Spring - User contributions [en]

Monthly Topic Rotation

2006-07-13T21:23:13Z

AGorm:

"Monthy Topic Rotation" is a term coined by Gnome referring to the fact that people keep coming into the forums and posting messages on the same subject. It seems that as Spring becomes more popular, more new people keep coming up with the same ideas and questions... think of this as the "Is your idea original?" FAQ as opposed to the "real" [[FAQ]].

Now in some situations it's okay to repost on the same topic, if it has been only mentioned before in other people's topics or if you make reference to the fact that it is a known issue you are addressing with new ideas... but that doesn't excuse you from the list. One way or the other, the community might make fun of you for rehashing old topics, expecially when they aren't forgotten so much as people are bored of talking about them.

This has now turned into a sort of game. You can see the current scores here: http://maelstrom.niiil.com/?l=mtr (Note from a visitor: link seems to be down)

=The Topics=
'''List of Generic Topics with brief discussion and list of topics posted on these subjects for quick reference:'''

===OTA Style Music===
Requests or Suggestions that the engine include music playback, especially music that changes depending on what kind of action is happening in game. Associated with requests for a sound track of any kind or asking for a link to get the orriginal TA Soundtrack in MP3 format.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2856 Soundtracks.]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2786&highlight=music Original TA music]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2640&highlight=music TA Style music]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2363&highlight=music Music Player code]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2348&highlight=music Is original music needed?]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=80030#80030 Music support?]

As a subnote, many of Spring's pre beta members have been working on code to get the music working, while yet others have spent time studying other games and their setups. Current thinking is of a THE SIMS style, where you can specify your own music.

===Raise/Lower Terrain===
People suggesting or requesting some kind of better control over deformable terrain or some kind of terraforming unit. Often associated with people posting pictures of cool effects they have achieved through the use of the current "blow a big hole and then restore to the desired surface" method.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2838 Raise/Lower Terrain?]

===Camera Angles===
suggesting changes to current camera angles, popularly related to the inability of the rotatable and FPS cams to go outside the map boundries, making it difficult to see units close to the edges of the map.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2821 The #2 item on my wishlist]

Also, there's the problem of the world stopping at a rather steep drop.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2789 What is good, and what is bad]

===The New GUI===
Anything related to how bad the current GUI is, suggestions for features that already exists but users do not know about because they are barely documented, or simply threads asking for or about the new GUI.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2801 New GUI questions]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1994 New GUI testing]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=35418 Wheres the new gui?]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1643 re: about the newGUI]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4110 New "Interface"]

===Multiple transport load sharing via cable hooks===
Seriously WTF, this isn't even a good idea, why does this keep coming up?

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2621 Transports]

===Mobile factories===

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2017 Rise and walk, or how my factorie grew legs (and wings too).]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2809#38534 "Build pads" for units]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=35072#35072 air based factories for FF]

===Rotatable buildings - Fixed===

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=95104 Everyone bow down to Sean Mirssen]

Partly, Spring's pathfinding and collision assumes buildings align themselves with the map; no-one's made any detailed claims about how much code this would affect, other than 'lots'.

Even if you stick with 90 degree rotations, there's still figuring out the controls for rotating a building.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2820 The #1 item on my wishlist]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4711 northern tactical advantage... fair?]

===Day and Night===

Wouldn't it be pretty to see a tank's headlights in the dark? Even prettier would be to have a dynamic sun to go with it. =) Watch the mountain's shadows lengthen...

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=5514#5514 Reviving the request list]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1598 Day and Night]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=552 how about night and day]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2872 Gameplay idea: Night]

===Fog of War, Line of Sight - Done===

Now, when you hit 'l' and semicolon (;), you grey out the area that is out of LOS. this turns off shadows, however, and is disabled by the F4 metal-map.

Particularly when in 'possession' mode, people unconsciously assume that their unit can see further than it can, typically to how much terrain they can see.

Some have suggested using FPS-style line of sight.

And there's 'building memory', seeing greyed/faded out versions of buildings when the originals aren't in line-of-sight anymore.

Some find being able to see the whole map, but only being able to see units in their line of sight, somewhat disturbing.

===FPS mode hud/movement changes===
Lots of people don't think the FPS mode implimentation is being all that it can be. They love to make forum topics about it.
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2917 Regarding the FPS "gimmick"]

===Game lobby moderators===
A well known issue. People always seem to request it...
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2770 Client moderators]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3065 We need moderators]

===Gaia Player===

Subject specific threads:

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1410 first one?]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3189 Almost directly related]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1204 This is the last one]

But this request appears in random threads every now and then.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3154&start=20 is gaia in cvs? Alantai says so.]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2791], [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2627], [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2293&start=20], [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1395].

===Improved feature reactivity===

Bridges that you can acctually walk on, better hit detection, there are lots of improvements that could be made to the way spring units, models, and features react to eachother in the most basic sense. Often they are mentioned in the same topic.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=48196#48196 3D Collission Mesh?]

===Spherical/Looping/Endless maps===

A number of options are available for making the map "go on forever"... and apparently the '''new''' new map format includes support for extanding the map behond the playable area of the map (no more ugly edges).

Usually what is being suggested if for maps to just loop, refered to a sphere but more like a "double cylinder" or "Torus"... some people basically think we could just "warp" units to the other side of the map, but issues have been brought up with ranged weapons, line of sight and figuring out where shots are coming from. If you go WAY WAY back you can even see this idea included in an idea for an MMORTS based on the spring engine.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=64751#64751 Monster Truck Madness 2? Looping Maps.]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4065 Even MORE 3D]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3275 Spherical Maps]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=473 stop talking about this!!!]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=655 Does anyone Want This?]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=870&highlight=mmorts Multiple Maps Linked together... would also require being able to join a battle already in progress]

===What is that map with the trees... (and others)===

Ok, so its a map, but me, and others I'm sure are fed up of repeting ourselves... The map with trees is NOT availble for download. Its part of aGorms imagination. Unfortunatly the engin currentlyt can't handel the trees very well so its not released... You will see the screen alot because... well people think its a realy good screen.

See the said screen:
[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/screenshots/screen87.jpg The Tree Map]

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=99835#99835 Spring on Wikipedia]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5707&highlight=whats+map What's this wiki map]

[[Category:Content]]

Tutorial:MapDesignHelp(IceXuick)

2006-05-03T12:13:07Z

AGorm:

'''How to build a map'''

Hello, welcome to the IceXuick map Design help. On this wiki page i will try to make a complete and organized 'topic' how to build a map, from A-Z. Tips, add-ons or other suggestions are always welcome. OKAY.

'''What do you need:''' 

First of all i'll sum up the thing you need:

- Photoshop / Gimp (or other image editor) 
- Bryce / L3dT (optional, if you don't want a great looking texture) 
- Mothers MapConv (map converter program) 
- Patience & passion 

If you have most of these things, you can start thinking about the map you want to make. It is very smart to make sketches of your map, before creating it. Try to design the map, so that in your 'mind' it could play well. Think of possible problems as porcing probabilities, turtling, strategic important places, but also metal layouts, geo-vent locations, and maybe even feature-placement.

'''What are you going to make:''' 

Well, how much different things you might have read, these are the things i use, and work very well, so i suggest you use this, and nothing else :). To know how big your map will be, the factor is 512 times the TA:S size: here are some (total)map sizes and corresponding dimensions:

'''TA Spring ---- Actual Pixels''' 
32 x 24 ------ 16384 x 12288 
16 x 12 ------ 8192 x 6144 
8 x 4 -------- 4096 x 2048 
 

This is the best order in which you should work: 
 

- '''Heightmap''' ... bmp 24-bit - 1/8 +1 of Total map size 
- '''Metalmap''' ..... bmp 24-bit - 1/8 +1 of Total map size 
- '''Featuremap''' .. bmp 24-bit - 1/8 of Total map size 
- '''Typemap''' ...... bmp 24-bit - 1/16 of Total map size 
- '''TestTexture''' .. bmp 24-bit - Total map size 
- '''Compiling''' ..... your maps with Mothers MapConv 
- '''SMD file''' ........ script of all kinds of things, including atmosfear, colors of sky and water, fog settings, but more important, metaloutput, winds, tidal, start locations and terraintypes. 
- '''Test Phase''' ... debug your map a much as possible 
- '''Texturemap''' .. bmp 24-bit - Total map size 

 

'''The Heightmap:''' 

Here are in following order the things that are to be done: 

- roughly outlining large mountains/valleys 
- go deeper into detail by lowering size of drawing brush 
- finalize details with 15px brush (in Photoshop) 
- make slopes/passages on your map with smudge/blur tools 
- Texturemap - bmp 24-bit - Total map size 
 

The heightmap is one the the most important things you make for a map, and therefor i always start with it. After you have drawn your concept of your map (sketches) you may want to digitize them (if you don't already have that) and you should think which mapsize would be best. If you want your map to be a 8x8 map you should (first) also make the heightmap this size. By doing so, you can use Bryce or L3dT to render your texture at the highest possible quality. 
 

So you now are going to start working in Photoshop (or other image program). Try to remake your sketch by drawing different shades of grey. White is the highest (255) and black (0) is the lowest. You can start drawing roughly, to outline every hill or valley. After that, try and go deeper into detail, and finally use a brush size of 15px in Photoshop for the final details. 
 

