter if it is cooperhill or brazilian battlefield or something else, too many maps are more confusing than helpfull.

Keep in mind everyone refers to the original metalheck map despite a v2 existing

Yeah, that v2 is a fixed version that I put out a while back. Can't remember what the hell I was fixing, but yes. It was some strange thing that whoever ported it had done.

OHHH yeah! I was fixing the absurd typemap that some dumbass added.

If someone wants to make a top 100 mappack or something then feel free to upload it to SF, there are many terrabytes of bandwidth left

Super! I will download and seed too))

Yes, please please make a top 50 or 100 map pack! This is really needed. A few weeks ago when I started playing, I wanted to try out Zero-K in singleplayer to get a feel for it, but I couldn't understand that an RTS game would ship with NO MAPS. Actually, for a while I thought either Spring or ZK wasn't installed correctly. Then when I understood I had to tget maps separately, I searched for a map-pack, but the only option was 20 gigs of maps?!

So in short, sure maps can be downloaded instantly when playing multiplayer, but keep in mind the fact that Spring doesn't come with any maps by default could be just enough to push some players away... Singleplayer too should be playable out-of-the-box!

How about metal hack?or some other classic metal maps...
that actually has a little story every one knows that metal hack is on core prime......
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How is the copyrights? Does map makers put any licenses in the map files?

As far as I know there is no such things like Public domain or non-copyrightedt artwork for normal mortals.

depends on the mapper, mostly they don't give a f*** but want to at least be given a shout out if you want to use their map(or parts of it) as a source for yours. Hunter once got bent out of shape about someone using his smd colors, so I would ask him before you take his stuff.. personaly, I don't want people making copies of my maps but the lua and other stuff like models, effects, scripts and model textures generally are fair game.

For many maps the author is unknown and very few maps have a license/readme/comment in Lua included. Basically no maps have that information easily viewable for players, you have to know how to unpack the map.
But I think realisticaly no mapper can be against having his work included in a mappack, it is basically the same as having it hosted on multiple mirrors. Also the maps are not altered and nobody gains money or takes credit for other peoples work.
One problem might be if a newer version of the map is made but the mappack is not uppdated: that might be frustrating. But only including finished, longtime tested maps solves that.

you have my sword, so at least 1 gig of maps is save

I second what knorke is saying, I don't think any mappers are really going to get pissy about their map being part of a pack as long as the pack guy doesn't try and pretend he made them or tries to sell them.