New Arena zone

[IANumtin]

I've created a zone using Windcatchers OpenZone 1.8. Please remember to BACK UP your current arena.s3d in your eqemu folder before using this. This file will overwrite your current arena.s3d file so don't forget this step.

Download the new arena.s3d file from the link below and unzip it to your eqemu folder.

ftp://ftp.eqemupvp.com/textures/zone.../arena_s3d.zip

**NOTE** If you are going to use this on your server, anyone who logs into your server MUST also have the new file.

Please post here and let me know what you think of the zone, good or bad. Also post if you happen to see any bugs in it and I'll do my best to fix them a.s.a.p.

Thanks to Windcatcher for his help and his program and thanks to Edgar for hosting the file.

If feedback is good I'll continue to create more zones for all to use.

[Windcatcher]

Very very nice. I can't wait to see how it turns out

Two recommendations:

1. I'd set the water level just a smidge higher. it's only waist deep (uness you intended it that way).

2. Check out the southeast corner of your zone. The water area should extend farther south, to the zone edge (go there ingame and you'll see what I mean).

Otherwise, it looks great so far. I can see, though, that I should see about making some more taxtures to make the land more varied.

By the way, OpenZone 1.9 will support object grouping and ungrouping. I'm putting the finishing touches on it and it might be ready sometime tomorrow.

WC

[IANumtin]

Thanks for the feedback Windcatcher. I'll check that corner again, I must have missed it. I've been creating textures as well, in fact I think I only used two or three of yours. I sent Edgar the texture files and the .SCN file but I don't see it on the site as of yet. He may not have had time to upload it.

EDIT: I take that back, he has the .SCN file up there but not the textures yet. Here's the link,

ftp://ftp.eqemupvp.com/textures/zone.../arena_scn.zip

Anybody wanting to play with it feel free. You'll probably need Open Zone 1.8 though since it was created with that version. Also note that the file name within the .zip is called trial1.scn not arena.

[Windcatcher]

I just made a bunch more teztures that let you make roads along diagonals (it wasn't easy). I've zipped up my textures to save space and replaced my textures on the FTP site with the ZIP file.

I also added another ZIP file that has a couple miscellaneous "textures": a wooden sign height map you can use to make signs like the "The Last Drop" sign, and a bitmap showing the surface map I used to make the sign. They're designed for use with Texture Maker. Basically, you go into the advanced shader, set the height map and the surface map, and set the height amplification to -2% or -3%. I also have the two light sources at the lower left and lower right corners, respectivaly, and everything else set to zero.

WC

[IANumtin]

Hehe, you're a step ahead of me because I thought about the same thing with the diagonal roads. I'll download those textures and give them a run tomorrow. Thanks for the sign design also. I'm currently working on another zone with snow and deeper water.

I've also corrected the SE Corner of Arena but I'll wait to e-mail it to Edgar to see if anymore bugs are reported. No sense in clouding up Edgar's e-mail everytime there's a bug fix. I'll wait a day or two and see if more need to be corrected before sending the file.

[Windcatcher]

He gave me an FTP username and password. I just upload directly. If you plan on uploading a lot, maybe you should ask him for one too...

WC

[IANumtin]

Hmmm....over 100 views and only one comment?

[Edgar1898]

Hmmm....over 100 views and only one comment?

Heh thats the nature of the emu, I would say about half of the people that use it never make a post (unless they need to to save their acct) :P

The only files I received from you Numtin were arena_scn.zip and arena_s3d.zip, if you had any others please send them over.

Edit: Received and uploaded them.

[IANumtin]

Thanks Edgar. Here's the link to the textures for others:

ftp://ftp.eqemupvp.com/textures/textures/textures.zip

[killspree]

The zone looks really cool, but there's a problem with it that we need to figure out.

I was playing around spawning some NPCs in it, and they all appeared with part of their legs under the ground - is this being caused by something in the s3d file that tells the npc where the "ground" is?

[IANumtin]

I've noticed the same thing with the ground as well as solid objects such as the floors of buildings. I think one thing I figured out is when creating the object, it actually has to be flipped 180 degrees. Here's an example:

Let's say I create a block (such as the floor inside the large building) and I give it the length, width and height. When entering the height, it actually comes UP from the z axis. Now most people know that NPC's in Emu ignore walls, trees, etc. So when spawning the NPC, it's actually going off of the original z axis that the block was created from, ignoring the "height" at which I put the block. To remedy this, I'm trying something new. When creating the block, I'm actually flipping the block over 180 degrees after creating it so it puts the z axis of the block on top instead of the bottom. Hopefully it will spawn the NPC to actually stand ON the block instead of IN the block.

I'll post results when I'm done testing it and if it works, I'll flip everything 180 degrees and reposition. Then update the download. As far as the ground, I'm at a loss with this. Maybe Windcatcher has an idea or maybe it's something he'd be willing to look into.

[Windcatcher]

It shouldn't make a difference. As far as the client is concerned, every polygon, whether part of the ground or a building, is the same, since we're dealing only with world geometry and not placeable objects. What the mobs ignore is placeable objects, and trees, EC huts, etc. fall under this category; those things are *not* in the main world-geometry file, and this is the only thing the mobs look at.

I don't think anything is wrong with the polygons per se, or you'd fall under the world. The .WLD file contains a b-tree that the client needs for collision detection. It's possible that something else is wrong, like a camera position or something, but I'm using the default values that all zones have, so I doubt it. I look forward to hearing what you find.

WC

EDIT: Actually, I thought about this some more. I think they ignore *all* polygons and only go by what the server tells them. Doesn't the server have a file for each zone that gives it the Z coordinate at any given X,Y position? Maybe that's the problem.

[IANumtin]

Here's the results of my testing in the Arena and the new zone I'm creating. I've tested both:

1. Fliping the object 180 degrees did not work. Spawning some things still showed half the body or even just the feet still under ground or under the object.

2. What I did notice (say for instance arena) is that depending on what I spawned there was a different effect. Say for instance I'm a Barbarian GM. I spawn a race that's equal to my size like a Vah Shir. It placed the Vah Shir just fine. When spawning something like an Ogre (an ogre is slightly bigger than a Barbarian) the feet were set in the ground or object. When I spawned a dragon, half the body was buried.

Here's the temporary solution for those spawning mobs in the newly created zones:

Whatever it is your spawning, make sure you're a slight bit bigger than what it is you're trying to spawn. For instance, I made myself size 10 and spawned an ogre. It was perfectly placed. I then made myself size 31 and tried with a dragon...same thing, perfect.

If you make yourself to big, it will "float" the NPC so you have to experiment a little with it. I know it's a pain but after you tinker with it for a bit it's not all that bad.

I found that if I make myself larger so that I'm looking at eye level to the NAME of the NPC above its head it comes out about right.

Windcatcher, the other thing I was thinking of was that there's more than one file loaded in to run a zone. .CFG's, etc. Is it possible that those files are coded to work with regular .S3D's and not created ones that's causing the problem? Just a thought, I'm not a coder so be gentle....I'm fragile

[Edgar1898]

You might be using a map file. Look for a file in the Map directory named Arena.map, if you find the file it should be 62 KB. Try renaming it and trying again. Also try to use #loc instead of /loc when placing mobs.

[killspree]

This was occuring while using the in-game #spawn command.