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 Post subject: New colortable?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 1:14 pm 
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Previously I've tried to keep newer versions of the color table compatible with previous versions so that it would be easy to continue working on a map across versions. However, I think it would be a good idea if the colortable was completely revamped. It's just too cluttered as is. The bad side is all existing maps couldn't use it without major changes. Is this a good idea?

Here's a proposed colortable so far (note, color coding is just for ease of viewing and doesn't reflect the final colors)
REV 1:
OUT OF DATE, SEE REV 2
Image
OUT OF DATE, SEE REV 2


Grass walkthrough is for hidden entrances like the underground entrance under the house in the hedgemaze in the Brit map. I think it would be a good addition. Also, wood floors could be useful. I've also reduced things like cobblestone and desertway and changed quite a few numbers. I was thinking that a few negative numbers could be useful to give more variety in altitudes.

I still have some room for other colors. Let's have at it. Am I on the right track? See something that still should be dumped? Or is there something you'd like to see in there that I missed. Some of these are based on already proposed changes by:
StromCrow: swamp and rough grass (or if you prefer swamp-grass)
UOT: cave entrances

Now is the time to speak up with anything that you think would be good changes. Reply back even if you think changing the table at all is a bad idea. I know many of you have customized the colortable for your own use and that's fine. This would be for others to get started with and it should be relatively useful for all basic map work.

Thanks

-Ryandor


Last edited by Ryandor on Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:39 pm 
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Wow. Quite an overhaul. Hmmmm. Dunno about the neg Z. I like 0 on the left most(except for -5 water and 20 rock). Couple suggestions:

Black- only need at 0, not much point in setting Z on black
nodraw- why? at most one at 0 Z
Cobblestone- a few more rows, mostly for some low altitudes like 2, 7, 12, etc
Another row of Mountain for mountain with cave. More variety of cave entrance altitudes. I'm not sure I read the other post right and looking at the script with it it doesn't look like it works but I had an idea about the caves.
Possibly some of the heights for dungeon floors could be cut.
Some neg -20 floors for basements.
A spot for the neg 15 coastal. Had some ideas about adding a terrain group to make the coastal transitions better possibly.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 6:53 pm 
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I agree w/ stormcrow regarding the -2 land tiles and the extra black, but that's just because I don't understand what they'd be used for.

As for what should be added, i think it would be cool if there was more range on forest and grass, maybe up to 60 or 70, but i can change that myself. I'm excited to get started using this new mod, and i appreciate the work you're putting into it!


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:21 pm 
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The -2 altitude was something I was thinking about. I'm still kinda undecided. However, looking at it from a "new user" point of view I would have to ask why as well.. It could be useful, but I guess it would be mainly an advanced thing. Taken out, and added 50 as an extra number.

Black: I've found when doing dungeons that on certain sides, the floor tiles get messy if the black isn't at least somewhat close. For example, I made a dungeon with the floor tiles at 40. If the black is at 0, then it makes it wierd looking since the black stretches.

no-draw: This one is similiar, but not as critial. When doing staircases and static underground rooms and tunnels, it's nice to have the hole already "precut" for you, as in the case in dungeons. Since this tile stretches, it's nice to have it roughly the same altitude to avoid wierd stretching. There's even a couple of examples in the Brit map of this.

I suppose both of these would be considered "advanced" as well. It's hard to think about what someone for the first time making a map would prefer. I've taken a few out, but I'd prefer leaving some in there.

cobblestone: you're right on this. I should have more of these in here.

I was kinda wondering about the dungeon (and wood) being too many. While it's nice to have as many as possible, filling it up takes away from other colors. This also makes room for more sandstone so I added a couple (like cobblestone). Thoughts?

-15 coastal is an excellent idea. I consider it nice that Dragon can do it semi-automatically, but it tends to get it wrong quite often, and this is a common problem. Putting this in would give better control.

Rock: I really want to stick with some of the lower rock altitudes as it can really be nice to make the mountains more smooth. maybe just drop the 2 and add 75? One full row is well enough though.

Mountain for caves: Is there a way to set an absolute value on a static placement even when the mountain above is semi-random? I've not been able to get that to work and I've got an upcoming tutorial on how I create caves. (It's pretty easy and straight foward). If you have any ideas on this, please share. PM if you feel the need.

-20 basement: I honestly didn't think anyone used that, but I'll put it back in.

Cave entrance: I meant to put in numbers and not the N and W's in there. Sorry. More?

grass walkthrough: thinking on this, since grass stertches, there's no point in making more than one number for it. It'll just have to be at 0.

