Spring - User contributions [en]

Readme

2007-07-09T14:44:27Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 18:37, 3 July 2007 Aldebaran

__NOTOC__
For up-to-date information about this project, visit the project home page at http://taspring.clan-sy.com.

==About==
TA Spring is a project aiming to create a new RTS.

==System requirements==
About 1ghz cpu and a GeForce3 or better graphics card. For larger battles the requirements increases. Some graphics effects require a graphics card which supports ARB_vertex_program/ARB_fragment_program. This is the same as having a graphics card that supports DX9.

==Quick start==
===Multiplayer===
Run the TA Spring battleroom and create an account

Login to the master server and find a game to join

===Singleplayer===
Spring supports AI plugins, which allow for external AI programs to be used. There is currently one AI included in the download, but you can find more singleplayer AIs on the AI forum.
If you start the spring.exe application directly, you will get to choose between these Global AI's. You can also use the lobby client to create a battle with AI (Bots) in it.

==Multiplayer lobby==
===Name registration===
Before you can log into the master server, you must register a handle. Click File->Register to open up the registration dialog. Names must be no more than 16 alphanumeric characters, and is not case sensitive. However, you may format your name with capitalization.

===Options===
If you are behind a proxy server, or you are having trouble hosting, you might want to consider overriding the IP the server sees you as having so that people joining your battle room know where to find you

===Chat===
The lobby supports basic chat functions. There is a permanent chatroom called Main, which you can join by double clicking it from the list, as well as any others that may have been created. You can create a chatroom from the menu, but this room is deleted when it becomes empty.

===Battle room===
You can host a battle by selecting it from the menu. To choose a map, simply click the minimap and pick one from the popup window. Once in the battle room, the host may boot anyone by right clicking and selecting boot. The alliance system is a little complicated and needs a little explaining... Any number of players can join a Team, which is the equivalent of one player in OTA. Everyone on a Team shares resources, units, and LOS. The first player to join a team is the team leader, and can pick an Ally Team to join. An Ally Team is a permanent alliance. You'll notice a strange shape with two triangles to the right of the Ally Team combo box. This functions the same way as it did in OTA. If you click it, you create a one-way alliance with another ally team moving the triangle on the left to the middle. If the other Ally Team reciprocates, the triangle on the right will move to the middle. The host can then start Spring once all non-spectators have clicked ready.

===Features to come===
* Clan support
* Map sharing
* Unit sharing
* Private messaging
* Private chatrooms
* New, slicker looking battle room

==Game controls==
===Camera controls===
Move the camera with the arrow keys or by placing the mouse curser at the screen borders. Holding shift makes the camera move faster, and holding ctrl makes it slower. Turn on mouselook with mouse button 3 (or backspace). Use ctrl mouse3 to toggle between the camera modes available.

===Key assignments===
You can configure the assignment of keys by editing the file uikeys.txt, and by running the Selectionkeys editor. These are the default key bindings:

{|
|Camera controls || Function
|-
| colspan="2" | <hr>
|-
| valign="top" | Mouse 1|| Selects units. Drag to select a group, double click to select units of the same type. Gives order if a specific order has been selected.
|-
|Mouse 2 || Gives the default order for the unit
|-
|Mouse 3 || Toggles mouse look
|-
| Ctrl Mouse 3|| Toggles camera mode
|-
|Arrow keys || Moves the camera
|-
|Ctrl/shift|| Increases/decreases camera movement speed
|-
|Mousewheel|| Moves the camera up/down
|-
|T || Track a selected unit
|-
|C|| Take direct control of a selected unit
|-
|F3|| Jump to last message location
|-
|

MapsBalance

2007-07-03T10:23:06Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 07:10, 12 Apr 2007 IziW5z

== Making properly balanced maps ==
So, you're making a map. But how much resources should it have?

Don't regard this as of little relevance! This is very important!

All units in unit sets are balanced assuming that, for example, metal is x harder to get than energy. If your map has, for example, too much metal, units that cost more onto the metal side than energy side become unbalancedly cheap.

== Resource Standards ==
When making maps, these are the standards for resources:

'''Metal:'''
*The amount per normal metal extractor is between 0.7 and 2.5
*The amount of total metal in all patches, when beeing extracted by normal metal extractors, is about 5~15 per player, assuming each player is controlling about a quarter of the map. It should be noted, though, that this metal should be SPREAD OUT, not all located at the start position.

'''Energy:'''
*The amount of tidal energy is almost always 20
*The amount of solar energy is almost always 20
*The amount of wind, is usually 1(min)~25(max) or some other min~max values that average between 7 and 13
*The amount of geothermals available to each player generally varies widely depending on the map. A good guideline is to usually have 1 geothermal for every 2 players as a minimum, or 2 geothermals per player as a maximum.

Standards are just that, standards, and you don't HAVE to follow them. But it's better not to go too overboard with resources or use diferent standards very frequently. For example an interesting variation may be to increase the amount of metal generated per extractor, but reduce the number of extractors, so that the total metal available is not changed significantly.

In all cases, less metal = more strategy. Too little metal is always better than too much. This point cannot be stressed too much.

== Gravity ==
When making maps, the standard gravity is '''140''', or so some assume. No clear "default" value has actually be given by the developers, but it most likely lies somewhere between 100 and 150. If you decide to use a value much higher value, units that fire balistic projectiles (cannons) may not be able to fire their projectiles at the intended range. Be sure to test your map alot before releasing it if you are going to change the gravity drastically.

== Resource Dynamics ==
This section is dedicated to a more throughout explanation of the workings of the resources in Spring so you can balance your map accordingly.

'''Metal:'''

Additional info needed.

'''Energy:'''

A somewhat edited quote from the map forum (thus not a true quote);

"On the wind issue I belive somewhere around 0-20 or 0-30 is pretty reasonable for a map where you want wind to be the "best" option, which it wasn't on all TA maps. Although wind was viable on most maps with the expection of the moon maps.
Relying on wind for your energy needs has always been a risky move though, even on maps where it has proven to be useful, because you might just get stuck with all of your generators giving an output of 1, thus ruining your economy for the moment. I hope it stays this way in TA, and personally I find the suggestion that you'd need 30-40 as an average output for wind to be viable quite odd, as online play in TA has shown that's not true.
Just for reference, two maps where almost only wind was used in TA are GoW and PD. In GoW I belive the wind varied between 3 to 27, while on PD it was between 1 (or 0, not sure) to 24.

From what I've discussed so far though (with old TA players), most seems to agree that once the average income goes to 7 or above, wind quickly becomes the better option. Some do favor having a few solars just as a backup, but overall wind quickly becomes the better option for your main source of energy income, the solars will at most get the postion of a small backup. It can lead to the added investment of energy storages though.

From this you can easily come to your own conclusions, there are however some minor points that I would want to add. First of, you have to take into account that solars in XTA doesn't cost any energy at all, this is however something that mostly comes into play if your current source of energy is getting destroyed, so you lack energy.
The other thing I want to add is a short overview of the advantages of the two different sources of energy, ordered by (from my point of view and without taking into account the lack of energy cost for the XTA solar) importance;
1) The wind generator costs less, only 1/3 of a solar. An average income of 7 will thus already put it as the better choice theoretically.
2) The wind generator builds quicker, this means you will start to get your energy income faster too which might matter quite a bit.
3) The solar gives you a constant supply of energy that does not vary.
4) The solar is better armored than the wind generator. I'm not sure if 3 wind generators have more health than a single solar though (you also have to take into account that they are often built next to each other, so when one goes it will damage the ones next to it).
5) A single solar takes less space than 3 wind generators. Once the average wind income from a single generator is 20 or above this points becomes moot though, but before that it can potentially be important on certain maps.
6) A solar usually leaves a "better" wreckage, thus yielding you more metal when you reclaim it. This of course means it was destroyed in the first place, which never is that good.