To make your map work for all the units, it should have passable slopes and passages: use a 'Smudge'-tool (optionally also Blur-tool). A lot of programs have this, so you should be able to figure it out. For every slope or passage that needs to be passable, the gradient from the lowest to the brightest color of that slope should be as smooth as possible. You need to get the feel of the smudge-tool in Photoshop, but after a while you'll get the hang of it. Also try to make slopes that have a big difference in highest and lowest point, long and smooth. 
 

When you think everything is smooth and detailed, save that image as FullHeight.bmp, at the same size as the Total Map. After that, scale down this file to 1/8th of the size of the Total map, +1 pixel (x and y), and save this one as Height.bmp 
 

'''The Metalmap:''' 
 

Okay, for playtesting value, you can now make your metal map. This is at first quite simple, and easily done, but the placement and balance is very hard. You can only try and think of good locations, and the output should be 15 metal per player (non-moho), if they have their part of the map (on a four player map, this would be 1/4th of the map)

In Photoshop, make another layer onto your heightmap, and put metal places around the map. Use a 6 or 8px '''PENCIL''' for the metal patches, and paint with red 255 (make sure there is no antialiasing, so that every pixel is RED 255.

When done, you can save this file as Metal.bmp (1/8th of Total map size +1). 
 

'''The Featuremap:''' 
 

In the featuremap you can place Geo-vents, Trees, grass, and extra features like rocks, palms, energy spires. You need to have these 'extra' features, later to be compiled within the map. Geo's, tree's and grass will work automatically. For the extra features, you need to get the whole pack, which consists of a couple of maps with files for the model, the texture and the script. Check the "maps" forum for features that were created. 
 

'''Geo's''' are represented by '''GREEN''' (255), single pixels. Every green (255), pixel will (most likely) be compiled as a geo-vent. 
 
The shades 200-215 of GREEN are different '''Tree-types'''. Remember to use 1 single pixel for tree's as well. 
 
'''BLUE''' represents the ammount of '''Grass''' to be placed, where black means none, and BLUE (255) means full spreading of grass) 
 
Than Last but not least, '''RED''', for the '''Features'''. In the FS.txt file (that comes with Mothers MapConv, you can list all your features, that you want to use. The first feature that is listed in this file, will be represented as RED 255. The second feature will be RED 254, the third RED 253, and so on. Also features will need only one pixel. 
 
Try to make sure that no one of those pixel are next to each other within 4-5 pixels. This may crash during compiling, or gives strange results in-game. 
 

'''The Typemap:''' 
 

Okay, the Typemap, also known as the TerrainType map, let'a you set the '''terrain name''', the unit categories '''speed multipliers''', and also the '''hardness multiplier'''. This map works again with RED only. Every Shade of RED can be set in the SMD file, on which i'll return later on. The Typemap that worked for me is '''NOT''' the same as the height- and metalmap, but is '''1/16th''' of the Total Map size. 
 
So an 8x8 map is Total 4096 x 4096 pixels. If we then do the math: 4096 /16 = 256. (otherwise there will be a default terraintype (that you did not set) between different terraintypes, and this can be very annoying) 
 

Draw your 'terrain' onto your heightmap (make sure you again use the '''PENCIL''' mode, without antialiasing around your pixels), and save it as a BMP in 1/16th of the Total Map size (Features.bmp). 
 

'''Test Texture:''' 
 

You need to have a 'test'-texture in order to compile, so you can simply make a big grey image, that has the '''right dimensions''' (for 16x16 it will be 8192x8192). Save this as Texture.bmp 
 

'''Compiling your map:''' 
 

Before rendering your final, huge, super shweet texture, you want to know if your map plays okay, and that's why we first going to compile the map: 
 
- how is the heightmap, '''check it for all units''' if everything works 
- is the metal placing and spacing okay? are there spots on slopes or unbuildable terrain, or unreachable. 
- are the geo's working, and also well placed (no clusters of geo's?) 
- do units move quite right, or do they get stuck all the time 
- how is the water level (if there is any) 
- are the starting locations allright? 
- maybe you already want to check the other features, as grass, trees or extra's? 
 

Therefor, we are going to compile this thing first, to check all these things in-game. This will save you numerous re-renderings. And changes in the heightmap after the render, is '''NOT''' recommended. Esspecially for the people that play in '''TA-cam mode''', because they have to be able to tell from above what the terrain is like. 
 

Okay, if you did all of the above, and did it perfect, than this will be your first and second last compile... but trust me, you will compile a '''couple of times''' more, if you want the map to play well! 
 

Although there is a mapcompiler in the works as i type this, for now we need to do it the old fashioned way, by DOS. 
 

Unpack the files of '''Mothers MapConv''' into your directory with all your previously saved files. '''Make sure''' that all the (sub-)directories to this location '''DON'T have SPACES''' in them! After this being said, you will need to go to DOS mode. 
 
In Windows, go to "start", and then "run", and type 'cmd' (without the quotes). This will bring up the commandline prompt. Navigate to your directory in which all bmp's and Mothers Mapconv are located. I ain't gonna explain how you navigate is DOS, if you got this far, you probably know your way around with computers. 
 

Once in the right directory/folder, type 'MapConv --help' for a explaination of all parameters. This is not nescesary if you use it as following: 
 

'''MapConv -f Features.bmp -i -l -c 0.5 -x 300 -n -150 -o YourMapName.smf -y Typemap.bmp -m Metal.bmp -a Height.bmp -t Texture.bmp''' 
 

This line will compile your map will the above created files, and compresses it only half (normal compression is 0.8), what will leave a bit more of your original texture in tact, however your filesize will be higher. 
 
* The -i -l commands are nescesary. 
* The 0.5 compression can be altered to 0.8 or for high quality to 0.2 or 0.3 
* the -x is the maximum height and -n the, yes, minimum 
 

To get the water level right you can '''calculate the best values''' for the max. and min. height. Check your height.bmp and look which grey value you like to be the surface of the water (darker is submerged, higher is land). If this is grey 80, than you know that 80/(255/100) = 31.4% should be submerged. Depending on what total height you want to use, be sure that the zero-0-point (which is the water level) is at 31.4%. So if you want around 600 height difference in total, then you should use -x 412 -n -188 (you may do the math yourself). This should get near the water altitude that you want. Otherwise recompile and test again! 
 

If all went well, you should now have '''4 new files''' in that same directory. 
 
* '''mini.bmp''' - absolete, you don't need this. 
* '''mini.dds''' - needed for minimap 1024x1024 (texture in DirectX format DTX1) 
* '''YourMapName.smf''' - Feature file 
* '''YourMapName.smt''' - Texture file 

Now you have the basic files that TA:Spring can read, BUT you need to ''''sd7'''' them. SD7-ing kind of 'zips' these files into 'one map-zip-file-archive'. How you do this, is quite important. 
 
First make a '''new''' sub-directory, i always name it after the version, so 'v01' wil be right. In this directory, you need to make '''another sub-directory''' called 'maps'. In THIS directory, you need to place your .dds, .smf and .smt files. If you have downloaded extra features (with directories included such as 'features', 'objects3d' and 'unittextures') you need to copy them to the 'v01' directory as well, so it's '''next''' to your 'maps' subdirectory, not in the 'maps' dir. Also do '''NOT forget''' to copy your '''fs.txt''' file from your 'edit' directory, into the 'v01' directory. 
 

'''Create or Edit an SMD file:''' 
 

Now you have to create (or copy paste) a .smd file, that will be put next to the other files in the 'maps' sub-directory. I will post the most important stuff needed. You may also use the '''SMD Creator''', which is also available for download somewhere, and quite '''handy for sun direction and colors''', but 'sometimes' a bit buggy when opening and re-saving a file '''(crashes)'''. The most important stuff,'''--''' means that i've deleted something, and the '''//''' + remarks are to be removed: 
 

[MAP] 
{ 
Description=Describe your map shortly, it can be seen in the lobby; 
TidalStrength=10; //Energy that Tidal generators will give. (10-30) 
Gravity=120; //variable, 120-150 is kinda standard, test on map 
MaxMetal=1.2; //metal output rate. <1 is more OTA, >1 is more XTA 
ExtractorRadius=100; // radius of mexxes, 40-50 tiny, '''100 desirable''' 
MapHardness=100; // Global hardness of terrain 100 will deform from shots 
 
[ATMOSPHERE] 
{ 
-- 
MinWind=1; // minimum wind 
MaxWind=25; // max wind, know that a '''average of 10 is almost equal to solar''' 
} 
 
-- 
 
[TERRAINTYPE50] 
{ 
name=SoftTerrain; // name that will be shown in-game on mouse-hover 
hardness=2; // multiplier of Global MapHardness 
tankmovespeed=0.9; // The speed multiplier of the different units 
kbotmovespeed=1; 
hovermovespeed=1; 
shipmovespeed=0; // '''0 means impassable''' 
} 
 
[TEAM0] 
{ 
StartPosX=250; // start x-coord. of player 1 
StartPosZ=250; // start y-coord. of player 1 
} 
[TEAM1] // '''TEAM0 is player 1 and TEAM1 is player 2''' 
{ 
StartPosX=4950; 
StartPosZ=4950; 
} 
 
etc.. 
 