I was thinking of adding some other type of "town" type tiles. Like just adding 1 of each color for red tiles, blue tiles, etc. Just at 0. But I'll wait on that. Any suggestions on this? I'd also like to leave one full row empty for customization. What do you think of this? Too much? Too little?

I appreciate the feedback from StormCrow and ardsdap. Hopefully others will contribute as well. This way it's more of a community effort, rather than just me pulling crap out of my arse. The more people that let me know what is is they prefer the better this will be for general use.
OUT OF DATE, SEE REV 3
Here's REV 2 of the colortable with the changes so far:
Image
OUT OF DATE, SEE REV 3

Keep the comments and suggestions coming.
Thanks

-Ryandor


Last edited by Ryandor on Tue Jun 10, 2003 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 11:42 pm 
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Need cave entrance at 0 but I'm thinking that there needs to be each of the different orientations of cave entrance (of which there are 8 plus of course a solid black from elsewhere). Which of course is rough since just 4 altitudes would take up 2 full rows. 0 is a must, 20 and 40 and maybe 60 would be nice(getting into Mt Kendall type mtns with caves at different alts)

Quote:
Mountain for caves: Is there a way to set an absolute value on a static placement even when the mountain above is semi-random? I've not been able to get that to work and I've got an upcoming tutorial on how I create caves. (It's pretty easy and straight foward). If you have any ideas on this, please share. PM if you feel the need.


Are you saying you couldn't get it to place a static on every tile? I haven't played much with this but that would kinda kill the idea.

As for the dungeons/black/nodraw: Why would you make a dungeon at other than 0 Z? I can see doing a bit of multiple altitude levels but mostly with statics.

Also thinking maybe 1 or 2 more lava at higher alts (gotta have yer volcanos)


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2003 11:09 am 
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It's not a problem getting a static tile in every location, but it's the z value of it. Since Dragon places the static tile relative to the map tile, you can't control independently where it'll be placed.
In the mountain example, if I had a flat mountain at say 50z, I could script it to put a cave floor tile 50 below the level of the mountain, no problem. But if I have random mountains at say 45 through 65, and set the cave floor at 50 below, then the cave floor would be a "copy" of the mountain above it with the same randomness. There's no way that I know of to set that cave floor at say specifically 0 z, when the mountain above it is random. That is the problem. The only way that I can think of to be able to be able to do this is to make one long line in the script to make the cave, using a specific tile as the key on the mountains. (Think yew trees, or mushroom rings) and that's not really a good solution.

The way I make my caves under mountains right now is that I make my map with the mountains complete. Then I make a copy of the map, deleting all colors except for the mountains (optional but it goes a little faster). I then draw my caves where ever they need to be, and run that map through Dragon. I then use DragonSP to freeze only the cave type scripts (cave2blackRand.scp, black2caveRand.scp, etc) to get the caves into the statics file.

I consider this method pretty easy, and it makes it so that once you do it, you don't have to worry about the caves anymore and can continue working on other parts of the map. provided you save the scp's from it, you can re-freeze the caves when needed (if they get wiped or removed).

dungeons/black/no-draw: This again is a case of overkill on my part I think. While I prefer to do as much as I can in the map (since the map0.mul file doesn't change no matter how much stuff is in it), it can be done with statics (which increase in size the more you put in it). For a new user, I suppose this would be a better solution, so unless others agree with me, I'll drop them.

This makes more room for lava as well.

Cave entrances: Even though there the same color and are not marked, there's two sets of cave entrances, with 7 colors each. One set is for North and one set is for East. I've added more from the previous Rev as well.

Here's REV 3 of the colortable with the changes so far:
Image

On another note, I think I may have a way to convert a mod 9 bmp to this new mod's colortable, so as to not have to start from scratch. I'm not certain if it will work, but it would be a great help for those already started on a map.

There's others reading this, so lets hear from others as well. As you can see, I'm taking suggestions seriously, and changing the color table according to other's wishes. I should also mention that if anyone else has a custom script for Dragon, there's a good chance of it being included in the new mod (like StormCrow's rough grass). So let me know about those as well.

-Ryandor


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2003 1:47 am 
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You asked me to request the forest-cliffs here to remind you... thanks for the tutorial! I'm not sure how many others would be interested in something like this, I guess just include it if you think it would be good. Otherwise, I can try to make the script myself when I have time.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2003 8:12 pm 
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This is a great idea. I really wish it had been brought up before I started making my new map.

