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Suggestions for 0 A.D.


Wijitmaker
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13 minutes ago, Gurken Khan said:

it was set to random

If you mean "Map type: Random", that doesn't mean it will randomly pick one. It means it will show you all the Type = "Random" maps (as opposed to type "Skirmish" or type "Scenario" ones). Random type maps are those which are created from a seed according to an algorithm, like in AoE.

But you certainly know this, so I'm not sure what you mean. On top left I only have the players' settings.  :blink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Suggestion for the editor (Atlas):

When you point the cursor over a landscape texture, the editor tells you which one it is.

There are lots of similar textures, and they are a little all over the place, so sometimes I'm there wondering which one was this one. Unless I write a detailed log of all textures I used and where, I'm reduced to trial and (mostly) error...

A feature where the editor tells you over which texture your mouse cursor currently is would be great to have, and make texture painting much easier. Just make it a small overlay in a corner, like the FPS thing.

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10 hours ago, krt0143 said:

Suggestion for the editor (Atlas):

When you point the cursor over a landscape texture, the editor tells you which one it is.

There are lots of similar textures, and they are a little all over the place, so sometimes I'm there wondering which one was this one. Unless I write a detailed log of all textures I used and where, I'm reduced to trial and (mostly) error...

A feature where the editor tells you over which texture your mouse cursor currently is would be great to have, and make texture painting much easier. Just make it a small overlay in a corner, like the FPS thing.

Another idea would be for the editor to dynamically create a biome tab with all the terrains used on the map

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9 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

create a biome tab with all the terrains used on the map

I think your idea is complementary to mine, but wouldn't help with my issue of "what was that texture I used right here?", given I use lots of them, and obviously a bunch of similar-looking ones (so they blend). I'm tired of trying to remember which grass or dirt or cliff this is, was it his one, or that one?

Obviously what would help too is if the editor could display the actual texture, and not just a rectangle with the dominant color shade, but I guess that's a 32-bit memory limitation...

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8 hours ago, hyperion said:

If you notice something is missing

Where would I start!
First of all that "Manual" is more like a quick introduction than a true user manual. For instance, no mention of the thing wowgetoffyourcellphone told me above, and I guess there must be lots of other stuff, stuff I obviously don't know about unless I learn about it by chance (like that "shift-click" thing).  :down:

Also there is a lot of inexact (outdated?) information in there. For instance, unlike what it shows, the actual textures do not display in the terrain swatches, only their dominant colors (I have a 8 Go GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, so it's most likely not my hardware). It would be really nice if you could see the actual textures.
Last, the "Environment" tab's options are very different in my version of the editor, several settings are missing, and yet the page states "last edited 6 years ago". So? Overly optimistic, or did those features get dropped since? I can only guess.

2 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Did you try it? Did it work?

Yes, and yes. Thank you!

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1 minute ago, krt0143 said:

For instance, unlike what it shows, the actual textures do not display in the terrain swatches, only their dominant colors

This is a bug from the alpha you are running, I believe (it's been a while). Fixed for the latest alpha coming in the future.

 

As for the other stuff being "missing" and whatnot, they may be mockups. And if I remember correctly, Atlas has been re-programmed a couple times in its history. Similar to how the civs keep getting revamped or tweaked, so the civ profiles are now somewhat outdated.

Keep in mind, this is a huge project with only 10 people currently active, most of those being gameplay balancing people. 1 graphics programmer currently active. A couple of very very key personnel on hiatus/extended vacation. A few people submitting some good patches on Phab, but all part-timers/hobbyists. And while I enjoy writing, I'm assisting in committing gameplay patches, got my own huge mod (Delenda Est), my own non-0 A.D. related writing projects, a full-time job at a factory, fostering kittens/cats, girlfriend, my laptop recently took a shite and no money to replace it (I'm typing this on my GF's laptop, which is not ideal for development and gaming, but it'll work for now). Now, take my situation and apply it to everyone else too (with their own challenges). :) 

You seem passionate. Maybe apply some of that passion to helping us! :D 

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26 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

This is a bug from the alpha you are running

Great news!