After you are satisfied with all the settings, you can then save this file as 'YourMapName.smd'. PLace it '''next''' to the other YourMapName.* files, in the 'maps' subdirectory, so that there are now '''4 files''' there. 
 

Assuming you have downloaded a '''7z zip program''' (which you can (re)name to .sd7) you then go into your 'v01' directory, and zip all those directories, including the fs.txt file if you use extra features. Three important things: 
 

* name your map 'YourMapName.sd7' and '''NOT else''' (use '''exact''' same name as with compile) 
* Compression can be set to '''ultra''' 
* Dictionary Size = 32 mb 
* Word size = 64 mb 
* do '''NOT''' make it an '''SOLID''' archive 
* Multi-threading, if you like 
 

When this is done, copy 'YourMapName.sd7' into the maps folder of TA Spring, and off you go! '''You can now start your game from within TA:Spring!!''' 
 

'''The Testing Phase''' 
 

Start up your map. If you did everything i told you to, '''it should work'''! The things i always do is build the following units to test the 'pathfinding' and movement areas: 
 
* '''Peewee's''' - k-bot footprint - same movement for all k-bots 
* '''Flashes''' - Tank footpring 
* '''Hover Tank''' - Hover footpring 
* Build '''all metal spots''' with mexxes to check if their location is buildable 
* If watermap, build boats and subs 
* Optionally build exp. bots like Krogoth & Orcone 
 

When you've build these units, select one, and '''press F2'''. You can now see where that unit can go (GREEN), where it will move slow (or fast downhill)(ORANGE), and where it '''CAN'T move'''(RED). This last one is particulary important. Test all units this way, and check the whole map, if some type or more types of units can't go somewhere. If this is so, you need to '''smoothen out that slope''' in your heightmap (and make it probably longer as well, or change the '''heightdifference'''). It can also be that units '''CAN''' pass certain 'ridges' that it weren't supposed to do. You can always do 2 things. '''OR''' you change the '''heightdifference''' (bigger is higher ridges), this is often the easiest way, '''OR''' you '''change your heightmap''', and make it right, what very often is the way to do it best. 
 

Make sure you '''check''' these things as well: 
 

* is the '''water level''' right? 
* How does the water look, do you need to change the colors? 
* How is the '''wind''', do you like it, is it too much or too little 
* How is the '''sun''' working out (more on this after Final Texture) 
* Can '''hovercrafts''' go onto the water easily
* Do all the '''boats''' work fine (maybe water level too deep) 
* How does your map look in FPS or sort of view? 
* are the '''Geo's''' working? 
* Do all '''features''' work? 
* Is the '''metal output''' okay, too much, too little? 
 

You see, there is a '''LOT''' to test and check, So do play and test and play and test alot! '''If''' one or more of these things aren't working allright, you need to change it in the SMD or in your bmp's and recompile. If you are playing against AAI as a testing method, be '''SURE''' that if you recompile a '''changed height, metal or feature map''', you need to '''delete all cached and cfg files''' in the AAI folders. Otherwise the AAI won't see the difference. 
 

After multiple testrounds, you should have a good working map. If you like to 'organic-ize' your map, you can/must do it now. If you make it too organic, the pathfinding and passable slopes could be distorted, and you don't want that! So you can heighten or lower certain parts, or even throw in a noize overlay, but be '''SURE''' that you check if the map still plays okay! 
 

'''ARE YOU READY??''' 
 
OKay than you can start working on the looks!! 
 

'''The Texture:''' 
 

Remember the heightmap "fullHeight.bmp" we made bigger than we eventually will need? Well now you will see. Personally i use Bryce for rendering maps. I makes them nice and gives a perfect OTA feel to them. If you have Bryce, you must do the following steps: 
 

- create a terrain 
- edit the terrain, go to the picture tab, and load "FullHeight.bmp" 
- optionally add some height- or slopenoise, but do not overdo this 
- set the material, choose one, alter it a bit, so you like it! 
- set the atmosfear, light angle, and play with the icons and colors 
- last but not least, make the camera settings right! 
 

To do this you need to enter camera mode (you'll a camera icon). Then you must click the grey triangle next to the round sphere thing. There you can click on "edit current camera". In this menu, you must set the following where '''A''' an '''B''' are variables: 
 

- - - - - '''x''' --- '''y''' --- '''z''' 
origin -- 0 --- '''A''' --- 0 
pos - -- 0 --- '''A''' --- 0 
rotate - 90 -- 0 --- 0 

FOV: 1 degree
Scale: '''B'''

Only the first time, you need to tweak this, then you can save it as an template. The scale '''B''' should at least be 100% (but bigger ain't a problem). 
 
After that, you need to set the 'altitude' of the camera with '''A'''. You need to tweak this, so that you terrain completely fills the map. It will be a '''large number''', my template uses 25600. If you have a square map, set your document settings to square (800x800 for example). If it's not, make that change, just make sure the map fits the scene/screen. 
 
When you are sure your map 'fits' you can start your render. You must "Render to Disk" and you should also set the antialiasing to ultrafine for the best results (you can do this also in "document setup"). 
 
If you are not sure the map fits 100% (in any case, don't make it TOO big, because you will '''loose map''' that way), than you should consider rendering a bit larger, let's say 3-5% bigger (for a render of 8192, render to 8500) and you can then later cut of the edges and change it to the desired size of your image in Photoshop. (Although this is '''NOT recommended''') 
 

'''Voila''', after a couple of hours (depending on your system en scene settings) you'll probably have a nice render. (on which you can work later, to add more details...) 
 

Now you can open this file again in Photoshop, and start working on the details. Most important of all, is that you add the metalspots. The best way to do this, is to open your Metal.bmp, scale it to you Total Map size (8192x8192 for example) and put this image in a layer on top of your final texture layer, and set the opacity to 30-50%. Now you can see where the metal is supposed to be, and you can start drawing these in the map. (You can also download the original TA Metal patches somewhere, and add these)

After you have done all this, and are '''satisfied''' with the result, save your texture as Texture.bmp. You are now ready to compile it. You should use the settings that you now know (min. & max. height and compression setting). After Compiling, copy the files to your 'maps' directory, SD7 them, and finally place the final 'YourMapName.sd7' in your TA:Spring 'maps' folder, 
 

'''you can now play it!!''' 
 

If you also want to play it against other people, you should upload this sd7 file to Fileuniverse.com. Be sure to place it in the TA:Spring area, and also add a minimap (at least). 
 
 
 
Hopefully you have enjoyed this tutorial. Question, tips and suggestion are always welcome!! 
 

Good Luck with mapping!! 
 

IceXuick

User:AGorm

2006-03-08T22:11:54Z

AGorm:

'''aGorms Page''' ...(how odd)

I am aGorm

And I am Odd.

Blerereghe... parp.

aGorm

(EHHEEH DIE DIE DIE)

Map Making Guild

2006-01-16T23:28:25Z

AGorm: /* The Map Making Guild! */

== The Map Making Guild! ==

After a Typo on aGorm's "Map Making Guide" (guess the typo), he decided that all mappers that are unfortunate enough not to have a clan should surly have one. And maybe he wanted his own...

So it was made, and there was much rejoicing! In aGorms room anyway!

Currently I havn't got of my backside and got anyone to join, but feel free to. The only requirment is that you must have made 1 (one) half decent map! (And if you add yourself to teh list I'll be sure to check you out and take you off if your not a mapper... beside's I'll knock up a homepage soon and then you'll have to go through me! Ha ha ha ha... coff)

== Current members: ==
===aGorm===
*Acid Bridge
*Acid Quadratic
*Desert Dunes
*Core Pyramid
*Volcano ISland
*Tree Screenshot (this surely counts?)

===Weaver===
*Death Valley
*PCB
*Ashaf Plateau

Maps

2006-01-16T22:00:34Z

AGorm:

== Maps ==
With version 0.6 Spring has a new map format.

=== Download maps ===
You can find a lot of new maps at [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=121 FileUniverse].

=== Map Information ===
*[[ Top 5 Maps]]: For information about the top 5 most played maps.
*[[Map reviews]]: Map reveiws galore

=== Making Maps ===
*[[Maps:Tutorial]]: A simple tutorial for making maps in an image editor
*[[Map Making Guide]]: aGorms Map Making Guide. A more indepth tutorial but unfinished.
*[[A Complete Map Making Tutorial]]: Everything you need to know (under construction)
*[[Create maps]]: A slightly dissorganised, but complete tutorial. Needs cleaning up.
*[[MapsBalance]]: So, you're making a map. But how much resources should it have?

=== Mappers Clan ===
[[Map Making Guild]]: That weird fish aGorm set up a clan for poor mappers that can't get into a clan on there gaming merit... (Mainly for himself therefor...)

----
TIPS:

A useful tip, on almost every map in a 1v1 you will start opposite your opponent unless you choose your position. this is because random order simply randomly distributes players at the default start points which in almost every map are opposite each other. one exception that i know of is flooded desert where you both start on the left hand island
----
[[Category:Maps]]

Maps

2006-01-16T21:57:56Z

AGorm:

== Maps ==
With version 0.6 Spring has a new map format.

