Spring RTS Engine

Oi, i've done three different methods for this map. the first time i made it, i tried using Photoshop and l33t paint skillz. It was a good first try but i wasn't satisfied. Then i tried L3DT, really cool program, but i didn't have the patience to mess with the climate system the progam used. Then while messing with TAE and Annihilator (OTA level editors) i realized that Annihilator allowed me to export the heightmap and texturemap from the map i was working on. Ultimately i was like "Sweeeeet!" so this is the final result, i still had to do a few things the Spring way, but the end result is a completely original map done OTA style. w00t w00t!

Comments and critiques please, kthnx!
^_^

OTA ISLANDS! Yay...






This is a HUGE 24x24 map meant for epic battles and wars for resources. (Metal Patches are primarily near the small hills.)


Submerged patches, you can't see in the screenshot, but I even went to the trouble of putting the OTA waterworld mex patches into the submerged texture.

And last but not least...

The minimap!

Download Here!
http://www.themercenary.net/Spring_Maps ... rsIsle.sd7
You can also get it in its current form straight from the client.

+ OTA Style, very old school
+ size
+ layout

~ metal layout, it's not bad, it's not great, very clustered

- metal amount, I got +20 from 1 screen of patches, seems high-ish
- some geo vents don't work

With a lot of players it should be a fun map!

OverDamage wrote:+ OTA Style, very old school
+ size
+ layout

~ metal layout, it's not bad, it's not great, very clustered

- metal amount, I got +20 from 1 screen of patches, seems high-ish
- some geo vents don't work

With a lot of players it should be a fun map!

The metal patches in earlier versions were pushing almost 4 units of metal each, way too high, so i did lower it. I think u will notice that individual Mexes only pull 1.6 units.

I'll have to fix the Geo Vents in the next version... Pooey...

Add noise and such like to the heightmap and render it.

yeah, OTA heightmaps don't look right when ported :) looks fun gameplay wise though

That isn't an OTA texture as well is it? The blue from the water is seeping up into the landmass which often happens with straight OTA ports... You should have some land that acctually ends up underwater before the water color hits...

Or, better yet, add sand around the edges as a beach, with grass above and sea floor below. Then you wont get underwater grass, or sea bottom on land. Problem solved!

I agree with Bruce, make the height map more intresting. I like the layout, but that land is just way to flat to look good. Would be fun to play on, but just not to look at.

We need more maps like this. But with less metal and what everyone else says, about the grass etcetc

Meh, im working on version 2, getting the texturmap to line up with the heightmap is a bitch... that and it doesn't help that MapConv takes up 20 minutes of my lifespan everytime i compile

Quanto042 wrote:Meh, im working on version 2, getting the texturmap to line up with the heightmap is a bitch... that and it doesn't help that MapConv takes up 20 minutes of my lifespan everytime i compile

They DON'T line up.

What he ment to say was, you cant line them up because the cavedog team were lazy when they made Total Annialation... So you will never get a perfect match.

I suggest you add noise to the heightmap, and if you realy wanna keep the texture, see if you can replace the see with a sand texture and then lower the water level so as to leave a thin beach of sand.

aGorm

(I do like your blunt style though Bruce, but on a new guy, maybe add an explantion, cause he wont be used to it )

aGorm wrote:...maybe add an explantion...

Thats what you're for.

:D

Whilest I hate it that youve pointed that out.... Good point...



aGorm

While i haven't posted that much, i'm quite familiar to bruce's style. And long before he posted i decided i would ignore his postes.

Oh and adding noize doesn't fix the alignment, it makes it worse.
What i think i will do (adding sand to the OTA texture would make it look tacky) is go in and actually darken the OTA heightmap just a smidgen, so that the bluish areas that are above ground will at least be under the water. This will affect some of the grass as well, but IMO grass texture that is only slightly underwater is still better than blue texture on the ground.

And you are right, the OTA Heightmap and Textures don't line up perfectly, but i wouldn't call Cavedog lazy either, you need to understand that the OTA heighmap is 1/16 of the Texture instead of 1/8th in spring. So as a result it is slightly off. Myself being an OTA purest, I can forgive this slight issue. Of course though, those who are too used to spring will have problems with this simple nuicence.

those who are too used to spring will have problems with this simple nuicence.

Its just laziness.

There is nothing tacky about beaches. How often in real life do you see grass going down to the oceans edge? Most of the time it is either sand, rocks, clifs, mud, or a combination of the above.

Maelstrom wrote:There is nothing tacky about beaches. How often in real life do you see grass going down to the oceans edge? Most of the time it is either sand, rocks, clifs, mud, or a combination of the above.

Don't fogot ther dead sheep. One year, After a big storm, We found Dead sheep on our FAverite beach :D