Adding Placeable objects to azone generated map files

[Angelox]

Ok thanks, I still have my azone.ini file, and will re-make the maps and post the new ones during the week.

[Angelox]

Here is all the maps I had posted on this thread earlier, but with the new updated Azone2. These include placeable objects in them.

[Angelox]

Here's two more Maps;
Crystal
GreatDivide

All the new Maps are still posted here

[Angelox]

We got the Eqemu Maps Repository working -
You should be able to hook up to the Maps SVN and easily keep your Maps up to date.

I've placed some utilities for making Maps in the Trunk - most of them were made by Derision. It's a simple process, the s3d files in your Eveyquest directory are what you use for converting. for example crushbome.s3d is one you can run "azone2.exe crushbone" and it will create crushbone.map. But azone2 has more features; For example, in Crushbone Castle's main room, where Lord Darish spawns, there's a big table and a rug where players like to camp ("mua"). The default map doesn't include details like this unless you add them. So, before, when mobs/kill were getting stuck there, now after I added these objects to the azone.ini file like so;
crushbone.s3d,22,23,24,29,32,33,23,24,28,31,39,43
They now "see" the table and stand on it instead of in it.
The process is simple, the more people we have making new, detailed maps. the faster this work will get done - if you want to help and are not a member please post.
The source for azone2 is in the EqEmulator source/utils.
If you do make updates, please update the azone.ini file located in the azone_utils directory - so we can keep a history of what we added

[Aldest]

Thank you for this post and the map SVN Angelox. It is a big help!

[Angelox]

I just realized a mistake I was making, I'll post it maybe others are also; the viewer-tools default to s3d. for example, "listobj.exe tutorialb" looks at tutorialb.s3d. "listobj.exe tutorialb.eqg" will tell you it can't find tutorialb.eqg.s3d. But if you pull tutorialb.s3d out of the directory, then it will properly display tutorialb.eqg objects with just a plain "listobj.exe tutorialb".

Apparantly, it looks for the S3d first, if no S3d, then the eqg. probably should be the other way around, since if there is an eqg with the same name, that's what the client will use.

This was a problem I had and why I was wondering some things would not display with me.
All three tools will do this (put S3d files up front and not display eqg, if both are present).
Make sure you're working with the right file when you make the maps.

[trevius]

Probably a good idea about switching around the order the tools check for file types.

BTW, I was wondering if there is any reason not to just include all of the objects that objlist outputs, instead of only selecting a key few that are most important to LoS. I realize that objects like trees and rocks aren't ultra-important for LoS, but I don't think it is particularly bad to have trees and stuff blocking LoS. The main question I have is; does adding every object in the object list cause a huge overhead on LoS processing? I have tried it with a few SoF zones which produce 20MB+ map files in some cases. If the CPU isn't going to go crazy by doing that, I don't see any reason not to do it. And, if so, maybe Azone2 could have an option put in that will combine itself with the object list tool. Then, it will list all objects for the zone and automatically build the map file to include all of those objects to save considerable work and time to check each one out by hand manually. Maybe a feature like that could be added as an option when running Azone2 or something.

[Derision]

Originally Posted by Leere

DAT

The format for the terrain files. I haven't really managed to display these yet, but they are at least parsing correctly.

From the ZON file, two parameters are needed to generate any kind of worthwhile terrain. QUADSPERTILE, to load the height values correctly, and UNITSPERVERT, to create an actual quad grid.

...

I ignored this post when Leere first made it, as I had no interest in the EQG 'Version 4' format at the time, however there are a number of Secret Of Faydwer Zones that use this format, so I started to look into it further and am finally at a point to be able to create .maps for these zones, e.g.

Dragonscale Hills, in-game view:


.map file (shown as coloured triangles)


.map file (show as pure triangles)


I'm in the final testing/code cleanup phase before comitting the azone2 patches to create maps for these SoF EQGV4 zones, however this post is really just to recognise Leere's great contribution here, which was the foundation for that work, and which if he hadn't have shared, I may never have got this far.

So, if anyone other than Trevius is interested in creating content for the SoF EQG v4 zones with working .maps, then it should soon be possible.

/salute Leere

[pfyon]

Wow that's awesome. I didn't think we knew how to do that.

[trevius]

Derision, you never cease to amaze! I don't know about others, but I am really excited about your work on this. Many thanks to you and Leere

If the collector tools ever get to working order again, I am sure more people will be able to start filling in SoF content. The EQGv4 zones after Titanium are mostly the outdoor zones, and IMO, many of them are some of the coolest zones EQ has ever seen. That dragonscale zone alone is amazing, and the new revamps of the old zones like Sro/Oasis and Commonlands are pretty cool too. There are a total of about 35 EQGv4 zones that come with SoF, and other than the Burried Sea ones (which are mostly too much alike each other), there are some really great and unique zones.