=== Download maps ===
You can find a lot of new maps at [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=121 FileUniverse].

=== Map Information ===
*[[ Top 5 Maps]]: For information about the top 5 most played maps.
*[[Map reviews]]: Map reveiws galore

=== Making Maps ===
*[[Maps:Tutorial]]: A simple tutorial for making maps in an image editor
*[[Map Making Guide]]: aGorms Map Making Guide. A more indepth tutorial but unfinished.
*[[A Complete Map Making Tutorial]]: Everything you need to know (under construction)
*[[Create maps]]: A slightly dissorganised, but complete tutorial. Needs cleaning up.
*[[MapsBalance]]: So, you're making a map. But how much resources should it have?

=== Mappers Clan ===
[[Map Making Guide]]: That weird fish aGorm set up a clan for poor mappers that can't get into a clan on there gaming merit... (Mainly for himself therefor...)

A useful tip, on almost every map in a 1v1 you will start opposite your opponent unless you choose your position. this is because random order simply randomly distributes players at the default start points which in almost every map are opposite each other. one exception that i know of is flooded desert where you both start on the left hand island
[[Map Reviews]]
----
[[Category:Maps]]

Map Making Guild

2006-01-16T21:54:38Z

AGorm:

==== The Map Making Guild! ====

After a Typo on aGorm's "Map Making Guide" (guess the typo), he decided that all mappers that are unfortunate enough not to have a clan should surly have one. And maybe he wanted his own...

So it was made, and there was much rejoicing! In aGorms room anyway!

Currently I havn't got of my backside and got anyone to join, but feel free to. The only requirment is that you must have made 1 (one) half decent map! (And if you add yourself to teh list I'll be sure to check you out and take you off if your not a mapper... beside's I'll knock up a homepage soon and then you'll have to go through me! Ha ha ha ha... coff)

Tutorial:MapMakingGuide(aGorm)

2006-01-16T21:46:31Z

AGorm:

Thios has been moved to a title with te hcorrect spelling...

By the way, im currently making a map, thats why this isn't changing...

----
<big>'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guide:'''</big>

== Stage A Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

* Photoshop
* Paint shop Pro
* GIMP
* Fireworks

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

===Beverages:===
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

===Music:===
I Suggest you put your favorit Music on, that way your doing two things at once. However If you gonna head bang put down the mouse first...

==Stage B Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Preparation==

Now you have prepared your self of the task ahead, its time to actually think about making the map. This section is about map concepts, ideas, and to help you decided what sections of this tutorial your going top want to read (After all, not all maps require the same things, most maps have no features, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t use a custom skybox, and may not make use of the terrain type mapÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ So you will not want to bother with those sections!)

===Concepts:===
This is something all maps need in one degree or another. What purpose do you want your map to serve? This can be as simple as Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want the map to be really huge so that we can enjoy huge battlesÃ¢â‚¬? to something more conceptual like Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want to make a platform style map, with limited access and lots of cover, with most of the resources in the middleÃ¢â‚¬?. It doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t matter too much what your concept is, as long as you have one. Maps made without a concept tend to be boring, dull, uneven, and unplayed. And you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want thatÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ do you?

===What makes it special:===
So what do you want your map to include? For instance, say I was going to take the first concept and just make a really huge map. What am I going to do to make it special? Shall I use custom features? Or a radical skybox? Maybe there should be reclaimable wreckages strewn over the battle field. There are many different things you can add to a map to make it unique, and often itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a case of striking a balance between them all. All the different things you can add to a map have there own section in this tutorial, so once you know what you want youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll be able to go and read up on how to make your dream a reality.

===Very First Steps:===
No turning back now!! Befor we get to the nitty gritty, you need to make several key desisions:
* How Big is your map? A small map would be between 10 x 10 and 16 x 16. Medium maps are 16x 16 to 24 x 24, anything over that can be safly called big, and If you manage to make one over 32 x 32 then its Huge!
* Rough drawing. Which is self explanatory, make a rough drawing of what you are imagining. I can be as crap as you like, but belive me its much easier to map when you have a reference. Only people with a vivid imagination can skip this...

==Stage C Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Height Map==

Some people will be thinking, hold on, why is Height Map first! We'll, it's quite simple... textures may change, but heightmaps dont! Let me explane that... Two maps with the same heightmap will play exactly the same as each other, irrespective of what texture you use. For instance, when making a map I once made a snowy Mountain one. However while it played nicly, I decided it looked crap, so I changed it to being a sandy island. Lots of maps out there have had several revisions of texture map!

Now Im going to explane the stages of making a heightmap (for which you'll need a graphics program, I use Photoshop, and an Idea of were your mountains and valleys are.)

===Basic heightmap:===
First things first, make a black canvas with teh following dimentions:
X dimention: (map width) x 64 + 1
Y dimention: (map height) x 64 + 1
For instance a 16 x 16 map will need a 1025 x 1025 heightmap.

[[Image:Height1.jpg]]

Black is the lowest point on the map. So valleys, or on water maps, water are going to be in these areas.
White is the heighest point on the map. So the top of a mountain will be white.
Greys are the levels in between, of which there are 256 levels.

===Adding a mountain:===
To add a mountain (all be it, a very unnatural one) take a paint brush and put down a splodge of white were the mountain will be. Tada! In game that will already be a mountain! Now your probablie thinking, wait it can't be that easy... Well as I said early, that will make a mountain, but It won't look very natural. However we'll deal with taht later. For now, you want to paint on roughly were your heighest points are. If you want smaller hills, use a shade of grey to draw with.

[[Image:Height2.jpg]]

===Making Some Variation:===
So the land looks like a kids rendition of a landscape, with perfect hills, and smoth valleys. Not to realistic right? Well there are several techniques to add that bit of variation to the land. Bare in mind these steps will work in other software besides photoshop, but that you may have to go about them in a different way...

====Noise:====
Create a New layer on top of your current heightmap and fill it black. Next, drop down the filters menu, go to noise, add noise, and it will open teh noise diolog box. Make sure you select "Monochromatic" (for black and white)and drag the slider till it looks about half and half. Click OK and you should have noise!
Now go to filters, blur, gausation blur. Set it to between 2 and 4 pixels and click OK again. Now you should have a greyish black mess.
Now mess around with the layer blending settings (in photoshop there in the drop down just above the layers, and start with normal) I normaly use somthing like a "linear dodge", and set the opacity to 50% ish, but Its best to play around.

[[Image:Height3.jpg]]

What this will have done Is lightened small areas of your map by a small amount, causeing minor variations in the height, which means your land wont be entirly flat. And because its only a minor variation you can normaly still build on it (if you cant build on the land, drop the opacity a bit more, which of course means make sure you save with layers ON)

====Sharpness:====
OK, so you got all that, but your still thinking that those mountains are a bit... odd? Well thats because most mountains are infact not perfectly rounded hills. They have steep sides, sharp transitions, sher drops, as well as the plesent rolling hills that you get.
To begin to get the effect, go to teh layer below the layer with your noise on it (else it will overwrite it!) and get a black brush. Make sure you turn the hardness up a bit (50% should do for a basic test). Then carve out a section on the hill. That makes a shear drop! But you may not want that, so turn down the opacity of that layer.

[[Image:Height4.jpg]]

I then genraly build up these layers (each with maybe 20%-40% opacity) till I have made the sort of hills Id like. Bear in mind this is all personal preference!

[[Image:Height5.jpg]]

Tutorial:MapMakingGuide(aGorm)

2006-01-16T21:45:40Z

AGorm:

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

Tim Blokdijk?? Is that you :)

Yes, it's me :-) btw, I see that Maelstrom started to work on [[Maps:Tutorial]]

Yes I have. People were complaning that there was no good tutorial, and asking where to put the tile fine in the command line, and weird stuff that made no sense. So I made that to clear things up. About to go finish it.

Well... Mines gonna be probablie about 20 times as long as all others, and very in depth. And will Hopefully include pictures, plus i was gonna include test files.

By the way, im currently making a map, thats why this isn't changing...

----
<big>'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:'''</big>

== Stage A Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

* Photoshop
* Paint shop Pro
* GIMP
* Fireworks

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

===Beverages:===
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

===Music:===
I Suggest you put your favorit Music on, that way your doing two things at once. However If you gonna head bang put down the mouse first...

==Stage B Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Preparation==

Now you have prepared your self of the task ahead, its time to actually think about making the map. This section is about map concepts, ideas, and to help you decided what sections of this tutorial your going top want to read (After all, not all maps require the same things, most maps have no features, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t use a custom skybox, and may not make use of the terrain type mapÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ So you will not want to bother with those sections!)

===Concepts:===
This is something all maps need in one degree or another. What purpose do you want your map to serve? This can be as simple as Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want the map to be really huge so that we can enjoy huge battlesÃ¢â‚¬? to something more conceptual like Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want to make a platform style map, with limited access and lots of cover, with most of the resources in the middleÃ¢â‚¬?. It doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t matter too much what your concept is, as long as you have one. Maps made without a concept tend to be boring, dull, uneven, and unplayed. And you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want thatÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ do you?

