Spring - User contributions [en]

FAQ

2005-06-21T01:16:56Z

200.112.18.74: /* Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game. */

==General information==

===What is TA Spring?===
TA Spring is a project to create the best RTS ever (no joke). There are three principle goals which we hope to achieve.

. . . . . .A) Reach a stage where TA Spring can flawlessly execute most of Total Annihilation's original gameplay, with its original units in their original format.

. . . . . .B) Add new features as we see fit, fix bugs, and release new versions when we feel it is appropriate to do so.

. . . . . .C) Support the mod community as we see fit.

===When will TA Spring be ready?===
Now! You can get the latest beta from the download page.

===Will TA Spring be free?===
The core game is released under GPL License. However, some parts of the game are still under copyright by their owners. Therefore, today, you need to own the original TA game if you want to play. However the community is working hard in order to offer completely free alternatives.

===I want to help, what can I do?===
Please look at the Messageboard. There are lots of things you can do according to your skills. Particularly important is to create viable and pleasing free alternatives to copyrighted material, mainly sounds and units.

===I want to donate.===
People have made clear their desire to donate to the project, and so far, we have been fairly reluctant about accepting donations. Our main concern? While we certainly hope to have something playable released in the near future, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. Unforseen events arise, and it would be most unfortunate if everyone who donated felt swindled because the project did not turn out as they had hoped, or was not released at all.

We do not plan to be more or less productive solely based upon the quantity and frequency of donations received. The TA Spring project is here only because we view this as an enjoyable hobby.

===I read all that and I still want to donate.===
Very well then! You can find the required details [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/donate.php here]. It will be much appreciated. :)

==Technical==

===What port numbers does TA Spring use?===
The lobby room uses 4897 TCP to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use TCP on this port while the game will use UDP on this port.

===What APIs does TA Spring use?===
OpenGL for rendering.
DirectSound for sound.
Winsock for networking.

===What language is TA Spring written in?===
C and C++.

===Is TA Spring open source?===
Yes, it is. Go to the downloads section of the site to download the source code.

===Will there be a linux port?===
There is an effort being made by some in the community to create a port.

==Requirements==

===What platforms will TA Spring run on?===
At the moment, it only runs on Windows.
Members of the community are working on porting the game on Linux platform (please refer to the Messageboard).
If someone wants to port it to another platform, please contact us once we have an initial release ready. We will not, however, port it ourselves at any time (in the forseeable future). There is simply no compelling reason for us to do so. Additionally, we would like to focus on getting it working well on just one platform.

===What sort of a system will I need to run TA Spring?===
You will most certainly need a 3D graphics card to run TA Spring, which will probably require at least a GeForce3 (note that a GeForce4 MX is not better than a GeForce3) and the latest driver supported. Minimum CPU requirements are a little more complex. A more powerful CPU will have the capability to support larger maps and a greater maximum unit limit. A 1ghz CPU should be able to support an estimated 500 units. The needed memory will also vary with unit count and mapsize, but 512mb should be enough.

==Content==

===Do TA Spring maps need a "ground"?===
TA Spring maps do require a ground. We have had many requests to have space maps, however, a "true" (ala Homeworld) space setting is not likely. It would have to wait until a much later stage. This does not mean that TA's style of "space" maps won't be possible, (see the Final Frontier TC for examples of this).

===You stated that TA Spring uses the TA unit format.===
TA Spring does use the Total Annihilation unit format. However, we do plan to make TA Spring compatible with a custom unit format of our own design.

===How powerful will TA Spring's custom format be?===
Total Annihilation's unit format was extremely limited. Most of these limitations will either be expanded or non-existent in TA Spring's custom unit format. One of the most exciting improvements is the introduction of an entirely new method of scripting, with nearly complete control over every aspect of a unit's actions and behaviors.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of weapons?===
No. Unlike Total Annihilation, TA Spring's weapon IDs will be unlimited.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of unique units?===
No. Unit IDs, like weapon IDs, will be unlimited.

===Will units have a maximum of 3 unique weapons?===
Total Annihilation had a limitation that permitted a maximum of 3 unique weapons per unit. This limit will exist in TA Spring only if a unit is made in the original Total Annihilation format. To bypass this limit, a unit would have to be created entirely within the limits of our own format.

===I'm curious as to the per-unit polygon limit.===
The engine itself does not have a polygon count limit. The limit is that of the processing power of today's computers. Since TA Spring requires a 3D card, the maximum polygon count per unit will be several times higher than Total Annihilation's. No real numbers yet though. We're gonna leave it up to the mod community to figure that one out.

===Will units be able to perform basic terraforming?===
Total Annihilation units probably won't have any terrain editable functionality. Feature units may be endowed with such functionality, but it's more of a gameplay issue and has not been decided upon yet. However construction units can restore ground.

===Will tunnel building be possible?===
Subterranean areas of any sort is impossible. However, it is possible to heavily deform the ground with explosives.

===Will the ground's water retention be editable?===
No. Water will always collect when a piece of land has a height below sea level.

===Does TA Spring have a limit on the number of races?===
TA Spring has no limit on the total number of sides/races.

===What are the sizes of the biggest and smallest units?===
Static units (buildings, defenses, etc.) have no size limitations in the engine. Technically, neither do mobile units, but units with a footprint larger than 4x4 "squares" (an arbitrary size standard created by Cavedog) might have problems pathfinding.

===What is going to be the maximum possible sea depth?===
For all practical purposes, it will be unlimited. The depth values are stored as "float variables", so it is doubtful that maps would ever be made which even come close to approaching the limit.

===Will TA Spring support campaigns?===
No such support is planned at the moment but it is possible using the GroupAI interface.

===How big will the TA Spring files be?===
TA Spring will be as big as however much content is included with it. The "essential" files (engine files mostly) will only be several megabytes large. Content (such as maps and units) will add considerable size to the TA Spring download. However, it is not known at this point just how much "content" will be included with the first release.

===How will TA Spring render sound effects?===
Sound is rendered 3D, meaning that the volume and direction (assuming a multi-speaker setup) vary with the location of the camera from the sound "emitter". What this translates into gameplay terms means that the closer you are to a unit making a sound or motion, the louder the sound will be. Additionally, the sound will be heard differently depending on which way the camera is facing relative to units making sound.

===Will TA Spring have ambient sound?===
There is no ambient sound, and we haven't planned on adding it so far.

===Will there be an AI or a "skirmish" mode?===
We will create an interface that people can use to create there own skirmish AIs later.

===Will a "possess" or a FPS option be present?===
Yes, it is possible to fully control a unit from the first person view. It is more of a gimmick, but it still allows for a nice diversion once in a while.

==Getting into a game==

===People talk about 'Single Player'. How do I start a single player game?===
Go into your TA Spring folder and find the 'Spring.exe' file. Double click on it and say 'yes' to host.

===When I try to make a single player game, it gives me an error.===
Your graphics card probably can't support Spring. If you read the requirements it did say GeForce 3 or better. Go to the settings file in your TA Spring directory and lower some of the options. Sometimes that works.

===Does TA Spring support AI Players?===
Not yet. Fortunately for you they are currently working on it :) In the mean time you can use the [[random_enemies]] script, which spawns units out of thin air and sends them to attack you.

===When I try to connect to the lobby it gives me an error.===
There could be 2 problems. Either you don't have an account, or the server is down. If you don't have an account, make one. If the server is down, you'll just have to wait (this doesn't happen often, though).
Have a look at this websiteÃ‚Â´s News page and/or the Messageboard, it is likely that you will get some information there in the eventuality that the server is down.

===Sometimes when I join games the minimap is blank===
This is because you don't have the map they're using. At present (0.51b1) the regular installer comes with the following maps: Small Divide, map4, mars and Flooded Desert. The small installer only comes with Small Divide. If you want to play games with other maps you need to download them.

===Where can I download more maps?===
As for most Spring downloads [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=90 FileUniverse] is the place to be! A collection of maps can be downloaded [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 here].

===I used the small installer where can I get the missing maps?===
Unfortunately the maps included in the regular installer (0.51b1) aren't available on File Universe. However, since many of the scripts included in the game rely on map4, this can be downloaded [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/dl/map4.7z here].

===How do I install downloaded maps?===
Just unzip them into your spring maps folder. Some map files use newer (smaller) file formats such as .rar or .7z, to unzip these newer formats, you'll need to download 7-Zip from [http://www.7-zip.org/ http://www.7-zip.org/] - it's free and allows you to compress and uncompress 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB files - which covers pretty much everything!

===Sometimes when I try to join games it gives me an error.===
The host is behind a firewall that has not opened the correct ports for Spring.

Dixit SJ: "The lobby room uses 4897 tcp to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use tcp on this port while the game will use udp on this port."

===When I make games nobody joins.===
You are probably behind a firewall. See question above.

===When a multiplayer game starts I never make it past the loading screen.===
This indicates a problem with your video card. Once again the best way to deal with this situation is to make sure your video card has the latest driver updates and that all Spring video features are on the lowest settings.

===When a multiplayer game starts, I make it past the loading screen, but when I get into the game it says, "Waiting for Host", and does a 10 second countdown. It always reaches zero and boots me out, what gives?===
This is a firewall issue. There are three things you can do to fix this. First, make sure your windows firewall is either off, or is not blocking the TA: Spring application. Secondly, if you are behind a router, you can forward the ports that the host is using (especially if you are the host), and it usually fixes the problem. To do this you must go to your router configuration page. You can see what port 'you' are using (as the host), by hosting a multiplayer game in the Spring Lobby. You must make this your trigger port, and make sure that it is open for both TCP and UDP. Thirdly, if none of the aforementioned worked. The easiest thing to do (assuming you are behind a router) is to set the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). This means your computer will be completely exposed to the internet, which will make you vulnerable to any unknown or unpatched exploits in windows. All you have to do is find the personal IP if the computer you are using and add it to your router's DMZ list. Please only try this last option if you can't get the others to work.
Good Luck

===Sometimes when I chat in the 'game lobby', people can't hear me.===
I would recommend closing and restarting the whole Spring application after each successful game. Weird things tend too happen. (By successful I mean all the players loaded and the game started.)

===I got into the game, but some people didn't.===
The host may have reached the number of players it has set.
Or the players may be experiencing firewall or video card difficulty. That is not your fault. Please ask them too leave if they are still there when you get into the 'game lobby'.

==Playing==

===What is with this weird right-click mode? I'm bout to break my keyboard.===
Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it. As of now it can't be changed.

===Why is somebody else also controlling my units?===
In the 'game lobby' there are two sets of teams. There are the 'Teams' and the 'Ally Teams'. If you are on the same 'Team', then you both get the same commander, and can control the same units. If you are on 'Ally Teams', then you both get different commanders and can't control each others units.

===Then why would I want to be on the same 'Team' as somebody?===
Because it's fun to just drive around units and not have to worry about commanding. (Assuming that one of the people on the team is commanding.)

===How do I talk to my allies only?===
You must type 'a:' before you speak. Here's an example: a: Now I am talking to my allies only.

===Help! After I'm finished driving a unit, the camera is all insane! This is nuts! How do I fix it?===
Whoa now. Calm down. Just press ctrl + mouse button 3 to change camera modes.

===After I'm finished driving a unit, where what used too be my mouse pointer is now a crosshair. Why?===
-This is a special 'view mode' that allows you to move around the screen much faster. It's good for viewing the battle or getting screenshots. Simply press on your third mouse button too revert back to your mouse pointer.

===But I don't have a third mouse button!===
The key 'J' works in the same way as the 'middle mouse button' does. So where you would use ctrl + middle mouse button to change camera modes, ctrl + j does the same thing. Pressing J once will also switch you from 'crosshair mode' to 'pointer mode' and vice versa.

===Sometimes my units just get deleted. Why?===
For some reason units get deleted when they go into the wrong places. Like out of the map edge.

This is already fixed in recent versions.

===People are cheating! How do I stop it?!===
Well currently, you can't.

Only the host can "activate" the cheat codes. After that, any player can do almost all cheats.

The best thing to do is just not play with the cheaters anymore. But with new spring version cheats are disabled in multiplayer, so that paragraph is hopefully now irrelevant.

===Well how do you cheat?===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr><th>Cheat Command</th><th>Effect</th></tr>

<tr>
<td>'''.cheat'''</td><td>'''enable cheats - Cheats don't work in multiplayer until the host types this'''</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.nocost</td><td>instabuild (doesn't work on things already under construction, only on new ones)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setmaxspeed 0</td><td>Changes the maximum speed multiplier (default is 3.0)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setminspeed 30</td><td>Changes the minimum speed multiplier (default is 0.3)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.spectator</td><td>Allows you to see the entire map... but you lose control of your units</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.team 0, .team 1, etc.</td><td>Change player</td>
</tr>

</table>

===In Game Commands===
The following ''non-cheating'' commands are also available in game:

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<th>Command</th><th>Effect</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.info</td><td>Shows you what colour each player is and their ping delay in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.clock</td><td>Shows you the elapsed game time in minutes and seconds in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

</table>

===How do I ally or unally in game?===
I'm pretty sure you can't. Yet.

===How do I give somebody units or metal or energy?===
Press the 'H' key.
Then select the amount of metal and/or energy to share.

Then select the recieving player an press ok.

When sharing units, you must first select the units to share, then press 'H' key.

Tick share units checkbox and choose recieving player.