Some possible features from things I've added. I have a new grass group which contains only 0 Z. This way I could use it for making grass city spaces and green acre type places. I still use the auto statics and unevenly on the standard grass. I also made it use the dark water transition and regular grass used the light transition. This way I could have both coastline types.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 6:55 am 
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Thanks for all your work on this Ryandor! :)

I can?t honestly say I will use it though. Well.. not unless you can get that conversion working! :P
I have already converted our map from the default Dragon to your mod 9 scripts and I have no wish to go through that again! lol

However there are some features I?m sure would come in very handy for others. So I?ll list them here for you..

1) To be able to paint cliff edges ( I know this has been discussed before but I think it?s a very important feature to have) Also snow cliffs.
2) Leave at least 1 row empty. No, first time mapmakers wont need it. But it doesn?t take long before you desire to add your own custom scripts. It would be great to have somewhere to add them without having to sacrifice default scripts to do it.
3) Nothing really to do with your color chart, but it would be great if you had 2 color charts and a button on Dragon to tell it which chart it is converting. (though I suppose it could detect the chart number itself.) This would then give you 512 colors and all the lvls and custom files you would ever need!
4) Personally I find the 5 tile jump in the mountain lvl?s too much. Especially at the low end. 2 to 25. Taking out the 2, 12 and 22 tiles only makes it harder to get the nice mountain edges.
5) There are some new floor tiles added since LBR. Dirty snow and some pink marble etc. Might be nice to see 1 or 2 of these.
6) Please remember to leave your forest2swamp cliff transition in.

Again, not really anything to do with your new color chart, but I feel changing things like the height of a forest tile is the easiest thing to do and even a novice should be able to handle this without much trouble. What is really hard and a big issue, for me at least, is getting transitions to work right. Like lava and swamp edges.
While I?m sure we are all very grateful for the work you do Ryandor, surely if we all put our heads together we can fix the transition problems..

PLEASE!!! Don?t think I?m shooting down your efforts! I?m not! They are great!

But you wanted feedback and ideas.. so this is my 2 cents worth. lol :lol:

Hehe Thanks mate!
Keep up the good work!

Dragonfire.. :D

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 11:58 am 
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Well, there are some good things that you are working on here. Although, If you really think about it all, what are you truly going to accomplish with the remod. It all still comes down to one simple problem in the end, no matter what tiles you cram in there, or how you reorganize the z- levels.. there is simply not enough room, no matter what you do.

Quote:
Nothing really to do with your color chart, but it would be great if you had 2 color charts and a button on Dragon to tell it which chart it is converting. (though I suppose it could detect the chart number itself.) This would then give you 512 colors and all the lvls and custom files you would ever need!


That is the best idea I have seen yet. I have not ever looked at the Dragon Source, I imagin it is written in C.. or C++. Question is.. ow to add more color support? Surly there must be a way to cure this problem. And if it was me, I would concentrate on that one thing alone, and nothing else. With that solved, and more 'colors' supported somehow, map making would not be so dependent on other programs to finish areas.

basicly Ryandor, my thoughts here are this. You can change the pallet around any way you want, but there is no way to make a real good map with that limitation. you will always need to revert to World Forge and add in map tiles, edit transitions, etc...

I have spent something like one year on one map alone.. and in that time I have created somthing like 4 different Dragon set-ups to create different areas.. One for the basic lands (nearly standard Mod9 pallete) One with a huge range of mountain rock, Grass, and forest Z-levels, One for a huge range of Snow, cobble, etc.. and one that had everything needed for dungens alone.. ( cave floors, walls, etc, etc.) And I am sure i left some stuff out.

I think you understand this.. there is no way you can really make a pallete with all areas of tiles, to allow a person to simply create a map with little or no help from other programs.. to cut/paste, edit, or add things to the map that Dragon lacks.. with this one pallete :?

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 3:01 pm 
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Dian, you raise a VERY valid point. There's really no way around not having enough colors for Dragon. However, it still doesn't address some novice complaints with regards to what colors there are. This is what this is attempting to do. Since the colortable is one of the easiest things to do, I decided to start there. Maybe I should focus in advanced use first?

The issue of reprogramming Dragon is below. As for more colors in general there are alternate solutions: TBC/SMC.

For advanced work I use TBC/SMC. I've not really focused on that since it's very advanced and is a bit different from the way Dragon works. It can't do transitions, and it can't place statics, but it can make one hell of a map. SMC is basically a program that uses true color to give the ability to place ANY tile on the map, at ANY altitude. It uses 2 files; one for the tile type (a true color raw file) and one for the altitude (256-color "greyscale" raw file). As an example of the type of altitude it can create easily, here's an example:
Image Image
On the left is a screenshot from InsideUO; on the right a screenshot from Iris.