 

26 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Keep in mind, this is a huge project with only 10 people currently active

I know, and I don't expect miracles, I'm just saying that there is a lot of work for that manual, work for which I'm obviously the least qualified here, knowing next to nothing... :blush:

 

26 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

You seem passionate.

"Passionate" is my middle name. :laugh:

But I'm also inconstant and easy to distract/lose interest. I definitely want to help (if my help is wanted), but I am no coder. I understand things rather quickly, but to take a car race metaphor, I'm rather a driver than a mechanic. What I can do though, and I'm usually particularly good at that, is unearth all the bugs 0 A.D. might have.
I tend to use any program at 99.9%, so I'm bound to eventually stumble upon anything not working as expected. Now of course if I get dirty looks each time I mention something not working as it should, I'll refrain from talking about it...  :rolleyes:

Edited by krt0143
stupid censor thought I was using a swearword! LOL
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And to go back on topic:

A means to list hotkeys by hotkey... The search in there only searches by function, there is no way to search (for instance) which functions use "Shift".

If I want to assign some key to some function, I have to sift through the full list to see if it isn't already used somewhere else.

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26 minutes ago, krt0143 said:

I tend to use any program at 99.9%, so I'm bound to eventually stumble upon anything not working as expected. Now of course if I get dirty looks each time I mention something not working as it should, I'll refrain from talking about it...  :rolleyes:

It's mainly the tone someone brings it in is how it will be perceived, there were good bug testers in the past but had poor attitude, imo anyway ^^. But no matter the tone, if it has merrit something needs to be done with it for sure.

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On 30/09/2023 at 8:31 PM, krt0143 said:

I know, and I don't expect miracles, I'm just saying that there is a lot of work for that manual, work for which I'm obviously the least qualified here, knowing next to nothing... :blush:

You seem to qualify as a power user and have a clear idea as to what the manual should be like. This makes you more qualified than most.

You already found discrepancies, fixing those would be a great start. Adding answers to questions you had as you go might help others in future, doesn't matter if you found the solution yourself or if someone pointed it out to you. The goal doesn't have to be a complete guide like a book by Microsoft for Word.

Ofc it's just a suggestion, just that I think you might be a good candidate for this task with your background and interest in atlas. For example for me the canonical documentation is source/tools/atlas :P

 

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1 hour ago, hyperion said:

You seem to qualify as a power user and have a clear idea as to what the manual should be like.

Knowing what it should be like is not the same as knowing what to put in there... :laugh:

 

1 hour ago, hyperion said:

You already found discrepancies, fixing those would be a great start.

Assuming those discrepancies are really errors on the website's part. I learned for instance that the missing texture swatches was a known bug of a26. Things like that I can't really guess, and the danger is that I might break more things than I fix (see textures). I have a very underdeveloped Dunning-Krüger...  :rolleyes:

The only thing I can do, is put new/recent/a26 screenshots in place of the existing ones, and one could debate the utility of that.
What is really missing, is for instance a list of shortcuts and stuff like that, things I don't know right now.

You can make me the same offer in a year.

 

1 hour ago, hyperion said:

For example for me the canonical documentation is source/tools/atlas

You mean the source code? Well, unfortunately I can't understand that.  :shrug:

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37 minutes ago, BreakfastBurrito_007 said:

I frequently forget which buttons I've assigned

I you mean in the game, there is a comprehensive list of Hotkeys in the options, even accessible during a game (Menu/options/hotkeys).

Atlas, the editor, is lacking this...

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7 minutes ago, BreakfastBurrito_007 said:

I meant like in the top right corner or something as you play the game

I see.
Yikes, given the amount of hotkeys this would cover the whole screen, and probably span several columns...  :blink:

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38 minutes ago, krt0143 said:

I see.
Yikes, given the amount of hotkeys this would cover the whole screen, and probably span several columns...  :blink:

yep, thats why you would choose the 5-10 you want to use or the ones you keep forgetting. Does it make sense now? Of course no one uses all the available hotkeys.

Edited by BreakfastBurrito_007
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