===How do I continually give somebody metal and/or energy after a certain point (i.e. Original TA commands +setshare..., +shareall)?===
You'll notice that on your metal and energy bars (top of screen), there are two red bars. You have to put them wherever you want your metal and energy to be shared after.

===Man I am soooo sick of XTA. How do I play AA or OTA instead?===
Well. Somebody has made a patch to turn TA Spring into OTA: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=679 click here]. But really, why would you want to go back to OTA? There are also patches available for various mods other than XTA (which is installed as default): [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=92 click here]. A switcher is available which makes it easier to switch between the different mods: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=805 click here]

===Why am I destroyed so easily by long range assaults?===
This is a realistic feature of TA Spring. Units will automatically attack 'radar blips' (units that they can not actually see, but that are indicated on radar). However, the accuracy is very bad while shooting at radar blips until 1)Your unit kills a lot of units and gets experience, or 2)You get a targetting facility.

===Can I kick people from my 'game lobby' or my game?===
First of all, you have to be the host to kick. In theory, you would right click on someone's name in the 'game lobby' and that would give you the option to kick them. This feature is not currently supported, however, but it will be fixed soon.

===When I'm 'driving' my commander, I can't use my laser?===
The TA: Spring team will most likely add a way for you to use your commander's laser soon.

===I hate driving around with the 'arrow keys'. Is there any way I can use the 'W-A-S-D' controls(the controls most First Person Shooters use anymore)?===
Go into your Spring directory and edit the uikeys file. Keep in mind that 'S' is originally a 'hot-key' that will stop your units and that 'D' is a 'hot-key' for your commander's D-Gun. You might want to change those too.

===I turned the shadows feature on; I still don't see shadows. What gives?===
Your graphics card canÃ‚Â´t handle shadows, so Spring automatically turns them off.

===I can't go backwards when I am 'driving' a unit. Why not?===
Because TA units where never intended to go backwards. Sorry.

===I'm in the Unreal Tournament 2004 kind of mood. How do I strafe?===
You can only strafe in 'brawler type' ships(The brawler, rapier, and light gunships.)
===How can I record and watch demos/replays ?===
The game is always recorded to test.sdf which is overwritten by each new game. Change the name if you want to save it. To view a demo start spring.exe as non server and enter the full demo name (coolgame.sdf for example) as server address. You must change the name to something else than test.sdf to view a demo.

You can use the Speed up/Slow down game keys while watching the replay. +

===Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game.===
It's because they have a differen't mod installed than you. If, for example, you have not installed a mod, and somebody is in the game with you that has the OTA mod installed, it will cause the 'sync' error.

Check the list at the right hand in the game battleroom for disabled units.

If there are tons of them(not just 1, as this is known bug(naval flakker bug)), some players has a different mod installed.

===My aircraft repairing platforms don't work !===
This feature is not implemented yet. I'm affraid you'll have to wait. Other features of the original TA game that are not (yet) implemented in Spring : enemy capture and resurrection.

FAQ

2005-06-21T01:16:22Z

200.112.18.74: /* Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game. */

==General information==

===What is TA Spring?===
TA Spring is a project to create the best RTS ever (no joke). There are three principle goals which we hope to achieve.

. . . . . .A) Reach a stage where TA Spring can flawlessly execute most of Total Annihilation's original gameplay, with its original units in their original format.

. . . . . .B) Add new features as we see fit, fix bugs, and release new versions when we feel it is appropriate to do so.

. . . . . .C) Support the mod community as we see fit.

===When will TA Spring be ready?===
Now! You can get the latest beta from the download page.

===Will TA Spring be free?===
The core game is released under GPL License. However, some parts of the game are still under copyright by their owners. Therefore, today, you need to own the original TA game if you want to play. However the community is working hard in order to offer completely free alternatives.

===I want to help, what can I do?===
Please look at the Messageboard. There are lots of things you can do according to your skills. Particularly important is to create viable and pleasing free alternatives to copyrighted material, mainly sounds and units.

===I want to donate.===
People have made clear their desire to donate to the project, and so far, we have been fairly reluctant about accepting donations. Our main concern? While we certainly hope to have something playable released in the near future, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. Unforseen events arise, and it would be most unfortunate if everyone who donated felt swindled because the project did not turn out as they had hoped, or was not released at all.

We do not plan to be more or less productive solely based upon the quantity and frequency of donations received. The TA Spring project is here only because we view this as an enjoyable hobby.

===I read all that and I still want to donate.===
Very well then! You can find the required details [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/donate.php here]. It will be much appreciated. :)

==Technical==

===What port numbers does TA Spring use?===
The lobby room uses 4897 TCP to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use TCP on this port while the game will use UDP on this port.

===What APIs does TA Spring use?===
OpenGL for rendering.
DirectSound for sound.
Winsock for networking.

===What language is TA Spring written in?===
C and C++.

===Is TA Spring open source?===
Yes, it is. Go to the downloads section of the site to download the source code.

===Will there be a linux port?===
There is an effort being made by some in the community to create a port.

==Requirements==

===What platforms will TA Spring run on?===
At the moment, it only runs on Windows.
Members of the community are working on porting the game on Linux platform (please refer to the Messageboard).
If someone wants to port it to another platform, please contact us once we have an initial release ready. We will not, however, port it ourselves at any time (in the forseeable future). There is simply no compelling reason for us to do so. Additionally, we would like to focus on getting it working well on just one platform.

===What sort of a system will I need to run TA Spring?===
You will most certainly need a 3D graphics card to run TA Spring, which will probably require at least a GeForce3 (note that a GeForce4 MX is not better than a GeForce3) and the latest driver supported. Minimum CPU requirements are a little more complex. A more powerful CPU will have the capability to support larger maps and a greater maximum unit limit. A 1ghz CPU should be able to support an estimated 500 units. The needed memory will also vary with unit count and mapsize, but 512mb should be enough.

==Content==

===Do TA Spring maps need a "ground"?===
TA Spring maps do require a ground. We have had many requests to have space maps, however, a "true" (ala Homeworld) space setting is not likely. It would have to wait until a much later stage. This does not mean that TA's style of "space" maps won't be possible, (see the Final Frontier TC for examples of this).

===You stated that TA Spring uses the TA unit format.===
TA Spring does use the Total Annihilation unit format. However, we do plan to make TA Spring compatible with a custom unit format of our own design.

===How powerful will TA Spring's custom format be?===
Total Annihilation's unit format was extremely limited. Most of these limitations will either be expanded or non-existent in TA Spring's custom unit format. One of the most exciting improvements is the introduction of an entirely new method of scripting, with nearly complete control over every aspect of a unit's actions and behaviors.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of weapons?===
No. Unlike Total Annihilation, TA Spring's weapon IDs will be unlimited.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of unique units?===
No. Unit IDs, like weapon IDs, will be unlimited.

===Will units have a maximum of 3 unique weapons?===
Total Annihilation had a limitation that permitted a maximum of 3 unique weapons per unit. This limit will exist in TA Spring only if a unit is made in the original Total Annihilation format. To bypass this limit, a unit would have to be created entirely within the limits of our own format.

===I'm curious as to the per-unit polygon limit.===
The engine itself does not have a polygon count limit. The limit is that of the processing power of today's computers. Since TA Spring requires a 3D card, the maximum polygon count per unit will be several times higher than Total Annihilation's. No real numbers yet though. We're gonna leave it up to the mod community to figure that one out.

===Will units be able to perform basic terraforming?===
Total Annihilation units probably won't have any terrain editable functionality. Feature units may be endowed with such functionality, but it's more of a gameplay issue and has not been decided upon yet. However construction units can restore ground.

===Will tunnel building be possible?===
Subterranean areas of any sort is impossible. However, it is possible to heavily deform the ground with explosives.

===Will the ground's water retention be editable?===
No. Water will always collect when a piece of land has a height below sea level.

===Does TA Spring have a limit on the number of races?===
TA Spring has no limit on the total number of sides/races.

===What are the sizes of the biggest and smallest units?===
Static units (buildings, defenses, etc.) have no size limitations in the engine. Technically, neither do mobile units, but units with a footprint larger than 4x4 "squares" (an arbitrary size standard created by Cavedog) might have problems pathfinding.

===What is going to be the maximum possible sea depth?===
For all practical purposes, it will be unlimited. The depth values are stored as "float variables", so it is doubtful that maps would ever be made which even come close to approaching the limit.

===Will TA Spring support campaigns?===
No such support is planned at the moment but it is possible using the GroupAI interface.

===How big will the TA Spring files be?===
TA Spring will be as big as however much content is included with it. The "essential" files (engine files mostly) will only be several megabytes large. Content (such as maps and units) will add considerable size to the TA Spring download. However, it is not known at this point just how much "content" will be included with the first release.

===How will TA Spring render sound effects?===
Sound is rendered 3D, meaning that the volume and direction (assuming a multi-speaker setup) vary with the location of the camera from the sound "emitter". What this translates into gameplay terms means that the closer you are to a unit making a sound or motion, the louder the sound will be. Additionally, the sound will be heard differently depending on which way the camera is facing relative to units making sound.

===Will TA Spring have ambient sound?===
There is no ambient sound, and we haven't planned on adding it so far.

===Will there be an AI or a "skirmish" mode?===
We will create an interface that people can use to create there own skirmish AIs later.

===Will a "possess" or a FPS option be present?===
Yes, it is possible to fully control a unit from the first person view. It is more of a gimmick, but it still allows for a nice diversion once in a while.

==Getting into a game==

===People talk about 'Single Player'. How do I start a single player game?===
Go into your TA Spring folder and find the 'Spring.exe' file. Double click on it and say 'yes' to host.

===When I try to make a single player game, it gives me an error.===
Your graphics card probably can't support Spring. If you read the requirements it did say GeForce 3 or better. Go to the settings file in your TA Spring directory and lower some of the options. Sometimes that works.

===Does TA Spring support AI Players?===
Not yet. Fortunately for you they are currently working on it :) In the mean time you can use the [[random_enemies]] script, which spawns units out of thin air and sends them to attack you.

===When I try to connect to the lobby it gives me an error.===
There could be 2 problems. Either you don't have an account, or the server is down. If you don't have an account, make one. If the server is down, you'll just have to wait (this doesn't happen often, though).
Have a look at this websiteÃ‚Â´s News page and/or the Messageboard, it is likely that you will get some information there in the eventuality that the server is down.

===Sometimes when I join games the minimap is blank===
This is because you don't have the map they're using. At present (0.51b1) the regular installer comes with the following maps: Small Divide, map4, mars and Flooded Desert. The small installer only comes with Small Divide. If you want to play games with other maps you need to download them.

===Where can I download more maps?===
As for most Spring downloads [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=90 FileUniverse] is the place to be! A collection of maps can be downloaded [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 here].

===I used the small installer where can I get the missing maps?===
Unfortunately the maps included in the regular installer (0.51b1) aren't available on File Universe. However, since many of the scripts included in the game rely on map4, this can be downloaded [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/dl/map4.7z here].

===How do I install downloaded maps?===
Just unzip them into your spring maps folder. Some map files use newer (smaller) file formats such as .rar or .7z, to unzip these newer formats, you'll need to download 7-Zip from [http://www.7-zip.org/ http://www.7-zip.org/] - it's free and allows you to compress and uncompress 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB files - which covers pretty much everything!

===Sometimes when I try to join games it gives me an error.===
The host is behind a firewall that has not opened the correct ports for Spring.

Dixit SJ: "The lobby room uses 4897 tcp to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use tcp on this port while the game will use udp on this port."

===When I make games nobody joins.===
You are probably behind a firewall. See question above.

===When a multiplayer game starts I never make it past the loading screen.===
This indicates a problem with your video card. Once again the best way to deal with this situation is to make sure your video card has the latest driver updates and that all Spring video features are on the lowest settings.

===When a multiplayer game starts, I make it past the loading screen, but when I get into the game it says, "Waiting for Host", and does a 10 second countdown. It always reaches zero and boots me out, what gives?===
This is a firewall issue. There are three things you can do to fix this. First, make sure your windows firewall is either off, or is not blocking the TA: Spring application. Secondly, if you are behind a router, you can forward the ports that the host is using (especially if you are the host), and it usually fixes the problem. To do this you must go to your router configuration page. You can see what port 'you' are using (as the host), by hosting a multiplayer game in the Spring Lobby. You must make this your trigger port, and make sure that it is open for both TCP and UDP. Thirdly, if none of the aforementioned worked. The easiest thing to do (assuming you are behind a router) is to set the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). This means your computer will be completely exposed to the internet, which will make you vulnerable to any unknown or unpatched exploits in windows. All you have to do is find the personal IP if the computer you are using and add it to your router's DMZ list. Please only try this last option if you can't get the others to work.
Good Luck

===Sometimes when I chat in the 'game lobby', people can't hear me.===
I would recommend closing and restarting the whole Spring application after each successful game. Weird things tend too happen. (By successful I mean all the players loaded and the game started.)

===I got into the game, but some people didn't.===
The host may have reached the number of players it has set.
Or the players may be experiencing firewall or video card difficulty. That is not your fault. Please ask them too leave if they are still there when you get into the 'game lobby'.

==Playing==

===What is with this weird right-click mode? I'm bout to break my keyboard.===
Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it. As of now it can't be changed.

===Why is somebody else also controlling my units?===
In the 'game lobby' there are two sets of teams. There are the 'Teams' and the 'Ally Teams'. If you are on the same 'Team', then you both get the same commander, and can control the same units. If you are on 'Ally Teams', then you both get different commanders and can't control each others units.