This is all disregarding the tidal of course, but that's another matter entirely as it needs water to be built. It works by the same principle as the solar however, the difference being that the wind generator is only Ã‚Â½ the cost of the tidal. There are also some other differences compared to the solar of course (size, armor etc), but generally it should be pretty straightforward to decide if its worth the cost or not if you already understand the relation between solars and wind generators.

One more note about wind, if I remember correctly. In OTA the wind was highest on the barren worlds (ice/desert etc), while it wasn't a real option on moon maps."

'''A short summary of this "quote" reads as follows;'''

Wind generators starts to become the best choice as soon as the average energy income from a single generator goes above 7. As the average gets higher the wind generators quickly become the only real choice if you want to win.
If your map does have an average income of 7 or above, the only real benifits of a solar is more armor, constant supply, less space and finally it usually leaves wreckage behind.
A single solar costs 3 times that of a wind generator, a single tidal costs 2 times the amount of a wind generator.

[[Category:Map making]]

AI:JCAI

2007-07-02T07:25:59Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 19:10, 13 May 2006 Mcspang

{{AI|JCAI|Zaphod|V0.24|Supports XTA, AA|No longer under Development|Open Source}}

JCAI is an [[AI]] that is being developed by [[User:Zaphod|Zaphod]]. It is quite good so far, and is being shipped with Spring. It reads mod information from a text file, so additional mods can be supported.

Unfortunately, Zaphod has dropped the JCAI project and taken over as lead programmer of the spring engine.

=== Links ===
* [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2465 JCAI Forum Thread]
* [http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/springrts/taspring/JCAI/ JCAI on CVS]
[[Category:AI]]

Mapdev:SMD

2007-07-01T18:35:49Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 12:47, 28 Sep 2006 Maelstrom

== Maelstrom's SMD Creator ==
Maelstrom has made a handy little SMD creating utility, which can be found in this forum thread: http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2420

== SMD Syntax ==
The SMD, to work correctly, must be set out correctly. The following are a few of these requirements that you have to follow:
*All lines must end in a ';'. This is just like any C derived programming language
*Sections begin with a keyword wrapped in [Square brackets], and are wrapped in {Curly Brackets}
*Each different tag must be placed on a different line (?)

The following are some recomendations to help other people read your SMD.
*Blank lines are allowed, and can be placed to help distinguish between different sections
*You may place comments in the SMD, and again like C programming languages, these are preceded by a '//'. Anything following a comment marker is ignored by the parser.
*You can tabulate your SMD to help the overall readability, and to show where sections begin and end.

== Example SMD ==
[MAP]
{
Description=Lot of metal in middle but look out for kbot walking over the mountains;
TidalStrength=20;
Gravity=130;
MaxMetal=0.03;

ExtractorRadius=400;
MapHardness=100;

DetailTex=mydetailtex.bmp;
AutoShowMetal=1;

[ATMOSPHERE]
{
Skybox=space.dds;

FogColor=0.7 0.7 0.8;
FogStart=0.2;

CloudColor=0.9 0.9 0.9;
SkyColor=0.1 0.15 0.7;

SunColor=1.0 1.0 1.0;
CloudDensity=0.55;

MinWind=5;
MaxWind=20;
}
[WATER]
{
WaterTexture=mywatertexture.jpg;
WaterSurfaceColor=0.4 0.6 0.8;
WaterPlaneColor=0.4 0.6 0.8;

WaterBaseColor=0.4 0.6 0.8;
WaterAbsorb=0.004 0.004 0.002;

WaterMinColor=0.1 0.1 0.3;
WaterDamage=20;
}
[LIGHT]
{
SunDir=0 1 2;

GroundAmbientColor=0.4 0.4 0.4;
GroundSunColor=0.7 0.7 0.7;

GroundShadowDensity=0.8;

UnitAmbientColor=0.3 0.3 0.3;
UnitSunColor=0.8 0.8 0.8;
UnitShadowDensity=0.8;

SpecularSunColor=0.3 0.3 0.3;
}
[TEAM0]
{
StartPosX=600;
StartPosZ=600;
}
[TEAM1]

{
StartPosX=3600;
StartPosZ=3600;
}
[TEAM2]
{
StartPosX=3600;
StartPosZ=600;
}
[TEAM3]
{
StartPosX=600;
StartPosZ=3600;

}
[TEAM4]
{
StartPosX=2000;
StartPosZ=600;
}
[TEAM5]

{
StartPosX=2000;
StartPosZ=3600;
}
//Up to [TEAM9]
[TERRAINTYPE0]
{
name=default;
hardness=1;
tankmovespeed=1;
kbotmovespeed=1;
hovermovespeed=1;
shipmovespeed=1;

