First things First...

[bb1]

You wouldn't be, since IA is always one player.

[ssuser]

Yeah, this only works for single-player, and it has to be set up by the map author at that. Cool effect, though.

Setting up a working shield complex in either SP or multi regardless of whether its a beam type or M-Curtain style shield would be problematic - there is the question of orientation. You'd have to set it up so the shields would orient themselves properly - the constructor does not do this. Also, for IA missions, the AI would have to be programmed to attack the shields to bring them down, and know not to cross the beam line beforehand. Insofar as an M-Curtain type shield goes, the AI will not attack any building class on purpose, it just hits stuff that happens to be in the way of vehicle - GT targets.

[Dx]

Ya i made tools for positioning the shieldtowers on a premade map. The shields work well enough for me although it would be nice to have lighting and alphas to work with...

It would also be nice to see a wireframe of the object in the build reticle and be able to rotate it like what was added in Bz2 1.3 patch.

I could make beams accross the shieldtowers as they are but with no lighting or alpha, it would look cheesy.

[ssuser]

You can rotate buildings around in SHIFT-F10 mode while editing - best to do on perfectly flat terrain tho - otherwise you can end up with tilted buildings... 

[Dx]

You mean by rotating the camera?

[ssuser]

No, if you are in SHIFT-F10 view (satellite style view) while editing, you can rotate buildings by right clicking on them, holding down the mouse and then moving the mouse to spin them around to where you want them.

[Dx]

Wow i learned something new in bz after only 12 years.

[Ultraken]

Wow i learned something new in bz after only 12 years.

I worked on the game and I didn't know that.   

(In my defense, I never used the BZ1 editors.)

[bb1]

I worked on the game and I didn't know that.   

(In my defense, I never used the BZ1 editors.)

That officially makes ssuser THE bz god!

[ssuser]

That little tidbit has been in my IA tutorial for a long time... didn't you read the editor section? 

Another undocumented feature is that CONTROL-Z will undo changes in wireframe mode - very handy if you are glooping a big cliff or hill section in and make a boo-boo. How many changes you can undo seems to vary with the system and the size of the terrain you are undoing - maybe linked to available memory (?) usually it seems to undo 1 or 2, maybe 3 on my older win9x system.

[Ultraken]

I'm much more familiar with the BZ2 editor since I wrote that one.   

[ssuser]

It was George Sutty that wrote the BZ1 editor code, according to the mapeditor doc. They must have cranked out the documentation in a hurry and missed listing some of the editor features.

Speaking of the editor, if you get around to general improvements later, I would REALLY like to see that ramp making tool become functional.  Boy, that would save a lot of time.

[Avatar]

You'll also notice that rotating and moving buildings leaves their shadow behind as the light file isn't updated when editing...

Seems like there's also a way to get into a 'psuedo' view, where you have textured terrain instead of the wireframe view for terrain scultping.  I can't remember the keystrokes, though, cause I'm old...

I thought the BZ1 editor to be the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.  It's still head over heels better than most editors out there if only for the instant in/out of FPS/Edit mode.  Nothing beats sitting right there in front of whatever you're trying to edit...

-Av-

[ssuser]

Yeah, I remember doing that - I THINK that if you are in wireframe mode, and hit CTRL-E to back out to normal mode, then hit CTRL-E again, you will be editing the HGT file in texture mode, though I can't remember for sure - I've only done it by accident.

[Dx]

You can turn on wireframe and add the color to it.