Official forums for BZFlag.org

Heya there.

We have *many* programs/editors that help us create Maps, however, have you ever done it only by writting in the .bzw file?

For that, you have to know all the "commands" for a specific object, but what is the most important, you have to imagine how it will look like and how it is going to be.

With that, it makes it a bit harder, but i sure is a lot of fun.

So, do you pheraps own, or have you made a Map uing .bzw file write-in only?

If you did or you till do that, please, do share.

Thanks.

Pretty much everyone that has made a decent map has done some hand editing. And there are quite a few that do a lot of hand editing. Some people would map out the coordinates on paper or in some other software, and then use that to create the map objects.

Additionally, some people (like myself) write scripts to generate portions of a map.

I do know that, but many help out with BZEdit, or any other Editor, and as I said, with Only .bzw.

Also, there are a lot pf Map makers, good ones, just not seen.

Thanks in the post.

I don't make a whole lot of maps, but when I do, I usually code everything "by hand". Sometimes I will write scripts to generate stuff also, like Blast, when the map calls for it. I don't really use objects that are complex enough to require a 3D modeler, and I need more precision than something like BZEdit can provide. The only tool I use is a calculator, to work out the trigonometry.

"The Compound" was written entirely in Notepad, on and off over the course of a few months.

I see, cool.

I use all the stuff BZEdit has to offer as well, with the addition of a thing called a Mesh.

I once made around 100 objects using only 1 mesh.

Also, the unique things about my maps are the variables I set in the .bzfs file.

There are many options to do, and a whole different gameplay may come out of them.

Edit: I use no calculator!

BZEdit is a joke, nobody should ever use it. The author did a very bad job on it and it is very unstable. Everyone hand tweaks/edits maps. We know this from experience.

Well, my 1st map was made by BZEdit, and it turned out great.

If I would run it now, I m sure it will get players on.

... But i am sure you were aiming for how the editor edits.

almost every map I've done has been done via texteditor. to do so I've always used graphpaper to do plot out an overhead view, either remembering the z heights in my mind or writing in near the object on the piece of graph paper. I've only used a 3d editor once, and that was my last project, and only for a few objects. Its best to be able to handedit every type of .bzw object imo, and to understand how they work. And if you want to make more complex meshes by hand, you'll want to use a calculator. specifically for finding out the x/y coordinates for a vertex that would require using sin and such. I also used graph paper to plot sin waves when I created the different dyncolors for the christmas tree in christmas ffa. But you can only go so far with meshes by hand. especially if you use texcoords or drawinfo. Its becomes tedious to do texcoords and drawinfo.

Figuring out the trig for some of my more complex objects was quite fun, but thats just me.

I actually explain myself Meshes as dots conected with each other.

3 dots connected with lines may form a side. (triangle)

You may also color that side.

With 4 dots connected, you can make an object. (three sided pyramid)

Simple.

I use iBZEdit (pretty much the only map .bzw editor) It has its quirks and such, but its pretty stable. Downside is, it doesn't fully support meshes, and does not at all support textures or spheres/cones/arcs/etc.
Generally I will finish the map in iBZEdit, naming everything so I know what it is in the text file. Then I add materials and textures and sphere's and other objects by hand.

Tanx wrote: so I've always used graphpaper to do plot out an overhead view

Graphpaper! Never thought of that! I will have to try that, thanks!
I have used blast's BZWorkbench, that is the best graphic map editor I've used.

I think most good map makers use hand editing in some stage of the map making proccess. Otherwise we would still have the same boring maps and badly crafted bases, ect.

Derpy Hooves wrote:

Tanx wrote: so I've always used graphpaper to do plot out an overhead view

Graphpaper! Never thought of that! I will have to try that, thanks!
I have used blast's BZWorkbench, that is the best graphic map editor I've used.

It's not "mine". I just have some builds of it on my site.

Oh? Who's is it then?
Thanks for hosting it on your site anyway!

bzworkbench is part of the project, it "belongs" to the same "people" that bzflag belongs to. Tim Riker.

I used to do lots by hand - I created a template that you can print that lets you sketch a map and read off the coordinates. If you like you can grab it here:
http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~bentz/bzfl ... mplate.pdf

I often will print this out just to sketch ideas.

(At the bottom of the sheet, which is essentially customized graph paper, are some key parameters about tank sizes, ranges, etc.)