===Then why would I want to be on the same 'Team' as somebody?===
Because it's fun to just drive around units and not have to worry about commanding. (Assuming that one of the people on the team is commanding.)

===How do I talk to my allies only?===
You must type 'a:' before you speak. Here's an example: a: Now I am talking to my allies only.

===Help! After I'm finished driving a unit, the camera is all insane! This is nuts! How do I fix it?===
Whoa now. Calm down. Just press ctrl + mouse button 3 to change camera modes.

===After I'm finished driving a unit, where what used too be my mouse pointer is now a crosshair. Why?===
-This is a special 'view mode' that allows you to move around the screen much faster. It's good for viewing the battle or getting screenshots. Simply press on your third mouse button too revert back to your mouse pointer.

===But I don't have a third mouse button!===
The key 'J' works in the same way as the 'middle mouse button' does. So where you would use ctrl + middle mouse button to change camera modes, ctrl + j does the same thing. Pressing J once will also switch you from 'crosshair mode' to 'pointer mode' and vice versa.

===Sometimes my units just get deleted. Why?===
For some reason units get deleted when they go into the wrong places. Like out of the map edge.

This is already fixed in recent versions.

===People are cheating! How do I stop it?!===
Well currently, you can't.

Only the host can "activate" the cheat codes. After that, any player can do almost all cheats.

The best thing to do is just not play with the cheaters anymore. But with new spring version cheats are disabled in multiplayer, so that paragraph is hopefully now irrelevant.

===Well how do you cheat?===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr><th>Cheat Command</th><th>Effect</th></tr>

<tr>
<td>'''.cheat'''</td><td>'''enable cheats - Cheats don't work in multiplayer until the host types this'''</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.nocost</td><td>instabuild (doesn't work on things already under construction, only on new ones)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setmaxspeed 0</td><td>Changes the maximum speed multiplier (default is 3.0)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setminspeed 30</td><td>Changes the minimum speed multiplier (default is 0.3)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.spectator</td><td>Allows you to see the entire map... but you lose control of your units</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.team 0, .team 1, etc.</td><td>Change player</td>
</tr>

</table>

===In Game Commands===
The following ''non-cheating'' commands are also available in game:

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<th>Command</th><th>Effect</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.info</td><td>Shows you what colour each player is and their ping delay in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.clock</td><td>Shows you the elapsed game time in minutes and seconds in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

</table>

===How do I ally or unally in game?===
I'm pretty sure you can't. Yet.

===How do I give somebody units or metal or energy?===
Press the 'H' key.
Then select the amount of metal and/or energy to share.

Then select the recieving player an press ok.

When sharing units, you must first select the units to share, then press 'H' key.

Tick share units checkbox and choose recieving player.

===How do I continually give somebody metal and/or energy after a certain point (i.e. Original TA commands +setshare..., +shareall)?===
You'll notice that on your metal and energy bars (top of screen), there are two red bars. You have to put them wherever you want your metal and energy to be shared after.

===Man I am soooo sick of XTA. How do I play AA or OTA instead?===
Well. Somebody has made a patch to turn TA Spring into OTA: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=679 click here]. But really, why would you want to go back to OTA? There are also patches available for various mods other than XTA (which is installed as default): [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=92 click here]. A switcher is available which makes it easier to switch between the different mods: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=805 click here]

===Why am I destroyed so easily by long range assaults?===
This is a realistic feature of TA Spring. Units will automatically attack 'radar blips' (units that they can not actually see, but that are indicated on radar). However, the accuracy is very bad while shooting at radar blips until 1)Your unit kills a lot of units and gets experience, or 2)You get a targetting facility.

===Can I kick people from my 'game lobby' or my game?===
First of all, you have to be the host to kick. In theory, you would right click on someone's name in the 'game lobby' and that would give you the option to kick them. This feature is not currently supported, however, but it will be fixed soon.

===When I'm 'driving' my commander, I can't use my laser?===
The TA: Spring team will most likely add a way for you to use your commander's laser soon.

===I hate driving around with the 'arrow keys'. Is there any way I can use the 'W-A-S-D' controls(the controls most First Person Shooters use anymore)?===
Go into your Spring directory and edit the uikeys file. Keep in mind that 'S' is originally a 'hot-key' that will stop your units and that 'D' is a 'hot-key' for your commander's D-Gun. You might want to change those too.

===I turned the shadows feature on; I still don't see shadows. What gives?===
Your graphics card canÃ‚Â´t handle shadows, so Spring automatically turns them off.

===I can't go backwards when I am 'driving' a unit. Why not?===
Because TA units where never intended to go backwards. Sorry.

===I'm in the Unreal Tournament 2004 kind of mood. How do I strafe?===
You can only strafe in 'brawler type' ships(The brawler, rapier, and light gunships.)
===How can I record and watch demos/replays ?===
The game is always recorded to test.sdf which is overwritten by each new game. Change the name if you want to save it. To view a demo start spring.exe as non server and enter the full demo name (coolgame.sdf for example) as server address. You must change the name to something else than test.sdf to view a demo.

You can use the Speed up/Slow down game keys while watching the replay. +

===Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game.===
It's because they have a differen't mod installed than you. If, for example, you have not installed a mod, and somebody is in the game with you that has the OTA mod installed, it will cause the 'sync' error.

Check the list at the right hand for disabled units.

If there are tons of them(not just 1, as this is known bug(naval flakker bug)), some players has a different mod installed.

===My aircraft repairing platforms don't work !===
This feature is not implemented yet. I'm affraid you'll have to wait. Other features of the original TA game that are not (yet) implemented in Spring : enemy capture and resurrection.

FAQ

2005-06-21T01:12:22Z

200.112.18.74: /* People are cheating! How do I stop it?! */

==General information==

===What is TA Spring?===
TA Spring is a project to create the best RTS ever (no joke). There are three principle goals which we hope to achieve.

. . . . . .A) Reach a stage where TA Spring can flawlessly execute most of Total Annihilation's original gameplay, with its original units in their original format.

. . . . . .B) Add new features as we see fit, fix bugs, and release new versions when we feel it is appropriate to do so.

. . . . . .C) Support the mod community as we see fit.

===When will TA Spring be ready?===
Now! You can get the latest beta from the download page.

===Will TA Spring be free?===
The core game is released under GPL License. However, some parts of the game are still under copyright by their owners. Therefore, today, you need to own the original TA game if you want to play. However the community is working hard in order to offer completely free alternatives.

===I want to help, what can I do?===
Please look at the Messageboard. There are lots of things you can do according to your skills. Particularly important is to create viable and pleasing free alternatives to copyrighted material, mainly sounds and units.

===I want to donate.===
People have made clear their desire to donate to the project, and so far, we have been fairly reluctant about accepting donations. Our main concern? While we certainly hope to have something playable released in the near future, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. Unforseen events arise, and it would be most unfortunate if everyone who donated felt swindled because the project did not turn out as they had hoped, or was not released at all.

We do not plan to be more or less productive solely based upon the quantity and frequency of donations received. The TA Spring project is here only because we view this as an enjoyable hobby.

===I read all that and I still want to donate.===
Very well then! You can find the required details [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/donate.php here]. It will be much appreciated. :)

==Technical==

===What port numbers does TA Spring use?===
The lobby room uses 4897 TCP to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use TCP on this port while the game will use UDP on this port.

===What APIs does TA Spring use?===
OpenGL for rendering.
DirectSound for sound.
Winsock for networking.

===What language is TA Spring written in?===
C and C++.

===Is TA Spring open source?===
Yes, it is. Go to the downloads section of the site to download the source code.

===Will there be a linux port?===
There is an effort being made by some in the community to create a port.

==Requirements==

===What platforms will TA Spring run on?===
At the moment, it only runs on Windows.
Members of the community are working on porting the game on Linux platform (please refer to the Messageboard).
If someone wants to port it to another platform, please contact us once we have an initial release ready. We will not, however, port it ourselves at any time (in the forseeable future). There is simply no compelling reason for us to do so. Additionally, we would like to focus on getting it working well on just one platform.

===What sort of a system will I need to run TA Spring?===
You will most certainly need a 3D graphics card to run TA Spring, which will probably require at least a GeForce3 (note that a GeForce4 MX is not better than a GeForce3) and the latest driver supported. Minimum CPU requirements are a little more complex. A more powerful CPU will have the capability to support larger maps and a greater maximum unit limit. A 1ghz CPU should be able to support an estimated 500 units. The needed memory will also vary with unit count and mapsize, but 512mb should be enough.

==Content==

===Do TA Spring maps need a "ground"?===
TA Spring maps do require a ground. We have had many requests to have space maps, however, a "true" (ala Homeworld) space setting is not likely. It would have to wait until a much later stage. This does not mean that TA's style of "space" maps won't be possible, (see the Final Frontier TC for examples of this).

===You stated that TA Spring uses the TA unit format.===
TA Spring does use the Total Annihilation unit format. However, we do plan to make TA Spring compatible with a custom unit format of our own design.

===How powerful will TA Spring's custom format be?===
Total Annihilation's unit format was extremely limited. Most of these limitations will either be expanded or non-existent in TA Spring's custom unit format. One of the most exciting improvements is the introduction of an entirely new method of scripting, with nearly complete control over every aspect of a unit's actions and behaviors.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of weapons?===
No. Unlike Total Annihilation, TA Spring's weapon IDs will be unlimited.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of unique units?===
No. Unit IDs, like weapon IDs, will be unlimited.

===Will units have a maximum of 3 unique weapons?===
Total Annihilation had a limitation that permitted a maximum of 3 unique weapons per unit. This limit will exist in TA Spring only if a unit is made in the original Total Annihilation format. To bypass this limit, a unit would have to be created entirely within the limits of our own format.

===I'm curious as to the per-unit polygon limit.===
The engine itself does not have a polygon count limit. The limit is that of the processing power of today's computers. Since TA Spring requires a 3D card, the maximum polygon count per unit will be several times higher than Total Annihilation's. No real numbers yet though. We're gonna leave it up to the mod community to figure that one out.

===Will units be able to perform basic terraforming?===
Total Annihilation units probably won't have any terrain editable functionality. Feature units may be endowed with such functionality, but it's more of a gameplay issue and has not been decided upon yet. However construction units can restore ground.

===Will tunnel building be possible?===
Subterranean areas of any sort is impossible. However, it is possible to heavily deform the ground with explosives.

===Will the ground's water retention be editable?===
No. Water will always collect when a piece of land has a height below sea level.

===Does TA Spring have a limit on the number of races?===
TA Spring has no limit on the total number of sides/races.

===What are the sizes of the biggest and smallest units?===
Static units (buildings, defenses, etc.) have no size limitations in the engine. Technically, neither do mobile units, but units with a footprint larger than 4x4 "squares" (an arbitrary size standard created by Cavedog) might have problems pathfinding.

===What is going to be the maximum possible sea depth?===
For all practical purposes, it will be unlimited. The depth values are stored as "float variables", so it is doubtful that maps would ever be made which even come close to approaching the limit.

===Will TA Spring support campaigns?===
No such support is planned at the moment but it is possible using the GroupAI interface.

===How big will the TA Spring files be?===
TA Spring will be as big as however much content is included with it. The "essential" files (engine files mostly) will only be several megabytes large. Content (such as maps and units) will add considerable size to the TA Spring download. However, it is not known at this point just how much "content" will be included with the first release.

===How will TA Spring render sound effects?===
Sound is rendered 3D, meaning that the volume and direction (assuming a multi-speaker setup) vary with the location of the camera from the sound "emitter". What this translates into gameplay terms means that the closer you are to a unit making a sound or motion, the louder the sound will be. Additionally, the sound will be heard differently depending on which way the camera is facing relative to units making sound.

===Will TA Spring have ambient sound?===
There is no ambient sound, and we haven't planned on adding it so far.

===Will there be an AI or a "skirmish" mode?===
We will create an interface that people can use to create there own skirmish AIs later.

===Will a "possess" or a FPS option be present?===
Yes, it is possible to fully control a unit from the first person view. It is more of a gimmick, but it still allows for a nice diversion once in a while.

==Getting into a game==

===People talk about 'Single Player'. How do I start a single player game?===
Go into your TA Spring folder and find the 'Spring.exe' file. Double click on it and say 'yes' to host.

===When I try to make a single player game, it gives me an error.===
Your graphics card probably can't support Spring. If you read the requirements it did say GeForce 3 or better. Go to the settings file in your TA Spring directory and lower some of the options. Sometimes that works.

===Does TA Spring support AI Players?===
Not yet. Fortunately for you they are currently working on it :) In the mean time you can use the [[random_enemies]] script, which spawns units out of thin air and sends them to attack you.

===When I try to connect to the lobby it gives me an error.===
There could be 2 problems. Either you don't have an account, or the server is down. If you don't have an account, make one. If the server is down, you'll just have to wait (this doesn't happen often, though).
Have a look at this websiteÃ‚Â´s News page and/or the Messageboard, it is likely that you will get some information there in the eventuality that the server is down.

===Sometimes when I join games the minimap is blank===
This is because you don't have the map they're using. At present (0.51b1) the regular installer comes with the following maps: Small Divide, map4, mars and Flooded Desert. The small installer only comes with Small Divide. If you want to play games with other maps you need to download them.

===Where can I download more maps?===
As for most Spring downloads [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=90 FileUniverse] is the place to be! A collection of maps can be downloaded [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 here].

