In Game Map Editor

[Praxiiz]

Just had my first successful attempt at in game map editing, and I wanted to share my success. I only have one command finished which raises or lowers map tiles. The map is changed while the game is running on both the server end and the client end. Changes are seen immediately in the client.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3bz_O2ybl4

 

[Macil]

I'm down if you need testers! Great job on this so far!

 

[IGZero]

I can not wait until this is released!

 

[Pakko]

youll be lucky if he releases it as there is no mention of this i think he may have put the idea out there to let us go try work it out for ourselves, i would love to know where to start looking to make commands as this is something i need to learn and if Praxiiz is nice enough then he might also let us know were to look at making this land editor possible.
Great work though mate really good for it to work on server and client end, would be so greeaaat if you would release it to us

 

[shrundowr]

This looks promising, keep upo the good work. Hope to see a release soon

 

[Praxiiz]

There is a lot more work to be done before any kind of release could be done. Right now this only works with a single client version. Not only do I need to build the rest of the framework and commands, but I also need to modify the dlls that are injected into the client so they will handle different clients. I also need to make it handle statics. This is a good proof of concept though, and is encouraging. I have plans to not only make it a map editor, but to allow the option of letting player actions change the map under certain circumstances. (I.E. Dynamite, mining, stuff like that)

 

[Macil]

Can you make plans to have entered into your will that the source code be released in the event of your unexpected death? Too many projects around here make big promises and the people who start the projects disappear before ever finishing or releasing their projects, or releasing their source code so someone else can pick up where they left off lol.

 

[m309]

Very very cool.

 

[Vorspire]

Indeed very cool, the proof of concept is surely there and it's looking very promising.
You mention that players' actions will alter the landscape, this could lead to very massive potential for all sorts of things, a fully dynamic world that is constantly changing.
The only thing is how are other players affected? I'm guessing you're sending map patches on-the-fly using your custom client mod ("injecting a dll")?
What are the implications of data bandwidth usage with this system? I know it's hard to figure out, so I'm not looking for any numbers as an answer here

Also, given that you do enable a "terrain phasing" feature, will there be the option to only display the changes to certain players, say, depending on their quest complete percentage for that region?
This is what World of Warcraft does, the more you advance through story-line quests, the more the map and terrain and monsters change to suit.
If your system can provide this in the future, I'll be one extremely impressed and gratuitous developer

Just a note though, if you are using an "on-the-fly" method of patching client files, you may have just stumbled upon the most efficient way to provide shard patches, given there are so many people who don't want to run 3rd party applications alongside UO

 

[Macil]

Indeed very cool, the proof of concept is surely there and it's looking very promising.
You mention that players' actions will alter the landscape, this could lead to very massive potential for all sorts of things, a fully dynamic world that is constantly changing.
The only thing is how are other players affected? I'm guessing you're sending map patches on-the-fly using your custom client mod ("injecting a dll")?
What are the implications of data bandwidth usage with this system? I know it's hard to figure out, so I'm not looking for any numbers as an answer here

Also, given that you do enable a "terrain phasing" feature, will there be the option to only display the changes to certain players, say, depending on their quest complete percentage for that region?
This is what World of Warcraft does, the more you advance through story-line quests, the more the map and terrain and monsters change to suit.
If your system can provide this in the future, I'll be one extremely impressed and gratuitous developer

Just a note though, if you are using an "on-the-fly" method of patching client files, you may have just stumbled upon the most efficient way to provide shard patches, given there are so many people who don't want to run 3rd party applications alongside UO

Hrm, does this mean it could potentially be possible to alter landscapes while playing? For example like, miners can alter a cave as they dig material up? Or am I understanding this wrong?

 

[Vorspire]

Hrm, does this mean it could potentially be possible to alter landscapes while playing? For example like, miners can alter a cave as they dig material up? Or am I understanding this wrong?

There is a lot more work to be done before any kind of release could be done. Right now this only works with a single client version. Not only do I need to build the rest of the framework and commands, but I also need to modify the dlls that are injected into the client so they will handle different clients. I also need to make it handle statics. This is a good proof of concept though, and is encouraging. I have plans to not only make it a map editor, but to allow the option of letting player actions change the map under certain circumstances. (I.E. Dynamite, mining, stuff like that)

He suggested it, I just embellished the idea

 

[clark71822]

I can already envision modified magery spells...meteor swarm that actually makes small craters in the ground...earthquake makes an actual fissure just to name a couple

 

[Macil]

I can already envision modified magery spells...meteor swarm that actually makes small craters in the ground...earthquake makes an actual fissure just to name a couple

Absolutely epic! How about a blizzard spell that freezes the ground temporarily or what not? Or a fire field which chars it or turns grass or snow to dirt to appear charred? Limitless possibilities! =)

 

[Nockar]

Neat idea

 

[pooka01]

I dont want to break the concept because its really good, but, if it patches while playing, a staff having fun changing the landscape, and players that spam metheor swarm and make craters, if the patches are saved like that then, if you leave, and join another server with the same patches, it will affect your gameplay somewhere else.
Suggestion to this: It would be nice to have a kind of gump that ask if you want to create a new folder for the files, or overriding. It would be secure in that way

 

[Hiring Man]

Or an even better solution take the idea of CUO a folder for the shard and downloads into there for the client on that server. Lol Easyer

 

[Praxiiz]

Small update and preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilPETbQOQi0

Server now writes map & static files to disk (still needs a lot of optimization because of save time impact)
Change tileid command integrated for map tiles
Z height changes now possible for statics

Network impact will depend highly on the amount of changes done to an area. Streaming the entire map and statics will not be practical (192 bytes per 8x8 map block for terrain alone, statics would be even worse).

 

[Macil]

You know even if this is ineffective for streaming to players on the fly you have to admit its a major benefit in world building alone if you do this on a private test shard with your staff members only. I think thats probably what this is going to be most useful for.

 

[Vorspire]

You could use the effects from things like spells to temporarily alter the visual effects seen, like the changes made to terrain would not be saved, but would still be displayed.
For a small example, the earthquake spell could cause a canyon effect to demonstrate that it was an earthquake, but does not permanently affect the map itself.

 

[Hiring Man]

What else that would be amazing too see is the freeze command does it directly in the server so no need to patch . Would be done exactly like these commands and freeZes directly on the map and client