need help plzzz

[wired]

here is the map fiels see if you know my prob


http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0G9S ... XLFZ0HTWXT

[[K.B.] Napalm Cobra]

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1564

Minimum height and maximum height are the minimum and maximum points on your map, water is at zero.

[wired]

so basicly my min should be in the neg numbers /?

[[K.B.] Napalm Cobra]

If you want water then yes.

[wired]

ok i fixed it all thnx for every ones help.
jsut one more question when i go to test my maps i can get my comander to come up. in the onepalyer exe mode ??

i click commanders script.
load the map nothing happens =/

[Weaver]

What do mean by nothing?

How far does the map get with loading?

Or does complete loading, you press return to start but can't find your commander. In which case ctrl-c if he's jammed in a corner the start point is most likely no good. Take a look at the SMD file for these lines.

Code: Select all

	[TEAM0]
	{
		StartPosX=100;
		StartPosZ=100;
	}
	[TEAM1]
	{
		StartPosX=900;
		StartPosZ=900;
	}

Those values should be safe even on very small maps.

[Imperator]

Whoa first let me point out: TA - Spring rules. Second: i created a map and made exactly the same "noob" mistakes as wired. but thanks to you i corrected that.
the first test map is being compiled - hopefully some useful maps will be created by me

edit: came up with a noob question! how do i use tiled textures? the bmp files easily reach gigabyte size at medium sized maps! isnt there a way to use anything other than 24 bit bmp for map textures?

ot is it possible to just use the same texture but for example count every pixel as "2 * 2" pixes, and such double the map size without increasing the bmp filesize.

[Maelstrom]

Tiles are 32 * 32. If you have a tiled BMP that is a multiple of 32, then you can get the file size down less than a meg quite easily. I myself make my tiles 128 * 128 (4*4 tiles). My maps are quite small. Maps that are a few meg big are alright, as long as they are large maps. an 8x8 map that is a few megs, however, is NOT a good thing. The smaller the better, as long as you dont compromise quality.

[wired]

hmm really i need a tut on this so bad i need lots of tuts on mapping for pring the one on the spring site dosent cover enof

[Maelstrom]

What type of map are you trying to make?
What image editing programs do you have?
How good are you at said image editing programs?
How long are you planning on taking on this map?

Answer these an someone will walk you through the making of your specific map.

[Imperator]

Tiles are 32 * 32. If you have a tiled BMP that is a multiple of 32, then you can get the file size down less than a meg quite easily. I myself make my tiles 128 * 128 (4*4 tiles).

So am i correct to assume that you create a *.bmp file with 128 * 128 Pixels and the map compiler automatically uses this texture all over the map? or do you have to specify the regions where these are used (so you can use different tiles on a single map)?
Thx for your patience :)

[[K.B.] Napalm Cobra]

No, you make a texture file 8 times the size of your heightmap.

[Imperator]

but then the bmp sizes get utopical again, i want small files! or does bmp format know when tiles repeat themselves and get smaller?

[[K.B.] Napalm Cobra]

BMP files are what you see is what you get, the mapconv programme searches through your heightmap for repeating parts.

[Imperator]

hm i get quite confused now :)
could you explain me step by step how to make use of tiled textures? or do you have a link to where it is explained?

just compiled a small map with repetitive texture and it seems to be a small map filesizewise, however the texture.bmp is still in the range of hundreds of megabytes

do i have to use a typemap?

[[K.B.] Napalm Cobra]

Repetitive texture is all you need to make it compress to a smaller size. Who cares what size the texture file is?

[Imperator]

my RAM!

no seriously, 1 gb *.bmp files are not really easy to modify and handle even on a faster computer. but it seemed to work i have just created my second map by using repetitive textures. it is just 300 kb and 16 * 16 in size
you wanna see it? :)

[Maelstrom]

for a more comprehensive description on how to use tiles, look at this thread:

http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2504

Read it all the way through. If you still have questions, come ask us again. But you should be fine with that little tutorial.

[Imperator]

ah i understand now! the mapgenerator detects repetitive patterns of textures and compresses them!
so all i have to do in GIMP (for example) is to create a tile with n * 32 pixels width or height and fill a designated region with it. still what troubles me is the extreme size of the resulting bmp files when creating maps larger than 16 ² but i guess it cant be helped, and after all you can divide your map in more bmps and only put them together at the very end.
aha! also very useful when creating symmetric maps. after more thinking i understand the concept better and better, thx for your help.

[SinbadEV]

And yet again... someone needs to figure out a way to cut down on the source file size for image editing part of the process... honestly it's not going to do anything for the ammount of ram needed because you'll still need to decompress it for processing... but bmps are huge on your drive...

what I would like to see is to be able to define out own tiles... max a finaltex/32 sized texture and make a text file defining what the coulours on this map mean in dds(dss?) or other source files... defining your own tile set instead of letting the app pick them for you...