Spring RTS Engine

It might be an idea to have the actual map 10-20% bigger than the playable area, that way you can "finish off" the edges so the don't just end. Think Earth2150.

I think planes can leave the edges already. I have only played E2150 once and cant remember how they did it. do you have an example? Won't you just always see edges even if the maps are wider. And won't it be a bit strange that you see the map but can't get there?

It's true that on video15, having the map brutally end looks bad: It makes the game area look it a chessboard and not an area of a real landscape. However, I don't really know how to fix that.

Enlarging the map don't sound like a good solution, because there would still be an edge, just a bit farther, and because it wouldn't feel good to have units bump into an invisible wall when near the limit.

Having an infinite map tiled with the current map (I'm not talking about donut shaped planet or insanity like that, just having the map periodically repeat itself forever), sound like an idea, but it will probably change the gameplay, look odd to see oneself again in the distance, and I don't know if it's possible to add that without reprogramming too much.

Maybe we could also make all maps sourrounded by an infinite ocean, or an infinite flat desert, or something like that? I'm not sure how the engine would react if a peeper was flying toward infinity for hours however. Not to mention people fleeing to infinity to avoid fighting.

I think the less worse solution would be to surround the map with an infinitely tiled landscape, but to limit unit movement to a rectangular area, shown with some sort of glowing line on the ground. (Save planes which would be able to sometimes move a bit farther like in OTA.)

mwha, I proposed the white line at the edge, we already ahve an infinitely tiled wtare that cant eb used though. I think aicraft should ahve an area offmap where they turn around but not t far off.


I rfer you all thus to the thread soemwhere on page 2/3 pertaining to this subject

You could do like CS:Source does, and have a miniature model of a low-polygon landscape hidden somewhere, with the actual landscape being hacked into the middle of it. I don't know how exactly it is done, but I suspect this involves having another camera move inside the little landscape and render it to the screen first, then the main camera renders the actual landscape (and units and stuff) over it. The two cameras are, of course, synced to give the impresion that the little landscape is actually a big chunk of land surrounding your little sandbox.

This all sounds great and would look good but from what I remember of playin CnC Generals it just went off into darkness.... Which seemed good to me because then its not just brutally ending the map but more like not lettin u see the rest... like the sun only shines where ur playing
makin the edge complete darkness sounds fine

think war3 - the map fades to darkness at the edges, and from the point where it begins to fade you cannot issue move orders. In ta spring it should be that they can move there of their own accord, but you cannot order them there.

Or maby when you get to the edge of the map the screen can static out like your loseing the transmision of the satilite that is poviding the view. Same with LOS, cause it would look realy cool if your scouting. Let me explain that with more detail.

You are looking over the soulder of a Pewee, marveling at the grahics of Spring, and scouting out the map (their sould be an atouscout button too). When suddenly a shot fires, and a shell explodes right next to you, sending dirt and crud everywhere. The Pewee fires of some shots in the direction of the attck, but another shell smashes into it. And becasue the LOS imidiatly vanishes when the Pewee dies, then you dont see the actual explosion. Instesd, if it was in slow mo, you would see the shell hit the Pewee, and then a microsecont afterward as the Pewee's LOS signal is lost the screen imidiatly fusses out. So in normal...mo it would look like the shell flying at the Pewee then suddenly the screen with go Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh with static and youd go "I lost the signal!" Cool eh?

PS: This is the fifth time iv said this already, AND WILL ANYONE PAY ATTENTION TO IT DAMN IT!
PPS: The original idea for this LOS static was from a crappy game called
Machines. The units did look cool, but the game was unbalenced, the sides where EXACTLY the same and it in general had a crap interfece. Also the static was cool, but it faded to black insted of staying staticky. It insted used the static to fade in and out of the normal, boring, blackness of theirs no LOS in the area. Insted it sould of stayed staticy the whole time

We dont need to be at the edge to see the edge zoombie. so static is outa the question.

I have proposed this once, and I will again:
Extend the map far beyond the boundaries, until it fades into the fog or dust. As for the boundaries themselves, make them invisible lines, and code them to appear when a unit approaches the line. Since units have a circular line of sight, when they approach the boundary, it should slowly fade into view, but only as far as the unit can see. Thus, a unit could walk along the boundary, and as it walks alongside the edge, the translucent line only appears as far as the unit can actually see. Even if line-of-sight is Permanent, the line should still only appear when a unit approaches it.

Syffer very nice but very trivial I believe.
I dont see why its so hard to just have it fade to darkness I mean an abrupt edge is nasty but not darkness...

Well, I suppose it is all about preference. As far as aesthetics go, I think fading off into fog or dust would be more "pretty"--so to say. With all of the colors and lighting effects that the Spring engine allows, it would seem awkward to have a vibrantly colorful map fade into black. Then again, there are those who liked that effect in CnC: Generals. Maybe we should vote on it.

yeah true preference I liked CnC Generals fine the game blah not that great not worth the money when they were bought out CnC went down hill

Syffer's got it.

You couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót see the sky and use the sort of camera styles we have in spring, so though it might have worked for CC it isn├óÔé¼Ôäót going to work for spring. Otherwise we'd see a rather odd looking horizon of just black considering the size of maps shown in spring. I believe that the variant of my suggestion that Syffer proposed with the land smoothing off into flatness off into the distance is best. Otherwise I think that maybe only he centre rectangle of the map should be available, aircraft can reach the edges of the maps but only so they can turn around and move back towards the centre, no buildings etc, and that white line too. Thus we do not see flat land off map.

Who ever said that TA ever had to be in the real world? Just make a slight storyline modification or whatever to say that the commanders are controlled vicariously, and the "mission area" is very strictly defined, so beyond the mission area would be a Tron-esque grid plane or something.

Or maby you can set the walls, like in scorched eath, from Bouncy, Feild or infinite. Infinite has a vast vast vast vast plain streetching off into the distance. THis effectivly makes the map infinitly large, but their are no resourses, geo-theraml vents, tree's or anything usefull or interesting out their. It could also be a infinite sea or a infinite forest, whitch is impassible buy flyableover...able. Bouncy is a little more in a "fun" or "light" side tiype of wall. Whene ever a bullet, plain tank or lasr hits the edge ot the map it bounces off and smashes into the playing feild. Planes will bounce off as well, while tanks and K-bots will be pushed back. Ships would be pushed back and slightly down. Feild is the most extreeeeeem of the sides, where the side is a shimmering, slightly invisable force feild. If a plane fly's into it BOOM! no more plane. If a tank bumbles into it, suddenly it explodes. Shells will blow up when they hit it (preferably with somekind of a shild effect, like a ripple or some other cool thing like that). I like bouncy personaly!

[K.B.] Napalm Cobra wrote:It might be an idea to have the actual map 10-20% bigger than the playable area, that way you can "finish off" the edges so the don't just end. Think Earth2150.

or CnC generals, just make the endges black and be done with it.

I think black edges in spring will look ugly, they may have worked for CCGenerals btu this isnt generals.

zwzsg wrote:It's true that on video15, having the map brutally end looks bad: It makes the game area look it a chessboard and not an area of a real landscape. However, I don't really know how to fix that.

That's a drawback of zoom: most games don't let you zoom out to the point that you can see the map as a big square. Spring does.

But I think the best solution is the one used in Battlefield 1942: make the map larger than the actual playable area, and allow the map-maker to define the playable zone. The un-playable area will gradually fade into fog or darkness.

There's a problem with using darkness though: how to represent it when you're looking toward the horizon from a fps point of view?