}
}

== SMD Tags List ==
{|border="1"
|valign="top" bgcolor="#C0C0C0|Variable
|valign="top" bgcolor="#C0C0C0|Description
|valign="top" bgcolor="#C0C0C0|Examples
|-
|valign="top"|'''[TEAM''X'']'''
|valign="top"|The number of the team, starting at 0 for player 1 and going on up to 9 for player 10, where ''X'' is the player number
|valign="top"|<code>[TEAM3]</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''[TERRAINTYPE''X'']'''
|valign="top"|Used to define different terrain types that exist on the map. The value starts at 0 and goes on for as many terrain types as you have, where ''X'' is the type number. Which terrain type goes where on the map is determined by the typemap when compiling the map.
|valign="top"|<code>[TERRAINTYPE0]</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''AutoShowMetal'''
|valign="top"|A boolean, turning it off makes it so the user must press F4 to view the metal map, leaving it on will make it so the metal map is turned on whenever they choose to build a metal extractor.
|valign="top"|<code>AutoShowMetal=0;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''CloudColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the clouds. The values are in the order Red, Green, Blue. For all intensive purposes, 0.0 is black and 1.0 is white; however, giving values higher than 1.0 will give brighter fog and less than 0.0 will give darker.
|valign="top"|<code>CloudColor=0.9 0.9 0.9;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''CloudDensity'''
|valign="top"|The number of clouds in the sky. A percentage in decimal form, 0.0 to 1.0.
|valign="top"|<code>CloudDensity=0.55;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''Description'''
|valign="top"|The description of the map that shows in the multiplayer battleroom.
|valign="top"|<code>Description=Strong wind, good for 2v2 team games;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''DetailTex'''
|valign="top"|The texture which will be shown on the map in the color of the texture map when a player zooms very far in. Leaving this blank will make the game default to detailtex2.bmp. It is assumed you can only use the bitmap format for these textures. Using a larger bitmap results more detail not a bigger tile. You can get some transparency by reducing the contrast.
|valign="top"|<code>DetailTex=mydetailtex.bmp;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''ExtractorRadius'''
|valign="top"|The radius of effect that a single extractor will extract from. If two radii intersect, both extractors will suffer from reduced output.
|valign="top"|<code>ExtractorRadius=400;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''GroundAmbientColor'''
|valign="top"|The ambient (non-sun-lit) color of ground, grass, trees and other features.
|valign="top"|<code>GroundAmbientColor=0.4 0.4 0.4;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''GroundShadowDensity'''
|valign="top"|How far from the non shadowed to the ambient color stuff in shadow will go.
|valign="top"|<code>GroundShadowDensity=0.8;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''GroundSunColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of ground where it is fully sun lit (added to GroundAmbientColor).
|valign="top"|<code>GroundSunColor=0.7 0.7 0.7;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''FogColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the fog and the infinite plane below the world. The values are in the order Red, Green, Blue. For all intensive purposes, 0.0 is black and 1.0 is white; however, giving values higher than 1.0 will give brighter fog and less than 0.0 will give darker.
|valign="top"|<code>FogColor=0.7 0.7 0.8;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''FogStart'''
|valign="top"|The distance from the camera at which the fog will start.
|valign="top"|<code>FogStart=0.2;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''Hardness (terraintype)'''
|valign="top"|Used as a multiplier against the MapHardness value. Can be used to make a particular terrain type softer or harder. A value of '1' will make it as hard as MapHardness, and 0.5 will make it half as hard.
|valign="top"|<code>hardness=0.75;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''HoverNoveSpeed'''
|valign="top"|Speed multiplier for hovercraft when travelling on the parent terrain type. A value of '1' is normal speed, 0.5 will make them travel at half speed on the parent terrain type.
|valign="top"|<code>hovermovespeed=1;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''KbotMoveSpeed'''
|valign="top"|Speed multiplier for Kbots when travelling on the parent terrain type. A value of '1' is normal speed, 0.5 will make them travel at half speed on the parent terrain type.
|valign="top"|<code>kbotmovespeed=1;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''MapHardness'''
|valign="top"|Defines how much the terrain will deform due to explosions and weapons.
|valign="top"|<code>MapHardness=100;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''MaxMetal'''
|valign="top"|How much metal a map square with the maximum metal value gives. Unsure how this is calculated, but a value of around 0.03 will give OTA-esque levels of metal from metal extractors.
|valign="top"|<code>MaxMetal=0.03;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''MaxWind'''
|valign="top"|The maximum amount of energy the wind on the map will give.
|valign="top"|<code>MaxWind=20;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''MinWind'''
|valign="top"|The minimum amount of energy the wind on the map will give.
|valign="top"|<code>MinWind=5;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''Name (terraintype)'''
|valign="top"|Used to define the name of the type of terrain. "Snow" or "Rock" or whatever you want. Use an underscore between words it will display as a space eg "Deep_Snow" will show as "Deep Snow", don't use quotes if you don't want to see them.
|valign="top"|<code>Name=default;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''ShipMoveSpeed'''
|valign="top"|Speed multiplier for Ship when travelling on the parent terrain type. A value of '1' is normal speed, 0.5 will make them travel at half speed on the parent terrain type.
|valign="top"|<code>shipmovespeed=1;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''SkyBox'''
|valign="top"|The image to display in the sky during gameplay, rather than having the engine dynamically render one. This allows for complex skies, which may include stars, planets, etc overhead. Skyboxes are stored as .DDS cubeboxes. A skybox's .dds file should be placed in the maps directory of a compressed file, along with the .smf, .smd, and .smt files.
|valign="top"|<code>Skybox=space.dds;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''SkyColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the sky itself. Works the same way as CloudColor and FogColor.
|valign="top"|<code>SkyColor=0.1 0.15 0.7;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''SpecularSunColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the reflected light off of stuff (otherwise will be UnitSunColor)
|valign="top"|<code>SpecularSunColor=0.1 0.15 0.7;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''StartPosX'''
|valign="top"|The X (east-west in the TA camera) coordinates on the map where the player will start.
|valign="top"|<code>StartPosX=600;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''StartPosZ'''

|valign="top"|The Z (north-south in the TA camera) coordinates on the map where the player will start.
|valign="top"|<code>StartPosZ=600;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''SunColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the sun in the sky. This will also effect the size of the star. As the value increases (including over 1.0), the disc will get bigger; the inverse is also true.
|valign="top"|<code>SunColor=1.0 1.0 1.0;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''SunDir'''
|valign="top"|The direction of the sun, which is normalized by Spring. The Y-axis is up. In the following chart, using the values in a square will make shadows fall in that square if the shadow caster (like a unit) is placed in the center. ie: you use the values from the top-left (North-West) corner box, shadows will be cast in a North-Westerly direction:
<center>[[Image:ShadowDirection.gif]]</center>
|valign="top"|<code>SunDir=0 1 2;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''TankMoveSpeed'''
|valign="top"|Speed multiplier for tanks when travelling on the parent terrain type. A value of '1' is normal speed, 0.5 will make them travel at half speed on the parent terrain type.
|valign="top"|<code>tankmovespeed=1;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''TidalStrength'''
|valign="top"|The amount of energy which will be given by tidal generators.
|valign="top"|<code>TidalStrength=30;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''UnitAmbientColor'''
|valign="top"|The ambient (non-sun-lit) color of units and corpses.
|valign="top"|<code>UnitAmbientColor=0.3 0.3 0.3;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''UnitShadowDensity'''
|valign="top"|How far from the non shadowed to the ambient color stuff in shadow will go.
|valign="top"|<code>UnitShadowDensity=0.8;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''UnitSunColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of units where they is fully sun lit (added to UnitAmbientColor).
|valign="top"|<code>UnitSunColor=0.8 0.8 0.8;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterAbsorb'''
|valign="top"|How fast different colors (RGB in order) are absorbed by the water. Can be used to make the water look murky at deeper sections and so on.
|valign="top"|<code>WaterAbsorb=0.004 0.004 0.002;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterBaseColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the water at the surface.
|valign="top"|<code>WaterBaseColor=0.4 0.6 0.8;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterDamage'''
|valign="top"|Amount of damage water does to units in it. Someone add the value that make water impassable (like lava) and the rate at which damage is applied. It is assumed for now that it does WaterDamage per 30 internal frames.
|valign="top"|<code>WaterDamage=20;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterMinColor'''
|valign="top"|The smallest values the water will go down to due to WaterAbsorb.
|valign="top"|<code>WaterMinColor=0.1 0.1 0.3;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterSurfaceColor'''
|valign="top"|Changes the surface color of the water (mother thinks this is an XOR thing with WaterTexture. WaterTexture is for non-reflective water and WaterSurfaceColor only for reflective water)
|valign="top"|<code>WaterMinColor=0.1 0.1 0.3;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterPlaneColor'''
|valign="top"|The color of the 'water plane' outside the map's bounds
|valign="top"|<code>WaterPlaneColor=0.1 0.1 0.3;</code>
|-
|valign="top"|'''WaterTexture'''
|valign="top"|Replaces the default ocean texture with the one specified. Must apparently be jpeg format, though bitmap might work.
|valign="top"|<code>WaterTexture=mywatertexture.jpg;</code>
|}

[[Category:Development]]

Strategy:Absolute Annihilation

2007-07-01T18:32:27Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted

==Game Strategy==
Absolute Annihilation is a modification of TA. Therefore, the same basic strategies and tactics that good TA players utilize are also utilized by good AA players. Although the best players heavily analyze famous military works such as The Art of War, the essence of the message lies in the following points:

# Always Expand
# Be Offensive
# Practice

Indeed, the actual units present in AA are irrelevant; it takes little time to learn what they all do. The key lies in utilizing them effectively. Always keep the following points in mind when playing, and above all, practice, and even if you lose, ask the person to whom you lost what you did wrong and right.

