-= Gametoast.com =-

Yeah, I always knew it was possible, but last two nights ago I actually got down to brass tax and did it. Turns out it runs like a champ. I talked to Squipple a bit on how to do it, but I dunno if he got around to doing it. (I still hadn't done it myself so I couldn't tell him 100% how)

Anyways, anybody working on a map pack should hold off a few days as I'll be writing a tutorial tonight and uploading it tomorrow. Those who have made a few maps and understand how reqs and luas work will actually find it surprisingly simple. I'll also be uploading a 'dummy' project folder (The BF1 pack's project, but without any mshs, odfs, etc... just the folders) so you can see how things lay out.

Anyways, I haven't tested to see if this will actually help us break the 56 map limit since I only had about 40 maps including the pack. But if nothing else having everything in one folder makes map packs very easy to enable and disable.

-T


Addon tutorial
Creating a 1-addon folder project:

Here's a relatively simple way to put all of the maps you've released into a 1-addon folder map pack. There's a couple of benefits to doing so:

1-It's really easy for a user to enable/disable your map (in case they have 56 maps, which is the limit)
2-You save yourself a little bit of space. If you use the same sides on multiple maps then you don't have lots of copies of the files. Same deal with core.lvl and mission.lvl. Only one needed.
3-Once your worlds and sides are completed then lua and localization changes can be done globally.


YOU NEED THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM, AVAILABLE FROM http://www.scintilla.org
SCiTE --it's THE BEST lua program since things are color coded.




So here's how (this is assuming all of the maps in your pack are completed). In this example I'll be putting in the two Bespin maps:

1-Create a new project. Name it whatever you want. For the Conversion Pack, the three letter ID is BF1. (From here on out replace BF1 with your project's name). Only leave 'conquest' selected. It makes things easier on you.

2-Once your project is ready, browse to data_BF1/Worlds/BF1. Delete everything in this folder. This way it doesn't actually munge a world, making things faster.

3-First things first, open the addme.lua in data_BF1/Worlds/BF1. Highlight what is shown in this image:


4-Next, open your first map's addme.lua, highlight the same thing, copy and paste over the stuff in the other lua.

5-Close the lua for your first MAP, but leave the PROJECT (map pack) lua open.

6-Open your second map's addme.lua, copy the same stuff you did the first time. DO NOT PASTE YET.

7-Go back to your PROJECT lua and highlight what is show in this image:

8-Paste the stuff from your second map's lua. It should look like this image:
****Repeat steps 6-8 as many times as needed for additional maps

9-When you're done, close all luas, but save your PROJECT lua.

10-Open your PROJECT's mission.req, found in data_BF1/Common. Highlight what's in this image:

11-Open up your first map's mission.req. Highlight the same section, replace what you highlighted in your PROJECT mission.req.

12-Open your second map's mission.req, Highlight that same section, but this time paste it just below the first map's stuff, like in this image:
****Repeat step 12 as many times as needed for additional maps

13-Close all mission.reqs, make sure you save your PROJECT mission.req

14-Browse to data_BF1/Common/Mission. DELETE EVERY req file in there, you don't need them

15-Browse to your first map's mission folder, copy all the req files over to your PROJECT mission folder.
****Repeat step 15 as many times as needed for additional maps

16-Open data_BF1/Common/Scripts, delete the BF1 folder.

17-Open your first maps /common/scripts folder, copy that three letter folder into your PROJECT scripts folder.

18-Run editlocalize and add the maps localization as needed.

19-Munge your project, making sure you have BF1 as the world selected, common and localize checked.

20-Open /Addon/FIRST MAP/_LVL_PC. Copy JUST THE FOLDERS into /Addon/BF1/_LVL_PC.
****Repeat as needed for other maps.


YAY!!!! WE'RE DONE!

Yeah, we talked about it, but I didn't get any indication of how to
You may have been trying to send me a file in xfire...I can't transfer files via xfire.
I wanted to release the squeddies pack tonight, so if you've got any time whatsoever, please get on IM and let me know what the skinny is. I'll test the 56 (it's 58 for me..strange) map limit as well. If not, I'll hold off till tomorrow's tutorial.
Thanks Tean

Sweet! I was just about to ask this question here on the forums, but now I don't have to. Thank you Tean.

Sweet but do you need the source files? Because I've lost the source files from two of my previous maps so if I was gonna release a pack, that would pose a problem....

I've posted a downloadable tutorial at the link below. And yes, source files are needed (at least the luas)

This is not a tut for beginners. You need a decent knowledge of how luas and reqs work.

http://www.filetoast.com/download.php?file=244642

Ok, got the tutorial and got it completed...it works great, however there's a problem with loading screens. All of them are named common.lvl, so I can't place them all in one folder or they overwrite each other. I tried renaming the req and remunging load to see if it would look for that, but apparently it needs to be named common.lvl.
Any suggestions?

Edit: Nevermind, I got it. Pack will be released tomorrow.

That is cool, but what does it do to have your map pack on one addon folder?

Well, I got the pack set up with this, and am uploading it currently. Some interesting things I found:
- Not just map names have to be re-localized, but ALL localization needs to be redone for ALL maps (units, cps, weapons, etc)
- Load screens need to be unique, so when you follow this tutorial, make sure that instead of naming your req common.req, you name it something unique, like the 3-letter world name. Then when calling it in your luas, make sure you're calling your load screen as ReadDataFile("dc:Load\\abc.lvl")
-it DOES work around the 56 (or 59 in my case) map limit! If all added up, I'd have 62 maps in my addon folder currently, and it's working fine.

SWEET!!! I was hoping someone could report back on that.

That means the SWBF Conversion Pack will go from 30 addon folders down to ONE.

*woot*

Let's all celebrate it with The Gurudance!

*starts the Gurudance as Guru's Private Dancing Monkey*

btw, I got monopol on the Gurudance But since I encouraged ya'll to dance along.. I'll let you do it this time..

Very good news, guys

Now the question is: Just how many maps can you have in your folder? No limit? 95? 187? 56 folders worth?

Probably 56 folders worth.

Also, If you wanted to update one of the maps in the pack, what would you do about munging? Would you munge just the pack, the map and then the pack?

Teancum wrote:I've posted a downloadable tutorial at the link below. And yes, source files are needed (at least the luas)

This is not a tut for beginners. You need a decent knowledge of how luas and reqs work.

http://www.filetoast.com/download.php?file=244642

I know filetoast has long since been down, but if anyone still has this tutorial I wrote it'd save me from re-writing it. A few people have asked how-to.

Great, you know that I was waiting for this Wonderful that these kind of tuts are released; they make it a bit nicer, and, i think, more professional looking. Thanks Tean

Thanks Ace, you saved me

No problem, I try to keep all released tutorials on my harddrive, just incase.
Your original tutorial didn't have the pics inserted into the document, I did that when I was reading through it back when you first released it, you can delete those out of it to make the doc load up quicker.
Also I think there may have been a typo in your original, right above the first pic you referenced "Fig 2"(pic 2), so I inserted "Fig 1"(pic 1) there with a "1?" above it, because the next picture was also referencing "Figure 2".

EDIT
Here's the original (this one is a self extracting archive, Manderek):
addon_tutorial.exe

Just to ask; this isn't a self extractory file isn't it? What do i need to open it?

Grab is .exe file in the post above yours, it'll extract files to a folder for ya.

Ok, great, thanks guys! Great tut also, I think we all be glad to have it now! Well done