Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I have to admit, I have given up on it. I keep getting RE's and Access Violation errors, and quite frankly, I have become to frustrated with it to deal with it any more. One thing that WOULD really help it is a RANDOM PLANET Generation function. This way, you could just click where you want a planet, and then click RANDOM PLANET, ASTERIOD, STAR, etc, and voila, there it is.



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"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard
UCP/TCO Ship Yards

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I'm still working on my Spoogy Universe Map - it's around 60% done. But I must admit that I'm getting frustrated by the errors as well and it's really down my progress!

I would also like to see the random planet, or system feature as well!

It's hard making over 600 individual planets!

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Visit the Spoogy Federation at:
http://spoogyfederation.tripod.com

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

Yup, I sure have. Played a game on it that went over 200 turns, too.

And just because I'm such a hell of a nice guy, I'm going to share it with you http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

uh... You know what, I've been accused of being anal before. And honestly, on the map of anal retentiveness I think I'm getting close to the event horizon. That's why I like detail 'saturation' games like SE IV! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif But it never, EVER occured to me that anyone would be crazy enough to want to build an entire map from scratch with the editor! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...s/confused.gif Even a small map of 75-100 systems can have over 1,000 seperate objects! Do you REALLY need that much control? Just generate a random map and use the editing function to tweak it a bit. You'll still have fun playing on it, trust me. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif Half of the fun of the game is dealing with the random distribution of planets and resources, after all! Just add a few good planets in the AI starting systems to give them a boost, or move some warp lines around to make some interesting strategic situations. Besides, the more time you spend in the map editor, the less time you've got for testing weapon mods in the combat simulator! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 03 May 2001).]

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

Valid point.

I'm making my Spoogy Universe from scratch as it is the basis for developing my Spoogy franchise farther and it's good to know how everything fits together - especially important planets and systems for each empire - plus you get so many errors from deleting planets or moving them that it takes longer - really...

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Visit the Spoogy Federation at:
http://spoogyfederation.tripod.com

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Just generate a random map and use the editing function to tweak it a bit. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats what I have been trying too do and all I get is RE's and access violations errors. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon9.gif



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"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats! They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!" -- Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard
UCP/TCO Ship Yards

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I used a random map and then edited it, but I only got a RCE once which crashed the entire map. Maybe the cause was the same problem with the saved game bug, reloading another map without firt quiting the editor. Or maybe you have a corrupted patch - that happened to me once. Maybe downloading a new patch Version and doing a complete reinstall will help. I hope you figure out the bug, I KNOW how frustrating it is to want to play and can't because of an unexplained bug that nobody else seems to have.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

For those who want a B5 style "Hyperspace" or any type of FTL drives, try adding one more system, called Hyperspace. Fill it with a nebula, and build a grid of warp points inside it that correspond to the locations of systems on the galaxy map.

For most maps, chain together a few hyperspace systems by pasting the connected walls together with a line of WPs.

Thus, you get a map where it takes 1 movement to enter FTL hyperspace, plus one movement per galaxy map square, plus one movement to return to normal space. If you disable Wormhole manipulation technology, then your FTL system will be stable.

You can have a ring of warp points at the edge of each system which go directly to one square in hyperspace, which gives a "No FTL near a gravity well" rule.

The lev 5 cloaking nebula in hyperspace prevents combat while FTL, and if you place a 1-square-pull black hole effect, you can have the occasional ship drift off and be lost in hyperspace while at the same time, prevent players from building bases in Hyperspace.

This works with normal, system-to-system warppoints, since you could spend a turn to travel 5 squares through hyperspace, or use a WP to go directly to the system. With WPs, FTL is just a "back-door" way to sneak past minefields & skip past dangerous systems (eg. black hole or nasty aliens).