==Strategies and their counters==
This is a list of strategies, and a good way to counter them
{| border="0" cellpadding="4"
|width="150px"| '''Strategy'''
|width="*"| Counter
|-
|'''Skirmishers'''
|Planes, heavy defenses with a fair bit of range
|-
|'''Stationary Defenses'''
|Mid range units with jammers and radar or scouts
|-
|'''Arty'''
|Jammers
|-
|'''Jammers'''
|Scouts
|-
|'''Defense Swarming'''
|Mass Expansion
|-
|'''Mass Expansion'''
|Mass Raiding
|-
|'''Unit Swarming'''
|Defense Swarming (+reclaim wrecks)
|-
|'''Commander'''
|Radar+Skirmish
|-
|'''Level One Swarming'''
|Defense Swarming, Microed L2 (especially skirmishers)
|-
|'''Heavy Short Range Defenses'''
|Assault Units (slow but powerful), long range units with radar or scouts
|-
|'''Assault Units'''
|Heavily raid his econ to cripple production (air are good), brawlies, lvl1 short range (cost effective but you need a load of them)
|-
|'''Porcers'''
|Porc more, it annoys Kelson which is always fun
|}

[[Category:Strategy]]

Classic Pincer

2007-07-01T15:10:11Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 15:42, 16 Jun 2007 Maelstrom m

The classic pincer is precisely what it sounds like, the very common tactic of taking two groups and catching your foe between them. It has the disadvantage of diluting your strength by splitting your units, counterbalanced against the fact that an assault from both sides will be considerably harder to react to effectively.

Best used when you already have a small numeric advantage and can successfully hide your units as they approach.

''' [[Strategy_and_Tactics|<- Back to Strategy and Tactics page]]'''

[[category:Strategy]]

Transports and setting up supply Lines

2007-07-01T15:08:25Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted

Talking about transports, its a good time to mention a tactic using transports with the repeat button.

Lets say you notice that player X has left the back wall of his base in a map such as castles relatively undefended, believing that you cannot mount an airbased assault easily. (Often this is thought to be so, esp if you only use air)

To pull this off you will need a cover force of 20 odd brawlers, a similar number of air transports, -heavy transports if you wish to be serious as well as a similar number of assault units, pref heavily armoured since the first wave will have to weather most of the players fire power at least initially. Assign each of these groups numbers for quick control.

(It'd also be a good idea to consider which would be the best units for the job since you can't get down from the walls of the bases in castles easily and the assault needs to be very effective very quickly to work.)

Also make sure that you have sufficient manufacturing capacity on hand with all factories sending units to one specific area.

Select your transports make sure they all pick up their first load. the difficult part comes when you coordinate the brawler assault so that they arrive first and draw most of the flak. Fortunately they are usually faster than air transports so there shouldn't be a problem there. Your transports should arrive next but make sure that they unload to a sufficiently wide area (press u and click and drag) to avoid them trying to unload on top of each other. As soon as they have started unloading queue up the order to load from the area your new units are waiting at back in your base then go back and set the unload area again,.. If you hit the repeat button now these transports will continue to shuttle units from your base into the back of theirs.

Why this strategy is good:
-Allows ground assault in late game where you would otherwise be hampered by metal wreckage everywhere
-player X's long range artillery effect on your assault force is effectively bypassed since you can get closer that much more quickly
-also allows you to move forces past your own fortifications easily. For example press repeat then set the load and unload areas as well as a 'wait' position where your transports can go and wait safely while not transporting. This is advantageous when the ground outside your base is completely deformed and covered in wreckage. You can set up a couple of different supply routes to different areas and move forces into the different loading areas where they will automatically be shipped out.
-Once the supply routes are set up, it allows you to concentrate on the assault itself without worrying about how to get reinforcements out from your base again.

Problems with this strategy:
-Takes a fair bit of preparation and micro-management
--[[User:Mecha|Mecha]] 23:42, 28 Apr 2006 (W. Europe Daylight Time)

----

I have a few suggestions to cut down on micromanagement.

You need the following:

* A squadron of ground attack aircraft. One or two bombers may be useful for some extra bang.
* A secure staging area. It sometimes helps to draw a circle around the stagin area so units you dont want to be tranported arent accidentally ordered into the staging area.
* A good bunch of transports. The tougher the better.
* An attacking force, whatever you need to get the job done. Maybe artillery, maybe a mob of low level units.

Okay, to set up the mission, you need to do the following:

# Order your units to wait somewhere in the staging area (shift W)
# Then add the mission you want the units to perform when they are dropped off. Maybe its a straightforward attack order for all the units, maybe its a complex series of orders for each of the different type of unit in the staging area.
# Now select your transports and turn on repeat. Press L to select the Load order, click and drag a circle over the whole staging area, then press U and drag a circle to define a landing zone (choice of LZ is critical, to far from the objective, you wont get there soon enough, too close to defences, you're gonna get wiped out before you can get a shot off). Finally, order your tranports to move next to the staging area. This ensures they dont land at the LZ when they run out of things to transport.

And you're done. The transports will ferry all your units to the LZ. When the units get there, they will perform all the queued up actions you added after the wait command. Things should largely take care of themselves, you're only dealing with the high level stragetic decisions (where to drop, where to attack, what to attack with etc).

Some after thoughts:
# You can also automate a beach head with defences by adding some construction units to the attacking force and having them build up some defences around the staging area if you plan to make this a prolonged attack.
# Setting the waypoints on the factory will mean a steady stream of reinforcements for the front line. This mean you can easily change the type of units going to the front line by simply changing factories' build orders. You might even want to set up several factories of the same type, each ordered to go to the waypoint and execute a different mission after drop off.
# Adding another wait command after the intial one will mean that all your forces will gather into another staging post before proceeding. Useful, if you want to wait for your troops to all be transported first. You can tell waiting units to proceed by selecting them and pressing W.

''' [[Strategy_and_Tactics|<- Back to Strategy and Tactics page]]'''

Teching

2007-07-01T15:05:21Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 20:44, 8 Feb 2007 Admiral Valdemar m

''Teching'' refers to the process from basic Level 1 factories, units, and ecomony structures to more capable (and expensive) Level 2 (or Level 3, depending on the mod) alternatives. Teching at the right pace is vital to victory. Attempting to tech too early results in an unmanageable drain on resources, often preventing a player from effectively responding to enemy attacks. Teching too late means one is liable to be out-produced by the enemy's superior economy and out-fought by their superior units.

The right time to tech is as soon as your level 1 economy's on solid footing. You want enough combat units and fixed defences to protect your base against enemy assaults and conduct a few raids. Exactly when this point is will vary from map to map. If your enemy hasn't been raiding you, you might be able to put off teching a little longer... Or might be forced to do it earlier, as he's been spending less on combat units.

Once one L2 factory has been established, the first priority is generally to build Advanced Construction Units, to begin construction of a L2 economy (Moho Mines, Fusions, etc) and defences. During and after this, construction of L2 combat units can begin, along with construction of other L2 factories to diversify one's forces.

''' [[Strategy_and_Tactics|<- Back to Strategy and Tactics page]]'''

[[Category:Strategy]]

Swarming

2007-07-01T15:00:44Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted

'''Swarming''' is an offensive battle tactic which uses a great number of (preferably) low cost, low armor, high speed and high attack power units to destroy enemy defenses or kill a very powerful unit. It is particularly effective when the enemy unit uses weapons that don't have a large area of effect, like laser weapons. As each weapon can target only a single unit at once and it takes some time to reload and retarget, a swarm of weak units can often destroy even a very powerful piece of weaponry. This can also be very useful against more powerful forms of static defense, as they often cannot effectively attack targets that get too close to them.

