The Homeworld Map Makers Primer v2.1 FINAL

 
Tutorial 10.0 – Player Addition

 

Part Ten: Overview

In this section you will
add players three through six to the map.

10.1

Copy files that need no changes between folders.

10.2

Copy the Level file into all the map folders, and make the necessary changes.

10.3

Copy the Mothership file into all the 3 and 4 player map folders, and make the necessary changes.

10.4

Copy the Mothership file into all the 5 and 6 player map folders, creating the fourth and fifth player file as we go along, and making any necessary changes.

10.5

Copy the Resource file into all the map folders, making the necessary changes as we go along.

10.6

Copy all the Distribution files into all the map folders.

10.7

Tutorial Summary.


Quick Links Relevant to this Chapter

 

10.0 The Addition of further Players

Lots to do here so I will take it step by step. We have already set up all the extra folders needed for our Revelations map, in ‘Tutorial Map Part One’ So let’s get cracking and work our way through the files, adding and modifying as we go along.

Just remember that each folder must be able to stand alone as a map, ie you are going to make 5 more maps in this chapter. All are based on the 2 player version we have already completed, so only relatively minor changes to each are required. This may look daunting because there is quite a bit to do, but as you have done most of it already this shouldn't take long to complete.

Now, I prefer to work on all the files as a whole, but you could quite feasibly do the extra map folders one at a time. I will take you through the way I do things. which I feel is faster. If you were going to change the map depending on the amount of players present then it may well be easier to deal with them in succession, but we will only have minor changes between player numbers, ie the map will look pretty much the same for six players as it does for two players. Remember though, if you have changes made, the Description.txt file header, (the first will still be identical in each file, make changes to this file and Homeworld goes in a huff and refuses to show any of the files

 

10.1 - Copying files that need no changes.

Some files only need to be copied into each folder. There are no changes to be made to these files, indeed in the case of the Description file, they all must be identical. We will do these first.

10.1.1 - Copy the Description.txt file from your ‘Revelations2’ folder into all the other ‘Revelations#’ folders.

10.1.2 - For our map we have added a new background as opposed to the default types available within the Homeworld.big file itself. We have added the background and lighting files called ‘Downslope.btg’ and ‘Downslope.hsf’ respectively, and so these need to be copied into each map folder. Copy these two files into each Revelations# folder.

 

10.2 - Copying the Level file and making required changes.

The level file however, does require some changes, so lets deal with them and get them out the way.

10.2.1 - Copy the ‘Revelations2.level’ file from your ‘Revelations2’ folder into your ‘Revelations3' folder.

10.2.2 - Rename the ‘Revelations2.level’ file to match the folder it resides in, (i.e. to: ‘Revelations3.level’)

10.2.3 - Open up this new ‘Revelations3.level’ file in your ‘Revelations3’ folder, the top 10 lines of the file look like this at the moment;

; MissionMan script, Friday, Sep 3 1999, 12:15:09 PM
; Copyright (c) 1998-99, Relic Entertainment Inc.
; Multiplayer Level: Revelations2
; Info: Revelations (2-6)

[Revelations (2-6)]

MissionSphere    -1,?,ResourceSphere,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000.0,0.0,ResourceSphere_1.missphere,1000
MissionSphere    0,R1,Mothership,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000,0.0,Mothership_0.missphere,1000
MissionSphere    1,R2,Mothership,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000.0,0.0,Mothership_1.missphere,1000

10.2.4 - Rename the Multiplayer level part to match the folder name, in this case its just the simple change of the ‘2’ to a ‘3’.

10.2.5 - Next, copy the last MissionSphere line and paste a copy on the line directly below. Keep the space after the last MissionSphere line and before the defaults heading.

10.2.6 - This new line will tell the game what the third MissionSphere is (ie; player three) and where it can find the file dealing with the objects (ships) that this MissionSphere will contain.

- Change the playerNumber value from 1 to 2

- Change the race to R1 (change the default player race if you want, really it makes no difference what this is, so do it if you if you want its not important.)

- And finally, change the contents to Mothership_2.missphere (the player three Mothership file name).

These lines should now look like this;

; MissionMan script, Friday, Sep 3 1999, 12:15:09 PM
; Copyright (c) 1998-99, Relic Entertainment Inc.
; Multiplayer Level: Revelations3
; Info: Revelations (2-6)

[Revelations (2-6)]

MissionSphere    -1,?,ResourceSphere,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000.0,0.0,ResourceSphere_1.missphere,1000
MissionSphere    0,R1,Mothership,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000,0.0,Mothership_0.missphere,1000
MissionSphere    1,R2,Mothership,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000.0,0.0,Mothership_1.missphere,1000
MissionSphere    2,R2,Mothership,0.0,0.0,0.0,30000.0,0.0,Mothership_2.missphere,1000

10.2.7 - Repeat 10.2.1 - 10.2.6 for all the Revelations# folders, adding and renaming the level file and ensuring it contains the relevant name and has the correct numbers of MissionSphere lines naming the correct extra player MissionSphere files and so on. 