This was taken from a jpg color elevation map of Colorado that I ran through SMC. It took me all of 10 minutes to make this (granted, different tiles would take much longer). TBC can take an existing map and make it editable in Photoshop, so it works both ways with the same config file (unlike Dragon). Like I said though, it can't create transition on it's own (but you don't lose them when converting).
Here's an example of the Brit map after conversion with SMC:
Image
Image reduced to fix the window wrapping. [View original size]
The image on the left is for the tiles, and the right is for the altitude.
Note the colors I used are completely configurable. It's hard to see the detials due the screenshot being a jpg, but every single different tile is represented by it's own color, and every altitude has it's own "grey" color.

There are other usefull tools that are great for advanced work as well, but haven't been in the spotlight much. An example is MapConvert. It can overwrite a map0.mul with changes without wiping it first (unlike Dragon). It too is very configurable.


So then my question is to everyone: should I continue on the new mod (aimed at general purpose for novices), or provide more details on TBC/SMC and other advanced techniques (for the experts)?


=================

As I started writing the below before Dian replied, I'll put it in here, but please consider the above as well.
--------------
I can get the mod 9 conversion working, but it'll be after the colortable is at least mostly working. It's basically going to be a Photoshop action, in case you're wondering. Since my last post about it, I've tested this and it works. It simply selects one color and changes it to another color. It's a tedious action to create, but it's a one time process. Once complete, running the action will be easy. Of course, those colors that have been removed, will get set to another. For example, grass 22 would get changed to 20 or 25. The notes on this will cover this along with how to change it.

Since cliff edges could really take over the colortable in a bad way, most likely the "standard" colortable will only have a few "single" cliffs. Like one for forest 10, one for snow 10, etc. I'm also considering decreasing the number of grass to grassbump colors, since this is basically the same type of thing. Do you have a recommended "set" of cliffs that I should do? It is my intention to leave 1 full row empty as well, so not many more can go in. I'm of the mind that these should be something that are not stressed much in this colortable, since it's more of an advanced feature.

As far as Dragon being able to use different color tables programmably, that's not possible for me to do. First, I don't have the source code, and second, I don't know how to program. Remember, I didn't write Dragon. It's AwA, Nacor, Puppet & Darus you must give credit to. I am technically only working with the scripts. That being said, you can have different sets of scripts by replacing the scripts manually. I could write a simple batch file that changes them though. That's not too hard, but I've found other tools that are more flexible.

Mountain levels: As it stands, there never used to be 2, 12 and 22 to begin with, so I don't quite follow that. In Rev 1 I considered adding 2, but that was it. Do you think that all these should be added? Personally, I think the 20, 30, 50, 60 is a good increment for slope of standard mountains, and I'll be stressing this to the novice. It's only in specialized areas where you need numbers like 5, 10, 15, etc. I'd really like some more input on this. Getting a standard colortable for the novice is an important aspect.

As for the transitions, I will be working on getting them all working correctly and with the latest version of the landscape tiles. Incidentally, I did a quick comparison between T2A and LBR and don't see any major additions to the tile sets. Only a few fixes and only one specific addition. Do you have tile id's of the tiles you'd like to see? I'll be getting AoS in a few days so I'll look at that for changes as well. I've word about star2grass (using what appears to be rock) and I have a request for that transition.

The forest2swamp will be staying as well.

-Ryandor


Last edited by Ryandor on Fri Jun 13, 2003 10:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 3:36 pm 
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All valid points. Unless we can persuade Darus (I know he lurks around still) to modify the program we can't expand the color table. I've only played with TBC/SMC (Dunno what it stands for but I remember a program that works like Ryan showed) a little, it was pretty new when I stopped doing this for a while and the fact that it doesn't do transitions and statics made me not bother(yes I know there are programs other than Dragon that do statics and transitions now).

I think for beginers to focus on a single color table that has a good mix of terrain types and special effects instead of every conceivable altitude is best; however an advanced mod that incorporates multiple palettes and tables does sound like an excellent idea and as Ryan said it isn't hard at all to write a batch file to switch them around.

Slightly off topic here but has anyone had a chance to try my new transition? I had it working perfectly the night I posted it. Right now I am getting some lousy transitions on certain corners and I checked my scripts and they look right.