===I used the small installer where can I get the missing maps?===
Unfortunately the maps included in the regular installer (0.51b1) aren't available on File Universe. However, since many of the scripts included in the game rely on map4, this can be downloaded [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/dl/map4.7z here].

===How do I install downloaded maps?===
Just unzip them into your spring maps folder. Some map files use newer (smaller) file formats such as .rar or .7z, to unzip these newer formats, you'll need to download 7-Zip from [http://www.7-zip.org/ http://www.7-zip.org/] - it's free and allows you to compress and uncompress 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB files - which covers pretty much everything!

===Sometimes when I try to join games it gives me an error.===
The host is behind a firewall that has not opened the correct ports for Spring.

Dixit SJ: "The lobby room uses 4897 tcp to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use tcp on this port while the game will use udp on this port."

===When I make games nobody joins.===
You are probably behind a firewall. See question above.

===When a multiplayer game starts I never make it past the loading screen.===
This indicates a problem with your video card. Once again the best way to deal with this situation is to make sure your video card has the latest driver updates and that all Spring video features are on the lowest settings.

===When a multiplayer game starts, I make it past the loading screen, but when I get into the game it says, "Waiting for Host", and does a 10 second countdown. It always reaches zero and boots me out, what gives?===
This is a firewall issue. There are three things you can do to fix this. First, make sure your windows firewall is either off, or is not blocking the TA: Spring application. Secondly, if you are behind a router, you can forward the ports that the host is using (especially if you are the host), and it usually fixes the problem. To do this you must go to your router configuration page. You can see what port 'you' are using (as the host), by hosting a multiplayer game in the Spring Lobby. You must make this your trigger port, and make sure that it is open for both TCP and UDP. Thirdly, if none of the aforementioned worked. The easiest thing to do (assuming you are behind a router) is to set the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). This means your computer will be completely exposed to the internet, which will make you vulnerable to any unknown or unpatched exploits in windows. All you have to do is find the personal IP if the computer you are using and add it to your router's DMZ list. Please only try this last option if you can't get the others to work.
Good Luck

===Sometimes when I chat in the 'game lobby', people can't hear me.===
I would recommend closing and restarting the whole Spring application after each successful game. Weird things tend too happen. (By successful I mean all the players loaded and the game started.)

===I got into the game, but some people didn't.===
The host may have reached the number of players it has set.
Or the players may be experiencing firewall or video card difficulty. That is not your fault. Please ask them too leave if they are still there when you get into the 'game lobby'.

==Playing==

===What is with this weird right-click mode? I'm bout to break my keyboard.===
Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it. As of now it can't be changed.

===Why is somebody else also controlling my units?===
In the 'game lobby' there are two sets of teams. There are the 'Teams' and the 'Ally Teams'. If you are on the same 'Team', then you both get the same commander, and can control the same units. If you are on 'Ally Teams', then you both get different commanders and can't control each others units.

===Then why would I want to be on the same 'Team' as somebody?===
Because it's fun to just drive around units and not have to worry about commanding. (Assuming that one of the people on the team is commanding.)

===How do I talk to my allies only?===
You must type 'a:' before you speak. Here's an example: a: Now I am talking to my allies only.

===Help! After I'm finished driving a unit, the camera is all insane! This is nuts! How do I fix it?===
Whoa now. Calm down. Just press ctrl + mouse button 3 to change camera modes.

===After I'm finished driving a unit, where what used too be my mouse pointer is now a crosshair. Why?===
-This is a special 'view mode' that allows you to move around the screen much faster. It's good for viewing the battle or getting screenshots. Simply press on your third mouse button too revert back to your mouse pointer.

===But I don't have a third mouse button!===
The key 'J' works in the same way as the 'middle mouse button' does. So where you would use ctrl + middle mouse button to change camera modes, ctrl + j does the same thing. Pressing J once will also switch you from 'crosshair mode' to 'pointer mode' and vice versa.

===Sometimes my units just get deleted. Why?===
For some reason units get deleted when they go into the wrong places. Like out of the map edge.

This is already fixed in recent versions.

===People are cheating! How do I stop it?!===
Well currently, you can't.

Only the host can "activate" the cheat codes. After that, any player can do almost all cheats.

The best thing to do is just not play with the cheaters anymore. But with new spring version cheats are disabled in multiplayer, so that paragraph is hopefully now irrelevant.

===Well how do you cheat?===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr><th>Cheat Command</th><th>Effect</th></tr>

<tr>
<td>'''.cheat'''</td><td>'''enable cheats - Cheats don't work in multiplayer until the host types this'''</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.nocost</td><td>instabuild (doesn't work on things already under construction, only on new ones)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setmaxspeed 0</td><td>Changes the maximum speed multiplier (default is 3.0)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setminspeed 30</td><td>Changes the minimum speed multiplier (default is 0.3)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.spectator</td><td>Allows you to see the entire map... but you lose control of your units</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.team 0, .team 1, etc.</td><td>Change player</td>
</tr>

</table>

===In Game Commands===
The following ''non-cheating'' commands are also available in game:

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<th>Command</th><th>Effect</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.info</td><td>Shows you what colour each player is and their ping delay in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.clock</td><td>Shows you the elapsed game time in minutes and seconds in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

</table>

===How do I ally or unally in game?===
I'm pretty sure you can't. Yet.

===How do I give somebody units or metal or energy?===
Press the 'H' key.
Then select the amount of metal and/or energy to share.

Then select the recieving player an press ok.

When sharing units, you must first select the units to share, then press 'H' key.

Tick share units checkbox and choose recieving player.

===How do I continually give somebody metal and/or energy after a certain point (i.e. Original TA commands +setshare..., +shareall)?===
You'll notice that on your metal and energy bars (top of screen), there are two red bars. You have to put them wherever you want your metal and energy to be shared after.

===Man I am soooo sick of XTA. How do I play AA or OTA instead?===
Well. Somebody has made a patch to turn TA Spring into OTA: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=679 click here]. But really, why would you want to go back to OTA? There are also patches available for various mods other than XTA (which is installed as default): [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=92 click here]. A switcher is available which makes it easier to switch between the different mods: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=805 click here]

===Why am I destroyed so easily by long range assaults?===
This is a realistic feature of TA Spring. Units will automatically attack 'radar blips' (units that they can not actually see, but that are indicated on radar). However, the accuracy is very bad while shooting at radar blips until 1)Your unit kills a lot of units and gets experience, or 2)You get a targetting facility.

===Can I kick people from my 'game lobby' or my game?===
First of all, you have to be the host to kick. In theory, you would right click on someone's name in the 'game lobby' and that would give you the option to kick them. This feature is not currently supported, however, but it will be fixed soon.

===When I'm 'driving' my commander, I can't use my laser?===
The TA: Spring team will most likely add a way for you to use your commander's laser soon.

===I hate driving around with the 'arrow keys'. Is there any way I can use the 'W-A-S-D' controls(the controls most First Person Shooters use anymore)?===
Go into your Spring directory and edit the uikeys file. Keep in mind that 'S' is originally a 'hot-key' that will stop your units and that 'D' is a 'hot-key' for your commander's D-Gun. You might want to change those too.

===I turned the shadows feature on; I still don't see shadows. What gives?===
Your graphics card canÃ‚Â´t handle shadows, so Spring automatically turns them off.

===I can't go backwards when I am 'driving' a unit. Why not?===
Because TA units where never intended to go backwards. Sorry.

===I'm in the Unreal Tournament 2004 kind of mood. How do I strafe?===
You can only strafe in 'brawler type' ships(The brawler, rapier, and light gunships.)
===How can I record and watch demos/replays ?===
The game is always recorded to test.sdf which is overwritten by each new game. Change the name if you want to save it. To view a demo start spring.exe as non server and enter the full demo name (coolgame.sdf for example) as server address. You must change the name to something else than test.sdf to view a demo.

You can use the Speed up/Slow down game keys while watching the replay. +

===Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game.===
It's because they have a differen't mod installed than you. If, for example, you have not installed a mod, and somebody is in the game with you that has the OTA mod installed, it will cause the 'sync' error.

===My aircraft repairing platforms don't work !===
This feature is not implemented yet. I'm affraid you'll have to wait. Other features of the original TA game that are not (yet) implemented in Spring : enemy capture and resurrection.

FAQ

2005-06-21T01:11:56Z

200.112.18.74: /* People are cheating! How do I stop it?! */

==General information==

===What is TA Spring?===
TA Spring is a project to create the best RTS ever (no joke). There are three principle goals which we hope to achieve.

. . . . . .A) Reach a stage where TA Spring can flawlessly execute most of Total Annihilation's original gameplay, with its original units in their original format.

. . . . . .B) Add new features as we see fit, fix bugs, and release new versions when we feel it is appropriate to do so.

. . . . . .C) Support the mod community as we see fit.

===When will TA Spring be ready?===
Now! You can get the latest beta from the download page.

===Will TA Spring be free?===
The core game is released under GPL License. However, some parts of the game are still under copyright by their owners. Therefore, today, you need to own the original TA game if you want to play. However the community is working hard in order to offer completely free alternatives.

===I want to help, what can I do?===
Please look at the Messageboard. There are lots of things you can do according to your skills. Particularly important is to create viable and pleasing free alternatives to copyrighted material, mainly sounds and units.

===I want to donate.===
People have made clear their desire to donate to the project, and so far, we have been fairly reluctant about accepting donations. Our main concern? While we certainly hope to have something playable released in the near future, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. Unforseen events arise, and it would be most unfortunate if everyone who donated felt swindled because the project did not turn out as they had hoped, or was not released at all.

We do not plan to be more or less productive solely based upon the quantity and frequency of donations received. The TA Spring project is here only because we view this as an enjoyable hobby.

===I read all that and I still want to donate.===
Very well then! You can find the required details [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/donate.php here]. It will be much appreciated. :)

==Technical==

===What port numbers does TA Spring use?===
The lobby room uses 4897 TCP to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use TCP on this port while the game will use UDP on this port.

===What APIs does TA Spring use?===
OpenGL for rendering.
DirectSound for sound.
Winsock for networking.

===What language is TA Spring written in?===
C and C++.

===Is TA Spring open source?===
Yes, it is. Go to the downloads section of the site to download the source code.

===Will there be a linux port?===
There is an effort being made by some in the community to create a port.

==Requirements==

===What platforms will TA Spring run on?===
At the moment, it only runs on Windows.
Members of the community are working on porting the game on Linux platform (please refer to the Messageboard).
If someone wants to port it to another platform, please contact us once we have an initial release ready. We will not, however, port it ourselves at any time (in the forseeable future). There is simply no compelling reason for us to do so. Additionally, we would like to focus on getting it working well on just one platform.

===What sort of a system will I need to run TA Spring?===
You will most certainly need a 3D graphics card to run TA Spring, which will probably require at least a GeForce3 (note that a GeForce4 MX is not better than a GeForce3) and the latest driver supported. Minimum CPU requirements are a little more complex. A more powerful CPU will have the capability to support larger maps and a greater maximum unit limit. A 1ghz CPU should be able to support an estimated 500 units. The needed memory will also vary with unit count and mapsize, but 512mb should be enough.

==Content==

===Do TA Spring maps need a "ground"?===
TA Spring maps do require a ground. We have had many requests to have space maps, however, a "true" (ala Homeworld) space setting is not likely. It would have to wait until a much later stage. This does not mean that TA's style of "space" maps won't be possible, (see the Final Frontier TC for examples of this).

===You stated that TA Spring uses the TA unit format.===
TA Spring does use the Total Annihilation unit format. However, we do plan to make TA Spring compatible with a custom unit format of our own design.

===How powerful will TA Spring's custom format be?===
Total Annihilation's unit format was extremely limited. Most of these limitations will either be expanded or non-existent in TA Spring's custom unit format. One of the most exciting improvements is the introduction of an entirely new method of scripting, with nearly complete control over every aspect of a unit's actions and behaviors.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of weapons?===
No. Unlike Total Annihilation, TA Spring's weapon IDs will be unlimited.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of unique units?===
No. Unit IDs, like weapon IDs, will be unlimited.

===Will units have a maximum of 3 unique weapons?===
Total Annihilation had a limitation that permitted a maximum of 3 unique weapons per unit. This limit will exist in TA Spring only if a unit is made in the original Total Annihilation format. To bypass this limit, a unit would have to be created entirely within the limits of our own format.

===I'm curious as to the per-unit polygon limit.===
The engine itself does not have a polygon count limit. The limit is that of the processing power of today's computers. Since TA Spring requires a 3D card, the maximum polygon count per unit will be several times higher than Total Annihilation's. No real numbers yet though. We're gonna leave it up to the mod community to figure that one out.

===Will units be able to perform basic terraforming?===
Total Annihilation units probably won't have any terrain editable functionality. Feature units may be endowed with such functionality, but it's more of a gameplay issue and has not been decided upon yet. However construction units can restore ground.

===Will tunnel building be possible?===
Subterranean areas of any sort is impossible. However, it is possible to heavily deform the ground with explosives.

===Will the ground's water retention be editable?===
No. Water will always collect when a piece of land has a height below sea level.

===Does TA Spring have a limit on the number of races?===
TA Spring has no limit on the total number of sides/races.

===What are the sizes of the biggest and smallest units?===
Static units (buildings, defenses, etc.) have no size limitations in the engine. Technically, neither do mobile units, but units with a footprint larger than 4x4 "squares" (an arbitrary size standard created by Cavedog) might have problems pathfinding.