Swarming is particularly effective when:
* Enemy is [[porcing]] using hit-or-miss (non-area) weapons
* Enemy is using powerful, but slow-reload weapons
* Enemy is relying heavily on a handful of very powerful units or an [[uberweapon]]
* The enemy has left a gap in their defensive lines. (High speed/attack power units can cause considerable destruction if let loose inside an enemy base.)

Swarming is likely to fail if:
* Enemy is porcing using area weapons i. e. rockets, mortars etc.
* Enemy's defenses are fast reloading or scattered (large number of weak defenses instead of a few super-strongholds)
* There are no appropriate units available
* The enemy has a swarm of fast units of their own that they can respond with.

Swarming is sometimes termed [[spamming]] by annoyed players, partly because displaying a large number of weak units results in a devastating slowdown on lower-grade systems. However, making a good swarm unit available is seen as a countermeasure to porcing, which deteriorates gameplay. Some sort of swarming is therefore possible in almost every balanced mod, though counters (often in the form of mobile units) are also available.

''' [[Strategy_and_Tactics|<- Back to Strategy and Tactics page]]'''

[[Category:Strategy]]

Monthly Topic Rotation

2007-07-01T14:51:09Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 22:34, 30 Jun 2007 Snipawolf

"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:'''

===Custom Resources===
Requests or Suggestions that involve anything from different names for the resources we have, better control over the handling of resources, resources like those in other games etc. The best generalized suggestion is for a more dynamic, mod controlled resource and unit limit. Often coupled with suggestions for hacking or script based work arounds for the lack of the requested feature.

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5932 A Third Resource PLEASE!]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6277 A proposed System]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6342 Mentioned in conjunction with other requests for resource related features]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=121014 Carbon or Something]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5966 Reserach as a Resource]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=121186 spicing up economy]

===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 Original OTA Music]

Tutorial:MapMakingGuide(aGorm)

2007-07-01T14:39:52Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted

This has been moved to a title with teh correct 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¿Â½? 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¿Â½?. 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]]

[[Category:Map making]]

Tutorial:CreateMaps(Fnordia et al)

2007-07-01T14:33:22Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 23:46, 29 Jun 2007 Snipawolf

'''Original by aGorm, with help from LathanStanley''' 

==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.)

For all your map compiling needs you should first download the [http://fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1234 newest MapConv program].

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 generating terrain. But as you have to pay to render anything of a good size, I won't mention it other than here.

Another tool you might find useful is the freeware tool [http://www.delphigl.de/projects/terrtexgen/eng_index.html TerrTexGen]. It's useful for previewing your heightmap before compiling, but unless your texturemap is 4096 on both sides, you might find that the texturemaps that it creates are too small.

Finally, there is tool called [http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/ L3DT] which you might also find useful. It seems to be a program that is specificly designed for creating large height/texture maps. The free version is capable of rendering a heightmap as big as 4096x4096, and can generate a texturemap that is proportional to the heightmap. Of the mentioned packages, this seems the most useful and complete.

==Preparing 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!

===Texture Map===
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. A 1024x1024 Texture will produce a map shown as '2x2' in the launcher.

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 decide to add a few patches of grass to it by finding a suitable grass texture and adding it on patches. So you'd have a map that was mostly sand with a few patches of green.

Because of the way the map compiler works, it will '''greatly''' reduce your map filesize if you use 32x32 tiles on your texture map. So, whenever you have to fill a large area with a repeating pattern, make sure the small square you're repeating is 32x32 (or a multiple of it).

===Height Map===
Next is the height map. This must be exactly one eighth (1/8) 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 8 and add one to the result of each. The result for this example would be "513 by 1025". The height map is a black and white BMP. Only use black and white, no colour! (well its better to work it as a greyscale image, and when saving to process, convert to rgb and save as bmp, that way you get a 24 bit bmp)

White areas 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!

===Metal Map===
Finally, you need a metal map. This is the same size as the height map, one eighth (1/8) 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!

== MapConv.exe ==

Instructions pulled from [http://fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1234 the newest MapConv program]. If all goes well, the <code>MapConv.exe</code> should create four new files: <code>mini.bmp</code>, <code>mini.dds</code>, <code>yourmapname.smf</code>, and <code>yourmapname.smt</code>

USAGE:

mapconv [-l] [-i] [-c <compression>] -x <max height> -n <min height> [-o
<Output file>] [-e <tile file>] [-y <Typemap file>] -m <Metalmap file> -a
<Heightmap file> -t <Texture file> [--] [-v] [-h]

Where:

-l, --lowpass
Lowpass filters the heightmap

-i, --invert
Inverts the height map vertically (not the height values but the height map
(uhm someone rewrite this))

-c <compression>, --compress <compression>
(value required) How much we should try to compress the texture file.
Default value 0.8 . (lower=higher quality, larger file)

-x <max height>, --maxheight <max height>
(required) (value required) What altitude in spring the max(0xffff) level
of the height map should represent

-n <min height>, --minheight <min height>
(required) (value required) What altitude in spring the min(0) level of
the height map should represent

-o <Output file>, --outfile <Output file>
(value required) The name of the created map

-e <tile file>, --externaltilefile <tile file>
(value required) External tile file that will be used for finding tiles,
tiles not found in this will be added in a new tile file

-y <Typemap file>, --typemap <Typemap file>
(value required) Type map to use, uses the red channel to decide type,
types are defined in the .smd, if this argument is skipped the map will be
all type 0

-m <Metalmap file>, --metalmap <Metalmap file>
(required) (value required) Metal map to use, red channel is amount of
metal, green=255 is where to place geos (one pixel=one geo). Is resized to
fit the mapsize

-a <Heightmap file>, --heightmap <Heightmap file>
(required) (value required) Input heightmap to use for the map, this
should be in 16 bit raw format (.raw extension) or an image file. Must be
xsize*128+1 x ysize*128+1 in size.

-t <Texture file>, --intex <Texture file>
(required) (value required) Input bitmap to use for the map. Must be
xsize*1024 x ysize*1024 in size. (xsize,ysize integers determined from this
file)

--, --ignore_rest
Ignores the rest of the labeled arguments following this flag.

-v, --version
Displays version information and exits.

-h, --help
Displays usage information and exits.

Converts a series of .bmp/.raw files to a Spring map. This just creates the .smf file, you will also have to create a .smd file using a text editor or Maelstrom's SMD creator.

==Mothers MapConv==
The usage is the same as above, with the following exceptions:
All features (including GeoVent/Tree/Grass) are now on their own FeatureMap. This is a 24bit bmp specified with the -f <featuremapname.bmp> flag.
''It should be 1/8th the resolution of your map.'' (i.e. 1 pixel smaller in each direction then your heightmap)

Tree's and GeoVents are placed on the green layer.
*255 Places a GeoVent
*200-215 Places tree types 1-16

MapConv will try to place these features in the exact spot you place them, it will then go into crackhead mode if it cannot.

Grass is the blue layer. The blue value maps to a 'pseudo-density' of the grass. The 'grass' map in the engine is very very low resolution, so be aware that you will not get nice linear results. 255=full grass, 0=no grass.

The red layer places 'Arbitrary Features,' aka wreckages. One pixel of red equals one feature. Red '255' gives you a feature of the first arbitrary type, 254 the second, 253 the third, and so on.

===But what are these 'Arbitrary Features,' Im so confused!===
They are 'features' found in the /features/All Worlds or /features/corpses filesystems. Which feature is 'type 1' is defined on a map-by-map basis via a new file called 'fs.txt'. This file should contain <cr> delimited feature names. The first line is the feature placed when a red=255 dot is found, etc.