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

Cool idea, SJ.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>it never, EVER occured to me that anyone would be crazy enough to want to build an entire map from scratch with the editor!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I've started working on a map that way. First I just placed all the empty systems I wanted on the galaxy map; now I'm filling in details for a few systems at a sitting and "connecting the dots" with warplines as I go. Playing with the Map Editor is something I can do when I'm a little too fried to think clearly enough to play the game. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif I roll dice to make a lot of the decisions on individual placements and attributes. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Just generate a random map and use the editing function to tweak it a bit.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That was what I did for this first map. I generated a random map, then moved a few systems, added a couple more, erased some warp lines, and added some random start points. One of the first three players will start off isolated "in the hole". I haven't actually tested this map by playing a game on it yet, but I decided to post it anyway since you asked. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif


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Cap'n Q

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 03 May 2001).]

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I've run into the "access violation" error a couple of times, but it didn't shut me down, so I just bypassed the system where I was having the problem and worked on other systems. After saving the map I went back to that system and didn't have a problem.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by suicide_junkie:

For most maps, chain together a few hyperspace systems by pasting the connected walls together with a line of WPs.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

good idea, but it would work best with small quads. 10 WP limit per system. figure a single WP per border instead of a line, that leave 6 connections per hyperspace system. still a good idea.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I am currently working on a map that will include Hyperspace.

Warping to hyperspace increases your ship's speed by 13 times. This means that on FTL, your ship uses 1 movement to cross a solar system.

I really wish I could copy-paste wormholes; this will take a while http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>good idea, but it would work best with small quads. 10 WP limit per system. figure a single WP per border instead of a line, that leave 6 connections per hyperspace system. still a good idea<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
You can't SM more than 10WP per system, but the map can have as many natural ones as you want (255, I suspect)
It's just like the "only one star per system" thing. Trinaries are OK, but you can't make them with SM.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 04 May 2001).]

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 04 May 2001).]

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I have found that resaving the map after each edit, or closing down the editor and reloading after an error message kicks in gets rid of all those pesky range check errors. Oh, and as someone here has mentioned before, if you want to edit the names of the planets in a system, you also need to keep the roman numeral after the name to avoid range check errors.

All I have done so far with the editor is to build a fairly accurate Sol system on a random map.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I've started a Starfire map from scratch. I have lists of every planet and warp connection in every major system for ISW1, ISW2, the Gorm-Khanate War, ISW3, ISW4, and the Terran Civil War (basically every official conflict in the Starfire universe except the Theban War).

Right now I've got about 20 systems done. These are core Terran systems and a few of the Orion colonies from ISW1.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I had a campaign completed and released it the day the editor came out. Unfortunately I don't think anyone tried it, because I haven't gotten any feedback. Oh well, there goes my motivation. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

I don't really like having lots of warp points into a system. I think it takes away from the strategy of the game - for example how hard would it be to protect a few star systems with dozens of connecting systems with numerous empires all at the same time? You wouldn't be able to do anything else but build mines and fight all the time - but I guess some people enjoy that.

I like systems of importance - for example a single system that connects to three hostile systems, where you form your first line of defense or buffer zones like nebulae. It gives you more time to develop the infrastructure of your empire (and the AI's empires) and I think that makes for a better game - like having large fleets of ships engaging each other over important planets and systems.

The Spoogy Universe Map is set up in a similiar fashion. While there are enough warp points to easily navigate to various star systems - there are also some chokepoints between each empire's starting points - which also helps for developing natural territories for each empire as well.

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Visit the Spoogy Federation at:
http://spoogyfederation.tripod.com

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

Yeah, if combat was centered on well-defended, major systems with few warp links I think we'd see more static lines. Right now wars are far too fluid; it's not long after you declare war that you're rampaging through the AI's systems. With few connections and heavily defended systems, we might see bases become more useful and maybe a human player will actually build a dedicated Defense Ship.

Re: Has any one been able to create any thing with the map editor?
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Noble713:
Yeah, if combat was centered on well-defended, major systems with few warp links I think we'd see more static lines. Right now wars are far too fluid; it's not long after you declare war that you're rampaging through the AI's systems. With few connections and heavily defended systems, we might see bases become more useful and maybe a human player will actually build a dedicated Defense Ship.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree. Right now I build defense ships, but most people call them 'fighters'! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon10.gif