About mapping

[PuffiFett]

Sorry if this has been discussed before but how can I make maps for MB? I have enough mapping skills to make a normal TFFA map in JKA but I dont know what I should do to make my maps work in MB ? How do I do obj **** and all ?

[RenegadeOfPhunk]

PuffiFett,

To make an MB map, you need to make essentially a Siege map. Once the siege map is complete, you can edit a few files (seperate from the .bsp file) and make it into an MB map.
(To turn a siege map into an MB map is a relatively simple process which shouldn't take more than a few hours at most...)

Remember though that you don't nessesarily need to deal with the complication of objectives if you don't want to - maps can possibly be just essentially TFFA maps with no objectives set. Which means the only objective is to kill all opposition.
However, you still need to make it as a siege map (siege spwanpoints rather than normal ones etc.)

The only thing left to do after you've made your siege map (at a minimum) is edit the .siege and .arena files a bit. Once your at that stage give us a shout and we will talk you through that bit. But it wont' take long - probably no more than a few hours...

A few important pointers for MB maps though:

* Spawn points. Make sure you have PLENTY of them on both sides - at least 20+. This is concerning the Droideka - which takes up two spawn points at the start of rounds. And if you've run out, problems will occur, including the possibility of server crash. So make sure you have a lot of spawn points on both sides.

* Also concerning spawn points, make sure both teams start near each-other. Don't spread them out too much like normal base jka maps tend to do. Seeing all your team together at the start of the round encourages team-work, since you can naturally split into different groupings etc.

* If you are going to include objectives in your map, keep it ideally to a small number. Because rounds are limited to between 3-5 minutes (If you try to set the time higher or lower than this, it will snap to the nearest legal time). So having to complete - say - 4 objectives in that small space of time is almost certianly going to be undesirable gameplay wise

Of course, there are other concerns specific to MB mapping like map layout that takes into account all the classes and their various abilities, but that's a whole other discussion.
...that should get you started (and anybody else who wants to get started) for now.

btw - the only reason we are not releasing a definitive set of map-making instructions for MB maps at the moment is because - well, were not finished writing the game yet! So if you do plan on starting an MB map now, please understand that we reserve the right to make any changes nessesary to the MB map structure at any point right up until release.
Now, of course were gonna try and make any changes sensible and try and keep the changes needed on mappers parts to a minimum. But it is possible that you may need to make changes for a new build version, possibly having to 're-release' your map...
...so bottom line, starting an MB map this early is kind of an 'own-risk' type deal...

[PuffiFett]

Ok I did a simple map, I have lots of spawnpoints. Lets pretend I'm gonna make this a elimination map. What's my next move?

[Load]

am interesteding, i may make a map from aotc, would be interesting, are vehicles possible with MB? the battlefields :P , may look at some geonosis arena screenshots, any ideas welcome, unless the team don't want me to.

[RenegadeOfPhunk]

Guys,

I'll let Dacks, our Main Mapping Man (or MMM as I like to refer to him) answer more of your questions about specifics of MB mapping. I don't directly deal with the mapping side much, so it's probably best if you get it straight from the source...

Expect his reply shortly...

[Godzuki]

hey, I am heavily into FFA and DUEL mapping right now, im starting on a siege map I just need to know a good locale. I was thinking episode 1, naboo palace. The place where they try to get the viceroy....oh welll thanks for the tips ren.

[zag]

hmmm im thinking of ditching my other mapping projects to make a MB one seeing as i only play movie battles nowadays....
i was thinking a city type complex type thing with highish roof tops and maybe a protecting type mission like the jabba one
i dunno gimme some ideas people i cant think of a city type setting im not that clued up on the SW universe

[AgentS]

Hmmmm, i only got this mod recently, and i think its brilliant, and i felt that i would like to contribute my mapping ability to it, in any way shape or form, im not an expert at mapping, but i can do fairly well. On the ideas point, being as the mod is about Movie Battles, i reckon there should be Movie Battles. One might suggest a naboo map, where gungans fight droids etc (dekas and droids wud go perfect) and there are a few gungan models around, or perhaps the geonosis one, which i know has already been thought of, but there are all the models for that around, including ships etc, all except Super Battle Droids.. Anyways, id love to be able to help in the MB Project, as it is absolutely awsome. You guys ahve done a great job so far, especially in those dekas, they must have been difficult to make work properly, in that case i was wondering how you make them work as a player model, because id love to be able to use one on another map, like naboo hills.. (if anyone has a link to naboo hills v2.0 please post here)

[Dingo Dave]

Duncan made the dekas, and the coding was done by ojp.... any project which uses them at the mo uses the ojp coding.

Also zag, you could try naboo with streets of theed or something. Pleanty of oppurtunity for sniping spots and stuff, they only thing needed is Naboo Guard Skins and a Gian Speeder.

[zag]

hmmm thanks ill look into that...
also the naboo gungans vs. droids is very interesting....
the force field could be done easy its just a one sided gun only clip then those animals as npcs that make the force feild could be objectives...you could have some really far off powerful cannons that come into play when the first objective is completed :p

[Dingo Dave]

Or you could have an fx_runner play the star destroyer explosion.............