The biggest change here is the addition of further MissionSpheres lines to each incremental level file, but this example shows how simple this is. Take note though, we have now added a third player to the Revelations3 map and Homeworld will read this new third line and go looking for the file called ‘Mothership_2.missphere’. Meaning of course, that we need to create that whole new Mothership file to deal with this extra players starting fleet and its location. Lets start dealing with these now.

 

10.3 - Copying the Mothership file and making required changes for the Three and Four Player versions.

In our folders we need to add the correct number of Mothership#.missphere files. And then make changes to the locations of each fleet contained in each file.

10.3.1 - Lets start with Revelations3.

- Copy both the Mothership#.missphere files from Revelations2 into Revelations3.

- Now copy and paste one of the Mothership_#.missphere files into the same folder, renaming it Mothership_2.missphere (as we have named it in the Revelations3.level file above in 10.2.6).

- Done that? OK, lets open up all three Mothership_#.missphere files.

10.3.2 - For our three player map we are going to shift about all three starting locations. We are going to place them around the central sphere of dust containing the Research Station, at the cardinal points of an equilateral triangle, keeping the player starting distances equidistant. We want each player to start 50km (a value of ‘50000’) from the centre of the map, so it’s a matter of working out the end point of three lines, each line rotated 120° from the last. All this trigonometry is better covered in the two html files (‘Trigonometry or Trig Math’ and ‘Trigonometry a Crash Review’ in Appendix C). 

Personally, I use MS Excel, specifically ‘Dylov’s Homeworld Excel Mapper’ where on the ‘Distances’ sheet I can just type in the distance i want the players to be from the centre and then save the results. These results are pre-formatted on the ‘LevelfileFFA’ sheet, and I save that sheet as a ‘comma delimited file’ (*.csv), and then it’s a simple matter of copying and pasting as *.csv files can be opened in any text editor. See here for more details on the XL Mapper, or here for more on using Excel.

I have included the actual ‘LevelfileFFA.csv’ that I’m talking about here, in the Tutorial Map Files folder, open it up (it’s a text file) and you can see what I outputted from MS Excel after typing in that one number. 

10.3.3 - Use the LevelfileFFA.csv file to supply the starting co-ordinates for each players Mothership_#.missphere file, using this file you can simply copy and paste each relevant line into the correct folder, its all spelled out for you so away and make the changes..

Use this file for the co-ordinates for the Mothership files for the three-player and four-player versions of your map, and stop there.

 

10.4 - Copying the Mothership file and making required changes for the Five and Six Player versions.

In our folders for the five and six player versions of the map, we still need to add the correct number of Mothership#.missphere files!

10.4.1 - OK. Lets deal with the files for players five and six..

Remember we said we would have a player directly above and one directly below? You Do? Cool! For the Five-player map we will have one above, one below the sphere and the other three in triangular formation about the spheres equator. We have already made three files in the three player map folder where the starting locations for the three players are in this huge triangular formation about the equator, so its an easy copy/paste exercise to begin with.

- Copy all three Mothership files from the folders ‘Revelations3’ to ‘Revelations5’.

10.4.2 - Now we need to create a new player four file for the five player version of the map (Mothership_3.missphere). The co-ordinates for these ships will be ‘0,0,50000’ which is 50km straight up. Away and do that. OK, now repeat for a Player five file; (Mothership_4.missphere), and set the co-ordinates to 0,0,-50000’, which of course, is 50km straight down.

And thats the five player map, lets quickly move onto the Six-player map. This time, we will have four players in a huge square formation around the equator and a single player above and one below again. We have already made every Missphere we need here, so this is merely a matter of copying/pasteing/renaming the relevant files. I'll walk you through it but I'm sure you have seen what I'm up to by now.

10.4.3 - For the Six-player map we will have 4 players about the equator in a big square along with the player above and the player below.

- Copy the four Mothership files from the folders ‘Revelations4’ folder  into ‘Revelations6’ folder, leave them be because they are fine

- Copy the new player four file (Mothership_3.missphere the top player) file from the ‘Revelations5’ folder into the ‘Revelations6’ folder and rename it 'Mothership_4.missphere', then repeat this for the player five file in the five player version folder (Mothership_4.missphere the bottom player), this time copying into the six player version folder as 'Mothership_5.missphere'.

Note; This is most easily accomplished using ‘TextPad’ which supports the multiple file editing and easy interchange between each file you have open. See Appendix C if you want to get hold of TextPad.

 

10.5 - Copying the Resource file and making required changes for each Player number versions.

Now, we wanted each player to begin in his/her own sphere of asteroids, the focal points for our Revelations map are going to be each players starting point. So, we need to add the sphere for the third player as well as move the two existing spheres so they are centred on players One and Two (we moved these players above didn’t we?). We will only have these spheres of asteroids (local player resources I'll call them), around each player, if you play the map two player only two will appear, play 6 player and six will appear, you see?

10.5.1 - If you have not already done so, copy the ‘ResourceSphere_1.missphere’ from Revelations2 into the Revelations3 and Revelations4 folders.