===What is going to be the maximum possible sea depth?===
For all practical purposes, it will be unlimited. The depth values are stored as "float variables", so it is doubtful that maps would ever be made which even come close to approaching the limit.

===Will TA Spring support campaigns?===
No such support is planned at the moment but it is possible using the GroupAI interface.

===How big will the TA Spring files be?===
TA Spring will be as big as however much content is included with it. The "essential" files (engine files mostly) will only be several megabytes large. Content (such as maps and units) will add considerable size to the TA Spring download. However, it is not known at this point just how much "content" will be included with the first release.

===How will TA Spring render sound effects?===
Sound is rendered 3D, meaning that the volume and direction (assuming a multi-speaker setup) vary with the location of the camera from the sound "emitter". What this translates into gameplay terms means that the closer you are to a unit making a sound or motion, the louder the sound will be. Additionally, the sound will be heard differently depending on which way the camera is facing relative to units making sound.

===Will TA Spring have ambient sound?===
There is no ambient sound, and we haven't planned on adding it so far.

===Will there be an AI or a "skirmish" mode?===
We will create an interface that people can use to create there own skirmish AIs later.

===Will a "possess" or a FPS option be present?===
Yes, it is possible to fully control a unit from the first person view. It is more of a gimmick, but it still allows for a nice diversion once in a while.

==Getting into a game==

===People talk about 'Single Player'. How do I start a single player game?===
Go into your TA Spring folder and find the 'Spring.exe' file. Double click on it and say 'yes' to host.

===When I try to make a single player game, it gives me an error.===
Your graphics card probably can't support Spring. If you read the requirements it did say GeForce 3 or better. Go to the settings file in your TA Spring directory and lower some of the options. Sometimes that works.

===Does TA Spring support AI Players?===
Not yet. Fortunately for you they are currently working on it :) In the mean time you can use the [[random_enemies]] script, which spawns units out of thin air and sends them to attack you.

===When I try to connect to the lobby it gives me an error.===
There could be 2 problems. Either you don't have an account, or the server is down. If you don't have an account, make one. If the server is down, you'll just have to wait (this doesn't happen often, though).
Have a look at this websiteÃ‚Â´s News page and/or the Messageboard, it is likely that you will get some information there in the eventuality that the server is down.

===Sometimes when I join games the minimap is blank===
This is because you don't have the map they're using. At present (0.51b1) the regular installer comes with the following maps: Small Divide, map4, mars and Flooded Desert. The small installer only comes with Small Divide. If you want to play games with other maps you need to download them.

===Where can I download more maps?===
As for most Spring downloads [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=90 FileUniverse] is the place to be! A collection of maps can be downloaded [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 here].

===I used the small installer where can I get the missing maps?===
Unfortunately the maps included in the regular installer (0.51b1) aren't available on File Universe. However, since many of the scripts included in the game rely on map4, this can be downloaded [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/dl/map4.7z here].

===How do I install downloaded maps?===
Just unzip them into your spring maps folder. Some map files use newer (smaller) file formats such as .rar or .7z, to unzip these newer formats, you'll need to download 7-Zip from [http://www.7-zip.org/ http://www.7-zip.org/] - it's free and allows you to compress and uncompress 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB files - which covers pretty much everything!

===Sometimes when I try to join games it gives me an error.===
The host is behind a firewall that has not opened the correct ports for Spring.

Dixit SJ: "The lobby room uses 4897 tcp to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use tcp on this port while the game will use udp on this port."

===When I make games nobody joins.===
You are probably behind a firewall. See question above.

===When a multiplayer game starts I never make it past the loading screen.===
This indicates a problem with your video card. Once again the best way to deal with this situation is to make sure your video card has the latest driver updates and that all Spring video features are on the lowest settings.

===When a multiplayer game starts, I make it past the loading screen, but when I get into the game it says, "Waiting for Host", and does a 10 second countdown. It always reaches zero and boots me out, what gives?===
This is a firewall issue. There are three things you can do to fix this. First, make sure your windows firewall is either off, or is not blocking the TA: Spring application. Secondly, if you are behind a router, you can forward the ports that the host is using (especially if you are the host), and it usually fixes the problem. To do this you must go to your router configuration page. You can see what port 'you' are using (as the host), by hosting a multiplayer game in the Spring Lobby. You must make this your trigger port, and make sure that it is open for both TCP and UDP. Thirdly, if none of the aforementioned worked. The easiest thing to do (assuming you are behind a router) is to set the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). This means your computer will be completely exposed to the internet, which will make you vulnerable to any unknown or unpatched exploits in windows. All you have to do is find the personal IP if the computer you are using and add it to your router's DMZ list. Please only try this last option if you can't get the others to work.
Good Luck

===Sometimes when I chat in the 'game lobby', people can't hear me.===
I would recommend closing and restarting the whole Spring application after each successful game. Weird things tend too happen. (By successful I mean all the players loaded and the game started.)

===I got into the game, but some people didn't.===
The host may have reached the number of players it has set.
Or the players may be experiencing firewall or video card difficulty. That is not your fault. Please ask them too leave if they are still there when you get into the 'game lobby'.

==Playing==

===What is with this weird right-click mode? I'm bout to break my keyboard.===
Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it. As of now it can't be changed.

===Why is somebody else also controlling my units?===
In the 'game lobby' there are two sets of teams. There are the 'Teams' and the 'Ally Teams'. If you are on the same 'Team', then you both get the same commander, and can control the same units. If you are on 'Ally Teams', then you both get different commanders and can't control each others units.

===Then why would I want to be on the same 'Team' as somebody?===
Because it's fun to just drive around units and not have to worry about commanding. (Assuming that one of the people on the team is commanding.)

===How do I talk to my allies only?===
You must type 'a:' before you speak. Here's an example: a: Now I am talking to my allies only.

===Help! After I'm finished driving a unit, the camera is all insane! This is nuts! How do I fix it?===
Whoa now. Calm down. Just press ctrl + mouse button 3 to change camera modes.

===After I'm finished driving a unit, where what used too be my mouse pointer is now a crosshair. Why?===
-This is a special 'view mode' that allows you to move around the screen much faster. It's good for viewing the battle or getting screenshots. Simply press on your third mouse button too revert back to your mouse pointer.

===But I don't have a third mouse button!===
The key 'J' works in the same way as the 'middle mouse button' does. So where you would use ctrl + middle mouse button to change camera modes, ctrl + j does the same thing. Pressing J once will also switch you from 'crosshair mode' to 'pointer mode' and vice versa.

===Sometimes my units just get deleted. Why?===
For some reason units get deleted when they go into the wrong places. Like out of the map edge.

This is already fixed in recent versions.

===People are cheating! How do I stop it?!===
Well currently, you can't.Only the host can "activate" the cheat codes. After that, any player can do almost all cheats.

The best thing to do is just not play with the cheaters anymore. But with new spring version cheats are disabled in multiplayer, so that paragraph is hopefully now irrelevant.

===Well how do you cheat?===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr><th>Cheat Command</th><th>Effect</th></tr>

<tr>
<td>'''.cheat'''</td><td>'''enable cheats - Cheats don't work in multiplayer until the host types this'''</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.nocost</td><td>instabuild (doesn't work on things already under construction, only on new ones)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setmaxspeed 0</td><td>Changes the maximum speed multiplier (default is 3.0)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setminspeed 30</td><td>Changes the minimum speed multiplier (default is 0.3)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.spectator</td><td>Allows you to see the entire map... but you lose control of your units</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.team 0, .team 1, etc.</td><td>Change player</td>
</tr>

</table>

===In Game Commands===
The following ''non-cheating'' commands are also available in game:

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<th>Command</th><th>Effect</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.info</td><td>Shows you what colour each player is and their ping delay in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.clock</td><td>Shows you the elapsed game time in minutes and seconds in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

</table>

===How do I ally or unally in game?===
I'm pretty sure you can't. Yet.

===How do I give somebody units or metal or energy?===
Press the 'H' key.
Then select the amount of metal and/or energy to share.

Then select the recieving player an press ok.

When sharing units, you must first select the units to share, then press 'H' key.

Tick share units checkbox and choose recieving player.

===How do I continually give somebody metal and/or energy after a certain point (i.e. Original TA commands +setshare..., +shareall)?===
You'll notice that on your metal and energy bars (top of screen), there are two red bars. You have to put them wherever you want your metal and energy to be shared after.

===Man I am soooo sick of XTA. How do I play AA or OTA instead?===
Well. Somebody has made a patch to turn TA Spring into OTA: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=679 click here]. But really, why would you want to go back to OTA? There are also patches available for various mods other than XTA (which is installed as default): [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=92 click here]. A switcher is available which makes it easier to switch between the different mods: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=805 click here]

===Why am I destroyed so easily by long range assaults?===
This is a realistic feature of TA Spring. Units will automatically attack 'radar blips' (units that they can not actually see, but that are indicated on radar). However, the accuracy is very bad while shooting at radar blips until 1)Your unit kills a lot of units and gets experience, or 2)You get a targetting facility.

===Can I kick people from my 'game lobby' or my game?===
First of all, you have to be the host to kick. In theory, you would right click on someone's name in the 'game lobby' and that would give you the option to kick them. This feature is not currently supported, however, but it will be fixed soon.

===When I'm 'driving' my commander, I can't use my laser?===
The TA: Spring team will most likely add a way for you to use your commander's laser soon.

===I hate driving around with the 'arrow keys'. Is there any way I can use the 'W-A-S-D' controls(the controls most First Person Shooters use anymore)?===
Go into your Spring directory and edit the uikeys file. Keep in mind that 'S' is originally a 'hot-key' that will stop your units and that 'D' is a 'hot-key' for your commander's D-Gun. You might want to change those too.

===I turned the shadows feature on; I still don't see shadows. What gives?===
Your graphics card canÃ‚Â´t handle shadows, so Spring automatically turns them off.

===I can't go backwards when I am 'driving' a unit. Why not?===
Because TA units where never intended to go backwards. Sorry.

===I'm in the Unreal Tournament 2004 kind of mood. How do I strafe?===
You can only strafe in 'brawler type' ships(The brawler, rapier, and light gunships.)
===How can I record and watch demos/replays ?===
The game is always recorded to test.sdf which is overwritten by each new game. Change the name if you want to save it. To view a demo start spring.exe as non server and enter the full demo name (coolgame.sdf for example) as server address. You must change the name to something else than test.sdf to view a demo.

You can use the Speed up/Slow down game keys while watching the replay. +

===Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game.===
It's because they have a differen't mod installed than you. If, for example, you have not installed a mod, and somebody is in the game with you that has the OTA mod installed, it will cause the 'sync' error.

===My aircraft repairing platforms don't work !===
This feature is not implemented yet. I'm affraid you'll have to wait. Other features of the original TA game that are not (yet) implemented in Spring : enemy capture and resurrection.

FAQ

2005-06-21T01:10:06Z

200.112.18.74: /* Sometimes my units just get deleted. Why? */

==General information==

===What is TA Spring?===
TA Spring is a project to create the best RTS ever (no joke). There are three principle goals which we hope to achieve.

. . . . . .A) Reach a stage where TA Spring can flawlessly execute most of Total Annihilation's original gameplay, with its original units in their original format.

. . . . . .B) Add new features as we see fit, fix bugs, and release new versions when we feel it is appropriate to do so.

. . . . . .C) Support the mod community as we see fit.

===When will TA Spring be ready?===
Now! You can get the latest beta from the download page.

===Will TA Spring be free?===
The core game is released under GPL License. However, some parts of the game are still under copyright by their owners. Therefore, today, you need to own the original TA game if you want to play. However the community is working hard in order to offer completely free alternatives.

===I want to help, what can I do?===
Please look at the Messageboard. There are lots of things you can do according to your skills. Particularly important is to create viable and pleasing free alternatives to copyrighted material, mainly sounds and units.

===I want to donate.===
People have made clear their desire to donate to the project, and so far, we have been fairly reluctant about accepting donations. Our main concern? While we certainly hope to have something playable released in the near future, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. Unforseen events arise, and it would be most unfortunate if everyone who donated felt swindled because the project did not turn out as they had hoped, or was not released at all.

We do not plan to be more or less productive solely based upon the quantity and frequency of donations received. The TA Spring project is here only because we view this as an enjoyable hobby.

===I read all that and I still want to donate.===
Very well then! You can find the required details [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/donate.php here]. It will be much appreciated. :)

==Technical==

===What port numbers does TA Spring use?===
The lobby room uses 4897 TCP to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use TCP on this port while the game will use UDP on this port.

===What APIs does TA Spring use?===
OpenGL for rendering.
DirectSound for sound.
Winsock for networking.

===What language is TA Spring written in?===
C and C++.

===Is TA Spring open source?===
Yes, it is. Go to the downloads section of the site to download the source code.

===Will there be a linux port?===
There is an effort being made by some in the community to create a port.

==Requirements==

===What platforms will TA Spring run on?===
At the moment, it only runs on Windows.
Members of the community are working on porting the game on Linux platform (please refer to the Messageboard).
If someone wants to port it to another platform, please contact us once we have an initial release ready. We will not, however, port it ourselves at any time (in the forseeable future). There is simply no compelling reason for us to do so. Additionally, we would like to focus on getting it working well on just one platform.