===What makes it special:===
So what do you want your map to include? For instance, say I was going to take the first concept and just make a really huge map. What am I going to do to make it special? Shall I use custom features? Or a radical skybox? Maybe there should be reclaimable wreckages strewn over the battle field. There are many different things you can add to a map to make it unique, and often itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a case of striking a balance between them all. All the different things you can add to a map have there own section in this tutorial, so once you know what you want youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll be able to go and read up on how to make your dream a reality.

===Very First Steps:===
No turning back now!! Befor we get to the nitty gritty, you need to make several key desisions:
* How Big is your map? A small map would be between 10 x 10 and 16 x 16. Medium maps are 16x 16 to 24 x 24, anything over that can be safly called big, and If you manage to make one over 32 x 32 then its Huge!
* Rough drawing. Which is self explanatory, make a rough drawing of what you are imagining. I can be as crap as you like, but belive me its much easier to map when you have a reference. Only people with a vivid imagination can skip this...

==Stage C Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Height Map==

Some people will be thinking, hold on, why is Height Map first! We'll, it's quite simple... textures may change, but heightmaps dont! Let me explane that... Two maps with the same heightmap will play exactly the same as each other, irrespective of what texture you use. For instance, when making a map I once made a snowy Mountain one. However while it played nicly, I decided it looked crap, so I changed it to being a sandy island. Lots of maps out there have had several revisions of texture map!

Now Im going to explane the stages of making a heightmap (for which you'll need a graphics program, I use Photoshop, and an Idea of were your mountains and valleys are.)

===Basic heightmap:===
First things first, make a black canvas with teh following dimentions:
X dimention: (map width) x 64 + 1
Y dimention: (map height) x 64 + 1
For instance a 16 x 16 map will need a 1025 x 1025 heightmap.

[[Image:Height1.jpg]]

Black is the lowest point on the map. So valleys, or on water maps, water are going to be in these areas.
White is the heighest point on the map. So the top of a mountain will be white.
Greys are the levels in between, of which there are 256 levels.

===Adding a mountain:===
To add a mountain (all be it, a very unnatural one) take a paint brush and put down a splodge of white were the mountain will be. Tada! In game that will already be a mountain! Now your probablie thinking, wait it can't be that easy... Well as I said early, that will make a mountain, but It won't look very natural. However we'll deal with taht later. For now, you want to paint on roughly were your heighest points are. If you want smaller hills, use a shade of grey to draw with.

[[Image:Height2.jpg]]

===Making Some Variation:===
So the land looks like a kids rendition of a landscape, with perfect hills, and smoth valleys. Not to realistic right? Well there are several techniques to add that bit of variation to the land. Bare in mind these steps will work in other software besides photoshop, but that you may have to go about them in a different way...

====Noise:====
Create a New layer on top of your current heightmap and fill it black. Next, drop down the filters menu, go to noise, add noise, and it will open teh noise diolog box. Make sure you select "Monochromatic" (for black and white)and drag the slider till it looks about half and half. Click OK and you should have noise!
Now go to filters, blur, gausation blur. Set it to between 2 and 4 pixels and click OK again. Now you should have a greyish black mess.
Now mess around with the layer blending settings (in photoshop there in the drop down just above the layers, and start with normal) I normaly use somthing like a "linear dodge", and set the opacity to 50% ish, but Its best to play around.

[[Image:Height3.jpg]]

What this will have done Is lightened small areas of your map by a small amount, causeing minor variations in the height, which means your land wont be entirly flat. And because its only a minor variation you can normaly still build on it (if you cant build on the land, drop the opacity a bit more, which of course means make sure you save with layers ON)

====Sharpness:====
OK, so you got all that, but your still thinking that those mountains are a bit... odd? Well thats because most mountains are infact not perfectly rounded hills. They have steep sides, sharp transitions, sher drops, as well as the plesent rolling hills that you get.
To begin to get the effect, go to teh layer below the layer with your noise on it (else it will overwrite it!) and get a black brush. Make sure you turn the hardness up a bit (50% should do for a basic test). Then carve out a section on the hill. That makes a shear drop! But you may not want that, so turn down the opacity of that layer.

[[Image:Height4.jpg]]

I then genraly build up these layers (each with maybe 20%-40% opacity) till I have made the sort of hills Id like. Bear in mind this is all personal preference!

[[Image:Height5.jpg]]

User:AGorm

2006-01-11T21:02:05Z

AGorm:

'''aGorms Page''' ...(how odd)

I am aGorm

And I am Odd.

I hate you all right now, probablie becasue im drunk.

Dont ask me questions anymore.

Dont ask me about maps.

Leave me alone... and you stupid voices can join them.

Blerereghe... parp.

aGorm

(EHHEEH DIE DIE DIE)

Community news

2005-11-26T22:23:25Z

AGorm:

On this page, you can post news items that will be seen in the top right section of the frontpage. You can use this to post if you have created or found something of interest to the Spring community, such as a new map, a useful tool or perhaps a new useful page in the wiki. Details on how to update this page can be found [[Community_news_editing | here]].

----

===2005-11-12 - NTAI 0.28BETA6.5 Released===
You can get the latest version here, stressing this is super 0.28beta6.5, it includes ARM and TLL support! Get it whilest its hot!!

[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1881 Linky]
[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showimage&ID=1755 Screenshot]

(Bare in mind I called it the wrong thing on fileuniverse, seeing as this is aGorm posting not Alantai)

===2005-11-12 - NTAI 0.27 Released===
Water map support, krogoths, vehicles, aircraft, and more!
[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2829 Details]
[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2827 Screenshots]

===2005-10-29 - NTAI 0.25 Released===
The latest version of NTAI released today with many new abilities, such as a greatly improved attack system, and the ability to scout.

[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2687 Forum Thread]

===2005-10-20 - Absolute Annihilation: Spring Released===
The highly popular OTA mod, Absolute Annihilation, has now been fully converted for compatibility with Spring. Unlike the [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=708 original Spring version] released some months ago, the new version is fully compatible with the mod switching system. It also features many visual and strategic enhancements only possible in Spring, and uses the latest version of the AA dataset, 6.0.

Already a new version is available, 1.2, which corrects several major bugs.

[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ta-aa/AASpring12.zip?download Direct Download (1.2)]

[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ta-aa/AATrailer.zip?download Mod Trailer]

[http://www.planetannihilation.com/aa AA Homepage]

[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2633 Forum Thread]

===2005-10-16 - KuroTA v0.45 Released===
This is the second public release of this fairly popular mod. It all started out as a bunch of custom units in a TA installation from years gone by, but thanks to dedication it's been turned into a playable and fairly balanced mod for everyone to play on Spring. For more info at [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2514 read this thread]. And it can be downloaded from [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1646 FileUniverse].

===2005-10-15 - UberHack, SpringVersion1.3 Released===
This port of the famous balance mod for TA, done by NOiZE, has been made as good as bug free now. This mod would not have been possible without help from: zwzsg, Gnome and Kuroneko. For more info at [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2540 read this thread]. And it can be downloaded from [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1633 FileUniverse].

===2005-10-12 - Maelstroms SMD Creator===
[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2420 Maelstroms SMD Creator] has been relesed, to help people create SMD Map files with an easy to use GUI.

===2005-10-11 - JCAI 0.20 Released===
[http://spring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=33275#33275 JCAI 0.20 skirmish AI] is released for Spring 0.64b1 with a modified spring exe, it is much more stable now. JCAI 0.20 is included in current release (0.65b1)

===2005-09-28 - UberHack, SpringVersion1.2 Released===
This port of the famous balance mod for TA, done by NOiZE, has been made as good as bug free now. This mod would not have been possible without help from: zwzsg, Gnome and Kuroneko. For more info at [http://spring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2364 read this thread]. And it can be downloaded from [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1552 FileUniverse].

===2005-08-20 - wiki Button Added===
As you probably already have noticed, the SY's have added a wiki button (Made by aGorm) to the Navigation bar. Hopefully, this will make people more aware of the wiki, as some have never even heard of it! More info on [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1917 this thread]. If you don't see the wiki button, empty the cache of your browser and refresh.

===2005-08-16 - JCAI Released===
Zaphod has released alpha 1 of his skirmish AI JCAI for spring,[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1920 see forum post]
TAI code has been released but doesnt work. [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1322 Get it here]

===2005-08-03 - Mods and Maps===
zwzsg made a 3.6MB mod package with: OTA balance, Evolva models, UTASP Buildpics. Install and use easy thanks to the new mod switcher introduced in Spring 0.60b1.
 - [http://spring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1843 More info and discussion]
 - [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1257 Download link]

[http://zwzsg.hosted.luckz.de/img/spring/Azure%20Rampart%20-%20evnbp%20-%20Bomber.png http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/Azure%20Rampart%20-%20evnbp%20-%20Bomber.jpg-thumb.png][http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/Ahspen%20-%20evnbp%20-%20Tanks%20Tracks.jpg http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/Ahspen%20-%20evnbp%20-%20Tanks%20Tracks.jpg-thumb.png][http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/RedHaven%20-%20evnbp%20-%20Core.jpg http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/RedHaven%20-%20evnbp%20-%20Core.jpg-thumb.png][http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/causticscreenshot.jpg http://www.fileuniverse.com/images/causticscreenshot.jpg-thumb.png]

Spring 0.60b1 made all previous maps obsolete, but as the pictures above show, there's a steadily increasing [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=listing&ID=121 choice of new maps], either old ones converted to the new format or brand new.