I've also been playing with the coasts and comparing a Dragon generated coast to OSI coasts. I don't understand why they look so bad still and I've tryed changing the Z axis on them but it doesn't help. I'm going to try making an extra terrain that would place an extra layer of transitions in between and see if that helps. Has anyone had any luck with this?

Speaking of LBR....Did anyone here manage to snag it while it was a free download? I never could get the whole download before they took it down.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 4:05 pm 
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I've not yet tried your new transition yet, sorry. I'm waiting until I get AoS so that I can get completely up to date. Once I get that I'm going to recheck everything scriptwise. I think some of the bad transitions may have something to do with tiles being changed. There's too many unexplained errors between versions of the client, and after looking in depth at the map tiles this may be why. Further updates as I find more info.

LBR: yes :P

-Ryandor


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 9:20 pm 
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Thanks mate :D
A Photoshop action would be great!

As for cliff edges, a 5z and a 10z would be good and would at least give a starting point. If someone really needed other heights they could add then to the empty row.

For the mountain heights, yeah sorry, I was thinking of the standard lvl?s and the extra heights I put in. As I said, in the middle of the mountains a 5z difference is ok. But on the mountain edges I really feel less of a dramatic incline is needed.
I tried to make mountains as suggested with constricting rings, but it just looked bad. (No offence) So I worked out the crosshatched type affect.

Image

You can see the crosshatching at 25z, 30z and 35z and the north & west faces lined in 15z and 20z. In some places I have dropped down to 5z and 10z to get the needed affect. This way there can be no hidden faces where bodies can be lost etc. Its also the way OSI does theirs.
Where am I going with all this? lol good question.. umm I forget?... Oh yeah!
I guess I just don?t think you should remove any mountain heights (which you weren?t going to do anyway) and adding the 15z is a good thing!

Working transitions will be excellent! Thanks for fixing them.

And the tiles I was looking at are 16372 (0x3ff4) etc pinkish marble. And 16364 (0x3FEC) etc Dirty snow. I think! Lol I could be wrong.. :P

Unless I just read it wrong, I dunno if I would be too worried about novice dragon users. You can?t make maps and stay novice for very long! Very few people just want a flat island with a forest to play on. Its ok starting out easy but almost everyone soon learns there aren?t enough colors and heights etc in dragon.

So I feel the best idea would be to make the new mod if you wish. But please don?t forget about the other 99% of us who would really love some new features and working scripts.

Hehe are you confused now too or is it just me? :?

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 9:31 pm 
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Nice mountain technique Dragonfire :)
We'd all love new features but aside from new terrain groups and transitions there isn't much anyone but Darus can add. Although he did mention awhile ago that he might release the source code I don't know if anyone else has it.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 10:51 pm 
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Sorry, but the pink marble has been in since T2A. I just checked. I tried to check UO:Gold, but I keep getting a stream error in InsideUO. :P

Your mountain technique looks cool if nothing else. However you get it done and looks good and is functional works for me.

Ok, back to topic on hand...

I'm not even thinking of starting the new mod as of yet. As much as I'd like to, it seems that the majority (all what, three of you?) would prefer the advanced stuff, and maybe fixing the problems that are in the current mod. Maybe a minor colortable change, but nothing drastic.

I'm all ears. Tell me what I should do.
I consider some of you just as knowledgable as me when it comes to maps. I'm not the "all knowing expert map maker" like some of you tell me :P so lets hear it. What needs to be done? What would be most useful to people here? I'd also like to get some lurkers to post thier opinions as well. I know your out there and don't forget you don't have to register to post in this forum. If you don't post then I don't have any clue what's needed.

I do know what some are thinking.. that I should do a new mod AND cover some advanced things, but I get sidetracked enough as it is. One project at a time is about all I can handle.

Some of you might have noticed that I've been on the forums a lot more often lately than in the previous 6 months. I've also not really done map work in that time either. Well a full time job working nights can do that. As it stands I got laid off a couple weeks back, so I'm wanting to use this time to it's advantage. It's bad enough I feel like a bum playing half-life (and no I'll not make a map for that :P ) for hours on end, so I need something else to keep busy with.

...

Arg.. ok, I feel better now.

-Ryandor


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2003 1:25 am 
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lol nothing wrong with Half-life, mate!

We all play games or we wouldnt be here! :P
So dont worry about that!

And your right, 1 project at a time is enough for anyone..

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2003 8:27 am 
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As a relative newbie to all of this, I think even I would choose the advanced stuff (if i HAD to choose). I could maybe hammer out a new colortable for myself if I really had to, but I'm lost when it comes to TBC/SMC.