=== Ok, Now what do I do? ===
If you are using any custom features, and/or you want to mod-proof your map, you should include them in the sd7 that you package the map in. The tree structure should look something like:

<mapname.sd7>
-maps/
-mapname.smf
-mapname.smt
-mapname.smd
-Objects3d/
-<featurename[s]>.3do(specified in the tdf)
-features/
-All Worlds/
(and/or)
-Corpses/
-<featurename[s]>.tdf
-textures/
-tatex/
-<texname[s]>00.bmp or .tga

Without getting into modding/unit making I will say that the <code>.tdf</code> tells you the name of the <code>.3do</code> ("<code>Object=</code>"), and the name of the 'feature' is in the top brackets. The <code>.3do</code> specifies the texture names. The engine looks for those texture names + 00 in either bmp or tga format in tatex.

Examples of a built-in XTA wreckage name would be <code>armckfus_dead</code> which would be looking for a tdf (likely <code>armckfus_dead.tdf</code>) that has a <code>[armckfus_dead]</code> section which then specified something like:
<code>Object=armckfus_dead</code>
<code>armckfus_dead.3do</code> would then specify some texture like <code>wreck01b</code> which would go looking for either a <code>wreck01b00.bmp</code> or <code>wreck01b00.tga</code> file.

[http://fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1421 Start with this version of MapConv]
or
[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1507 This one]
[I will clean this up and add more later --Mother]

==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 copied 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 notepad 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!

==SMD Rundown==
What follows is all that we (aGorm and LathanStanley) have figured out in the SMD's. Its by no means the be all and end all, but it's the next best thing.

* Goto [[Maps:SMD]] for a more detailed listing

===General Map Information===
* Description is just a short description of your map. Keep it simple.
* TidalStrength determines how much energy tidal generators will produce. A normal figure is around 20.
* Gravity, as you would expect, affects ballisitcs and how far units fly after an explosion.
* MaxMetal is the maximum amount of metal you will gain from one game square in 1 second from an area of metal that had a red value of 255 in your metal map. If making an old style metal deposit map, then this will be quite high: maybe 2 or 3. If you are making a new style metal-all-over-the-place-map, then it will be low: perhaps 0.2. Also for old style maps, you'll have to fiddle with the...
* ExtractorRadius, which is the area that is harvested by 1 metal extractor. For old style maps make this very small, so as they only take from one deposit.

=== Atmosphere, Water Colours ===
Each value (it would appear this bit is by no means gospel) is a representation of the [[RGB]] values for that parameter. It would appear to be relative, i.e. you can put in what ever numbers you like and the game will work out what you want.

The best way to go about it is to look at it as percentages.
The numbers 1, 0.5, 0.2 refer to 100% red, 50% green and 20% blue. But 2, 1, 0.4, will get the same result. Using numbers below one for all the numbers will result in the colour being less bright.

This is all a bit confusing so an example will be given:

SkyColor=0.2 0.1 0.5;

In this example the sky is coloured with 20% red, 10% green, and 50% blue, approximatly RGB(51,25,127), resulting in a very deep night-time blue. Other colours are added to the initial sky colour. If you set your sun as being a pale yellow and it came out rather green, this is why.

One helpful tip is ''negative'' colour. That's right: you can type in a negative number for a colour and it will remove it from the base sky colour. Just be careful not to go below the original values or you may get a surprise.

===The Sun System/Shadow System===
The Sun System/Shadow System is quite a useful tool as well in making your maps look ''well done''.
Within the <code>.smd</code> file there is a line:

: <code>SunDir=-1 1 -.5; //direction of sun</code> (The part after the "//" is a comment)

The numbers "-1", "1", ".5" determine the angle and elevation of the sunlight system.

The first number is the X angle (East/West) (from -1 to 1) where any negative number means the sun is on the West (and therefore shadows will be cast east), and any positive number means the sun is on the East (and therefore shadows will be cast west), and if the number is 0 there are no east or west shadows, the sun is directly above you.

The second is its elevation, (0 to 1), this number is how far from the horizion the sun is, ignoring it's angle. Thus, 1 puts the sun directly overhead (while still casting angular shadows) and 0 putting it directly on the horizion.

The final number is the Z angle (North/South). (I know, I know, they wrote the engine with Y as elevation and Z as vertical. Don't blame me.) It is just like the East West positioning, where negative numbers put them on the North, and positive numbers put them on the South.

'''Example Usage:''' If you want the shadows ''in'' one of the boxes (your shadow casting surface is in the middle), use the numbers provided, or start from them and tweak the angle and sun height as seen fit.

[[Image:ShadowDirection.gif]]

'''Note:''' on the current build, it ''will'' cast the shadows in the proper direction, etc. Negative direction numbers tend to make some maps unstable and cause crashes. The best solution would be to rotate or flip your map to where the shadows point up or right (North or West). I do believe these bugs are being worked on and will be fixed soon.

We can only hope this has been helpful! Any questions, or things you think we have missed, please ask us in the maps section.

[[Category:Map making]]

AI:Links

2007-07-01T14:02:46Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 16:18, 25 Jun 2007 Neddiedrow (Revert)

{|border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="10" width="100%"
|width="100%" valign="top" style="background: #e6e6fa; border: 1px #aaa solid;"|
===AI Development===

Skirmish AI's, are what the Computer Opponents in games are called. Developing a good Skirmish AI is a major undertaking, and requires quite a bit of know how. As the SY's have more important things to do than develop an AI, they have left this job up to the community.

The community has risen to the challenge remarkably well, releasing quite a few '''[[AIs]]'''.

|}

{|border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="10" width="100%"
|width="50%" valign="top" style="background: #e6e6fa; border: 1px #aaa solid;"|

===Code===

Note that the full sourcecode for many AIs are available within the Spring SVN repository.

'''[[greenai]]''' - A page with basic documentation for the Global AI interface. 

'''[[Krogothes_Metal_class|Krogothes Metal Class V3]]''' - A useful mex spot finding algorithm, essential for any AI that uses metal extractors 

'''Global AI Interface'''
Jouninkomiko has a topic on the [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=923 Global AI Interface] running here. 
'''Metal Handler Class''' Cain has developed and released a Metal Handler Class that succesfully finds metal spots on maps, which can be a major stumbling block for many AI developers. Information about it can be found in [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2408 this thread]. 

'''[[AI:ABIC|GlobalAI ABIC and Abic++ interfaces]]''' abstraction layers to minimize dependencies on compiler and spring version. See [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7991&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 this thread] 

'''[[AI:Hughs_global_AI_tutorial|Hugh's global AI tutorial]]''' Hugh's tutorial on writing an AI in C#.

'''[[AI:CSAIInterface|Global AI .Net Interface]]'''
Write Global AIs in .Net using Hugh Perkins's interface 

'''[[AI:HughsUnitGroupingHeuristic|Unit grouping heuristic]]'''
Unit grouping and reorg heuristic by Hugh Perkins 

|width="50%" valign="top" style="background: #e6e6fa; border: 1px #aaa solid;"|

===Research===

'''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/SAI/ K-man's Spring AI documentation]''' Useful existing documentation on the Spring unit AI, however this is not related to the Global AI. 
'''[http://www.darkstars.co.uk Darkstars]''' - AF's main site, has a lot of theory on it, including details of his NTai project 
'''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=539 5 Matrix AI 1,2,3]''' - A thread discussing Triaxx' theory and plans for his AI 5 matrix AI/Wormhole AI

'''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2752&highlight= "Research about Pathfinding, AI and Voronoi diagrams"]''' A forum post by Gabba. 
'''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4326 Academic research papers on AI in RTS games]''' A forum post by NeuronExMachina. 
'''[[AIResearch | AI research Material]]''' - Research links to articles and documents about AI 
'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence Wikipedia AI] - AI documentation on wikipedia 
'''[http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tutorials&d2=greedyAlg Greedy is good]'''
Greedy is good tutorial at topcoder.com 

'''[http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tutorials&d2=graphsDataStrucs1 Graph and data structures]'''
Graph and data structures tutorial at topcoder.com. This includes path-finding using bfs 
|}

''' [[Main_Page|<- Back to Main page page]]'''

[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:AI]]

Development:Main

2007-07-01T14:00:54Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 06:44, 24 Jun 2007 TheHive (Replacing what was removed)

Outlined below is information on assisting with the development of the Spring source itself.