===2005-07-08 - Buggi's Beta Update===
Buggi released a new version of his modified version of the game; This release added, among other things, custom models for weapons! [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1257 Get it here]

===2005-07-05 - Map Editing Guide Updated===
You know you wanted to make that map? Well now you can! Check it out in the Wiki, or click on the link.
[[Create_maps]]

===2005-07-03 - New strategy guide===
A new strategy guide to help out new players has been added to the wiki.
Here's the link: [[Spring guide!]]

===2005-07-03 - Community news section===
A new site feature has been added, that allows users to contribute news that will be seen in this section.

This might be useful to expose new maps for example to those that don't visit the map forum regularly... We'll see how it turns out.

Map Making Guild

2005-11-21T21:26:13Z

AGorm:

Map Making Guild

2005-11-21T21:25:28Z

AGorm:

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

Tim Blokdijk?? Is that you :)

Yes, it's me :-) btw, I see that Maelstrom started to work on [[Maps:Tutorial]]

Yes I have. People were complaning that there was no good tutorial, and asking where to put the tile fine in the command line, and weird stuff that made no sense. So I made that to clear things up. About to go finish it.

Well... Mines gonna be probablie about 20 times as long as all others, and very in depth. And will Hopefully include pictures, plus i was gonna include test files.

By the way, im currently making a map, thats why this isn't changing...

----
<big>'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:'''</big>

== Stage A Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

* Photoshop
* Paint shop Pro
* GIMP
* Fireworks

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

===Beverages:===
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

===Music:===
I Suggest you put your favorit Music on, that way your doing two things at once. However If you gonna head bang put down the mouse first...

==Stage B Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Preparation==

Now you have prepared your self of the task ahead, its time to actually think about making the map. This section is about map concepts, ideas, and to help you decided what sections of this tutorial your going top want to read (After all, not all maps require the same things, most maps have no features, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t use a custom skybox, and may not make use of the terrain type mapÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ So you will not want to bother with those sections!)

===Concepts:===
This is something all maps need in one degree or another. What purpose do you want your map to serve? This can be as simple as Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want the map to be really huge so that we can enjoy huge battlesÃ¢â‚¬? to something more conceptual like Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want to make a platform style map, with limited access and lots of cover, with most of the resources in the middleÃ¢â‚¬?. It doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t matter too much what your concept is, as long as you have one. Maps made without a concept tend to be boring, dull, uneven, and unplayed. And you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want thatÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ do you?

===What makes it special:===
So what do you want your map to include? For instance, say I was going to take the first concept and just make a really huge map. What am I going to do to make it special? Shall I use custom features? Or a radical skybox? Maybe there should be reclaimable wreckages strewn over the battle field. There are many different things you can add to a map to make it unique, and often itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a case of striking a balance between them all. All the different things you can add to a map have there own section in this tutorial, so once you know what you want youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll be able to go and read up on how to make your dream a reality.

===Very First Steps:===
No turning back now!! Befor we get to the nitty gritty, you need to make several key desisions:
* How Big is your map? A small map would be between 10 x 10 and 16 x 16. Medium maps are 16x 16 to 24 x 24, anything over that can be safly called big, and If you manage to make one over 32 x 32 then its Huge!
* Rough drawing. Which is self explanatory, make a rough drawing of what you are imagining. I can be as crap as you like, but belive me its much easier to map when you have a reference. Only people with a vivid imagination can skip this...

==Stage C Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Height Map==

Some people will be thinking, hold on, why is Height Map first! We'll, it's quite simple... textures may change, but heightmaps dont! Let me explane that... Two maps with the same heightmap will play exactly the same as each other, irrespective of what texture you use. For instance, when making a map I once made a snowy Mountain one. However while it played nicly, I decided it looked crap, so I changed it to being a sandy island. Lots of maps out there have had several revisions of texture map!

Now Im going to explane the stages of making a heightmap (for which you'll need a graphics program, I use Photoshop, and an Idea of were your mountains and valleys are.)

===Basic heightmap:===
First things first, make a black canvas with teh following dimentions:
X dimention: (map width) x 64 + 1
Y dimention: (map height) x 64 + 1
For instance a 16 x 16 map will need a 1025 x 1025 heightmap.

[[Image:Height1.jpg]]

Black is the lowest point on the map. So valleys, or on water maps, water are going to be in these areas.
White is the heighest point on the map. So the top of a mountain will be white.
Greys are the levels in between, of which there are 256 levels.

===Adding a mountain:===
To add a mountain (all be it, a very unnatural one) take a paint brush and put down a splodge of white were the mountain will be. Tada! In game that will already be a mountain! Now your probablie thinking, wait it can't be that easy... Well as I said early, that will make a mountain, but It won't look very natural. However we'll deal with taht later. For now, you want to paint on roughly were your heighest points are. If you want smaller hills, use a shade of grey to draw with.

[[Image:Height2.jpg]]

===Making Some Variation:===
So the land looks like a kids rendition of a landscape, with perfect hills, and smoth valleys. Not to realistic right? Well there are several techniques to add that bit of variation to the land. Bare in mind these steps will work in other software besides photoshop, but that you may have to go about them in a different way...

====Noise:====
Create a New layer on top of your current heightmap and fill it black. Next, drop down the filters menu, go to noise, add noise, and it will open teh noise diolog box. Make sure you select "Monochromatic" (for black and white)and drag the slider till it looks about half and half. Click OK and you should have noise!
Now go to filters, blur, gausation blur. Set it to between 2 and 4 pixels and click OK again. Now you should have a greyish black mess.
Now mess around with the layer blending settings (in photoshop there in the drop down just above the layers, and start with normal) I normaly use somthing like a "linear dodge", and set the opacity to 50% ish, but Its best to play around.

[[Image:Height3.jpg]]

What this will have done Is lightened small areas of your map by a small amount, causeing minor variations in the height, which means your land wont be entirly flat. And because its only a minor variation you can normaly still build on it (if you cant build on the land, drop the opacity a bit more, which of course means make sure you save with layers ON)

===Sharpness:===
OK, so you got all that, but your still thinking that those mountains are a bit... odd? Well thats because most mountains are infact not perfectly rounded hills. They have steep sides, sharp transitions, sher drops, as well as the plesent rolling hills that you get.
To begin to get the effect, go to teh layer below the layer with your noise on it (else it will overwrite it!) and get a black brush. Make sure you turn the hardness up a bit (50% should do for a basic test). Then carve out a section on the hill. That makes a shear drop! But you may not want that, so turn down the opacity of that layer.
[[Image:Height4.jpg]]
I then genraly build up these layers (each with maybe 20%-40% opacity) till I have made the sort of hills Id like. Bear in mind this is all personal preference!
[[Image:Height5.jpg]]

File:Height5.jpg

2005-11-21T21:19:33Z

AGorm: aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 5

aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 5

File:Height4.jpg

2005-11-21T21:19:15Z

AGorm: aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 4

aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 4

Map Making Guild

2005-11-20T17:23:30Z

AGorm:

File:Height3.jpg

2005-11-20T17:21:04Z

AGorm: aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 3

aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 3

File:Height2.jpg

2005-11-20T17:20:46Z

AGorm: aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 2

aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 2

File:Height1.jpg

2005-11-20T17:20:24Z

AGorm: aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 1

aGorms map making guild: Heightmap Image 1

Map Making Guild

2005-11-19T20:38:06Z

AGorm:

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

Tim Blokdijk?? Is that you :)

Yes, it's me :-) btw, I see that Maelstrom started to work on [[Maps:Tutorial]]

Yes I have. People were complaning that there was no good tutorial, and asking where to put the tile fine in the command line, and weird stuff that made no sense. So I made that to clear things up. About to go finish it.

Well... Mines gonna be probablie about 20 times as long as all others, and very in depth. And will Hopefully include pictures, plus i was gonna include test files.

By the way, im currently making a map, thats why this isn't changing...

----
<big>'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:'''</big>

== Stage A Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

* Photoshop
* Paint shop Pro
* GIMP
* Fireworks

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

====Beverages:====
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

==Stage B Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Preparation==

Now you have prepared your self of the task ahead, its time to actually think about making the map. This section is about map concepts, ideas, and to help you decided what sections of this tutorial your going top want to read (After all, not all maps require the same things, most maps have no features, donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t use a custom skybox, and may not make use of the terrain type mapÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ So you will not want to bother with those sections!)

===Concepts:===
This is something all maps need in one degree or another. What purpose do you want your map to serve? This can be as simple as Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want the map to be really huge so that we can enjoy huge battlesÃ¢â‚¬? to something more conceptual like Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want to make a platform style map, with limited access and lots of cover, with most of the resources in the middleÃ¢â‚¬?. It doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t matter too much what your concept is, as long as you have one. Maps made without a concept tend to be boring, dull, uneven, and unplayed. And you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want thatÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ do you?

===What makes it special:===
So what do you want your map to include? For instance, say I was going to take the first concept and just make a really huge map. What am I going to do to make it special? Shall I use custom features? Or a radical skybox? Maybe there should be reclaimable wreckages strewn over the battle field. There are many different things you can add to a map to make it unique, and often itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a case of striking a balance between them all. All the different things you can add to a map have there own section in this tutorial, so once you know what you want youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll be able to go and read up on how to make your dream a reality.

