[Playing around with normal maps]

Normal map/parallax map rendering really needs fixed. Can't make good screenshots when so ugly/bug.

Good job on texture micket.

[Playing around with normal maps]

That looks good Micket. Will help make the rooftiles look better. Notice that the Greek rooftile is same texture, just browner color. Save some time.

[Wonders, Special Buildings, and Special Projects]

I saw this one, but someone knows about it?

Great reference, could be Imperial Romans temple. I enjoy the travertine walls.

[Delenda Est: An overhaul mod for 0 A.D.]

Implemented Iberian, Celtic, and Indian melee soldiers +20% attack within a grove of trees. This includes mercenaries from these cultures hired by other civs (example: Galatian Swordsman for Ptolemies).

[Atlas editor unit variation]

Here's trick.

Find the variation you want. Select then ctrl-c. Hold down ctrl-v and start clicking. Must hold down ctrl-v. This should be good enough until real variation feature add to Atlas.

[Map format changed]

lol:

[Map format changed]

Today, the map format changed to allow bigger mountains.

Game versions from now on won't be able to read old maps, and older game versions won't be able to read new maps.

To convert from A18 maps to A19 maps, you should just run the python script here: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/source/tools/mapcompatibility/a18_to_a19.py?format=txt (can also be found under source/tools/mapcompatibility/a18_to_a19.py if you have the SVN version).

Similar to this

python3 a18_to_a19.py path/to/the/maps/mymap.xml

Converting from A19 maps back to A18 is also possible, however, this will create bad results when your hills are actually bigger than the A18 limit.

If you have any problems, please drop by on the chat: https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.quakenet.org/0ad-dev

Instructions unclear, computer on fire.

[[FIXED] Technology Bug: MinRange]

EDIT: Tested and confirm what sanderd say. The new tower show different minrange (none) than the already exist tower.

Hmm, does this happen with maxrange too? I try a range tech.

EDIT2: happen with maxrange too. Is this intend behavior? The stat in tooltip show the range has increased, but the range ring did not update.

[[FIXED] Technology Bug: MinRange]

Changed it to 1, still did not change when looking at range overlay.

AFAICS, the minrange is applied in the Attack component, but the BuildingAI doesn't re-define the range queries.

So new towers you build should have the modified min range, or if you change ownership or alliance of the tower. Can you confirm that?

k, 1minute

[[FIXED] Technology Bug: MinRange]

Tech is like this:

{	"pair": "pair_defensive_01",		"genericName": "Murder Holes",	"description": "Murder Holes allow defenders to fire or drop projectiles upon enemy units huddled along the base of the defenders' wall.",	"cost": {"food": 0, "wood": 200, "stone": 100, "metal": 0},	"requirements": {"tech": "phase_city"},	"requirementsTooltip": "Unlocked in City Phase.",	"icon": "murder_holes.png",	"researchTime": 40,	"tooltip": "Towers and Fortresses no longer have a minimum attack range.",	"modifications": [		{"value": "Attack/Ranged/MinRange", "replace": 0}	],	"affects": ["Tower", "Fortress"],	"soundComplete": "interface/alarm/alarm_upgradearmory.xml"}

But I can see when I turn on Range overlay in the game that this tech does not affect the minrange at all. Is the MinRange modification bug?

[Delenda Est: An overhaul mod for 0 A.D.]

Okay, so I made Athenian Marines and Cretan Mercenary Archers trainable from Athenian Shipyards after research of Iphicratean Reforms (instead of trainable from Trireme). Might change Iphicratean Reforms to an armor and speed tech, make the Marine and Cretans unlock with City Phase instead. it all works: the Marines and Cretans pop out of the shipyard out the back like I hope instead of in the water like I feared.

Macedonians can train war elephant in Imperial Phase.

In pipeline:

• Finish adding visible prop point for rest of Fortress. Fortress with visible points now: Punics (Carthaginians), Indians (Mauryans), Iberians. This is time consuming to do, but reward is nice.
• Finish adding visible prop point for all Wall Gates. There is bug where is units garrisoned on a Wall Gate will keep the gate open, but that not my concern. Visible prop garrisoning has many bug that need worked out with code.
• Experiment with tree groves giving bonus for some civs (thinking Celts, Iberians, and Mauryans). This is the reason I invent the groves at beginning. I have feeling having every single tree give an aura bonus for barbarian civs would be laggy. Instead, groves are many trees in one object, so one aura for many trees instead of many auras for many trees.
• Experiment with rams and ships having speed bonus for units garrisoned inside.

[Delenda Est: An overhaul mod for 0 A.D.]

I can't get the mod to work, neither with alpha 17, nor with alpha 18...

Sorry, it is SVN only.

[Playing around with normal maps]

Tweaking models is good practice and gets Micket involved, so that is definitely worthwhile. More Micket the better for the art.

[Engine Questions]

I think we could get the bloom Post-proc effect to look better, depending on how you actually want it.

Those gold-chrome pillars look excellent!

I think my recommendation would be to somehow include a "glow map" in addition to normal and spec maps, where the bloom post processing filter is more intense for either the white or black value of the texture file. I've yet to see any engine have such a thing, the only program I know of that has dedicated glow map support is Maya.

Yes, this could work for terrain texture too, like lava.

Howver, overall I think the bloom post-proc effect in the game right now is not very good. Can't put my finger on it, but it does not look like the kind of bloom I see in other games. It probably need redone.

[Experience and Ranks]

Hi. I think there is opportunity to make experience and rank more intersteing.

I think experience can be another resource, call it Glory.

