All Activity

Hi @Asher thanks for the quick reaction -and the good idea! The tool needs PyQt6, Pillow, numpy, scipy, and pyqtgraph/PyOpenGL. Your script is great, but there are actually two tools in the package (Mercator and post-Atlas) and they need to have their specific environment. My intention was to keep it open as editable python code so anyone can inspect and modify it as needed. But you are certainly right - not everyone has python installed or would like to look into the code. Here are the two pyinstaller spec files Mercator.spec and post-Atlas.spec . A plain pyinstaller --onefile Mercator.py only follows Python imports. It misses non-code resources that get loaded relative to the installed files — docs/ (Help, User Manual, Design notes, Credits), CREDITS.md/LICENSE, and most of all mercator/world/*.json.gz (the real-elevation-data feature). Attached are pyinstaller spec files that can be called by pyinstaller Mercator.spec pyinstaller PostAtlas.spec This would work as a standalone double-click exe, however: The hand-over between the two tools will not work as built: Check or convert in post-Atlas... and Convert > Edit in Mercator launch the sibling tool via sys.executable -m <module> (atlas_ui/other_tool.py). Inside a frozen exe, sys.executable is that exe, which doesn’t understand -m — and worse, the check for “is the other tool installed” (importlib.util.find_spec) will always say no, since each exe only bundles its own tool. So the button offering the hand-over won’t even appear. That’s a significant regression for frozen builds specifically. I ask my coding buddy (Claude) to find a solution for this as I believe the linking o fhte two tools is an important aspect. @lilypoppy suggested to create a single tool but that would make the GUI even more complex than it is today, I am afraid. But he does have point here. Size: Mercator.exe is ~140 MB, Post-Atlas.exe ~116 MB on windows. They are bundling PyQt6 + NumPy + SciPy + Pillow + pyqtgraph/PyOpenGL for the 3D views). Versus the ~6 MB release zip, this is a very different distribution. This would clearly call for a single exe only. Claude just implemented a fix 0.23.0, will release that shortly after testing. So the only remaining issue is size. PostAtlas.spec Mercator.spec

@Grautvornix @Asher

build.sh Just made a build script to make this into an executable. (Should work across systems). Maybe you'd want to add this @Grautvornix? Also, does it just need pyqt6 and scipy to also be installed, or are there more?

OK, so now I had no choice (more or less): I am now terminating the single packages of mercator and post-atlas in favor of a common single package "Atlas Tools". The new package is available on https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/170271-atlas-tools-a-package-combining-mercator-and-post-atlas/ Unfortunately, every user of the previous tools wanting to upgrade will have to de-install the previous versions as they will not be compatible with the Atlas Tools package anymore. @Stan` could you please freeze this thread?

OK, so now I had no choice (more or less): I am now terminating the single packages of mercator and post-atlas in favor of a common single package "Atlas Tools". The new package is available on https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/170271-atlas-tools-a-package-combining-mercator-and-post-atlas/ Unfortunately, every user of the previous tools wanting to upgrade will have to de-install the previsous versions as they will not be compatible with the Atlas Tools package anymore. @Stan` could you please freeze this thread?

Mercator and post-Atlas are now one package with one version number: Atlas Tools 0.20.0. It holds everything of Mercator 0.17.0 and post-Atlas 1.19.0, the last separate releases. They stay two programs, because the two jobs are different, but what you install is now what was tested together and they share the same codebase. The tools are also closeley linked so that you can start editing in mercator and then handover to post-Atlas for verification or conversion, and back. Mercator is a tool to create maps either from scratch or from digital elevation models, sculpt the terrain add features and textures. It however does not replace Atlas, the games's map editor. Mercator's sole purpose is to ease some of the pains the powerful but complex atlas tool creates to users like myself. In fact, Mercator allows handing over its data to the actual Atlas tool for refinement and can then take the map back for the final touch creating a mod or an installation. post-Atlas is a map checking and conversion tool that can be used to process maps and map collections in differnt formats an convert them into R28 and R29 game format. I also verifies map propserties and provides support to correct issues. post-Atlas also works with mercator and Atlas allowing to handover to these tools and take the result back afterwards. Maps can be tested in-game (headless) to verify there is no blocking issue left. The package is still delivered as python souce code (see Readme.md for installation instructions) and should run on Windows 11, Linux and MacOS. While I can only test it on Windows currently, @lilypoppy has kindly tested it extensively on Linux and @Asher used it on MacOS. I am keen to receive any feedback, criticism, ideas, suggestions, error reports etc. Please let me know! atlas-tools-0.22.0.zip README.md CHANGELOG.md