===Very First Steps:===
No turning back now!! Befor we get to the nitty gritty, you need to make several key desisions:
* How Big is your map? A small map would be between 10 x 10 and 16 x 16. Medium maps are 16x 16 to 24 x 24, anything over that can be safly called big, and If you manage to make one over 32 x 32 then its Huge!
* Rough drawing. Which is self explanatory, make a rough drawing of what you are imagining. I can be as crap as you like, but belive me its much easier to map when you have a reference. Only people with a vivid imagination can skip this...

==Stage C Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Height Map==

Some people will be thinking, hold on, why is Height Map first! We'll, it's quite simple... textures may change, but heightmaps dont! Let me explane that... Two maps with the same heightmap will play exactly the same as each other, irrespective of what texture you use. For instance, when making a map I once made a snowy Mountain one. However while it played nicly, I decided it looked crap, so I changed it to being a sandy island. Lots of maps out there have had several revisions of texture map!

Now Im going to explane the stages of making a heightmap (for which you'll need a graphics program, I use Photoshop, and an Idea of were your mountains and valleys are.)

===Basic heightmap:===
First things first, make a black canvas with teh following dimentions:
X dimention: (map width) x 64 + 1
Y dimention: (map height) x 64 + 1
For instance a 16 x 16 map will need a 1025 x 1025 heightmap.

Black is the lowest point on the map. So valleys, or on water maps, water are going to be in these areas.
White is the heighest point on the map. So the top of a mountain will be white.
Greys are the levels in between, of which there are 256 levels.

===Adding a mountain:===
To add a mountain (all be it, a very unnatural one) take a paint brush and put down a splodge of white were the mountain will be. Tada! In game that will already be a mountain! Now your probablie thinking, wait it can't be that easy... Well as I said early, that will make a mountain, but It won't look very natural. However we'll deal with taht later. For now, you want to paint on roughly were your heighest points are. If you want smaller hills, use a shade of grey to draw with.

Map Making Guild

2005-11-15T23:15:17Z

AGorm:

Maps

2005-11-03T13:44:45Z

AGorm: /* Making Maps */

== Maps ==
With version 0.6 Spring has a new map format.

=== Download maps ===
You can find a lot of new maps at [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=121 FileUniverse].

=== Map Information ===
*[[ Top 5 Maps]]: For information about the top 5 most played maps.
*[[Map reviews]]: Map reveiws galore

=== Making Maps ===
*[[Maps:Tutorial]]: A simple tutorial for making maps in an image editor
*[[Map Making Guild]]: aGorms Map Making Guild. A more indepth tutorial.
*[[A Complete Map Making Tutorial]]: Everything you need to know (under construction)
*[[Create maps]]: A slightly dissorganised, but complete tutorial. Needs cleaning up.

A useful tip, on almost every map in a 1v1 you will start opposite your opponent unless you choose your position. this is because random order simply randomly distributes players at the default start points which in almost every map are opposite each other. one exception that i know of is flooded desert where you both start on the left hand island
----
[[Category:Maps]]

Map Making Guild

2005-10-20T19:01:17Z

AGorm:

Map Making Guild

2005-10-19T21:14:22Z

AGorm:

Map Making Guild

2005-10-18T23:01:09Z

AGorm:

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

Tim Blokdijk?? Is that you :)
----
<big>'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:'''</big>

== Stage One Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

Photoshop
Paint shop Pro
GIMP

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

====Beverages:====
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

Map Making Guild

2005-10-18T22:57:56Z

AGorm:

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

Tim Blokdijk?? Is that you :)

'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:'''

== Stage One Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

Photoshop
Paint shop Pro
GIMP

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

====Beverages:====
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

Map Making Guild

2005-10-18T22:55:23Z

AGorm:

This is Just a holding for my new guild, please dont fuk with it. I will add links and stuff latter, just let me finsh it befor peopel go hacking around changing things, or honestly I wont ever finsh it. Thanks.

Yhea.. Right,.. ;-) - TB

TB?? whos that??

'''aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guild:'''

== Stage One Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Pre-Preparation ==

So you want to make a map? Want to give something back? Good! However there are several things youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re going to have to make sure you know before you start. And thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what this section is about.

===Have you the Time?===

Believe me when I say, making a map will take a lot of your time. Hours. Days. Some take weeks to finish. So make sure you want to commit yourself to it first (this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a StarCraft style, make a map in 5 minuets sort of situation)

===Have you the Hardware?===

Making a map unfortunately requires a computer better than that need to actually play spring. Sounds daft? YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re dealing with very large images, which take up a lot of ram. Seeing as Windows needs 512 just to run, youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need at least a gig if you want any joy. Also youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need a half decent processor, or compiling will take forever. Some people will disagree, but honestly, at least a 2 GHz and a gig of ram would be useful.

===Have you the Software?===

First off, you will need Several Different pieces of software.

====Mapconv:====
There are actually two versions; however, I will strongly recommend that you use Mothers Mapconv program. All the advice given below will assume you will be using it. And whilst the vast majority of this will be relevant for the original one, there are a few vital differences in what does what etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

====Art Program:====
You will need an art program. Paint will not be sufficient. You can use whatever you are comfortable with, but this guild is written with Photoshop in mind. However many of the options are the same, they all do the same thing in the end.
Suggestions of programs to use:

Photoshop
Paint shop Pro
GIMP

The following are not required, but are useful, or needed for more advanced maps.

====Terrain Generators:====
Terragen / TerrTexGen Ã¢â‚¬â€œ both of these programs take a height map, and create a realistic render of terrain based of it, using values you input.

====3D software:====
There are HUNDREDS of different 3D packages out there, any one of them can be used to make a feature for you map, however youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll only be able to finish the model off in ONE program, named 3DO Builder. In this program you can create the final file that spring can read.

====Beverages:====
Making a map sucks you in; I suggest you keep [http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/pics/water.jpg water handy] at all times, along with a light snack.

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-23T19:40:24Z

AGorm: /* Making your map work */

'''Original by aGorm'''



== 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.
# Is this map idea different, not just a copy of someone else's?
# Does my map idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
# Is my map idea possible to make?
# Is it possible with the amount of time I'm willing to spend?

If you answered yes to the above, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!

You should probably doodle it on a piece of paper to act as a guide later.

== The Tools ==

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

I'm going to suggest (nay, insist!) you use the [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861 Buggi SHARP MAP] program, because it does everything the command-line version does and more. And it's easy for people to understand.
Please note that you must put SHARP MAP in a folder with no spaces... so not in "...program files/mapcon" as it wont work.

You will also need some image editing software. Favorites are Photoshop, the [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP], And Paintshop Pro.
The GIMP, however, is the only one that's free!
(I'm going to have to assume you know how to use the program you choose. If you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net.)

You may also want to check out [http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/ Terragen] for rendering terrain. But as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I won't mention it other than here.

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

== Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! And also, often, the longest part.

For a Map you will need several different things:
# a texture map
# a height map
# a metal map

They all have certain needs! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a texture image. This image's width and height must be an exact multiple of 1024 pixels. So, for instance, you can have a "4096 by 8192" image, but not a "4096 by 4608" image, as 4608 does not divide by 1024. It, like all three maps, must be saved as a 24 bit 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, for instance, fill the whole image with a sand texture. This would make your whole world look like sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it by finding a suitable grass texture and adding it on in patches. So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

Next is the height map. This must be exactly a quarter of the size of the texture map '''+ 1 pixel!''' For instance, if the dimensions of your texture map are "4096 by 8192", divide 4096 and 8192 each by 4 and add one to the result of each. The result for this example would be "1025 by 2049". The height map is a black and white BMP. Only use black and white, no 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 won't look natural at all!

Finally, you need a metal map. This is the same size as the height map, a quarter of the size of the texture map '''+ 1 pixel.''' On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red spot that is RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of the metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.

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

Ensure you have all three saved as 24 bit BMPs and you're ready to convert it all to a map!

== Sharp Map ==

Here's a easy run down of what to do.
First, (you guessed it) open Sharp Map.
This brings you a window with several fields that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders. Fill in the top fields as required. (Click browse, locate the texture map, and click OK. Repeat for the height map and metal map.)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGHT and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not exceed 500. Higher numbers can cause errors. If your minimum height is a negative number then you will have water on your map. Sea level is, naturally enough, at 0. 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. The grey is described by it's RGB values.

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders. If you have a green map then I suggest you lower the tree slider, otherwise the map will be covered!

Finally, you need to decide if you need to tick the inverse height map box or not. If you drew the height map by hand so that if you overlayed your height map over the texture the hills would line up with the hills, etc. then you will need to tick the box.
This is because the image is read ''backwards'', so its expecting the image to be upside-down. Ticking the check box makes it flip the image the way it wants it before conversion.
If you exported your texture and height maps from Terragen, then you do not need to tick this box, as Terragen exports it upside-down already.
If you were crazy and drew it upside-down, then you don't need to tick it either.

When you have completed all this click Create Map!
This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one.

== 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, etc. (All the bits you were thinking that you hadn't done yet!)