===What sort of a system will I need to run TA Spring?===
You will most certainly need a 3D graphics card to run TA Spring, which will probably require at least a GeForce3 (note that a GeForce4 MX is not better than a GeForce3) and the latest driver supported. Minimum CPU requirements are a little more complex. A more powerful CPU will have the capability to support larger maps and a greater maximum unit limit. A 1ghz CPU should be able to support an estimated 500 units. The needed memory will also vary with unit count and mapsize, but 512mb should be enough.

==Content==

===Do TA Spring maps need a "ground"?===
TA Spring maps do require a ground. We have had many requests to have space maps, however, a "true" (ala Homeworld) space setting is not likely. It would have to wait until a much later stage. This does not mean that TA's style of "space" maps won't be possible, (see the Final Frontier TC for examples of this).

===You stated that TA Spring uses the TA unit format.===
TA Spring does use the Total Annihilation unit format. However, we do plan to make TA Spring compatible with a custom unit format of our own design.

===How powerful will TA Spring's custom format be?===
Total Annihilation's unit format was extremely limited. Most of these limitations will either be expanded or non-existent in TA Spring's custom unit format. One of the most exciting improvements is the introduction of an entirely new method of scripting, with nearly complete control over every aspect of a unit's actions and behaviors.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of weapons?===
No. Unlike Total Annihilation, TA Spring's weapon IDs will be unlimited.

===Does TA Spring have a limited number of unique units?===
No. Unit IDs, like weapon IDs, will be unlimited.

===Will units have a maximum of 3 unique weapons?===
Total Annihilation had a limitation that permitted a maximum of 3 unique weapons per unit. This limit will exist in TA Spring only if a unit is made in the original Total Annihilation format. To bypass this limit, a unit would have to be created entirely within the limits of our own format.

===I'm curious as to the per-unit polygon limit.===
The engine itself does not have a polygon count limit. The limit is that of the processing power of today's computers. Since TA Spring requires a 3D card, the maximum polygon count per unit will be several times higher than Total Annihilation's. No real numbers yet though. We're gonna leave it up to the mod community to figure that one out.

===Will units be able to perform basic terraforming?===
Total Annihilation units probably won't have any terrain editable functionality. Feature units may be endowed with such functionality, but it's more of a gameplay issue and has not been decided upon yet. However construction units can restore ground.

===Will tunnel building be possible?===
Subterranean areas of any sort is impossible. However, it is possible to heavily deform the ground with explosives.

===Will the ground's water retention be editable?===
No. Water will always collect when a piece of land has a height below sea level.

===Does TA Spring have a limit on the number of races?===
TA Spring has no limit on the total number of sides/races.

===What are the sizes of the biggest and smallest units?===
Static units (buildings, defenses, etc.) have no size limitations in the engine. Technically, neither do mobile units, but units with a footprint larger than 4x4 "squares" (an arbitrary size standard created by Cavedog) might have problems pathfinding.

===What is going to be the maximum possible sea depth?===
For all practical purposes, it will be unlimited. The depth values are stored as "float variables", so it is doubtful that maps would ever be made which even come close to approaching the limit.

===Will TA Spring support campaigns?===
No such support is planned at the moment but it is possible using the GroupAI interface.

===How big will the TA Spring files be?===
TA Spring will be as big as however much content is included with it. The "essential" files (engine files mostly) will only be several megabytes large. Content (such as maps and units) will add considerable size to the TA Spring download. However, it is not known at this point just how much "content" will be included with the first release.

===How will TA Spring render sound effects?===
Sound is rendered 3D, meaning that the volume and direction (assuming a multi-speaker setup) vary with the location of the camera from the sound "emitter". What this translates into gameplay terms means that the closer you are to a unit making a sound or motion, the louder the sound will be. Additionally, the sound will be heard differently depending on which way the camera is facing relative to units making sound.

===Will TA Spring have ambient sound?===
There is no ambient sound, and we haven't planned on adding it so far.

===Will there be an AI or a "skirmish" mode?===
We will create an interface that people can use to create there own skirmish AIs later.

===Will a "possess" or a FPS option be present?===
Yes, it is possible to fully control a unit from the first person view. It is more of a gimmick, but it still allows for a nice diversion once in a while.

==Getting into a game==

===People talk about 'Single Player'. How do I start a single player game?===
Go into your TA Spring folder and find the 'Spring.exe' file. Double click on it and say 'yes' to host.

===When I try to make a single player game, it gives me an error.===
Your graphics card probably can't support Spring. If you read the requirements it did say GeForce 3 or better. Go to the settings file in your TA Spring directory and lower some of the options. Sometimes that works.

===Does TA Spring support AI Players?===
Not yet. Fortunately for you they are currently working on it :) In the mean time you can use the [[random_enemies]] script, which spawns units out of thin air and sends them to attack you.

===When I try to connect to the lobby it gives me an error.===
There could be 2 problems. Either you don't have an account, or the server is down. If you don't have an account, make one. If the server is down, you'll just have to wait (this doesn't happen often, though).
Have a look at this websiteÃ‚Â´s News page and/or the Messageboard, it is likely that you will get some information there in the eventuality that the server is down.

===Sometimes when I join games the minimap is blank===
This is because you don't have the map they're using. At present (0.51b1) the regular installer comes with the following maps: Small Divide, map4, mars and Flooded Desert. The small installer only comes with Small Divide. If you want to play games with other maps you need to download them.

===Where can I download more maps?===
As for most Spring downloads [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=90 FileUniverse] is the place to be! A collection of maps can be downloaded [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 here].

===I used the small installer where can I get the missing maps?===
Unfortunately the maps included in the regular installer (0.51b1) aren't available on File Universe. However, since many of the scripts included in the game rely on map4, this can be downloaded [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/dl/map4.7z here].

===How do I install downloaded maps?===
Just unzip them into your spring maps folder. Some map files use newer (smaller) file formats such as .rar or .7z, to unzip these newer formats, you'll need to download 7-Zip from [http://www.7-zip.org/ http://www.7-zip.org/] - it's free and allows you to compress and uncompress 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB files - which covers pretty much everything!

===Sometimes when I try to join games it gives me an error.===
The host is behind a firewall that has not opened the correct ports for Spring.

Dixit SJ: "The lobby room uses 4897 tcp to communicate with the server. Then when you create a battleroom you can choose what ports it should use. 8452 is the default. The battleroom itself will use tcp on this port while the game will use udp on this port."

===When I make games nobody joins.===
You are probably behind a firewall. See question above.

===When a multiplayer game starts I never make it past the loading screen.===
This indicates a problem with your video card. Once again the best way to deal with this situation is to make sure your video card has the latest driver updates and that all Spring video features are on the lowest settings.

===When a multiplayer game starts, I make it past the loading screen, but when I get into the game it says, "Waiting for Host", and does a 10 second countdown. It always reaches zero and boots me out, what gives?===
This is a firewall issue. There are three things you can do to fix this. First, make sure your windows firewall is either off, or is not blocking the TA: Spring application. Secondly, if you are behind a router, you can forward the ports that the host is using (especially if you are the host), and it usually fixes the problem. To do this you must go to your router configuration page. You can see what port 'you' are using (as the host), by hosting a multiplayer game in the Spring Lobby. You must make this your trigger port, and make sure that it is open for both TCP and UDP. Thirdly, if none of the aforementioned worked. The easiest thing to do (assuming you are behind a router) is to set the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). This means your computer will be completely exposed to the internet, which will make you vulnerable to any unknown or unpatched exploits in windows. All you have to do is find the personal IP if the computer you are using and add it to your router's DMZ list. Please only try this last option if you can't get the others to work.
Good Luck

===Sometimes when I chat in the 'game lobby', people can't hear me.===
I would recommend closing and restarting the whole Spring application after each successful game. Weird things tend too happen. (By successful I mean all the players loaded and the game started.)

===I got into the game, but some people didn't.===
The host may have reached the number of players it has set.
Or the players may be experiencing firewall or video card difficulty. That is not your fault. Please ask them too leave if they are still there when you get into the 'game lobby'.

==Playing==

===What is with this weird right-click mode? I'm bout to break my keyboard.===
Sorry, you'll just have to get used to it. As of now it can't be changed.

===Why is somebody else also controlling my units?===
In the 'game lobby' there are two sets of teams. There are the 'Teams' and the 'Ally Teams'. If you are on the same 'Team', then you both get the same commander, and can control the same units. If you are on 'Ally Teams', then you both get different commanders and can't control each others units.

===Then why would I want to be on the same 'Team' as somebody?===
Because it's fun to just drive around units and not have to worry about commanding. (Assuming that one of the people on the team is commanding.)

===How do I talk to my allies only?===
You must type 'a:' before you speak. Here's an example: a: Now I am talking to my allies only.

===Help! After I'm finished driving a unit, the camera is all insane! This is nuts! How do I fix it?===
Whoa now. Calm down. Just press ctrl + mouse button 3 to change camera modes.

===After I'm finished driving a unit, where what used too be my mouse pointer is now a crosshair. Why?===
-This is a special 'view mode' that allows you to move around the screen much faster. It's good for viewing the battle or getting screenshots. Simply press on your third mouse button too revert back to your mouse pointer.

===But I don't have a third mouse button!===
The key 'J' works in the same way as the 'middle mouse button' does. So where you would use ctrl + middle mouse button to change camera modes, ctrl + j does the same thing. Pressing J once will also switch you from 'crosshair mode' to 'pointer mode' and vice versa.

===Sometimes my units just get deleted. Why?===
For some reason units get deleted when they go into the wrong places. Like out of the map edge.

This is already fixed in recent versions.

===People are cheating! How do I stop it?!===
Well currently, you can't. The best thing to do is just not play with the cheaters anymore. But with new spring version cheats are disabled in multiplayer, so that paragraph is hopefully now irrelevant.

===Well how do you cheat?===

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr><th>Cheat Command</th><th>Effect</th></tr>

<tr>
<td>'''.cheat'''</td><td>'''enable cheats - Cheats don't work in multiplayer until the host types this'''</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.nocost</td><td>instabuild (doesn't work on things already under construction, only on new ones)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setmaxspeed 0</td><td>Changes the maximum speed multiplier (default is 3.0)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.setminspeed 30</td><td>Changes the minimum speed multiplier (default is 0.3)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.spectator</td><td>Allows you to see the entire map... but you lose control of your units</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.team 0, .team 1, etc.</td><td>Change player</td>
</tr>

</table>

===In Game Commands===
The following ''non-cheating'' commands are also available in game:

<table border="3" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">

<tr>
<th>Command</th><th>Effect</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.info</td><td>Shows you what colour each player is and their ping delay in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>.clock</td><td>Shows you the elapsed game time in minutes and seconds in the bottom left corner of the screen</td>
</tr>

</table>

===How do I ally or unally in game?===
I'm pretty sure you can't. Yet.

===How do I give somebody units or metal or energy?===
Press the 'H' key.
Then select the amount of metal and/or energy to share.

Then select the recieving player an press ok.

When sharing units, you must first select the units to share, then press 'H' key.

Tick share units checkbox and choose recieving player.

===How do I continually give somebody metal and/or energy after a certain point (i.e. Original TA commands +setshare..., +shareall)?===
You'll notice that on your metal and energy bars (top of screen), there are two red bars. You have to put them wherever you want your metal and energy to be shared after.

===Man I am soooo sick of XTA. How do I play AA or OTA instead?===
Well. Somebody has made a patch to turn TA Spring into OTA: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=679 click here]. But really, why would you want to go back to OTA? There are also patches available for various mods other than XTA (which is installed as default): [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=92 click here]. A switcher is available which makes it easier to switch between the different mods: [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=805 click here]

===Why am I destroyed so easily by long range assaults?===
This is a realistic feature of TA Spring. Units will automatically attack 'radar blips' (units that they can not actually see, but that are indicated on radar). However, the accuracy is very bad while shooting at radar blips until 1)Your unit kills a lot of units and gets experience, or 2)You get a targetting facility.

===Can I kick people from my 'game lobby' or my game?===
First of all, you have to be the host to kick. In theory, you would right click on someone's name in the 'game lobby' and that would give you the option to kick them. This feature is not currently supported, however, but it will be fixed soon.

===When I'm 'driving' my commander, I can't use my laser?===
The TA: Spring team will most likely add a way for you to use your commander's laser soon.

===I hate driving around with the 'arrow keys'. Is there any way I can use the 'W-A-S-D' controls(the controls most First Person Shooters use anymore)?===
Go into your Spring directory and edit the uikeys file. Keep in mind that 'S' is originally a 'hot-key' that will stop your units and that 'D' is a 'hot-key' for your commander's D-Gun. You might want to change those too.

===I turned the shadows feature on; I still don't see shadows. What gives?===
Your graphics card canÃ‚Â´t handle shadows, so Spring automatically turns them off.

===I can't go backwards when I am 'driving' a unit. Why not?===
Because TA units where never intended to go backwards. Sorry.

===I'm in the Unreal Tournament 2004 kind of mood. How do I strafe?===
You can only strafe in 'brawler type' ships(The brawler, rapier, and light gunships.)
===How can I record and watch demos/replays ?===
The game is always recorded to test.sdf which is overwritten by each new game. Change the name if you want to save it. To view a demo start spring.exe as non server and enter the full demo name (coolgame.sdf for example) as server address. You must change the name to something else than test.sdf to view a demo.

You can use the Speed up/Slow down game keys while watching the replay. +

===Sometimes when I play with certain people I get HUGE sync errors that continue throughout the game.===
It's because they have a differen't mod installed than you. If, for example, you have not installed a mod, and somebody is in the game with you that has the OTA mod installed, it will cause the 'sync' error.