A new mod would be awesome, because it would use the latest version of Dragon ( I'm not sure how much of a big deal that is ), and because I think that the colortable you are making will match what I would want more closely.

But even at this stage, I'm feeling the sting of 256 colors. It sounds like you have some expertise that could take all of us from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, so to speak. Even though I haven't mastered the basics, I'd still like to try out the tougher stuff.


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2003 10:29 am 
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Well then maybe we should go with the advanced mod idea. It's going to be a lot more work though; especially writing tutorials. Doing multiple runs through Dragon and combining them is definitly going to cause a lot of confusion for novices. Probably too much work for Ryan alone to do.

Maybe we should start a new discussion thread on advanced mod project and continue to get some feedback from the community and get a rough plan of how many colortables and what's to be on each. We'll need a system of how scripts are going to be organized so they can be swapped in and out by batch file as needed.

Has anyone heard anything from Darus since he said he was going to work on a final release of Dragon? If he could expand the size of the colortable then that would make things a lot easier. Not to mention that whatever new features he adds may change how we do things.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2003 2:07 pm 
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I can offer myself to create some tuts on map making soon. I have little time right now, since i just moved from Louisiana to Oregon 2 weeks ago, and am still getting settled in here.
If you do decide to revamp a new Mod. just stick with the basics. One thing I would maybe like to see (thinking as a newcomer here) would be to possible lessen the elevation increments. 5 z increments are almost ugly to me.
Quote:
0, 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 22, 25, 27, 30, 32, 35.


I think that is plenty of elevation change to any beginer. after they are familiar with map making.. there is plenty of stuff on the forums for them to find explaining how to modify the MapTrans.txt file to give other ranges :)

Although.. the mountains, you should really start around 2, or 5.. and keep the 5 z increments as well.. I altered mine to les than 5 z increments.. and wouldnt have it any more than 2-3 increments, in most areas.. Mountains are a delicate place of the map.. they can literally make or break anyones map.
I would be happy to write a full tut on createing mountains once you have your Mod done.. and whatever else :)

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2003 8:24 pm 
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Well I think the concensus is advanced stuff then. A new colortable is getting set on the back burner for now.
On the short list:

Alternate cave making methods.
A couple "plugins" for mod 9 (like adding rough2grass)
SMC/TBC, at least a basic run down of how to use and where it's useful.
A look at MapConvert.

Oh, and so I don't forget, what needs fixing in Mod 9? I need a specific list if anyone can post it here. That's on the short list too.

Also, I've a request for a starfield2grass transition. Would anyone else think this useful? Look at the Malas map as an example. It's a "double-transition" so it's not exactly the easiest thing, but I'd like input on this.

-Ryandor


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:37 pm 
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Yes, Ryandor, I was just about to ask you if you could get that transition. It would be great. :lol:

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:04 pm 
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Which? The star2grass or the roughgrass2swamp?

-Ryandor


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:38 pm 
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Ryandor wrote:
Which? The star2grass or the roughgrass2swamp?

-Ryandor


star2grass

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 8:09 am 
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Hmmm ok you wanted a list of things to fix in the currant mod so I?ll have a go for you..
All I can think of at the moment is,

Transitions
1) Fix the swamp tiles so there is a transition.
We have been using the half grass tiles and they work fine and look like OSI. Unfortunately I can?t suggest a specific transition as we use a few. But maybe grass2swamp and/or just edge the swamp no matter where it is, like water is?
2) Fix the lava transitions. I have 2 suggestions for this. a) fix the proper lava edge tiles (lava2rock??) and, b) add a lava2dirt transition just using the dirt edge tiles. (in my opinion the dirt edges look better anyway) And this gives 2 locations where lava can be used. In mountains and on dirt.
3) Fix the snow2water transition. It looks a bit silly having dirt cliffs on an ice island. These should be snow cliffs.


Additions
1) To be able to paint cliff edges (I know this has been discussed before but I think it?s a very important feature to have) also snow cliffs. (as already posted above)

These are some features that are important to me and to our shard. Others may have different needs..
So? lets hear them? Lol I know I?m not the only one here! :P

Edit
Oh I forgot..
I?d love some new brushes!
I?ve used the 148 pixel random brush to death! It?s really great! But some new ones in a different pattern for different look forests etc would be awesome..
Maybe some slightly curved strokes that could be used for snow or sand drifts would be cool.

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Last edited by Dragonfire on Wed Jun 18, 2003 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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