::NOTE: For information about developing a mod (units, maps, etc.) see the [[Mod Development]] page.

Below you can find information on how to work with the Spring source in the current mainline (Windows platform) if you like to work on another platform (Linux & Mac) please look at the bottem of this page under "Multiplatform development"

==Starting Development==
To start development, you will need
#The latest version of the source
#A good code manipulation program
#Compiling your modified source

===Source Code Documentation===
A good place to start is the source code documentation, which can be found here: [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/doxygen/ doxygen]

An explanation on how the code is executed in game can be found in the [[Spring Engine Code]]
page.

===Obtaining the Source===

Update: the latest SVN is at: [https://taspring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring https://taspring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring]

Another option is to manually download it along with the latest released version of the game. However, for serious developers, a better way would be to download the source straight from the subversion (SVN) repository. This will also allow you to make a patch out of the changes you make to the code, and send it to one of the developers with SVN access.

windows SVN clients : [http://subversion.tigris.org Subversion] (Win32-Console),
[http://www.syntevo.com/smartsvn/index.jsp SmartSVN] (Java) and [http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org TortoiseSVN] (MSI).

assuming that you are using the Subversion svn client you can download the latest SVN source with

<code>svn.exe checkout https://taspring.clan-sy.com/svn/spring/trunk</code>

it will create a trunk subdirectory in the directory from where you ran it, which will contain the source code root directory which will be later referred to as /taspring

===Learning C++===
You will need to know C++ to modify or understand Spring's source code. If you are interested in learning C++, see [[Learning_CPP]]

However please note that badly designed code (code created by a C++ novice for example), even if working will likely not be included in the spring code. Spring is a large project, and therefore it is necessary to stay away from hack jobs and create general solutions to problems.

===Modifying and Compiling the Source===

The build environment on Windows will change for the next release:
*0.73b1 release was built using msvc 2003
*The next release (and hence the SVN version) is built using SCONS/mingw

If you will be developing on Windows you are recommended to use SCONS/mingw, using the SVN version.

See [[Development_IDEs]]. You have either to use the SCons build system that is multi platform, or use the vcproj for building spring in Visual Studio 2003 or Visual Studio 2005.
A list of required libraries as well as pre-built packages of these follows.

*[http://www.boost.org Boost C++ library]
*[http://www.openal.org OpenAL Audio library]
*[http://glew.sf.net GLEW (OpenGL extension loading)]
*[http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/ zlib + minizip]
*[http://www.libsdl.org SDL]
*[http://openil.sf.net DevIL (Image loading)]
*[http://www.freetype.org Freetype font rendering]

*[http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/sdk/ DirectX SDK] (Windows, Visual Studio C++ only)
*PlatformSDK (Windows, Visual Studio C++ Only)

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=49257#49257 Pre-Built package of most of dependencies].
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=56846#56846 Pre-Built boost for VS8].

*[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dev-cpp/devcpp-4.9.9.2_setup.exe Dev-Cpp installer] / [MinGW] Though I would not advise mingw because you have to set it up your self, and this is harder than it sounds. Note that Code:Blocks mingw setup is not sufficient.

*[http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.4.2/python-2.4.2.msi Python 2.4 installer]
*[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pywin32/pywin32-208.win32-py2.4.exe?download Python win32 extensions installer]
*[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/scons/scons-0.96.1.win32.exe Scons installer]

Grab and install the above programs.

====Development System Setup====

*Make sure C:\Python24 and C:\Dev-Cpp\bin are in your PATH environment variable.
*Make sure a MINGDIR environment variable with value C:\Dev-Cpp exists. (Change paths where appropriate.)
**Set environment variables by: Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Environment variables (for Windows XP).
*Checkout the TA Spring SVN repository into your working area.
*You will also need the [http://spring.clan-sy.com/dl/spring-mingwlibs.exe MinGW/DevCPP libs] extracted to your source directory obtained from SVN. ie your-working-path/source/trunk/mingwlibs. Therefore mingwlibs is at the same directory level as AI, lua and the omni directories.

====Running SCONS Configure====

*Open a console (Start -> Run -> cmd.exe -> Run)
*cd /where you checked it out in the previous step, if you use checked it out on a different drive make sure to change drives with DriveLetter:<enter> first
*type "scons configure"<enter>

Gotchas:
*if you get an error message starting with "EOFError: : env = Environement...", try deleting the file build/scons_signatures.dblite
*if you get an error message stating "ImportError: No module named win32file:", you have probably not installed the python-win32-extensions.

If all proceeds as intended you will see a message similar to:
"Everything seems OK. Run `scons' now to build."

====Compiling Spring====

* Open a console (Start -> Run -> cmd.exe -> Run)
* cd /path-to-where you checked it out in the previous step, if you use checked it out on a different drive make sure to change drives with DriveLetter:<enter> first
* type '''scons configure'''<enter>, followed by '''scons'''<enter>
** Refer to '''scons --help''' for options that can be passed to scons configure
* Wait, this will take a while
* Copy over data files and stuff from official spring to the game dir (where spring.exe is created)
* Copy missing DLLs from mingwlibs/dll
* Start developing

If you are using Linux, refer to the [[SetupGuide]] to build Spring and get it running.

==Development Suggestions==

Before starting to make modifications to the source, take a look at the [[development guidelines]] which outlines some important things to think about. To find something interesting to work on, look at the list of [[example projects]]. You can also check the list of [[whois doing what]] to see what others are doing. If you do edit the code, please add [[Doxygen style comments]] to the code, which will then enhance the source code documentation.

===How to get your code included===
If you create something that you think should be included in the official source tree, you can send an email to the development mailing list shown at [[Linux]] page. Sending your code in the form of a patch (also known as a .diff file), will make the chances of including it in the main code.
It's also considered standard practice to post one's modifications in the [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=12 development forum] and get feedback.

==Multiplatform development==
Current development is done on the portable code only, located at [http://developer.berlios.de/projects/taspring-linux Berlios]
All current and future releases will be based on this code.
The current spring code is being developed on Windows and linux. A mac port is being worked on, as well as other unixes.
Use the mailing list listed on the [[Linux]] page to reach all developers (windows and linux). However if you have a feature request or bug report, the mantis bugtracker is probably a better way.
Development information about the portable code can be found here: [[MultiplatformSpring]]

==Spring Engine TODO list==
There is a TODO list for developers who want to contribute to the engine itself:
[[SpringEngineTODO]]

See [[Glossary]]

[[Category:Development]] [[Category:Source development]]

Map, Game, And Unit Development Programs

2007-07-01T13:59:26Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 22:22, 30 Jun 2007 Snipawolf

A Comprehensive list of tools to make Spring content.