Maybe what would be better is that a play is only defeated if all their critical units/structures (or whatever mode you are playing) and all embassies are destroyed. If an embassy survives for a mostly fallen ally, you can send them stuff to revive them. You could still garrison refugees, but with this, you could loose all your units, and not be dead, yet... Maybe also civilians could flee to the nearest embassy or civic center or fortress (yours or ally) when a civic center/fortress/embassy is taken There also is an existing mod, maybe related, survivors-mod that when an ally is defeated, all units and resources go to ally(s) maybe? (iirc)

Great mod. The biggest issue I have found (which I believe is also on Petra) is mid to late game when the AI expands so much they may find a small corner behind my teams bases where they then build a market and reroute there traders there since its the farthest distance. But this leads to their traders walking within distance of my teams defenses/troops causing them to die and tank the AI's economy leading to a very unrewarding win. Is there an option I can adjust to prevent this. If not could you add something for that like Trade routes stay within connected territory. Another option may be Trade routes must avoid being in range of enemy defenses or a significant distance away from enemy starting points (idk, personally i think that first idea would solve the issue). I dont have the screenshot but I did a 4v4 match with a 35min ceasefire then within like 3 minutes of the ceasefire ending you see on the market graph it flattening out due to the above issue.

The forum is in no state to do this (at least that's an admin feature only as far as i know because you can access stuff that's hidden for instance) and I'm currently in the process of migrating to a non paid solution (the forum costs as much as the whole hosting fees), but I'm a bit a fraid to make it live cause the ipb is prettier than phpbb and I'm not sure i didn't miss something big.

That is a really cool idea, @Asher! Building on your question about reviving an eliminated ally, I put together a complete and balanced overview of how both Diplomatic Asylum and Reviving a Fallen Ally could work together in 0 A.D.: 1. The Embassy (Town Phase Diplomatic Building) Requirement: Unlocked in the Town Phase, and can only be constructed while you have at least one active ally. Capacity & Upgrades: Shelters up to 5 allied units by default. You can pay resources to research upgrades that expand its shelter capacity and reinforce its structural durability (health and armor). Strategic Target: Gives enemies a clear, high-value structure to attack if they want to prevent a rescue. 2. Emergency Asylum Rules (Sheltering Survivors) Critical Population Threshold: You can build the Embassy ahead of time, but its doors only open to refugees once your ally drops below roughly 15% of the max population limit (e.g., fewer than 30 units in a 200-pop match, 50 in a 300-pop match, or 75 in a 500-pop match). Faction Survival: As long as at least one allied citizen remains sheltered inside your Embassy, that faction is not officially defeated. Upkeep Cost: Sheltering units requires a continuous, significant resource upkeep (food and metal) so players cannot stall a lost match indefinitely for free. Advanced Mode (Healer Requirement): Under advanced settings, keeping refugees alive requires at least one Healer/Priest garrisoned inside. If the Healer is killed or pulled out, the sheltered units slowly lose health over time, creating a tense race against the clock to train a replacement. Risk vs. Reward (Slow Experience Gain): While sheltered and maintained, refugees gradually gain experience (rank up). When finally released to rebuild, they emerge as a battle-hardened elite guard! 3. Betrayal & Breaking the Alliance If the alliance is broken by either side, the Embassy is immediately destroyed: If the sheltered ally betrays you: Their garrisoned units instantly self-destruct (perish in the collapse) so they cannot act as a Trojan Horse inside your base. If you (the host) break the alliance: Their sheltered units are expelled from the ruins and attempt to flee (with a brief speed boost or truce timer), preventing cheap executions. 4. Reviving a Defeated Ally ("Sponsor a Colony") To answer your question directly: if your ally was completely wiped out after you built an Embassy, you could revive them in two complementary ways instead of spawning 5 free units at a Civic Center: Option A – Training New Colonists (High Cost): You can use the Embassy to manually train citizens and basic units for them so they can rebuild from scratch. You can train as many as needed, but each unit costs more than triple (3x+) the normal resource price and takes up a population slot from your own population limit until they successfully construct a new Civic Center. Option B – Converting Your Own Units (Naturalization): You can garrison your own basic units (women or citizen-soldiers) inside the Embassy and pay a resource fee to convert them directly into citizens belonging to your defeated ally's faction (restricted to basic citizens so you can't transfer unique siege units or heroes). (Of course, this entire system would be an optional toggle in the pre-game lobby settings to preserve standard competitive multiplayer balance.)