Accrue Glory by doing tasks You see it accrue in the panel at the top next to your metal:

• Fighting - units gather Glory by fighting. Heroes can gather more Glory by fighting than normal units. Fighting is the way to gather the most Glory.
• Researching Techs - get X amount og Glory for every technoloy researched. Get a bunch of Glory for every time player phases up.
• Finding Treasures - some treasures can give Glory instead of other resource.
• Reaching Population Limit - hitting the match's set population limit for the first time can give the player some Glory.
• Building a Wonder - bring Glory to your empire!

You can spend it on: special techs, upgrades, unlocks, buildings (Triumphal Arch for Imperial Romans would be cool), special units (maybe Heroes cost Glory to train instead of other resource) and promotion of units. Instead of units promoting individual automatic, you can select a group of them (or by battalion when formation properly implemented) and promote them with the click of button. Or, can have ranking techs that cost nothing but Glory.

[Capturing]

Great solution. +1

If player building go Gaia, "capturing" could be instant or very fast.

I have not read all comment, but generally the building capture mechanicx should be as simple as possible and easy to understand what it happening. I think keep that in mind. Unit should play capture animation so all playeer can instantly see what is going on. Maybe player color parts can flash between the owner and capturing player colors. Also, I think only one player should be able to capture a building at 1 time. And yeah, capture mechanic very separate issue from conversion mechanic. I don't think units should stand next to a female or sheep and do the capture dance that they would do around a building. Unit conversion should be just like AOK's sheeps, instantley for doemestic animal, but maybe take some time for female (and she run away as if she being attack).

[Line of sight for ranged units?]

I wasn't thinking obstruction based on height, but rather based on structures/buildings. I don't think there's any building shorter than a unit, except farms

Enrique is right, it is the building's 2D <obstruction> that block the vision, not its footprint height or anything 3D. Could have flag in entity template to block vision so designer can determine which buildings best for blocking.

Pathfinder isn't related to vision range.

But vision area calculation is a whole different algorithm. Currenlty, that algorithm is highly optimised by using the circle symmetry. It can quickly estimate the border tiles (row per row) without many calculations, and then mark all tiles in between as "visible". By going away from that circle-shaped vision, the calculations will be a lot heavier, so it would slow down the game.

I'm not saying that a non-circular vision range isn't possible, but we should try to get rid of the existing lag before introducing features that are guaranteed to add more lag.

Would add more lag to make the center of vision circle 10 meters in front of unit? Save some optimization but mimic human awareness slightly better?

[===[COMMITTED]=== Wolfhound]

Hopefully attack can look ferocious and violent, with shaking and tearing. Most games have wolf and dog just do lame lunge and swat with paw. lol

[Sounds to create]

Speaking of sound, I attach edited ship sound from my mod. It chop the current ship sound in half and I use first half for select and last half for command order.

bump, should go in official branch.

[High Resolution Wallpaper]

I look on moddb page and find this:

[Proposals for game mechanic enhancement for better unit balancing]

But that's a hard counter – the developers said that they are in favour for soft counters.

This is a mistake on their part. Like I said, it is all math anyway. It is just as valid to make a hard counter ( a multiplier) to do what you want units to do as to fiddle with other numbers to attempt (and fail) to do the same thing. There is no "win" in spending hundreds of man-hours in making soft-counters work when hard-counters are already there and workable. Only the end product matters

Btw. it shouldn't be that much work. Add two parameters and include them in the damage formula. If the developers like the idea, we can start talking about the how. (If not, we can stop discussion here.)

The current developerrs certainly have the "direction" they want to take the the combat. It is possible that direction will change when new developers come... current developers seem pretty committed to current thinking, which is why I make my own mod). But if there is good idea I am sure they will consider. They dont communicate much on the forrum. Maybe you can try chat room.

[[Skirmish map] Alpine Mountains]

Hmm, looking at full map screenshot makes me believe even more that the game need true mountain meshes.

Example:

[Balancing between two versions]

Just that people are volunteers And work on what they please

Means no unified vision. Not everything is "easy." Must believe in the project to do the hard things even things that arent fun. and make decisions on applying minimal manpower. Need the presence of mind, what can be called situational awareness, to understand where your time and effort is needed, not where you want it to be but where it has the most utility (being a self-starter and team player--learnign when to sacrifice your own desires for the greater goal: the completion of a AA game). Creation is not always fun, but is done with hard work, and the finishe product is the reward.

[Proposals for game mechanic enhancement for better unit balancing]

Reimplement counter system. Boom.

I do like idea of attack energy and stuff like this, thinking outside the box, but what's the probklem with just giving the "skirmisher" in your example a debuff vs. "swordsman"? It is all math anyway.

[[Gameplay] Alpha 18 Balance Feedback]

Cycladic Archipelago (treasures but seems fine)

Game simply needs gamesetup toggle for entity with treasure class. This should be trivial, no?

I don't see problem with treasure per se. It all about placement. Use start cav to go get treasure or hunt or scout? Just one more option. All about placement.

Neareastern Badlands (Huge but enemies are very close at the beginning)

Alekusu, since you have access Delenda Est, try out Neareastern Badlands (2) in Delenda Est. I made is smaller and better for 1v1 ranked. I also edit Punjab to get rid of couple of ponds for some more land area near base.

I think Greek Acropolis (2), Acropolis Bay (with some changes, see Delenda), Libyan Oasis (2), and Median Oasis (2) are good maps for 1v1 rank too.

The random maps are too simplistic always putting 1 stone mine and 1 metal mine right next to start CC. This is Starcraft way, not good for 0 A.D. In Starcraft you do not have Storehouse and Farmstead. In 0 A.D. placement of Storehouse and Farmstead is crucial, so making mines farther away from start CC is better game design.