*Those that are Open Source are marked with a *
*Those that are Free are marked with a *
*Those that Cost are marked with a *'''

=== Image Editing ===
# '''[http://www.gimp.org/ Gimp]'''** -> Pre compiled Binary files (or installer files) can be found here: '''[http://www.gimp.org/downloads/] -> The DDS plugin for Gimp can be found at [http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/ http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/]
# '''[http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Products/Display&pfid=1047024307383&pid=1047025487586 Corel Paint Shop Pro]'''* -> Jasc was recently bought out by Corel.
# '''[http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Products/Display&pfid=1047024307335&pid=1047022690654 Corel Draw]'''* -> This is Corel's original graphics program. Very easy to work with. I have used an older version of it, and love the photoshop it has.
# '''[http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html Adobe Photoshop]'''* -> The most widely used image editing program ever.

=== 3d Modeling ===

# '''[http://www.wings3d.com/ Wings 3D]'''** -> Probably the most popular modeller for Spring. -> Easy to learn modelling and UV mapping environments. -> Excellent introduction to using it can be found [http://www.wings3d.com/doghouse.php here]. -> For help on how to UV map with it just ask around.
# '''[http://blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html Blender]'''** -> The most used opensource modeler that has its own way of doing things. -> Most popular whitin unit makers using this excellent tool. -> Get basic usage, advanced, and video tutorials [http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Using_Blender.80.0.html here]
# '''[http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html Anim8or]'''*'''
# '''[http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5659302&siteID=123112 3DS MAX]'''* -> The most widely used and acclaimed modeling program ever. Used in creation of many games and movies (The Matrix). One of the three major modeling programs used by professionals. -> The s3o plugin for 3DS MAX can be found here. NOTE: This is not backwards compatible with versions prior to 7. Also this only exports: '''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/temp/s3oexport.dle]'''
# '''[http://www.newtek.com/ Lightwave]'''* -> A popular modeling program that's been around a long time. One of the three major modeling programs used by professionals.
# '''[http://www.rhino3d.com/ Rhinoceros]'''* -> A farely new comer to the world of modeling, uses a lot of nurbs surfaces.
# '''[http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax GMAX]'''* -> Great for learning as it is 3DS MAX v4 without rendering and has game packs for a fair amount of games. It is locked in exporting however there are a few workarounds.
# '''[http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=6871843&siteID=123112 MAYA]'''* -> The other most widely used and acclaimed modeling program. Used in creation of many games and movies. One of the three major model programs used by professionals.

===3d Model converters/Assemblers===

# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=305 3DO Builder]'''** -> The most widely used program for converting models to the 3do file format of TA. Follow the tips on the main page in the above link and it will run just fine.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=2317 UpSpring]'''** -> Help information, manual, and tips can be found here: '''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2839&start=0] -> This is the only other way to get files into the s3o file format for Spring other then the s3o plugin for 3DS MAX.

=== Scripting And Unit Stats files ===

# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=70 Scripter]'''** -> The by far best compiler for your handmade .bos scripts into endless lines of letters and numbers that the TA engine reads. The program is large, easy to operate and with broad error tracing (well, better than the other two alternatives). While other versions of this program sometimes refuse to compile on-off functions, this download is guaranteed to work in every condition.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=65 Cobbler]'''* -> This is a very simple script compiler that converts your newly written .bos files understood by humans into a hexadecimal .cob gibberish used by the TA engine. Beware, however, that this program is lightweight, which means that it doesn't provide especially good error tracing, not to mention that it is in French.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=193 Servo]'''* -> Rhad's awesome but somewhat buggy animation scripting program. It features keyframed animation script generation from a 3D positioner.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=62 Brain]'''* -> The Brain is a scripting utility that converts your newly written code rows into incomprehensible hex codes used by the game. This program is in english and can sometimes give you the most wondorous error messages, so it's only recommended as a backup scripting program.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=194 UnCobbler]'''* -> The first (I think) uncobbling utility. Bad english and brute force approach make this one outdated, but here it is for completeness sake.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=1680 Excel FBI editor]'''** -> Lets you quickly edit all your FBI files in an Excel spread sheet. Made by Maelstorm. '''NOTE:''' Microsoft Excel is NOT FREE. -> Help information, manual, and tips can be found here: '''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2596]'''
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=68 Lazy Scripter]'''* This is a simple yet very useful utility that makes a "blind" script to fit your model. It provides you with just the minimal requirements for a playable unit script, so don't trust it to do all your work for you.

=== Map Compiling ===

# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1421 mothers MapConv]'''** -> The map compiler used by most people. Supports feature placment.
# '''[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1507 mothers MapConv special]'''* -> The normal MapConv does not work for some people. If you are one of them, try this one.
# '''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2420 SMD Creator]'''** -> Maelstroms SMD creator. Has a few bugs, but a new release should be out in a few days.

=== Documentation and Tutorials ===

# '''[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2660&start=0 S3O file format for Spring]'''*** -> The above link is to the form were this is currently being disscused and feed back is being provided. Also includes tips and helpful information.

''' [[Main_Page|<- Back to Main page]]'''

[[Category:Map making]]
[[Category:Unit development]]
[[Category:Mod development]]

Map development

2007-07-01T13:56:20Z

XCarstenx: Spam deleted - Content taken from 06:11, 25 Apr 2007 Smoth

=Map making SM3=

SM3 (Spring Mapformat 3) is getting allong nicely and maps using this format can be made. The following is documented so far.

*[[SM3_Map_Format|jcnossen's brief description on how this mapformat works.]]
*[[SM3_FAQ|The first FAQ for the new mapformat.]]

[[Image:sm3-minimap-thumb.jpg]]

=Map making, SMF=
Maps, are a complex mixture of heightmaps and textures.
Fortunately, there are several people who share their knowledge with us.
There few tutorials will make your life as mapper a lot better.

=Skyboxes=
*[[Skyboxcreation|Notes about skyboxes]] notes on a prerendered sky box or cube map.

== Full Guides For Map Making ==

*[[Create_maps|aGorm's map creating Guide]]
*[[Map_Making_Guide|aGorms Ultimate Map Making Guide(unfinished)]]
*[[IceXuick_Map_Design_Help|IceXuicks Map creating Guide]]
*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3941 Forboding Angel's map creating Tutorial]
*[[Maps:Tutorial|Another tutorial from a designing point of view]]
*[[A_Complete_Map_Making_Tutorial|A Complete Map Making Tutorial (under construction)]]
*[[Runecrafter|Runecrafter's Map Tutorial]]

== Specific Guides ==

*[[Quanto_OTAMAP_Guide|Quanto's Guide to OTA Porting and Small Maps]]
*[[Maps:SMD|Everything about .SMD]]
*[[Maps:Compiling|Everything about Compiling your map]]
*[[MapsBalance|Some things about map balance]]
*[[MapSizes|Map sizes in pixels]] and memory information about map sizes
*[[Height Map Tutorial|RogerN's height map tutorial]]

Features. Stones, rocks, trees, for your map can be found in [http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4047 This thread] 

== Tools ==

*[http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2420 Maelstrom's SMD Generator]
*[http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=show&a=it&id=1507 Mother's Mapconv]
*[http://user.supradigital.org/jcnossen/FeaturePlacer.zip Jnossen's SM3 feature placer]
*[[Maps:Map Designer]] Hugh's 3D map designer. Splatting, heightmap editing, splat painting, SM3
*[http://modinfo.unknown-files.net/coord/mapcoords.php Online starting position creator]

== 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...)

== Reference and FAQs ==

* [[Maps:Noob Mistakes]]
* [[Water Height: Mapconv vs. Heightmap]]

----
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.
----

''' [[Main_Page|<- Back to Main page]]'''

[[Category:Map development]]