10.5.2 - In Revelations3 folder, open up the ResourceSphere_1.missphere file.

10.5.3 - Its then a simple matter of copying all six lines that make up the local player resources for each players own little cluster, so, we have three of these six-line clusters. So, from the Mothership#.missphere files in this folder, we use the player start co-ordinates as the co-ordinates for each cluster, copy and paste until you have your three clusters sitting at the correct co-ordinates, ie at where all three players start.

Your ResourceSphere in the Revelations3 folder should now have three clusters looking like this;

Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,6000.4,12000.8,0.0,0.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,6000.4,12000.8,45.0,45.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,8000.4,16000.8,0.0,0.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,8000.4,16000.8,45.0,45.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Tiny.dist,30,10000.4,22000.8,0.0,0.0,?,?
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Tiny.dist,30,10000.4,22000.8,45.0,45.0,?,?

Resources    Asteroid,-52323.0,0.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,6000.4,12000.8,0.0,0.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,-52323.0,0.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,6000.4,12000.8,45.0,45.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,-52323.0,0.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,8000.4,16000.8,0.0,0.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,-52323.0,0.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,8000.4,16000.8,45.0,45.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,-52323.0,0.0,0.0,Cylinder,Tiny.dist,30,10000.4,22000.8,0.0,0.0,?,?
Resources    Asteroid,-52323.0,0.0,0.0,Cylinder,Tiny.dist,30,10000.4,22000.8,45.0,45.0,?,?

Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,-45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,6000.4,12000.8,0.0,0.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,-45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,6000.4,12000.8,45.0,45.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,-45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,8000.4,16000.8,0.0,0.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,-45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Asteroid.dist,16,8000.4,16000.8,45.0,45.0,2048,1
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,-45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Tiny.dist,30,10000.4,22000.8,0.0,0.0,?,?
Resources    Asteroid,26162.0,-45313.0,0.0,Cylinder,Tiny.dist,30,10000.4,22000.8,45.0,45.0,?,?

10.5.4 - OK, now you’ve done this, repeat 10.5.3 for the Four-player version (Revelations4)

10.5.5 - Once you have done that, copy the ‘ResourceSphere_1.missphere’ file from the ‘Revelations3’ folder into the ‘Revelations5’ folder and add two more of these 6-line clusters for local player resources at co-ordinates ‘0,5000,0’ and ‘0,-50000,0’. And that's your five player resources sorted.

10.5.6 - Now copy the ‘ResourceSphere_1.missphere’ file from the ‘Revelations4’ folder into the ‘Revelations6’ folder, open up the ‘ResourceSphere_1.missphere’ file from Revelations5 and copy the last two local player resources clusters you created (the clusters at co-ordinates ‘0,5000,0’ and ‘0,-50000,0’), paste them into your Six-Player version of the ‘ResourceSphere_1.missphere’ file. And that's your Six-player map resources sorted.

 

10.6 - Copying the Distribution files.

As for the Distribution files we are not going to bother changing them, as all the clusters are localised and regenerate at one helluva rate. Just copy all three distribution files (Asteroid.dist, DustCloud.dist and Tiny.dist) into all your Revelations# folders.

 

10.7 - Tutorial Summary

Restart Homeworld, start up the map with each player number to check they all work. If they dont all work you need to track down the mistakes which will be nine times out of ten spelling errors. look out for:

Spelling Errors - perhaps typing a name of a missphere file in the Level file wrongly pointing to a wrong mothership file
Format Errors - check that when you copied and pasted you didnt overwrite a comma or not overwrite a parameter so lines now have extra parameters and so on.
Missing Files - have a quick look, just to be sure the all required files are actually present.

I refer you to TAKER's Exception Errors Demystified (Written by TAKER, aka James Tooman) which is a marvelous resource to have when a map keeps crashing Homeworld for no earthly reason.

Did they all work? They should have done if you where being methodical and careful about your work. Just remember to always try to change only a little at a time so errors are more easily tracked.

The way I have done it throughout the tutorial is the way I do things; set up a basic map, keeping it very rough, then add a little at a time, building up the map until the two player is complete then scaling from there. Of course, you may have other ideas of how to go about things, whatever suits you is fine as long as you always be aware of case, spelling and format.

 

Well, thats it, you have done it... Congratulations!

Away you go and dance the ‘Jig of Maply Creation’ while singing the 'Song of Maply Creation' for you have completed your First map! Waaaaay! Three cheers! RA! RA! RA! Big smiles all round and a hearty pat on the back for you. Play your new map, feel good about yourself! Tell your nearest and dearest how wonderful you are. For now you know pretty much everything there is to know about maply creation!

Dylov (Grunter-OMO on WON)

 

Quick Links:

HW Primer:
Chapter Six - Putting it all together

Quick Jump to Relevant Areas in the Primer:
1.3 Directory Content

Quick Jump to Relevant Appendices:
Appendix B: TAKER's Exception Errors Demystified
Notes on Using Excel
Notes on the Homeworld Excel Mapper



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