Here is a list of all of the EQGv4 zones as far as I know, including the short name, the long name and some brief notes I made about the zones when I first started exploring them in EQEmu:

arcstone - Arcstone - Big outdoor zone. Looks pretty nice!
atiiki - Jewel of Atiiki - Very cool tropical volcano zone with desert and a few pyramids
barren - Barren Coast - Tropical coastline with huts, a lighthouse and some islands
blacksail - Blacksail Folly - Small island with a big pirate camp
buriedsea - The Buried Sea - Sea with some islands like OOT
commonlands - Commonlands - Nice remake of east and west commons combined
cryptofshade - Crypt of Shade - Decent dungeon - Looks unfinished
deadbone - Deadbone Reef - Didn't make notes on this yet.
devastion - The Devastation - Huge outdoor desert/tundra/hills zone with cool forts and camps
direwind - Direwind Cliffs - Large outdoor zone that looks like a modern burning woods
dragonscale - Dragonscale Hills - Huge and cool outdoor zone with lots of structures and valleys
elddar - The Elddar Forest - Huge and awesome woodsy outdoor elven zone with forts
hillsofshade - Hills of Shade - Huge and cool hilly zone with a coast and shipwreck and an island
icefall - Icefall Glacier - Nice snowy mountain range area with lots of camps and caverns with chambers
innothuleb - Innothule Swamp - Looks almost just like the original accept updated
jardelshook - Jardels Hook - Cool tropical island zone with a shripwreck bar
lopingplains - Loping Plains - Very nice wooded outdoors with hills and a river. Looks like Vangaurd
maidensgrave - Maidens Grave - Island that is mostly rocks
mesa - Goru`Kar Mesa - Really cool and huge outdoor zone with valleys, caverns and a river
mistythicket - Misty Thicket - Great remake of Misty Thicket. Same exact layout just updated
monkeyrock - Monkey Rock - Another cool tropical island with watchtowers and an observatory
moors - Blightfire Moors - Nice large outdoor elven looking farmland and fields
northro - North Ro - Great large remake of North Ro
oceanoftears - Ocean Of Tears - Nice remake of OOT - Similar setup as before
redfeather - Redfeather Isle - Nice medium size island with above the ground huts
southro - South Ro - Cool remake of South Ro and Oasis combined
steamfontmts - Steamfont Mountains - Nice remake
steppes - The Steppes - Large outdoor zone with tundra, forest and ruins
suncrest - Suncrest Isle - Very cool little island with a high volcano surrounded by smoke
sunderock - Sunderock Springs - Large outdoor badlands with springs and caverns
thalassius - Thalassius, the Coral Keep - Large outdoor zone with lots of underground rooms
theater - Theater of Blood - Huge vampire looking outdoor zone with red grass and gothic castle structures
toxxulia - Toxxulia Forest - Nice remake of Tox and maybe Kerra Isle?
valdeholm - Valdeholm - Amazing medium sized icey Giant town. Definitely worth using!
zhisza - Zhisza, the Shissar Sanctuary - Valleys with paths and trees and a big pyramid with lots of hallways

I updated my Server's Wiki with these EQGv4 zones, and will probably get some screenshots of each of them up on that page soon as well.

http://stormhavenserver.com/mediawik...ets_of_Faydwer

[Secrets]

Very nice, Derision! I'm impressed.

[Derision]

I'm still 'prettying up' the source , however I did a test compile on Windows and have uploaded EQGV4 compatible .exes for azone2/listobj and glmodelviewer to the
download section of the SVN if anyone wants to try them out:

http://code.google.com/p/projecteqem...8.rar&can=2&q=

By default, all objects except for stuff like trees/small rocks etc, are included in the .map for EQG V4s, so you shouldn't have to bother with listobj/azone.ini etc.

[Secrets]

Works for me! I'll upload the maps shortly for servers who are lazy.

[Secrets]

These maps are HUGE! 407mb compressed.

http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/kt6h8l

[Derision]

What concerns me is that some of your maps are significantly smaller than those I generated on my own system.

E.g. your archive has buriedsea.map at 28,010,918 bytes, whereas when I generate the map, I get one of 85MB+

M:\SoF>azone2 buriedsea
AZONE2: EQEmu .MAP file generator with placeable object support.
Attempting to load EQG buriedsea
Unable to open monkeyrocktog.tog
There are 1464324 vertices and 488108 faces.
EQG V4 Placeable Zone Support
ObjectGroupCount = 6398
Processing azone.ini for placeable models.
No azone.ini entry found for zone buriedsea.eqg
After processing placeable objects, there are 4509813 vertices and 1503271 faces.
Bounding box: -5760.00 < x < 6144.00, -5760.00 < y < 6144.00
Building quadtree.
Done building quad tree...
Match counters: 10761035 easy in, 31531640 easy out, 167337 hard in, 0 hard out.
Writing map file.
Map header: Version: 0x01000000. 1503271 faces, 15881 nodes, 1745816 facelists
Done writing map (81.59MB).

M:\SoF>dir buriedsea.map
 Volume in drive M has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is C80A-2DCA

 Directory of M:\SoF

29/12/2009  23:42        85,550,395 buriedsea.map
               1 File(s)     85,550,395 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  131,352,825,856 bytes free

Strange ... Secrets, could you run azone2 on buriedsea and post your output like I just did above ? Thanks