That is a good solution for future members; however it doesn’t solve the problem of existing files. I suppose it would be possible for someone to hand go through every thread and find every file posted, then add it to that, but that would be a colossal waste of their time. Another (and probably better) option, is as I said before, adding a File Browser/File Search to the Search tool, that way at least people searching for specific things can find them easier. I guess I should also say what made me think of this was I was searching the Game Modification threads for abandoned/outdated/unique mods that were never put in mod.io or ModDB. I know quite a few members (at least recently) have been making small mods which add something or fix a bug, and I was hoping to find some of the older, pre A27 (when I joined) ones.

Thanks for the great feedback and questions, @Asher! Those are two awesome points to consider: Dedicated Diplomatic Building (Town Phase): To keep it balanced and prevent early-game stalling, both sheltering and restoring an ally could require a special building (like an Embassy or Consulate) unlocked only in the Town Phase: Requirement: You can only build an Embassy if you currently have at least one active ally. Capacity & Fortification Upgrades: Each Embassy can shelter up to 5 refugees by default, and you can pay resources to research upgrades that increase both its shelter capacity and the building's durability (health/armor) to help protect the refugees under siege. Strategic target: Having a dedicated building gives enemies a clear target to destroy if they want to stop the rescue! Betrayal / Breaking the Alliance: If the alliance is broken by either side, the Embassy is immediately destroyed: If the sheltered ally betrays you: Their garrisoned units perish in the collapse (self-destruct), preventing them from acting as a Trojan Horse inside your base. If you (the host) break the alliance: Their sheltered units escape from the ruins (perhaps with a short speed boost or brief truce timer), so you can't just lure an ally in for a cheap execution. Reviving an Eliminated Ally ("Sponsor a Colony"): I really love your idea! Having a "Restore Fallen Ally" option at the Embassy (for a hefty resource cost, e.g., 500 wood, 500 stone, 500 metal + food) that spawns 4–5 citizens to rebuild would be amazing: Sheltering a survivor = Cheaper/safer way to keep them in the game if you have an Embassy ready and act fast enough. Reviving a defeated ally = A more expensive late-game comeback mechanic if you couldn't save them in time. Thanks again for adding to the idea!

Good idea @Alber 0A.D! I think that would enhance the game some, and allyship would have another benefit. What would happen if you become enemies with an ally when they have a unit in your civic center? do they get a free walk back? I wonder, if you had an ally that was completely taken out, could you revive them with some of your resources, and they get like 5 units at one of your civic centers?