===My aircraft repairing platforms don't work !===
This feature is not implemented yet. I'm affraid you'll have to wait. Other features of the original TA game that are not (yet) implemented in Spring : enemy capture and resurrection.

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T01:06:48Z

200.112.18.74: /* Part 3: Prepering your map */

<center><big><b>****Creating a Map****</b></big></center>

'''Original by aGorm'''<br>
'''Edited by: --None--'''

== Part 1: The Idea ==

First of all you need an idea. There is no Point (Ok there is some point for test purposes) in making a map just like another one that already exists. You need to think of certain things before you make your map.
*1) Is this map Idea different, not just a copy of someone elses?
*2) Does my map Idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
*3) Is my map Idea possible to make?
*4) Is it possible with the amount of time Im willing to spend?

If the answer to the above is YES, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!!!

As you have your idea it will be a good time to doodle it down on a bit of paper so as you can stick to your plan...

== Part 2: The Tools ==

With your idea hopefully sketched out, its time to get the tools to make the map! (you can skip this if you have them already!!)

Im going to suggest you use (nay... insist!) Buggi SHARP MAP program. This is because It does everything the comandline version does and more. And its easy for people to understand. Here is the Link

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861

I'll explane how you use this latter...

You will also need some image editing software! Favorites are Photoshop, [http://www.gimp.org/ Gimp], And Paintshop Pro.
Gimp is the only one thats free though!

You may also want to check out terragen for rendering terrain... but as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I wont metion it other than here.

Another tool for rendering terrain is [http://www.delphigl.de/projects/terrtexgen/eng_index.html TerrTexGen]<br>"It generates a terraintexture on the
base of a grayscale heightmap und uses five surfacetextures that are distributed over the heightmap."<br> Its a freeware tool.

== Part 3: Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! Its also often the longest part...

For a Map you will need several different things...

1) a Texture Map
2) a Height Map
3) a Metal Map

They all have certain needs!! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a Texture Image. This Images width and height must be an exact multiple of "1024" pixels. So you can have "4096" by "8192" image, but not a "4096" x "4608", as teh latter does not divide by "1024"! It must also be saved as a 24bit BMP. It may look like whatever you want! Find a texture (preferably one that you can tile seamlessly...) and fill your Texture map with it! You could forinstance fill the whole image with a sand texture... this would make your whole world look liek sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it... By finding a sutable grass texture and adding it on in splodges (I'm going to have to assume you can use whatever image editing software you are useing, if you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net...). So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

However it would be a bit flat at the mo!

Next is the Height map. This must be exactly a quarter (IE divide the width and height of your map by 4...) of the size of the texture map + 1 pixel! I can't stress the + 1 enough! The height map Is a black and white bmp. Only use black and white... not colour!

White ares are the tops of mountains... Black areas are the sea floor or the bottom of valleys. The shades of grey between are the different heights between! When you draw your heightmap, make sure the white blends into the black with greys (I suggest you use the blur tool). If you have a white splodge in a patch of black you will have a very tall pillar that wont look natural at all!

Finaly, you need a metal map. This is teh same size as the Height Map. On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red splodge that is perhapes '''RGB(50,0,0)''' will provide about a 5th of teh metal patch of red '''RGB(255,0,0)''' will give.

On this map you can also place green pixels. Each green pixle will create 1 geothermal vent. Bear In Mind: If you put down a green splodge you will get a cluster of geo vents! Only place 1 Pixel!

Save all those a 24bit BMPs and your ready to convert it all to a map!

== Part 4: Sharp Map ==

Heres a easy run down of what to do. First double click sharp map (Ok you knew that bit).
This brings you a window with several feilds that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders.

Fill in the top feilds as required (Ie, click brose and locate the texture file and click OK, then repeat for teh other fields)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGH and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not go over 500 if you want your map to be error less. If your minimum height is a negaticve number then you will have water on your map. 0 is teh sea level. To the right of these boxes is a grey level calculator. This will tell you aproximatly the level of grey on your height map that is under water and above water. It is describing the grey by its RGB values...

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders... If you have a green map then i suggest you move the tree one down a little, other wise tha tmap will be covered!

Finaly, tick the inverse Height Map button. This is because you will have draw your gheight map the right way up (IE you drew on hills to coraspond to points on the texture in a natural way. If you used terragen and exported its height map it would look upsidedown, but in reality its the way up the program expects! In that case dont use inverse heightmap!)

Then Click Create Map!!

.....(This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one...).....

== Part 5: Making your map work ==

This is the final push! Once Sharp map has finshed it will spit out a .sm2 file. This needs to be copyed to the MAPS folder in spring. But you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basically, This file tells the game things like the Maximum metal, The light colours, the clouds, infact all the bits you are thinking you haven't done yet!
I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map, and fiddle with the settings till you get what you want. Look at all the .smd's so you can get a jist of what each option does.
make sure both the sm2 and smd have the same file name [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F then start up spring] (not the client!) and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T01:01:47Z

200.112.18.74: /* Part 2: The Tools */

<center><big><b>****Creating a Map****</b></big></center>

'''Original by aGorm'''<br>
'''Edited by: --None--'''

== Part 1: The Idea ==

First of all you need an idea. There is no Point (Ok there is some point for test purposes) in making a map just like another one that already exists. You need to think of certain things before you make your map.
*1) Is this map Idea different, not just a copy of someone elses?
*2) Does my map Idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
*3) Is my map Idea possible to make?
*4) Is it possible with the amount of time Im willing to spend?

If the answer to the above is YES, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!!!

As you have your idea it will be a good time to doodle it down on a bit of paper so as you can stick to your plan...

== Part 2: The Tools ==

With your idea hopefully sketched out, its time to get the tools to make the map! (you can skip this if you have them already!!)

Im going to suggest you use (nay... insist!) Buggi SHARP MAP program. This is because It does everything the comandline version does and more. And its easy for people to understand. Here is the Link

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861

I'll explane how you use this latter...

You will also need some image editing software! Favorites are Photoshop, [http://www.gimp.org/ Gimp], And Paintshop Pro.
Gimp is the only one thats free though!

You may also want to check out terragen for rendering terrain... but as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I wont metion it other than here.

Another tool for rendering terrain is [http://www.delphigl.de/projects/terrtexgen/eng_index.html TerrTexGen]<br>"It generates a terraintexture on the
base of a grayscale heightmap und uses five surfacetextures that are distributed over the heightmap."<br> Its a freeware tool.

== Part 3: Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! Its also often the longest part...

For a Map you will need several different things...

1) a Texture Map
2) a Height Map
3) a Metal Map

They all have certain needs!! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a Texture Image. This Images width and height must be an exact multiple of "1024" pixels. So you can have "4096" by "8192" image, but not a "4096" x "4608", as teh latter does not divide by "1024"! It must also be saved as a 24bit BMP. It may look like whatever you want! Find a texture (preferably one that you can tile seamlessly...) and fill your Texture map with it! You could forinstance fill the whole image with a sand texture... this would make your whole world look liek sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it... By finding a sutable grass texture and adding it on in splodges (I'm going to have to assume you can use whatever image editing software you are useing, if you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net...). So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

However it would be a bit flat at the mo!

Next is the Height map. This must be exactly a quarter (IE divide the width and height of your map by 4...) of the size of the texture map + 1 pixel! I can't stress the + 1 enough! The height map Is a black and white bmp. Only use black and white... not colour!

White ares are the tops of mountains... Black areas are the sea floor or the bottom of valleys. The shades of grey between are the different heights between! When you draw your heightmap, make sure the white blends into the black with greys (I suggest you use the blur tool). If you have a white splodge in a patch of black you will have a very tall piller that wont look natural at all!

Finaly, you need a meatl map. This is teh same size as the Height Map. On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red splodge that is perhapes RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of teh metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.
On this map you can also place green pixels. Each green pixle will create 1 geothermal vent. Bear In Mide: If you put down a green splodge you will get a cluster of geo vents! Only place 1 Pixel!

Save all those a 24bit BMPs and your ready to convert it all to a map!

== Part 4: Sharp Map ==

Heres a easy run down of what to do. First double click sharp map (Ok you knew that bit).
This brings you a window with several feilds that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders.

Fill in the top feilds as required (Ie, click brose and locate the texture file and click OK, then repeat for teh other fields)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGH and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not go over 500 if you want your map to be error less. If your minimum height is a negaticve number then you will have water on your map. 0 is teh sea level. To the right of these boxes is a grey level calculator. This will tell you aproximatly the level of grey on your height map that is under water and above water. It is describing the grey by its RGB values...

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders... If you have a green map then i suggest you move the tree one down a little, other wise tha tmap will be covered!

Finaly, tick the inverse Height Map button. This is because you will have draw your gheight map the right way up (IE you drew on hills to coraspond to points on the texture in a natural way. If you used terragen and exported its height map it would look upsidedown, but in reality its the way up the program expects! In that case dont use inverse heightmap!)

Then Click Create Map!!

.....(This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one...).....

== Part 5: Making your map work ==

This is the final push! Once Sharp map has finshed it will spit out a .sm2 file. This needs to be copyed to the MAPS folder in spring. But you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basically, This file tells the game things like the Maximum metal, The light colours, the clouds, infact all the bits you are thinking you haven't done yet!
I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map, and fiddle with the settings till you get what you want. Look at all the .smd's so you can get a jist of what each option does.
make sure both the sm2 and smd have the same file name [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F then start up spring] (not the client!) and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T00:59:58Z

200.112.18.74: /* Part 2: The Tools */

<center><big><b>****Creating a Map****</b></big></center>

'''Original by aGorm'''<br>
'''Edited by: --None--'''

== Part 1: The Idea ==

First of all you need an idea. There is no Point (Ok there is some point for test purposes) in making a map just like another one that already exists. You need to think of certain things before you make your map.
*1) Is this map Idea different, not just a copy of someone elses?
*2) Does my map Idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
*3) Is my map Idea possible to make?
*4) Is it possible with the amount of time Im willing to spend?

If the answer to the above is YES, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!!!

As you have your idea it will be a good time to doodle it down on a bit of paper so as you can stick to your plan...

== Part 2: The Tools ==

With your idea hopefully sketched out, its time to get the tools to make the map! (you can skip this if you have them already!!)

Im going to suggest you use (nay... insist!) Buggi SHARP MAP program. This is because It does everything the comandline version does and more. And its easy for people to understand. Here is the Link

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861

I'll explane how you use this latter...

You will also need some image editing software! Favorites are Photoshop, [http://www.gimp.org/ Gimp], And Paintshop Pro.
Gimp is the only one thats free though!

You may also want to check out terragen for rendering terrain... but as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I wont metion it other than here.

[http://www.delphigl.de/projects/terrtexgen/eng_index.html TerrTexGen]<br>"It generates a terraintexture on the
base of a grayscale heightmap und uses five surfacetextures that are distributed over the heightmap."<br> Its a freeware tool.

== Part 3: Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! Its also often the longest part...

For a Map you will need several different things...

1) a Texture Map
2) a Height Map
3) a Metal Map

They all have certain needs!! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a Texture Image. This Images width and height must be an exact multiple of "1024" pixels. So you can have "4096" by "8192" image, but not a "4096" x "4608", as teh latter does not divide by "1024"! It must also be saved as a 24bit BMP. It may look like whatever you want! Find a texture (preferably one that you can tile seamlessly...) and fill your Texture map with it! You could forinstance fill the whole image with a sand texture... this would make your whole world look liek sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it... By finding a sutable grass texture and adding it on in splodges (I'm going to have to assume you can use whatever image editing software you are useing, if you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net...). So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

However it would be a bit flat at the mo!

Next is the Height map. This must be exactly a quarter (IE divide the width and height of your map by 4...) of the size of the texture map + 1 pixel! I can't stress the + 1 enough! The height map Is a black and white bmp. Only use black and white... not colour!

White ares are the tops of mountains... Black areas are the sea floor or the bottom of valleys. The shades of grey between are the different heights between! When you draw your heightmap, make sure the white blends into the black with greys (I suggest you use the blur tool). If you have a white splodge in a patch of black you will have a very tall piller that wont look natural at all!

Finaly, you need a meatl map. This is teh same size as the Height Map. On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red splodge that is perhapes RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of teh metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.
On this map you can also place green pixels. Each green pixle will create 1 geothermal vent. Bear In Mide: If you put down a green splodge you will get a cluster of geo vents! Only place 1 Pixel!

Save all those a 24bit BMPs and your ready to convert it all to a map!

== Part 4: Sharp Map ==

Heres a easy run down of what to do. First double click sharp map (Ok you knew that bit).
This brings you a window with several feilds that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders.

Fill in the top feilds as required (Ie, click brose and locate the texture file and click OK, then repeat for teh other fields)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGH and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not go over 500 if you want your map to be error less. If your minimum height is a negaticve number then you will have water on your map. 0 is teh sea level. To the right of these boxes is a grey level calculator. This will tell you aproximatly the level of grey on your height map that is under water and above water. It is describing the grey by its RGB values...

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders... If you have a green map then i suggest you move the tree one down a little, other wise tha tmap will be covered!

Finaly, tick the inverse Height Map button. This is because you will have draw your gheight map the right way up (IE you drew on hills to coraspond to points on the texture in a natural way. If you used terragen and exported its height map it would look upsidedown, but in reality its the way up the program expects! In that case dont use inverse heightmap!)