I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map and fiddle with the settings until you get what you want. smd's can be opened in notepade or similar. 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 then start up Spring (not the client!) in [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F single-player mode] and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpful!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-23T19:38:00Z

AGorm: /* The Tools */

'''Original by aGorm'''



== 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.
# Is this map idea different, not just a copy of someone else's?
# Does my map idea give each player a fair share of the cover and high ground?
# Is my map idea possible to make?
# Is it possible with the amount of time I'm willing to spend?

If you answered yes to the above, then you are 25% of the way towards making your map!

You should probably doodle it on a piece of paper to act as a guide later.

== The Tools ==

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

I'm going to suggest (nay, insist!) you use the [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=861 Buggi SHARP MAP] program, because it does everything the command-line version does and more. And it's easy for people to understand.
Please note that you must put SHARP MAP in a folder with no spaces... so not in "...program files/mapcon" as it wont work.

You will also need some image editing software. Favorites are Photoshop, the [http://www.gimp.org/ GIMP], And Paintshop Pro.
The GIMP, however, is the only one that's free!
(I'm going to have to assume you know how to use the program you choose. If you can't there are loads of tutorials on the net.)

You may also want to check out [http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/ Terragen] for rendering terrain. But as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I won't mention it other than here.

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

== Prepering your map ==

This is the fun part! And also, often, the longest part.

For a Map you will need several different things:
# a texture map
# a height map
# a metal map

They all have certain needs! Read this bit carfully!

All maps are based on a texture image. This image's width and height must be an exact multiple of 1024 pixels. So, for instance, you can have a "4096 by 8192" image, but not a "4096 by 4608" image, as 4608 does not divide by 1024. It, like all three maps, must be saved as a 24 bit 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, for instance, fill the whole image with a sand texture. This would make your whole world look like sand. You could then deside to add a few patches of grass to it by finding a suitable grass texture and adding it on in patches. So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

Next is the height map. This must be exactly a quarter of the size of the texture map '''+ 1 pixel!''' For instance, if the dimensions of your texture map are "4096 by 8192", divide 4096 and 8192 each by 4 and add one to the result of each. The result for this example would be "1025 by 2049". The height map is a black and white BMP. Only use black and white, no 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 won't look natural at all!

Finally, you need a metal map. This is the same size as the height map, a quarter of the size of the texture map '''+ 1 pixel.''' On this one you paint down red (in verying degrees) to represent metal. So a red spot that is RGB(50,0,0) will provide about a 5th of the metal patch of red RGB(255,0,0) will give.

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

Ensure you have all three saved as 24 bit BMPs and you're ready to convert it all to a map!

== Sharp Map ==

Here's a easy run down of what to do.
First, (you guessed it) open Sharp Map.
This brings you a window with several fields that need filling, a few option boxes and two sliders. Fill in the top fields as required. (Click browse, locate the texture map, and click OK. Repeat for the height map and metal map.)

Type in a figure for MAX HEIGHT and MIN HEIGHT. The MAX HEIGHT should not exceed 500. Higher numbers can cause errors. If your minimum height is a negative number then you will have water on your map. Sea level is, naturally enough, at 0. 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. The grey is described by it's RGB values.

Then adjust the tree and grass sliders. If you have a green map then I suggest you lower the tree slider, otherwise the map will be covered!

Finally, you need to decide if you need to tick the inverse height map box or not. If you drew the height map by hand so that if you overlayed your height map over the texture the hills would line up with the hills, etc. then you will need to tick the box.
This is because the image is read ''backwards'', so its expecting the image to be upside-down. Ticking the check box makes it flip the image the way it wants it before conversion.
If you exported your texture and height maps from Terragen, then you do not need to tick this box, as Terragen exports it upside-down already.
If you were crazy and drew it upside-down, then you don't need to tick it either.

When you have completed all this click Create Map!
This can take some time for a larger map, so start off with a small one.

== 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, etc. (All the bits you were thinking that you hadn't done yet!)

I would suggest you copy the .smd of another map and fiddle with the settings until 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 then start up Spring (not the client!) in [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/FAQ#People_talk_about_.27Single_Player.27._How_do_I_start_a_single_player_game.3F single-player mode] and run the commanders script. Choose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpful!

Yours... '''aGorm'''

Maps

2005-06-21T22:40:48Z

AGorm:

You can find a lot of new maps at [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 FileUniverse].

This page could perhaps also contain info about the existing maps...

For Reviews on Maps, go here: [[Map reviews]]

To learn how to create maps go here: [[Create maps]].
----

Maps

2005-06-21T22:39:34Z

AGorm:

You can find a lot of new maps at [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 FileUniverse].

This page could perhaps also contain info about the existing maps...

For Revies on Maps, go here: [[Map reviews]]

To learn how to create maps go here: [[Create maps]].
----

Map reviews

2005-06-21T22:39:10Z

AGorm:

'''''MAP REVIEWS'''''
Anybody please feel free to add reviews to this section, or add to existing ones.
latest reviews first. If you jsut dont understand how to edit this... send it over in a PM to aGorm!

----

== Lava Highground 2 - v1.0 ==

by aGorm

=== Looks ===
The map looks at first sight... pretty good. The texture is maybe a litttle repetaive, but its different, the ambiance is good (IE, sky effects and lighting). In Normal mode it infact all looks fine! Just nothing special...

However... The metal map is like somthing out of a funky light show. Its just green dots on the ground! They obviosly ment to represent metal patches... but the time was not taken to add then onto the surface map... If they would there I would forgive them, but as they are... well they do look a bit off.

7/10

=== Playability ===
Here It scores above average... Its a simple concept, everything works well (as you'd hope in a version 2...) No problems... ecept how easy it is to defend... Should 2 popup turrets and 4 imolators realy be able to take down 100 mavericks?? Not realy... however the terain does give that sort of gr8 advantage to teh defender... but a good attacker will be able to work around this!

It's bigest problem here is just size... Its tiny realy. Had it been a little bigger Id have said 8/10, but its droped to 6/10.

Want the map?? Get It here:
http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=1011

----

Map Reviews

2005-06-21T22:38:52Z

AGorm:

Maps

2005-06-21T22:38:14Z

AGorm:

You can find a lot of new maps at [http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=listing&ID=91 FileUniverse].

This page could perhaps also contain info about the existing maps...

For Revies on Maps, go here: [[Maps reviews]]

To learn how to create maps go here: [[Create maps]].
----

Map Reviews

2005-06-21T22:36:49Z

AGorm:

Map Reviews

2005-06-21T22:35:26Z

AGorm:

'''''MAP REVIEWS'''''
Anybody please feel free to add reviews to this section, or add to existing ones.

----

== Lava Highground 2 - v1.0 ==

by aGorm

=== Looks ===
The map looks at first sight... pretty good. The texture is maybe a litttle repetaive, but its different, the ambiance is good (IE, sky effects and lighting). In Normal mode it infact all looks fine! Just nothing special...

However... The metal map is like somthing out of a funky light show. Its just green dots on the ground! They obviosly ment to represent metal patches... but the time was not taken to add then onto the surface map... If they would there I would forgive them, but as they are... well they do look a bit off.

7/10

=== Playability ===
Here It scores above average... Its a simple concept, everything works well (as you'd hope in a version 2...) No problems... ecept how easy it is to defend... Should 2 popup turrets and 4 imolators realy be able to take down 100 mavericks?? Not realy... however the terain does give that sort of gr8 advantage to teh defender... but a good attacker will be able to work around this!

It's bigest problem here is just size... Its tiny realy. Had it been a little bigger Id have said 8/10, but its droped to 6/10.

Want the map?? Get It here:
http://www.fileuniverse.com/?page=showitem&ID=1011

----

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-21T12:25:18Z

AGorm: /* Part 4: Sharp Map */

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

'''Original by aGorm''' 
'''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] "It generates a terraintexture on the
base of a grayscale heightmap und uses five surfacetextures that are distributed over the heightmap." 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, you need to decide if you need to tick the inverse heightmap box or not.
If you drew the heightmap by hand so that if you overlayed your heightmap over the texture the hills would line up with the hills, ect.. then you will need to tick the box.
This is because the image is read BACKWARDS, so its expecting the image to be upsidedown. Ticking the tick box makes it flip the image the way it wants it befor conversion.
If you exported your texture from TERAGEN and also Exported a Heightmap, then you do not need to tick this box, as teragen exports it upsidedown all ready.
If you we crazy and drew it upsidedown then you dont have to tick it either.
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'''

User:AGorm

2005-06-20T22:25:35Z

AGorm:

'''aGorms Page''' ...(how odd)

I am aGorm

I'm attempting to keep the MAP's pages up to date...

Any help will be apreciated! Remeber you dont have to log in to make changes!
If you mess up whats there then don't worry, i've backed it up...

I'll probablie attempt to add in a short description of all maps, and maybe a reviews page... must sort this all out

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2005-06-20T22:21:34Z

AGorm:

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

'''Original by aGorm''' 
'''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. Bjut you still need one more thing! AN .smd file!
Basicly, 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 fiddel with teh 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 then start up spring (not the client!) and run the comanders script. Chiose your map and away you go!

I can only hope this is helpfull!

Yours... '''aGorm'''