Maps again! Give me maps!

[Darmian]

There are NO maps from Imperial City outdoor areas in the AE. NONE.  Can we have some ASAP please? Not to mention First Ward, Night Ward and Last Bastion(*). It really puts a dent in trying to create Praetorian AE adventures when so many of the areas are simply not there.

 

(Special note:  Just give us all the maps everywhere, except the Galaxy City Tutorial.)

 

(*) Yes, I know it's an instanced map but it's still "outdoor".

[Mr. Vee]

I have it on good authority that maps don't love you like I love you.

[LonePhantom777]

I think it's a little more complicated than that. Something to do with code-wrangling?

Seriously, though, I'd like to have more of the newer maps in the AE, though I recognize that it's a little harder than you'd think because of the way the game is coded.

[Darmian]

I agree it's probably more complicated than I imagine, but it's also entirely doable, isn't a major introduction of plot content or powersets so shouldn't be impossible.

[CursedSorcerer]

I have a question regarding AE. Why is the only outdoor map for Sharkhead Isle the Sky Raider base?

[Faultline]

This is not difficult but it is very time consuming. Every enemy spawn, hostage and collection location has to be placed by hand. Older maps had generic spawns that translated easily to AE, newer maps are heavily scripted and don't have generic mission spawns. Slices of the city zones obviously have no mission spawns. It takes several hours to place and test the spawn points for a single map, and that's why you don't see a lot of them added to the AE. For the Arena you only need to drop a few player spawn points and call it a day, that's why eight maps could be added in a week.

[Darmian]

3 hours ago, Faultline said:

This is not difficult but it is very time consuming. Every enemy spawn, hostage and collection location has to be placed by hand. Older maps had generic spawns that translated easily to AE, newer maps are heavily scripted and don't have generic mission spawns. Slices of the city zones obviously have no mission spawns. It takes several hours to place and test the spawn points for a single map, and that's why you don't see a lot of them added to the AE. For the Arena you only need to drop a few player spawn points and call it a day, that's why eight maps could be added in a week.

Thanks for answering, and it looks like a lot of tedious work.  But I'm still going to ask for it to be done. As an advocate of the AE as a legitimate alternative to demanding Piecemeal somehow cloning themselves and neither of them ever sleeping again I don't see it as being too big an ask.

 

Now, my hyperbolic "ALL DA MAPS" may be too big an ask, but perhaps some.  Would it be worthwhile us AE writers looking at the current list and comparing it with what is missing and of that "missing" list, whittling it to a set of doables?

 

And as always I caveat these things with great appreciation for all you wonderful devs do!

[Ankylosaur]

@Faultline - thanks for this. It's nice to know what goes into it.

 

Based on your comments, maps like Bank Heists and Mayhem Missions are probably heavily scripted, which is why as a category, they would not be an easy port. But also based on your comments it sounds like most CoV and prior era maps are probably relatively easy. Is that true? I know, as an example, that Orenbega map in the clouds map (Scirocco arc maybe?) used to be in the AE and is gone now (not sure why). I recall doing many missions at the Cage Consortium plant but that map has never been in AE.

 

Maybe if people look for maps from that era its more doable?  

 

Also from that era we have several maps that may be a great example of how hard these are to port which also renders them less usable in AE: President Marchand's office, (no real back to the map, though there is a "back" marker on a middle floor buried in a wall), the Seraph lab (which has a front marker in the back), and some serpent maps (which have no real "back"), the freak olympics map (no back), the Recluse Victory map (which has non functioning elevators) etc. 

 

I personally don't really "need" more maps, though they would be a nice to have. I enjoy the limitations in a small way. It forces me to be creative with what I have. Recently, for example, I did a story on the various Carnivals in part because there are those outside Carnival maps, which spurred some ideas to try to leverage them. (Carnivals of Light, War and Vengeance trying to find homes in Paragon after the Praetorian exodus.)  But then my stories morph based on what is available - that may just be me.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Ankylosaur

[Darmian]

Well, YOU don't need more maps, @Ankylosaur....yeah you do!.... but you won't object if they show up! Maps that are doable at the least could be prioritized, and by prioritized I mean moved to the top of the AE To Do list as opposed to prioritized over something more important. That said, their being no outdoor Imperial City maps when there are definitely some in missions is a glaring gap for anyone attempting to write Praetorian material.

 

President Marchand's Office is a pain.  There is an enormous outdoor area that cannot be used at all, along with the issues mentioned above.

[Ankylosaur]

Don't get me wrong - more maps would be nice. 🙂

[Umagon 23]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:22 AM, Faultline said:

This is not difficult but it is very time consuming. Every enemy spawn, hostage and collection location has to be placed by hand. Older maps had generic spawns that translated easily to AE, newer maps are heavily scripted and don't have generic mission spawns. Slices of the city zones obviously have no mission spawns. It takes several hours to place and test the spawn points for a single map, and that's why you don't see a lot of them added to the AE. For the Arena you only need to drop a few player spawn points and call it a day, that's why eight maps could be added in a week.

could this map cleaning and prepping be something people could volunteer to do? 

 

Like we are given instructions on how to prep a map, then we do it, and submit?

 

I'm completely ignorant about programming or how to do things, but...couldn't there be a test-server-like enviroment where people could get privledges to wipe it? or is it more of a deep-code-secret-sauce kind of thing?

[Take One]

I will also offer my time to try to prep maps, since unlike Ankylosaur I'm creatively void and need more maps.

[Ankylosaur]

I wonder if all the maps on this demo list are old enough that they would easy to make available?

 

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Demo_Editing/Scenic_Maps

 

Many already are after all, but even of those, maybe the fact that many of those are bugged/quirky (Marchand's Office, Freaklympics, etc) speaks to how tricky they are to convert.

 

But I'd love that portal corp exterior map. 

 

And if you had not seen this - its a handy reference that i never remember to use 🙂 : https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Mission_Architect_Unique_Maps

Edited January 30, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Darmian]

Right.  Again with the MAPS! GIVE ME MAPS! Two maps that we DO have, can we get them edited somehow?  These are the WSPDR map and President Marchand's Office.  The former allows you to enter the WSPDR building but that area is not listed separately to allow you to put anything in it.  So perhaps an edit like we have for the Mercy Island Factory which has that little building in it?  As for Marchand?  Adding Spawn points to the Penthouse is needed, and as per the previous example, adding the outside area as an actual map that can have things spawned on it.