Ostinyo's Mapping Tutorial

[Deathwishez]

Add this stuff:

NEVER: Leave a map you are editting by closing Blockland. You MUST disconnect, or all progress will be lost. It does not matter whether or not you saved.

NEVER: Use .jpeg files! Use .png! Players that connect to the server will not be able to download the .jpeg files!

NEVER: Leave the mission without saving and relighting the scene.

NEVER: Only paint terrain. The terrain file will only overwrite if the terrain has been changed. Just nudge terrain somewhere, relight the scene, save the mission, and disconnect.

WARNING: Painting has no undo! DON'T SCREW UP! Just kidding. But seriously, there's no undo on painting. Pain in the butt, right?

I've had bad experience with all of these.


Also, I'm glad to see that you've become an experienced map maker.

Oh, and I use "Set Height" all of the time! It's good for going "F- this. I'm trying again" or quickly lowering vast amounts of land.

Also, explain the differences in use a soft and hard brush. Some people may not know.

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[Wesley Williams]

OK, I'll add those tips in a bit. Although I didn't know the first one :O I'm pretty sure I've left maps by closing Blockland instead of disconnecting :/

[Uxie]

By changing the heigt slightly... just use excavate or add dirt once and smooth/flatten the terrain again.

Aw, and I already made models for it and they are on the map. :/

[Wesley Williams]

Aw, and I already made models for it and they are on the map. :/

Then use excavate just once in a small area and flatten. Then you can duplicate the now floating build lower onto the terrain. Unless you mean something other than a build by models.

[leonstormrat23]

You should give us a tutorial on how to make a mission dark or light.

[legowillmaniac1]

Good, that way Mac users can follow along for the most part. Although people really should just use Windows 7... it's amazing :3

Dude MAC is awesome to me keep your opinions to yourself

[Wesley Williams]

You should give us a tutorial on how to make a mission dark or light.

I will mention it more in the Sky section.

Dude MAC is awesome to me keep your opinions to yourself

I know, I like Macs too :) I'm just more of a PC kind of guy, it's more customizable.

[XenocideII]

DeathWish. Thank you so much for the .jpeg files vs .png files thing, it helped me.

[Wesley Williams]

DeathWish. Thank you so much for the .jpeg files vs .png files thing, it helped me.

Ya thanks Boom, those are some vital details I need to add. I would also still like to know more about particles - making my own. :)

[|Orange|]

I need help. How do you make a new directory?

[KOODABALICIOUS]

I am making a map, but first I need a question answered. What is the red borders that you get in-game when in mission editor? Is this where the map repeats? If so, can I make it bigger?

[Wesley Williams]

I am making a map, but first I need a question answered. What is the red borders that you get in-game when in mission editor? Is this where the map repeats? If so, can I make it bigger?

Yes, I should explain those. They are the edge of the map, and you may change the size of the map by changing the terrain square size. (I wrote about this) However changing the square size above 8 breaks water.

I need help. How do you make a new directory?

Adding a folder into your add-ons folder will make it appear in the directory.

NEVER: Leave a map you are editting by closing Blockland. You MUST disconnect, or all progress will be lost. It does not matter whether or not you saved.

I confirmed that this is not true. I close Blockland after editing maps all the time and the map is saved just fine.

Ma**ive canyon?

Haha, I didn't see your post before :P That's because I originally made this tutorial on my old community's forum (BLIP Forums). I had the Forums censored to all cuss words and spin-offs, meaning if it recognized the word in a larger word, it would censor it.

Changed it now, and added some new stuff. Next on to writing about Torque Constructor...

[Dglider]

Heheh, good luck.  I don't know if you know this but I thought it important enough to mention:

When exporting a legacy dif from torque constructor,  save the file, shut down and reload constructor, load the file, then export it without changing anything.  If you don't do this collisions will be messed up. ;P

Oh, some other stuff.  When rotating an object, when you select rotate constructor select the center point IT thinks you should rotate the object around.  This isn't necessarily the best point.

The scale of a 1x1 brick in torque is 0.6 high by 0.5 wide.  So every plate is 0.2 high.  This is very useful when trying to make objects that align to the Grid in blockland.

Most of the csg stuff splits apart objects in weird ways.  So I don't suggest using them.

Design everything piece by piece and put it together in mission editor. To help with this, also align it all to a grid.  That way it will be easier to put together.

My advice isn't exactly professional, but it works for me! ;)

[Wesley Williams]

Yup, that's important stuff :) I'll add it in the Torque section.

Thanks for the tip on exporting... That may be a HUGE problem of mine. If it is, you are my savor, and I am in your debt, Dglider.

[DerrickJMitchell]

some one quoted "NEVER: Use .jpeg files! Use .png! Players that connect to the server will not be able to download the .jpeg files!" i use JPEG and all the BL maps i know of uses it as well... this is my first map so im not as vetren but ppl who have viseted it sead they can see the textures just fine.
the only problem i know i have is that my map is only plable when in "Folder form" it works online as well
but i can not play it in zip as soon as i try packaging the files and adding to my BL maps... the map isent a choice in the maps -start game any more... is there a solution to this?