A bit confused about where to place DM maps?

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

There appears to be several places that I see various maps are stored. One, apears in the addon folder, and the second placed in the data folder. Where should I actually place my custom DM maps? Also, what generally causes bad assets in mutiplayer LAN based games? I have copied the same bngairdm1.bzn map to both pc's along with the custom models that I made for the death match as spawn ivbnghawk and spawn ivxwing. The map also has various weapons crates placed within the map.

When I start the match via bzone.exe the new game on each system loads fine with all assets intact, but if I join a game started on either system; the resulting error message yields a bad assets player whoever has bad assets and was auto kicked? Some help please.

[Nielk1]

NOT IN DATA. data has always been wrong, but so many people just shove stuff in there.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

In the addon folder? I'll try putting them in there. Thanks N1. Any feedback on the bad assets issue? Geeze, making a few stinkin custom dm maps shouldn't be so damn frustrating. PS: how do I upload mpi dm's so I can get some maps tested by other players?

[Nielk1]

Personally I started making DM maps to test my tunnels and found it easy and fast.

[GSH]

To try and avoid bad assets, do the following:

(1) Ensure you're starting with good assets. Play a map (or few) of the same type as yours to ensure things work
(2) Put all your assets in 1 folder, maybe 2 folders at max
(3) Share that folder/folders over the network.
(4) On second machine, delete that folder/folders, re-copy from host.

Older versions of BZ2 were more picky about .msh files needing to be identical between server and client. It's not enough to ensure the .xsi was identical; the .msh could be built slightly differently on different machines. That's why 1.3 editor build reminds modders to move the .msh file to the folder(s) mentioned in step #2 above.

-- GSH

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

How do I get my maps online so other players can help me test them? Is Gamespy the place to start?

[General BlackDragon]

You put them in the following path:

addon/missions/Multiplayer/MAPFOLDER/

Then someone hosts and picks the map.

Optionally, in 1.3 pb4+ you can put them in maps13/missions/Multiplayer/MAPFOLDER/

Note that MAPFOLDER is a folder, usually with the name of the map, such as "BNGDM01" or something, wich then contains the bzn, wat, ter, sky, etc files.

I wonder what you meant by "is gamespy the place to start?"

[GSH]

How do I get my maps online so other players can help me test them? Is Gamespy the place to start?

Trust me on this one - when you're first developing maps, the very best thing to have is 2 computers (laptops, whatever), close enough that you can copy test versions to them. Because, for your first map(s) you make, you will be doing so. A lot. Before you give your map to someone else, you really need to make sure it works decently well. Otherwise, you're going to burn out whomever you're testing with while you try and debug things. Basically, in a really small community like BZ2, you're going to be begging for others to help test, so you better make sure you don't piss them off while you're still learning.

I've got my desktop and a laptop located 2 feet apart at home. When doing MP work, you need that.

As to transferring files online, you can try filefront, but please read my big paragraph above first.

-- GSH

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

One post says to place multiplayer maps in data/missions/multiplayer. The relavent section is quoted below.

Getting the maps to work in Multiplayer
Take all of the map files from the addon folder. In windows explorer or my computer, go to: C:\ProgramFiles\BattlezoneII\data\missions\multiplayer , then make a new folder naming it the name of your map, and place all of its files in there. Next you need to create an .inf file for it. Copy and inf file from another map, and put it in your maps folder. Change the name to the name of your maps. Now edit it. Change the line mapTga = "name.bmp"
put the name of your maps .bmp file instead. At the top change the name of the map. And for mapDesc = "name.odf" change it to mapDesc = "yourmapname.odf"
You could also use yourmapname.txt, any text file really. Create a text file with the name you put for mapDesc = "name.odf" and place it in the maps folder. (The text file is for the map description)

I see I need to add another folder in addon under multiplayer and name it mapfolder.

Can the maps be tested over a home lan? If that's possible then my nephew could help me test the maps before I even consider releasing online...would this work GSH?

[General BlackDragon]

One post says to place multiplayer maps in data/missions/multiplayer. The relavent section is quoted below.

Getting the maps to work in Multiplayer
Take all of the map files from the addon folder. In windows explorer or my computer, go to: C:\ProgramFiles\BattlezoneII\data\missions\multiplayer ,

- The idiot that wrote that is wrong. The CORRECT path is addon\mission\Multiplayer\

then make a new folder naming it the name of your map, and place all of its files in there. Next you need to create an .inf file for it. Copy and inf file from another map, and put it in your maps folder. Change the name to the name of your maps. Now edit it. Change the line mapTga = "name.bmp"
put the name of your maps .bmp file instead. At the top change the name of the map. And for mapDesc = "name.odf" change it to mapDesc = "yourmapname.odf"
You could also use yourmapname.txt, any text file really. Create a text file with the name you put for mapDesc = "name.odf" and place it in the maps folder. (The text file is for the map description)

This part is correct.

I see I need to add another folder in addon under multiplayer and name it mapfolder.

Not specifically, the guy said the same thing in the post, name it anything you like, just make some folder to put all your map's stuff in. You could name it jimmybeanssausage if you really wanted to. So long as it is SOMEWHERE inside of "addon\missions\Multiplayer\" it will work.

Can the maps be tested over a home lan? If that's possible then my nephew could help me test the maps before I even consider releasing online...would this work GSH?

Yea, as long as the map is in the multiplayer folder.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

The idiots call name is apparently someone named Fury1 and the post came from planetbattlezone. Due to a serious lack of relevent posts here map makers seek information about bz2 where ever it can be found; hence the impementaton of sometimes conficting information from one source or another. So gamespy has no part in hosting maps? Go figure as I recall instaling originally as part of my bz2 install; don't really remember it was so long ago.

So...whoever starts a new game becomes the host? Then other players that want to join the game gain access to map folder assets on the host computer to join the game? Only recently have I actually gone online to host games then try, and pump other players for information via chat. Tried that the other day with Gen. Manson, but he didn't really know to much, and proceeded to slaughter me repeated until he got bored and just left; I felt so abused  

[GSH]

So...whoever starts a new game becomes the host?

Yes. Same as pretty much any other game w/o dedicated servers.

Then other players that want to join the game gain access to map folder assets on the host computer to join the game?

No. Go re-read my post earlier on this thread that notes a 4-step process. Note step 4 is not done by BZ2. It's something that must be done by *you*.

-- GSH

[Nielk1]

Yes. Same as pretty much any other game w/o dedicated servers.

Or like Listen Servers in games that have both types.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I noticed that some maps list a map url? Does bz2 read and display this url in the mp interface to point players in the right direction to download the map? Seems like I remember seeing download somewhere in the mp interface. Example: MapURL = "http://www.planetbattlezone.com/bz2commproj/"