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Map Help

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 9:35 pm
by JeffM
If you need help with a map, ask here.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 2:41 pm
by Merry
lol, I need help with my server. I put it in the other place, but I think I'll ask it here. I got bombarded with whatchamadingles. Can't think of the word!! AGHH!!! Meaness.
So, I need help in..teliporters. Everytime I try to put a teli in...it freezes. Could you help me? Thx.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 2:46 pm
by JeffM
Post the map merry and I will take a look at it.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 5:27 pm
by JeffM
I don't see any teleporters in your map.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 5:34 pm
by JeffM
I added 2 linked teleporters to your map to show you an example.


I takes 2 teleporters and 4 links to make a fully linked set of porters

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:55 pm
by Spaceman Spiff
Not to butt in and confuse things.... but if you leave one link out in BZ Edit, doesn't it just become a "dead" teleporter? Like the side you linked is just a "drive through"? That's what it always does to me.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 8:54 pm
by JeffM
spiff, yes, you don't have to fill in all sides of a porter, but if you IDs are screwed it can lock up.

I'm just showing an example. links do seem to be the toughest point for people to get when making maps.

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:40 pm
by JeffM
Merry, did you get your map issues taken care of?

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 2:21 am
by Grumbler
I am looking for a png2bzmap converter. HBA had one, but it does not seem to function with the pngs I created.

If you know of another picture to structure converter, it would be much appreciated. I worked for a few hours with VISIO to create a series of layers, I would like to turn that into a single map.

(I would probably use bzedit, but I am much more familar with CAD tools, then graphic editors. VISIO is about as low as I go)

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 2:51 am
by trepan
Koba,

I wrote a little program to do that kind of
thing. It's bmp2bzw, at:

http://imajica.dyndns.org

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:15 pm
by Grumbler
Thanks trepan, I will give it a try tonight.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 5:23 pm
by Spaceman Spiff
Ummm..... maybe I'm stupid..... but how do you run the Windows exe?? I open it.. and it runs realllllly fast and closes (a lot like the good old "Hello World" C++ apps). :?

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 5:58 pm
by trepan
Spiff, it's best run in a console window.
Run a MSDOS window or click on the
Start Button, then the Run button, then
type "command" or "cmd".

You could also use the "Open with" right
click option for the *.bmp file, but then
you lose the ability to tweak the output
options.

If yall have any improvements you'd like
made, just let me know. I'm not doing much
these days... :O)

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 8:55 pm
by Grumbler
trepan/all,

I believe I have broken the program. I was trying to convert the bmp version of the attatched image into a single level(all blocks the same height) into a world/map file.

The result creates blocks in the fashion:(this was after a black/white only image conversion)

box
position -293.440454 -300.623819 0
size 0.359168 19.754253 16
end
box
position -293.440454 -63.931947 0
size 0.359168 98.412098 16
end
box
position -293.440454 103.440454 0
size 0.359168 19.395085 16
end
box
position -293.440454 261.115312 0
size 0.359168 9.697543 16
end
box
position -278.714556 -300.26465 0
size 14.36673 20.113422 16
end
box
position -289.130435 -63.931947 0
size 3.950851 99.130435 16
end
box
position -206.521739 103.440454 0
size 86.559546 20.113422 16
end
box
position -285.897921 261.115312 0
size 7.183365 10.415879 16
end
box
position 293.440454 44.177694 0
size 0.359168 9.697543 16
end
box
position 281.228733 44.177694 0
size 1.795841 10.415879 16
end
box
position 267.221172 -54.234405 0
size 13.648393 10.415879 16
end
box
position 240.642722 -221.965974 0
size 1.436673 20.113422 16
end
box
position 288.05293 44.177694 0
size 5.028355 10.415879 16
end
box
position 281.94707 -54.234405 0
size 1.077505 10.415879 16
end
box
position 266.862004 152.646503 0
size 13.289225 10.415879 16
end
box
position 240.642722 -359.886578 0
size 1.436673 20.113422 16
end
box
position 233.459357 329.716446 0
size 1.436673 20.113422 16
end
box
position 281.228733 152.646503 0
size 1.077505 10.415879 16
end
box
position 268.298677 44.177694 0
size 11.134216 10.415879 16
end
box
position 239.924386 329.716446 0
size 1.436673 20.113422 16
end
box
position 233.818526 152.646503 0
size 1.077505 10.415879 16
end
box
position 237.05104 -221.965974 0
size 2.155009 20.113422 16
end
box
position 236.691871 44.177694 0
size 2.514178 10.415879 16
end
box
position 240.283554 44.177694 0
size 1.077505 10.415879 16
end

Now this format makes the bzedit program to visualize a single box in the middle of field. It does understand that there are many other boxes however. Unfortuneately, all those boxes are all at location 0,0,0

Is there something I have missed? I was going to kick off a server to take a look at what bzflag thinks the map should look like, but I have not gotten to that right now.

(I would attatch the bmp, but the file size ~450kbytes, and the limit for uploads here is 256kbytes)

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 10:29 pm
by JeffM
the word "box" has an extra space after it this makes BZedit not like it. It's very picky about it's maps

Basicly all object types and the word end need to be just the word on a line by itself.

I can look into adding a fix for this.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 10:49 pm
by JeffM
http://www.bakadigital.com/BZ/edit/BZE_ ... taller.exe

try that. it should read in your funky maps now

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:49 pm
by Merry
Hey, thanks. I got my map..I was able to make some telis. Thanxs!

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 2:52 am
by Grumbler
Thanks PatL22, I will give it a try tomorrow.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 2:56 am
by Dervish
Thanks Patlabor. :)

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 3:19 am
by JeffM
oh and trepan, a newline between objects woudn't kill ya :)

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 6:58 am
by trepan
Hehe, a little indenting wouldn't kill BZEdit either.
(especially if you add a hierarchical structure
to it at some later date).

I'm going to touch up the bmp2bzw program
tomorrow to improve on the box reduction algos.
It's not doing the best job of merging right now.
I'll also take out the indenting so that BZEdit can
use the maps.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:40 pm
by Grumbler
Those of simple minds thank you

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:57 pm
by JeffM
http://www.bakadigital.com/BZ/edit/BZE_ ... taller.exe

1.6.1 will work with indented maps, and will put indenting in the code it makes. It now is cool with any leading or trailing spaces.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 6:13 pm
by Grumbler
trepan,
if you need an example bmp for your efforts this weekend, I have one that should be simple, but because of this and that, it generates >600 individual boxes. It should be somewhere in the ~20-30 range. Otherwise, it is doing exactly what I was hoping it would do.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2003 6:16 pm
by Grumbler
MapMakers,

are there any guidelines on the number boxes? I want a map that will be decent for most graphics cards, and I have some concerns that the map I am creating may have too many individual boxes. Does the number of boxes influence gameplay, or are the boxes merged in some sort of OpenGL vector glue?