[Mapping Contest 16] Technical Discussion

[niektb]

This topic is specificially meant for technical discussion / troubleshooting in Atlas for the mapping contest.

One known issue:

Post Processing shader HQDOF doesn't work on NVidia GPU's.

[Llanos]

is there a possibility to adapt the grass to the slope?

And my second question: What do the post-processing settings do and which one should I choose?

Edited August 20, 2014 by Llanos

[FeXoR]

is there a possibility to adapt the grass to the slope?

Many types of stones are not "sunken" enough and thus "fly"/"reach out of the ground" on slopes also.

(So in general we need to think of something to work on rough terrain, not only on flat ground and make it happen)

Edited August 20, 2014 by FeXoR

[niektb]

To answer your questions:

No you can't adapt grass to slopes, maybe you can make grass unnecessary by using a different texture (depending on the angle of the slope)

Best use HDR. This is the most used in other maps and has the least impact on performance.

[Llanos]

Thanks

I created all the bushes as actors, is it possible to change them to entities?

[niektb]

There is no fast way. The only option is to remove them and place entities back at the same spot.

[Llanos]

ok, that's too much work

[feneur]

There is no fast way. The only option is to remove them and place entities back at the same spot.

Well, there is, but it's not necessarily easy =) As the objects are defined in the XML file it should be possible to open up the file in a text editor and do a find-and-replace. Unless you want to go through each and every entry (which kind of makes it pointless to do this way anyway, but still) it's only really useful if you really want to change every bush of a certain kind from actor to entity, but I assume that's what you want?

Now take the following with a grain of salt as I'm not an expert in these things + I haven't tried it, but here's an example from the Azure Coast map:

Say you want to replace all "bush_medit_underbrush" with "flora_bush_badlands", then you would do a search for:

<Template>actor|props/flora/bush_medit_underbrush.xml</Template>

and replace (Or rather "replace all" so you don't have to manually go through each occurence, though it's usually a good thing to do a normal replace first just so you know that everything works - it's not too nice to realize after having replaced three different things hundreds of times that you missed a ">" on the first one or something. In either case it's a good idea to create a copy of the XML file before you edit it, just to be on the safe side ) that with:

<Template>gaia/flora_bush_badlands</Template><Player>0</Player>

Unless I'm missing something that process should work

[Llanos]

Well, there is, but it's not necessarily easy =) As the objects are defined in the XML file it should be possible to open up the file in a text editor and do a find-and-replace. Unless you want to go through each and every entry (which kind of makes it pointless to do this way anyway, but still) it's only really useful if you really want to change every bush of a certain kind from actor to entity, but I assume that's what you want?

Now take the following with a grain of salt as I'm not an expert in these things + I haven't tried it, but here's an example from the Azure Coast map:

Say you want to replace all "bush_medit_underbrush" with "flora_bush_badlands", then you would do a search for:

<Template>actor|props/flora/bush_medit_underbrush.xml</Template>

and replace (Or rather "replace all" so you don't have to manually go through each occurence, though it's usually a good thing to do a normal replace first just so you know that everything works - it's not too nice to realize after having replaced three different things hundreds of times that you missed a ">" on the first one or something. In either case it's a good idea to create a copy of the XML file before you edit it, just to be on the safe side ) that with:

<Template>gaia/flora_bush_badlands</Template><Player>0</Player>

Unless I'm missing something that process should work

great idea, but atlas crashes when loading the map

[leper]

Is there any error message? (Even better would be the map in that case to be able to reproduce it locally)

[Llanos]

Atlas just tries to load the map and the message 'pyrogenesis doesn't respond' appears

When I try to start a game (single player -> matches), pyrogenesis shows message 1 '(error while formatting error message)'. I didn't even select a map, the problem occurs when the program loads all possible maps from which to select. When clicking continue or supress, I get to the normal game menu and I can select the changed map. When clicking start game, message 2 appears and I get back to the starting page.

I changed:

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_me.xml

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_me_lush.xml

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_a.xml

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_b.xml

to

gaia/flora_bush_temperate

0

and

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_la.xml

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_la_lush.xml

to

gaia/flora_bush_badlands

0

[thamlett]

What text editor did you use?

[leper]

actor|props/flora/bush_tempe_la_lush.xml

That one isn't even in the map file you posted. I did the other replacements as you outlined, the changed xml is attached. Also you have a civ assigned for player 2.

Northern Highlands (2v2).xml

[Llanos]

Thanks Ieper, it works!

[Stan`]

Couldn't it be fixed in the main game as well ?

[leper]

Fix what?

[Stan`]

You answered on the trac. Though I think they should be by default gaia, and even being able to change them.