Hello Wildfire Games team and community, I would like to suggest a new diplomatic feature (or mod idea) for 0 A.D.: Diplomatic Asylum / Sheltering an Allied Citizen. The Problem: In games against the AI (such as 1v1v2 or free-for-all with shifting alliances), when an allied AI is overwhelmed by stronger enemies, it gets completely wiped out before we can help. Currently, players have to use creative workarounds (like trapping an allied citizen-soldier inside walled enclosures) just to keep that faction alive until the main threat is defeated. The Idea: Add a new diplomatic option next to Alliance and Tribute called "Offer Asylum / Shelter a Citizen": Trigger: When an allied player is losing badly (e.g., loses their last Civic Center or drops below 10% strength), you can offer them asylum. Protection: One of their surviving women or citizen-soldiers can garrison inside your Civic Center or Fortress for safety. As long as this citizen is sheltered inside your building, that faction is not officially defeated. Restoration: Once you push back the enemy, you can click a "Release & Restore" button to let the sheltered citizen exit with a small resource tribute so the AI can rebuild a Civic Center and re-enter the game as your loyal ally. Balance: To keep competitive multiplayer fast-paced, this feature could be an optional toggle in the pre-game lobby settings, and if the building sheltering the refugee is destroyed, the faction is eliminated as usual. This fits the historical theme of ancient diplomacy (exiled rulers and allied colonies) and would add awesome emergent storytelling to single-player and team games! Thank you for making such a great game! Idée Diplomatie / Mod : Asile diplomatique (sauvegarder un colon allié pour rebâtir sa cité) Bonjour à l'équipe et à la communauté, Je propose une nouvelle option diplomatique dans 0 A.D. : l'Asile diplomatique. Lorsqu'un allié est sur le point d'être anéanti, on pourrait lui proposer d'abriter l'un de ses citoyens-soldats ou ouvrières en garnison dans notre Centre Civique ou notre Forteresse. Tant que ce colon est protégé chez nous, la faction alliée n'est pas éliminée. Une fois l'ennemi repoussé, on pourrait libérer ce colon avec un envoi de ressources pour qu'il reconstruise un Centre Civique et revienne dans la partie. Option activable avant la partie pour préserver l'équilibrage multijoueur.

What if we keep the past as is for a while, but provide the new structure for new maps, new blender models etc. ? (Mods are already hosted on mod.io so they are managed elsewhere.) Many maps and models of the past are either already part of the current release version, some are part of a mod (community maps, delenda est etc.), and a third group is abandoned. I believe we could put up a map repository thread underneath the Game Modification | ScenarioDesign/MapMaking . We could subsequently copy (or link) converted old maps there.

I suppose, it needs a PR

Apologies, had to fix one important thing and update to Mercator 0.17.0 . It holds everything of 0.16.0 (the lock on the versions of a map, The whole map refused when it would mix two versions, the tidied code) and one thing more: each Edit in Mercator started another Mercator, and each Check or convert in post-Atlas another post-Atlas. The new version is available from the initial post ofd this thread in https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/169940-new-atlas-helper-tool-mercator/ New The tools switch between their running windows. If the other tool is open, the map is sent to it and its window comes forward; a new copy is started only when none runs. Keep both open for the whole project. A tool that is open when the other saves the map reads it again when you come back to it. With nothing unsaved in the window it simply follows the files and says so in the status bar; with unsaved work it asks which side wins, once for each change. (Not while the map is with Atlas: the hand-over follows its return.) What to try Open a map in Mercator, choose Check or convert in post-Atlas... on the Summary tab, fix something there, and switch back: Mercator should show the map as post-Atlas left it. Then Edit in Mercator in post-Atlas again - it should bring the open Mercator forward, not start another. Try it with unsaved changes in the window you come back to. The windows are not locked against each other yet: if you edit the same map in both at once, the one you come back to asks - please say what you saw. Needs atlas-common 1.19.0 (included). post-Atlas 1.19.0 goes with it.

Had to fix and update to post-Atlas 1.19.0, with atlas-common 1.19.0 (Mercator 0.17.0 goes with it). It holds everything of 1.18.0 and one thing more, from testing: each Edit in Mercator started another Mercator instance (and vice versa). New The tools switch between their running windows. Convert > Edit in Mercator sends the map to the Mercator that is open and brings it forward; a new Mercator is started only when none runs. Mercator's Check or convert in post-Atlas... does the same the other way. post-Atlas checks the map again when you come back to it after Mercator saved it (not while a job runs or the map is with Atlas). It writes at once, so there is nothing to ask. What to try Keep both tools open on one map, save in Mercator, switch to post-Atlas, and check that the findings are those of the saved map; fix something, switch back, and check that Mercator shows it. If something differs from 1.18.0, please say what you did and what you saw. post-atlas-1.19.0.zip README.md CHANGELOG.md

Can we include this in R29?

Then it's gonna be hundreds of posts

And if we start dividing the Iberians into separate factions? That's it, what about that? That's what you did with the Celts and the Greeks in the past.

Well it would hopefully be ~5 threads: Images (png, jpg, dds) Models (blend, dae, obj) Zips (zip) Text Files (txt, xml, js) Or you could sort by file type, with an individual PNG thread, an individual Blend thread, etc.