Request For all map makers...

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:27

ok I have noticed this a lot lately and it's bugging the hell out of me.

It seems as though most map makers have no idea what the fod distance tag does in the smd.

The higher the number the farther the fog is away from you.

On any map the fog distance should be set at a minimum of .4

On larger maps fog should generally be set to .5 or a maximum of .7 (even tho .7 is pushing it a bit).

The reason for this is because in ota mode if you are zoomed out all the way ahd the fog is set to less than .4, the fog interferes with your ability to see the ground. A perfect example of this is NOIZE's Comet Catcher Remake, and Green Comet. Not attempting to pick on NOIZE here, but his were the first to come to mind.

Another bit of knowledge...

When you are compiling a map with ABSOLUTELY NO WATER ON IT you should compile with your desired max height and a MINIMUM of 100 POSITIVE NUMBER. Once again, a perfect example of not doing this is CCR, because if you pelt the ground in the same spot enough, you will see water. *YAY!* There really is water on the moon!!! :p

Thanks for listening :D

NOiZE · Post by **NOiZE** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:34

i never understood that fog distance

i wanted like no fog @ all

but i somehow can't remove it completely

but now i finaly got it thanks forboding!

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:39

'nother thing: the fog value must be greater than zero and less than one. The greater the value of the number, the less fog there will be as your vision approaches its distance limit.

Visual Explanation:

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:42

Perfect fiz! Thanks much, thats exactly what I was trying to explain! Thank you!

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:46

Addendum and a bit OT but...

Me and deci were considering sharing our entirity of collective knowledge of map making and very particular bits of knowledge such as this, in a thread (hopefully to be stickied, because it would be quite long and have absolutely everything we know (within reason :D).

Would anyone be interested in us doing this? I originally rejected the idea, but with the influx of new maps with GLARING problems, I'm wondering if it's not such a bad idea after all.

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:48

What are the various points you want to reach? I might be able to add something, but you've probably cover all the bases I could think of, and then some.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:55

Well, at this point I could write a book on map making, and thats basically what me and deci would be doing... is writing the book on map making.

Input would be accepted, however, I believe we would have it all covered. However, I forget things too, so of course input after the original post would be very much appreciated, unless I or deci know for it to be wrong for a fact. A lot of map makers have some crazy ideas that jsut don't work in real life.

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 21 Feb 2006, 18:39

WIKI!!!

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 21 Feb 2006, 18:57

Ok this is going to offend multiple people and I'm sorry for that but this is the simple truth.

The wiki blows.

I honestly dunno why everyone thinks that wiki's are god gift to man because, they are generally hard to follow and navigate. Not the mention the fact that there are like 8 tut's in there and none of them are complete not to mention easy to follow.

If the post that I and deci makes gets committed to the wiki then so be it. But I personally want nothing to do with the wiki.

Sorry for offending everyone who contributed to it.

If any of you want me to sped 4 hours of my time writing this up then speak now. If no one cares thats fine by me. I have plenty of projects to get done.

BTW I'm not trying to sound stuck up about this or anything but sometimes I get tired of hearing debate, and just want a yes or no answer.

NOiZE · Post by **NOiZE** » 21 Feb 2006, 20:34

When you make one good tutorial it should be on the wiki!!

aGorm · Post by **aGorm** » 21 Feb 2006, 21:16

Just want to point out... the problem is life happens. Things get in teh way. Thats why theers no compleat Tut's anywere. Personly, I hardly have time to map now, let alone write up my tut on it.

By al means go ahead and write it up, it will be helpfull for alot of people.

aGorm

Belmakor · Post by **Belmakor** » 21 Feb 2006, 21:45

I would definitely be interested in information such as this, since I'm gearing up to design a map or two myself. Thanks Foreboding Angel :)

What would be really useful is if such information could be included with the mapconv download, for example, with a link back to the message board thread to point to the latest and greatest version.

Dead.Rabit · Post by **Dead.Rabit** » 21 Feb 2006, 21:54

as one of the newest map makers i vote yes

following the wiki (sorry to offend the tut makers) i came accross alot of problems that i assume most took for granted.. the SMD took ages to figure out.. and also for the compile.bat (just to put it in scale) how big is the commander in map units (-x -n)
little things like that.. and what affects what (again in the SMD creator.. things like unit ambience colour) and whats an average value for stuff like cloud density would all be much appreciated by me at least

any shortcuts/techniques u have that i can steal would also be nice =p

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 21 Feb 2006, 22:40

Not that I don't like the wiki, but it can be a little confusing to navigate at times. It would be great to have some really really relevent threads of gathered knowledge to sticky, however, merging threads is nigh impossible on these forums and zaphod would have to do the acctual stickying, so don't leave absolutly anything out.

Kixxe · Post by **Kixxe** » 21 Feb 2006, 23:16

Make a sticky, link the wiki!

eh? EH?

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 21 Feb 2006, 23:18

okays, your right, much of the wiki blows... my opinion for why is that everyone thinks it blows and never does anything about it...

I would like someone to post a perfect map tutorial, period, no matter where you put it.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 21 Feb 2006, 23:56

I wasn't aiming for a total tut per se, however, now that I think about it I might as well.

I can't count the amount of ppl I have taught to map over teamspeak, I suppose it would be nice to just write it down and be done with it. I will aslo provide images and file downloads where applicable.

Basically I will be remaking one of my maps in the tut so not only is there a point of reference... You can see how they are made from my perspective. Hmm.. I'm liking this tut idea more and more. I will attempt to get it all done when I get home from work. My band had a show last night so I'm a little wiped out, but it's a lot easier to tell how to than to actually do :D

aGorm · Post by **aGorm** » 22 Feb 2006, 10:27

I would like someone to post a perfect map tutorial, period, no matter where you put it.

Do you have any idea how long that would take?? Honestly... I made the original tut, it took several days WHEN i had nothing else to do, and it was for teh old map format.

The new map format has 100 more things that need to be written up, plus I have far less time than I did then, and people alway complain that somthings not in it, meaning you spend more time on it.

A perfect tut is imposible.

Alot of info in one thread is probibly teh best anyone can do right now.

aGorm

Maelstrom · Post by **Maelstrom** » 22 Feb 2006, 12:16

Another thing about the wiki. You say it blows, is hard to navigate, and there is no good tutorials there. The good thing about the wiki is that you can EDIT IT YOUR SELF. If something is missing, add it. If it is hard to navigaste, reorganise it. Make it good. You seem to have strong ideas about what is good and bad in the wiki. Fix it for us then. Its really not that hard to edit.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 22 Feb 2006, 23:34

did I mention that I don't like wiki's, never have, and think that they are rather pointless as a way of storing info.

For a wiki to be good it would have to have an outline for users to edit, in stead of all of this hodgepodge stuff, but that's my opinion and you can like it or hate it... it's not going to change.

BTW, last night I was feeling pretty crappy for the most part and decided not to work real hard on getting my deal done, hopefully tonight.

It will take a while but I can type about 90 wpm so I'm hoping that will help a lot *crosses fingers*

Oh and btw, I would really appreciate it when I finish if a grammar nazi or two would go through it and find my typo's (I generally catch them myself, but at some point your eyes go fuzzy).

Spring RTS Engine

Request For all map makers...

Request For all map makers...