Map Editing Tips

posted on June 3rd, 2009, 10:44 pm

UAC?  While I was at his place I checked to make sure the map files were in the right folder ... that's why I left them in both folders, thinking that it would work.  Im using XP, he is using a beta version of Windows 7 and his roommate, another friend who plays, is using Vista but we can rarely play with him ... we are blaming Vista for that problem.  We also had to start using Hamachi.  Two of us can play but as soon as the third jumps in, out of sync errors start flying everywhere and the game goes to crap.

So there is no reason why the map shouldn't be working?

posted on June 3rd, 2009, 11:11 pm

Vista is a headache I know cuz I have it. What I found to get custom maps to work right with FO and VISTA is to run FO as an administrator and make sure that that box is checked in its properties. Also this could be the issue with mp too for him. Sadly I have no luck with mp as Ive described in another post so I cant advise too much.

what I do know is this:
Vista+UAC=pain in the neck most the time...but once you get used to it you hardly ever notice and thats kinda sad in a way.

posted on June 3rd, 2009, 11:21 pm

NM..got it to work.  I just cleared all the start locations to empty, saved, reopened and then put them back to player and that worked.  Woot....my first original map since armada 1   ty guys!  I'll upload it for you guys.  Its called "Goder's Map"....and the name Goder was just something my friends and I came up with a long long time ago that stuck.  Let me know what you think.

Attachments

borg101map.zip

(114.78 KiB) Downloaded 268 times

posted on June 4th, 2009, 12:09 am

You know you can turn the UAC off right?  Go to User Accounts then add/remove accounts.  Click ""Go to the main User Account page."  Then click "Change security settings."  Then just uncheck the checkbox.  Easy as pie.    Or you can turn it off if you customize your own install disk.

posted on June 4th, 2009, 1:36 am

NM..got it to work.  I just cleared all the start locations to empty, saved, reopened and then put them back to player and that worked.  Woot....my first original map since armada 1   ty guys!  I'll upload it for you guys.  Its called "Goder's Map"....and the name Goder was just something my friends and I came up with a long long time ago that stuck.  Let me know what you think.

I have noticed a problem with the wormholes they don't work. I think you might have placed them wrong or something but other than that its a wonderful map.

posted on June 4th, 2009, 2:31 am

I think you did pretty well.   You tried to create a fair, balanced map, where everybody has the same features in their space, while not making it symmetrical, so points for that.  Here's a few things I noticed that you might want to consider.  I liked the "Briar Patch" of the red nebulas in the center-ish of the map, but unfortunately the current AI pathing around nebulas makes them near impossible to navigate.   If I wasn't clicking exactly in front of my detector, he would turn right around and out the way he came, even if he was half inside the path already. 

Also, there seems to be a theme with channeling units down a corridor, like with the green nebulas which force units to go arond and then down the corridor to the enemy's base.  This is turtletastic, as a player can just stock up on turrets down the corridor and at the wormhole location and be well defended.  This is made easier by the generous resources given at the beginning.

Also, there are a few spots that have more of an advantage than others.  I picked the bottom left, where the wormhole is also covered by a corridor, which makes turtling even easier.  This is contrasted by the starting point at the bottom middle which is much closer together, where the wormhole is pretty close to the resources.  Constrast this with the top two spots, who have a HUGE expanse to defend, which might make their gameply different from others.

So there's some of my thoughts, hopefully it helps.  

posted on June 4th, 2009, 3:16 am

After placing the start locations, did you press Ctrl-R and go over to the start locations tab to confirm that that all of the start locations are in the correct spots? FO pulls the start locations out of this and stores it in the map and iirc, the start locations wont show up right unless you do that "confirmation" step.

posted on June 4th, 2009, 5:04 am

I fixed the wormholes.  As for the bottle necking, it was done that way on purpose.  I designed it for 3 teams of 2, each assisting eachother.  The wormholes go into where the other person's intended space is.  As far as the brier patch, I cut some holes in it to help with pathing.  Let me know how it works out.

Attachments

borg101map.zip

(114.09 KiB) Downloaded 288 times