Then Click Create Map!!

.....(This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one...).....

== Part 5: Making your map work ==

This is the final push! Once Sharp map has finshed it will spit out a .sm2 file. This needs to be copyed to the MAPS folder in spring. But you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basically, This file tells the game things like the Maximum metal, The light colours, the clouds, infact all the bits you are thinking you haven't done yet!
I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map, and fiddle with the settings till you get what you want. Look at all the .smd's so you can get a jist of what each option does.
make sure both the sm2 and smd have the same file name [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F then start up spring] (not the client!) and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T00:55:20Z

200.112.18.74: /* Part 2: The Tools */

<center><big><b>****Creating a Map****</b></big></center>

'''Original by aGorm'''<br>
'''Edited by: --None--'''

== Part 1: The Idea ==

First of all you need an idea. There is no Point (Ok there is some point for test purposes) in making a map just like another one that already exists. You need to think of certain things before you make your map.
*1) Is this map Idea different, not just a copy of someone elses?
*2) Does my map Idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
*3) Is my map Idea possible to make?
*4) Is it possible with the amount of time Im willing to spend?

If the answer to the above is YES, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!!!

As you have your idea it will be a good time to doodle it down on a bit of paper so as you can stick to your plan...

== Part 2: The Tools ==

With your idea hopefully sketched out, its time to get the tools to make the map! (you can skip this if you have them already!!)

Im going to suggest you use (nay... insist!) Buggi SHARP MAP program. This is because It does everything the comandline version does and more. And its easy for people to understand. Here is the Link

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861

I'll explane how you use this latter...

You will also need some image editing software! Favorites are Photoshop, [http://www.gimp.org/ Gimp], And Paintshop Pro.
Gimp is the only one thats free though!

You may also want to check out [http://www.delphigl.de/projects/terrtexgen/eng_index.html terragen] for rendering terrain... but as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I wont metion it other than here.

== Part 3: Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! Its also often the longest part...

For a Map you will need several different things...

1) a Texture Map
2) a Height Map
3) a Metal Map

They all have certain needs!! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a Texture Image. This Images width and height must be an exact multiple of "1024" pixels. So you can have "4096" by "8192" image, but not a "4096" x "4608", as teh latter does not divide by "1024"! It must also be saved as a 24bit BMP. It may look like whatever you want! Find a texture (preferably one that you can tile seamlessly...) and fill your Texture map with it! You could forinstance fill the whole image with a sand texture... this would make your whole world look liek sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it... By finding a sutable grass texture and adding it on in splodges (I'm going to have to assume you can use whatever image editing software you are useing, if you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net...). So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

However it would be a bit flat at the mo!

Next is the Height map. This must be exactly a quarter (IE divide the width and height of your map by 4...) of the size of the texture map + 1 pixel! I can't stress the + 1 enough! The height map Is a black and white bmp. Only use black and white... not colour!

White ares are the tops of mountains... Black areas are the sea floor or the bottom of valleys. The shades of grey between are the different heights between! When you draw your heightmap, make sure the white blends into the black with greys (I suggest you use the blur tool). If you have a white splodge in a patch of black you will have a very tall piller that wont look natural at all!

Finaly, you need a meatl map. This is teh same size as the Height Map. On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red splodge that is perhapes RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of teh metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.
On this map you can also place green pixels. Each green pixle will create 1 geothermal vent. Bear In Mide: If you put down a green splodge you will get a cluster of geo vents! Only place 1 Pixel!

Save all those a 24bit BMPs and your ready to convert it all to a map!

== Part 4: Sharp Map ==

Heres a easy run down of what to do. First double click sharp map (Ok you knew that bit).
This brings you a window with several feilds that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders.

Fill in the top feilds as required (Ie, click brose and locate the texture file and click OK, then repeat for teh other fields)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGH and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not go over 500 if you want your map to be error less. If your minimum height is a negaticve number then you will have water on your map. 0 is teh sea level. To the right of these boxes is a grey level calculator. This will tell you aproximatly the level of grey on your height map that is under water and above water. It is describing the grey by its RGB values...

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders... If you have a green map then i suggest you move the tree one down a little, other wise tha tmap will be covered!

Finaly, tick the inverse Height Map button. This is because you will have draw your gheight map the right way up (IE you drew on hills to coraspond to points on the texture in a natural way. If you used terragen and exported its height map it would look upsidedown, but in reality its the way up the program expects! In that case dont use inverse heightmap!)

Then Click Create Map!!

.....(This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one...).....

== Part 5: Making your map work ==

This is the final push! Once Sharp map has finshed it will spit out a .sm2 file. This needs to be copyed to the MAPS folder in spring. But you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basically, This file tells the game things like the Maximum metal, The light colours, the clouds, infact all the bits you are thinking you haven't done yet!
I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map, and fiddle with the settings till you get what you want. Look at all the .smd's so you can get a jist of what each option does.
make sure both the sm2 and smd have the same file name [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F then start up spring] (not the client!) and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T00:50:11Z

200.112.18.74: /* Part 1: The Idea */

<center><big><b>****Creating a Map****</b></big></center>

'''Original by aGorm'''<br>
'''Edited by: --None--'''

== Part 1: The Idea ==

First of all you need an idea. There is no Point (Ok there is some point for test purposes) in making a map just like another one that already exists. You need to think of certain things before you make your map.
*1) Is this map Idea different, not just a copy of someone elses?
*2) Does my map Idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
*3) Is my map Idea possible to make?
*4) Is it possible with the amount of time Im willing to spend?

If the answer to the above is YES, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!!!

As you have your idea it will be a good time to doodle it down on a bit of paper so as you can stick to your plan...

== Part 2: The Tools ==

With your idea hopefully sketched out, its time to get the tools to make the map! (you can skip this if you have them already!!)

Im going to suggest you use (nay... insist!) Buggi SHARP MAP program. This is because It does everything the comandline version does and more. And its easy for people to understand. Here is the Link

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861

I'll explane how you use this latter...

You will also need some image editing softwear! Favorits are Photoshop, Gimp, And Paintsop Pro.
Gimp is the onle one thats free though!

You may also want to check out teragen for rendering terain... but as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I wont metion it other than here.

== Part 3: Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! Its also often the longest part...

For a Map you will need several different things...

1) a Texture Map
2) a Height Map
3) a Metal Map

They all have certain needs!! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a Texture Image. This Images width and height must be an exact multiple of "1024" pixels. So you can have "4096" by "8192" image, but not a "4096" x "4608", as teh latter does not divide by "1024"! It must also be saved as a 24bit BMP. It may look like whatever you want! Find a texture (preferably one that you can tile seamlessly...) and fill your Texture map with it! You could forinstance fill the whole image with a sand texture... this would make your whole world look liek sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it... By finding a sutable grass texture and adding it on in splodges (I'm going to have to assume you can use whatever image editing software you are useing, if you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net...). So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

However it would be a bit flat at the mo!

Next is the Height map. This must be exactly a quarter (IE divide the width and height of your map by 4...) of the size of the texture map + 1 pixel! I can't stress the + 1 enough! The height map Is a black and white bmp. Only use black and white... not colour!

White ares are the tops of mountains... Black areas are the sea floor or the bottom of valleys. The shades of grey between are the different heights between! When you draw your heightmap, make sure the white blends into the black with greys (I suggest you use the blur tool). If you have a white splodge in a patch of black you will have a very tall piller that wont look natural at all!

Finaly, you need a meatl map. This is teh same size as the Height Map. On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red splodge that is perhapes RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of teh metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.
On this map you can also place green pixels. Each green pixle will create 1 geothermal vent. Bear In Mide: If you put down a green splodge you will get a cluster of geo vents! Only place 1 Pixel!

Save all those a 24bit BMPs and your ready to convert it all to a map!

== Part 4: Sharp Map ==

Heres a easy run down of what to do. First double click sharp map (Ok you knew that bit).
This brings you a window with several feilds that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders.

Fill in the top feilds as required (Ie, click brose and locate the texture file and click OK, then repeat for teh other fields)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGH and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not go over 500 if you want your map to be error less. If your minimum height is a negaticve number then you will have water on your map. 0 is teh sea level. To the right of these boxes is a grey level calculator. This will tell you aproximatly the level of grey on your height map that is under water and above water. It is describing the grey by its RGB values...

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders... If you have a green map then i suggest you move the tree one down a little, other wise tha tmap will be covered!

Finaly, tick the inverse Height Map button. This is because you will have draw your gheight map the right way up (IE you drew on hills to coraspond to points on the texture in a natural way. If you used terragen and exported its height map it would look upsidedown, but in reality its the way up the program expects! In that case dont use inverse heightmap!)

Then Click Create Map!!

.....(This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one...).....

== Part 5: Making your map work ==

This is the final push! Once Sharp map has finshed it will spit out a .sm2 file. This needs to be copyed to the MAPS folder in spring. But you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basically, This file tells the game things like the Maximum metal, The light colours, the clouds, infact all the bits you are thinking you haven't done yet!
I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map, and fiddle with the settings till you get what you want. Look at all the .smd's so you can get a jist of what each option does.
make sure both the sm2 and smd have the same file name [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F then start up spring] (not the client!) and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T00:42:37Z

200.112.18.74: /* Part 5: Making your map work */

<center><big><b>****Creating a Map****</b></big></center>

'''Original by aGorm'''<br>
'''Edited by: --None--'''

== Part 1: The Idea ==

First of all you need an idea. There is no Point (Ok there is some point for test purposes) in making a map jut like another one that already exists. You need to think of certain things befor you make your map.
1) Is this map Idea different, not just a copy of someone elses?
2) Does my map Idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
3) Is my map Idea possible to make?
4) Is it possible with the amount of time Im willing to spend?

If the answer to the above is YES, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!!!

As you have your idea it will be a good time to doodle it down on a bit of paper so as you can stick to your plan...

== Part 2: The Tools ==

With your idea hopefully sketched out, its time to get the tools to make the map! (you can skip this if you have them already!!)

Im going to suggest you use (nay... insist!) Buggi SHARP MAP program. This is because It does everything the comandline version does and more. And its easy for people to understand. Here is the Link

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861

I'll explane how you use this latter...

You will also need some image editing softwear! Favorits are Photoshop, Gimp, And Paintsop Pro.
Gimp is the onle one thats free though!

You may also want to check out teragen for rendering terain... but as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I wont metion it other than here.

== Part 3: Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! Its also often the longest part...

For a Map you will need several different things...

1) a Texture Map
2) a Height Map
3) a Metal Map

They all have certain needs!! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a Texture Image. This Images width and height must be an exact multiple of "1024" pixels. So you can have "4096" by "8192" image, but not a "4096" x "4608", as teh latter does not divide by "1024"! It must also be saved as a 24bit BMP. It may look like whatever you want! Find a texture (preferably one that you can tile seamlessly...) and fill your Texture map with it! You could forinstance fill the whole image with a sand texture... this would make your whole world look liek sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it... By finding a sutable grass texture and adding it on in splodges (I'm going to have to assume you can use whatever image editing software you are useing, if you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net...). So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

However it would be a bit flat at the mo!

Next is the Height map. This must be exactly a quarter (IE divide the width and height of your map by 4...) of the size of the texture map + 1 pixel! I can't stress the + 1 enough! The height map Is a black and white bmp. Only use black and white... not colour!

White ares are the tops of mountains... Black areas are the sea floor or the bottom of valleys. The shades of grey between are the different heights between! When you draw your heightmap, make sure the white blends into the black with greys (I suggest you use the blur tool). If you have a white splodge in a patch of black you will have a very tall piller that wont look natural at all!

Finaly, you need a meatl map. This is teh same size as the Height Map. On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red splodge that is perhapes RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of teh metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.
On this map you can also place green pixels. Each green pixle will create 1 geothermal vent. Bear In Mide: If you put down a green splodge you will get a cluster of geo vents! Only place 1 Pixel!

Save all those a 24bit BMPs and your ready to convert it all to a map!

== Part 4: Sharp Map ==

Heres a easy run down of what to do. First double click sharp map (Ok you knew that bit).
This brings you a window with several feilds that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders.

Fill in the top feilds as required (Ie, click brose and locate the texture file and click OK, then repeat for teh other fields)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGH and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not go over 500 if you want your map to be error less. If your minimum height is a negaticve number then you will have water on your map. 0 is teh sea level. To the right of these boxes is a grey level calculator. This will tell you aproximatly the level of grey on your height map that is under water and above water. It is describing the grey by its RGB values...

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders... If you have a green map then i suggest you move the tree one down a little, other wise tha tmap will be covered!

Finaly, tick the inverse Height Map button. This is because you will have draw your gheight map the right way up (IE you drew on hills to coraspond to points on the texture in a natural way. If you used terragen and exported its height map it would look upsidedown, but in reality its the way up the program expects! In that case dont use inverse heightmap!)

Then Click Create Map!!

.....(This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one...).....

== Part 5: Making your map work ==

This is the final push! Once Sharp map has finshed it will spit out a .sm2 file. This needs to be copyed to the MAPS folder in spring. But you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basically, This file tells the game things like the Maximum metal, The light colours, the clouds, infact all the bits you are thinking you haven't done yet!
I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map, and fiddle with the settings till you get what you want. Look at all the .smd's so you can get a jist of what each option does.
make sure both the sm2 and smd have the same file name [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F then start up spring] (not the client!) and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''