Arrakis.py map script discussion

[cephalo]

Anyway, Davids recommendation worked and the new polar terrain looks awsome. I noticed that there is a polar_coast and a polar_ocean now. I can put the polar_coast to work straight away, but do we need the polar_ocean?

Also, that spice is a little shocking. I like the big pile of cinnamon look, but I wonder if there's an alpha channel we can use to make it blend with the terrain a bit?

 

[davidlallen]

It's not like we have a lot of mapscripts to maintain. I be honest I think we should clear out the ones we have and just go with Dunipelago and Arrakis (when it is finalised).

That is fine. It can only be done when we cut 1.4. You cannot remove files with a patch. Let us add the two lines to archipelago and remove the other mapscripts. If we find the new arrakis script playable when 1.4 is cut, we can have both in the release.

 

[cephalo]

Ok, I put up a new version that uses the POLAR_COAST. I didn't use the ocean because I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

 

[Deliverator]

Cool. Look forward to trying the new version. The polar ocean terrain might be overkill. I just thought it could be used to create a worm line around the polar centre. We can then prevent worms from entering the worm line, meaning that units are safe from worm attack there.

Also, that spice is a little shocking. I like the big pile of cinnamon look, but I wonder if there's an alpha channel we can use to make it blend with the terrain a bit?

Sadly, with the tiled solution we have, using alpha results in the glitches and lines that you can see on the surface of the spice patches. In order to resolve this I may have to go the other way and remove partial transparency completely from the spice tiles.

I've spent many hours trying to get it to look better in all circumstances. It seems you can have a smoother alpha blend with big glitches, or harsh/no blending and no glitches. If alpha overlapping worked the way it logically should then there wouldn't be this problem, but it seems to be a game engine limitation. If someone else wants to take up the challenge, then they're welcome, but I've spent most of the time that I want to spend on one single game element - however key it is.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

I downloaded the mapscript, and extracted it into the publicmap folder. But everytime I try to use it, it crashes the game.

 

[Deliverator]

To get it working you need patch 1.3.6, then the polar terrain patch from here and the fixed polargrids.dds. Sorry for all the files, but this is still a work in progress...

I'll probably include the latest mapscript and all the required changes in patch 1.3.8.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

Thnx. I was missing the last 2 files.
Where do I need to put them?
Dont worry about it bieing work in progress.
Im already happy bieing able to play the mod.


I keep getting a corrupted polar terrain patch.

 

[Deliverator]

The polar terrain patch is applied by copying the dune wars folder over the top of the current one. The polargrids.dds goes in /dune wars/assets/art/terrain/textures/ from memory.

 

[davidlallen]

Please note you do not need the arrakis mapscript to play the game. The mod comes with a number of mapscripts, and most people play with the archipelago script.

 

[Deliverator]

@Greeneyedzombie: Probably best of waiting for 1.3.8, I'll include whatever the latest version of Arrakis.py is then.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

Please note you do not need the arrakis mapscript to play the game. The mod comes with a number of mapscripts, and most people play with the archipelago script.

I know.

@Greeneyedzombie: Probably best of waiting for 1.3.8, I'll include whatever the latest version of Arrakis.py is then.

I finally got a working dowlnoad.

Started a few games with the arrakis script and quite often civs start paired right next to each other.

 

[cephalo]

Started a few games with the arrakis script and quite often civs start paired right next to each other.

I will make a new starting plot finder when I have a better idea of exactly how it should be handled.

 

[davidlallen]

I will make a new starting plot finder when I have a better idea of exactly how it should be handled.

I don't know the details of how starting plots are chosen normally. But, if the pole terrain is valuable, every civ must start the same distance away. So, how about restricting start locations to a donut at a certain radius from center, and then more or less spacing them equally around the circle? So a six player game would have one civ roughly every 60 degrees around the circle.

This would produce a game where you can initially affect exactly two other civs, but once you can travel rapidly over sand, you can reach all the other civs. I am not sure if any of the existing mapscripts have this particular orientation.

 

[Ahriman]

There are Ring and Donut and Inland Sea mapscripts which I think all have a somewhat similar idea to this.

 

[Deliverator]

Well, hopefully this will end up being more interesting than those examples and more tailored to this mod.

 

[cephalo]

I don't know the details of how starting plots are chosen normally. But, if the pole terrain is valuable, every civ must start the same distance away. So, how about restricting start locations to a donut at a certain radius from center, and then more or less spacing them equally around the circle? So a six player game would have one civ roughly every 60 degrees around the circle.

This would produce a game where you can initially affect exactly two other civs, but once you can travel rapidly over sand, you can reach all the other civs. I am not sure if any of the existing mapscripts have this particular orientation.

Yeah, I'll probably do something along these lines.

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

Something wich might prevent civs starting in the desert is to make impossible to build cities on dunetiles.

 

[cephalo]

Something wich might prevent civs starting in the desert is to make impossible to build cities on dunetiles.

Yeah this should probably be done if possible.

 

[Deliverator]

There is a <bFound> tag in Civ4TerrainInfos which apparently determines whether it's possible to found a city on the terrain. I'll try it out.

 

[Deliverator]

I am planning to include this script in the 1.3.8 patch. We need to change the Archipelago script so that the terrain changes made for Arrakis.py don't effect it.

I think this comes down to two things:

1) Use the code so that POLAR is not placed at the starting locations. Ideally, polar should appear at the top and bottom of Archipelago I guess.
2) The DESERT terrain is no longer a normal land terrain, it is being rebranded as Dunes , will have no yield and it will not be possible to build a city on it. Therefore this terrain should not be placed by the Archipelago mapscript.

Is someone able to do this, or point me to the lines in the Python and tell me what to change?