Zouga's map making travails

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

Jetpacks in the outhouses? AMAZING! Think of the shenanigans!

[Sir Die-a-lot]

Oooooo, stink bombs

[[JiF]zougathefist]

ha ha sorry, no jetpacks, this map is only for Vanilla 42,
Its a whole new level of complex weirdness to make a map for a mod.
I've solved the invisible wall problem though,
for some reason there are two types of many objects, like the fences and sand bags
for the corners there are
Sandbagl_m1.obj
Sandbag2l_m1.obj
both look the same size, shape etc...
the number 2 refers to the collision mesh which is 2x the size of the object. these are actually intended to go at the edges of maps and along no-go areas on maps, where ppl won't encounter them.

(huge thanks must go to Dweller_Benthos on Fileplanet forums. He is a master of map making and answers literally all of the questions on the forums about BC42)

So now they are all gone and replaced with normal ones. I have the map about 65-70% complete now, will have a copy ready for beta testing tomorrow/sat.

The Ladder issue is a whole different ball game, I have two ladders attached to a bunker, one of them is fine, u walk up to it and climb up, easy.
The other has four possible orientations, place it two of the ways and nothing happens, you cannot go up or down, place it in the third position and you can climb up but it kills you when you get to the top, instant and unexplained death.
the fourth position allows you to climb but it flips you to the other side of the ladder so you climb up inside the wall, when you get to the top you fall off the inside of the ladder and land on the ground facing away from it. I think I will just have to replace it with some stairs, but they're too short . looks like a big pile of boxes is the only other option.

Winky, I don't want to give out a copy to everyone for a few reasons
- I'm after some feedback on design/content/flaws/playability/problems and any good bits. input on this from everybody would overwhelm me (I think)
- It may be fundamentally flawed and crash your system/ the server (highly unlikely by the way) - and I don't want to be the most unpopular guy on the server (if I'm not already.... )
- Finally, there are some little tricks and features that I don't want everyone to know about before we get to playing it, in otherwords I wanna see some people get caught out

I've got the fixed MGs working too, for some reason there are 4 types of each gun
Stationary MG42/Browning
Fixed
CoAxial
Unlimited.
turns out the only one ppl can use is the Stationary one. Naturally there is no mention of this in the Tutorials/Help guides that come with BC42.
I'm gonna put the map on a file hosting site and I'll pm a link to a few of you.
Please don't be offended if you don't get a link, I will send it to all of you once I've conferred with the first round of testers.
In the mean time please keep adding Ideas/Suggestions to this thread and I will do what I can to include them/store them up for another map.

I will work on it some more tonight and let you know tomorrow where it is.
till then rap fans
Z

[[JiF]zougathefist]

So going by the feedback I've received so far
which has been mostly positive and much appreciated
the general consensus is that the map somewhat big, or to put it another way, way too massive
anyway this conclusion was borne out by the appearance of this horrible error message


The upshot of this is that I now have to shrink the map so I can remove some of the objects in order to finish it.
I made a start on this last night and it may not be as difficult as I first imagined, however it will be time consuming
On the plus side I have managed to resolve most of the other issues highlighted by the testers
I'm hoping to have the next release version ready in about two weeks (fingers crossed)

I will psot some more s/shots when I get home this evening
to show some of the changes I've made

[[JiF]zougathefist]

hehehe, allllriiiiiiight

I am nearly done with the map now,
I managed to shrink it a bit by lifting some elements from the edges and moving them closer to the middle, then blocked off the sides to stop any sneaky flanking manouveres - Yes that means you GAV!
i got rid of a whole bunch of trees & bushes to cut back on the objects, allowing me to finish off the barbed wire lines, I've also managed to fortify the bunkers a bit more, making it harder to get in.
I changed the teams to Germans and US Marines, The allies have a snazzy european camo uniform, plus the M1 garand.
I had serious problems with the Allied base spawning vehicles, it wouldn't! but then I realised I was overlooking something incredibly obvious and that is now sorted.
I'm still having issues with some of the ladders, I've moved them up and down, rotated and inverted them, but there is still one that you cannot climb
I will have a version ready for everyone to play on WEDNESDAY next week,
It still needs a few tweaks,
-some more cover for attackers
-Signage to identify different areas of trenches
-a couple more defensive features
-I need to get the offensive/defensive balance right, don't want it too easy for one side to win.
-I need a name and a level description too.

When I'm done I'll post a full description here, with some strategy tips.

Then work can begin on round 2
ZtF

[[JiF]Djsmg]

I am looking forward to trying it out Zoug!

I guess I gotta get BF1942 reloaded before Tuesday

[[JiF]zougathefist]

German Lines - MG Nest


Logging Camp


Snipe proof MG points - Not sure why cos I get most of my kills by sniping



Invisible Sandbags...?



The Evolution of the a Bunker



Note the Camo USMC uniform

View from Fron Line Bunker

View from German main

Front Lines


Map


Strong Points on Front line

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

Will JiF be hosting the map during the testing phase to try having multiple people? Will there be bots available?

Can't wait, dude. Looks incredibily spiffy and whatnot.

[[JiF]zougathefist]

I'm hoping that we can get it up for Custom Map Mondays
Once I finish the map I will have a go at putting bots in, there is a program called Botinator that adds pathways for bots, not sure how they will cope with the trenches though

[Sir Die-a-lot]

What ? No pictures of the floating tables ? xx

[[JiF]zougathefist]

Just for you Sir Die







I was trying to place them in a mess hall, but they ended up floating up there, now I cannot select them to delete them because I cant' find the right place to click to highlight the tables

Might have to leave them in for the craic

[[JiF]Blind Trooper]

Common soldier: "Umm...Sir? Why are those tables floating in midair?"
NCO: "They say ghosts haunt these parts, boy. And they like eating young soldiers like you on those tables. Yound soldiers who dont clean up and wander off alone." [Common soldier hides in barracks]
Lieutanant: "Aww, you shouldn't scare the boy, Gunny. Besides, we all know it was a side-effect of the Nazis experimenting."

[[JiF]BisonBurger]

Great work so far Zouga. I'll happily volunteer as one of your sniping victims when it's ready

[Sir Die-a-lot]

Thanks Zouga. It took me about 15 minutes to find them !

[[JiF]zougathefist]

I will have a version ready for everyone to play on WEDNESDAY next week,

ZtF

Hey!
wait a minute
I'm sure that when I read this first it said Tuesday(?)
Curse that lazy good for nothing Zouga
I was really looking forward to playing his map too
humph!

Why I oughta.....