Installing Custom Maps

Weltschmerz

<div class="IPBDescription">For we who don't map at all...</div> Okay, I looked around in this and a couple other Forums and FAQs, and followed a bunch of links... probably not enough of them, tho... There's a ton of really good info out there on just about every stage of MAKING maps.... but when I (the ignorant end-user) DL a map zip-file, I'm often presented with a myriad of file extensions... From just a single .BSP (simple enough) to:

.RES
.WAD
.MP3
.WAV
.MDL
.TXT (duh)
.WPT
.SPR
.PTS
.TGA
.JPG
.BMP

I've been muddling along, got most of them placed right (by observing where similar files already go) but a few are still vexing. I don't necessariily need to know what all these extensions are/do (I know most of them, sorta), I'd just like to know exactly WHERE I should put them all (plus others that might exist, that I haven't seen yet?) within Half-Life/ns or Half-Life/ns/maps. And especially if, in the proper folders, these files need to be in their own sub-folder of "ns_mapname".

Go ahead and smack me if I just didn't look hard enough for the answer, but could someone experienced at least please point me to a link, or a detailed rundown... <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->

Thanx, all-

tseepra

Usually if you are useing winzip, just extract to your half-lif/ns folder and the subfolders should sort themselves out.

But usally:

.wad goes in half-life/ns folder

.mp3 and .wav half-life/ns/sound/ns_mapnamehere folder

.mdl half-life/ns/models/ns_mapnamehere folder

.wpt (never heard of it)

.spr half-life/ns/sprites/ns_mapnamehere folder

.pts (only for mapping I believe)

.tga half-life/ns/overviews folder

.jpg and .bmp not used in map playing

Jemme

.wpt ... Waypoints when you use Sturmbot. It should be ...

Half-Life\ns\sturmbot\waypoints

When Sturmbot is installed it automatically makes the waypoints folder. Thats where other .wpt files should also be placed.

CaCa

<i>STURMBOT?</i>
dontcha mean whichbot? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
anyway, it most likely is a waypoint file for bots... (unless i'm hideously missing something...)


anyway, I've always wanted to know: what's a <b>.res</b> file for?

Jemme

SturmBot is THE Bot program out there ...

Dunno if it works with NS never tried it only with DoD so.

In any case the .wpt files are there for Bots to use ingame.

Wolv

A .res file automaticaly makes clients download all required map resources from the server if he doesn't have them.

Note that ns_mapnamehere.spr should be placed in the ns/sprites/minimaps/ folder and skyname_bk.tga, skyname_dn.tga etc go in the ns/gfx/env folder.

amckern

ok example map

the map name is blue, it has its own sky, own sounds, own models, srpites, and sounds

the .bsp into /maps
the .txt into /maps
the .res into /maps (used for servers to send the map, and rescources to the client when sv_alowupload is 1)

the .wad into root folder

Sky maps - Sky maps normaly have 6 files with the same name, but have ft,lf,rt, bk,up,dn at the end of the file name
the .bmp into /gfx/env (Software - and old GL Cards)
the .tga into /gfx/env

Custom Models - if the map has the models in its own folder such as ns_blue, or amckern, copy that folder - and don't place each model in the root sprites folder
the .mdl into /models

Custom Sprites - if the map has the sprites in its own folder such as ns_blue, or amckern, copy that folder - and don't place each sprite in the root models folder
the .spr into /sprites
the mapname.spr into /sprites/minimaps

Custom Sounds - if the map has the sounds in its own folder such as ns_blue, or amckern, copy that folder - and don't place each sound in the root sounds folder
the .mp3 into /sounds
the .wav into /sounds

the .map into /worldmaps (old rcbot world file)
the .wpt into /maps (rcbot) sturmbot\waypoints (strum bots)

any other rescouces arnt used by the system, and can be placed where u wish

if there is a readme.txt read it, as it should tell u where the rescources should go

amckern

Weltschmerz

Kewl! Thanks, all. May I suggest that this advice be boiled down and included in the Mapping FAQ?

The main trouble I was having was, I'd been trying to unzip to Half-Life/ns/maps. So sub-folders like 'maps', 'overviews', 'models', 'ns' and others were being created within /maps. Still, I was tracking down and moving individual files out of these (and then deleting them), and mostly staying ahead of things. Most maps worked, mainly those with not much more than .BSP/.RES/.SPR files...

Unzipping directly into Half-Life/ns works MUCH better, but a few maps still create another sub- /ns folder, which must then be picked and placed properly. