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America's Army => mAAp Project => Topic started by: Spanky on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 13:09:11 PM
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This is an open discussion about making the UnrealEd map editor that we have which happens to work for 2.5. For those that don't know, it's not an official editor, it's actually version 2.4.1 but it works for 2.5 as well.
These are the pros and cons I can think of, others will be added later:
Pros:
- Building a better community with the draw of custom missions.
- More diverse & creative maps.
Cons:
- Setting up a sub forum or another website for managing maps, where people can vote on them and people can see them.
- People complaining if their map doesn't make it into Assist.
- Packing the editor into a download that can be extracted and run with minimal hassle. The editor we have has many quirks. There are different packages and package names which would have to be gone through and changed to avoid bug reports.
- Answering the same "how do i" or "wtf is this" questions over and over again.
- Players that create maps that don't make it into Assist will fight back and put maps on their server anyway. Custom maps (.aao files in the Maps folder) are technically grounds for a permanent ban. We don't know if it's a hack or a map.
- Legal issues. This software is copyright and it's an expensive license. It's possible that lawyers could be contacted.
- This isn't just a map editor, it's a code editor and debugger. This could be used for developing hacks.
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a mission depot as in people submit their map and its voted on bladdy blah blah? Deleting the whitelists would pretty much mean we wouldnt need to update assist for new maps to be played? People could just download the maps they wanted and thats it?
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Yea, pretty much something like that. There has to be some kind of incentive for people to want their map included in mAAp, downloaded via Assist rather than noob servers running noob maps. This would have to be something that would take a lot of planning.
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Yeah it would take a lot of planning but it might work. We would need a way for people to submit their creations and we would have to decide on if it would be the entire community voting on the maps or just a certain group of people. Im guessing this would also mean that the editor would be made public to anyone who wants it.
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the editor would be made public to anyone who wants it.
That's what I'm hesitant about. The editor would have to be repackaged because it has a lot of problems as-is. If it were made public, anybody could make a map and stick it in their server. It really would need to be organized. I haven't tested the converter out very much, maybe it would just be easier to have people use 2.8...
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Yeah idk when i tried to convert my map i did it all by hand so I'm not exactly sure how the converter works. Where I can I download it? I'll try converting a map with it and report back how it goes.
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It's in the mAAp forum somewhere, maybe that converter sticky thread.
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the converter seems to work just fine. I was even reading the posts and koden was able to convert some custom maps over just fine. But once people convert their maps wont they just be able to stick them on a server anyways?
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Lets take it easy for now. It's just 2 people and they seem to know some stuff. But the important thing is we don't know how they work as a team. So I guess the best way to go about this is a community vote on their maps. If they win, their map gets included officially but the thing is they need to remake their map on 2.5. So we only grace them with the editor if their map wins. It's not necessary to include them on our dropbox shared folder. Bueno?
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Lets take it easy for now. It's just 2 people and they seem to know some stuff. But the important thing is we don't know how they work as a team. So I guess the best way to go about this is a community vote on their maps. If they win, their map gets included officially but the thing is they need to remake their map on 2.5. So we only grace them with the editor if their map wins. It's not necessary to include them on our dropbox shared folder. Bueno?
Yeah but we are going to have more people coming. I know that MothaGoosE is getting into the whole mapping thing because I live with him. It seems I have started a movement :)
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More and more people getting the editor means exponential chances of a leak. We can remove the converter tools from the thread easily and nobody will know different. We can then say, make your map on 2.8 and we'll convert it and include it if it's good enough (votes by community or admin).
I just... it's been fine dealing with Killa and Max, I really don't mind helping you guys because it's obvious that you enjoy it and take what you've learned and apply it. But, I just know there's going to be a shit storm of noob questions over and over and over if the editor goes public. Not to mention we have to handle the map kicks appropriately. Technically people should be banned for custom maps because they could easily be hacks.
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More and more people getting the editor means exponential chances of a leak. We can remove the converter tools from the thread easily and nobody will know different. We can then say, make your map on 2.8 and we'll convert it and include it if it's good enough (votes by community or admin).
I just... it's been fine dealing with Killa and Max, I really don't mind helping you guys because it's obvious that you enjoy it and take what you've learned and apply it. But, I just know there's going to be a shit storm of noob questions over and over and over if the editor goes public. Not to mention we have to handle the map kicks appropriately. Technically people should be banned for custom maps because they could easily be hacks.
this is true i didnt think about that. As soon as you make the editor public the floodgates have been opened for all the questions and little things that people arent going to know how to do. Also if we go the other route the more and more people the editor is given to the more chance they are going to give it to someone else and so on and so forth.
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I've moved this to an open forum, hopefully we can get regular users talking about this too so they understand what the cons are and the things that have to be overcome.
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Skrewy, if we hand it out when people submit a good map, the chances of a full on uncontrollable leak skyrocket. But if we manage it, we can have managed chaos.
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Eh I was gonna start map making or dunno what but I am the typical guy who asks 50 questions a day so I think I better forget about it ;)
The fact that many people might start mapmaking or whatever u call it, might make the forums more alive, if there's a section about it where people help eachother and so on .. But I don't really know the long terme consequences of this so I can't really give my opinion
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Give me the AA Overmatch, if I get it, I'll not upload the file (upload speed: 59kbps = ~7KBs) lol
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Ok, I so so want the 2.5 Editor but yes if you giving it out to some people it will be on the net for download in an hr.
I think for what it is worth have maps made on 2.8 and then vote. the winner has there map converted.
By who idk? But on the other hand I would pay to have my map converted if it won.
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Not sure if this is really a matter of money
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Personally I agree with it not being handed out. If you give out the editor to everyone, or even just a few, what's to say they won't abuse it. I'm sure whoever has the editor currently can be trusted with the fact that they wont leak it. If the editor gets leaked, then why would people want to come here when they can make their own map and skip the middle man? Out of respect of those who put so much time into the mAAp pack I say don't release the 2.5 editor.
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I think a great way to both solve the editor problem and promote growth for the community would be to incorporate the editor into assist. I feel that by creating a subforum for this discussion we can bring more members of the community to the forum and hopefully get enough people together that any questions that would be pointed at Spanky could be answered by other people too.
Old players might be even more tempted to return with the editor included. We've recently seen evidence that players want the editor.
*EDIT*
Also, I believe there should be some group of current mAApers who vote on new maps, with the community polled as well to help that group decide.
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and hopefully get enough people together that any questions that would be pointed at Spanky could be answered by other people too.
First time I read this I thought it said "hopefully get enough people together to point questions at Spanky" just to spite me :D
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might make the forums more alive, if there's a section about it where people help eachother and so on
U definitely explained it better than me ^^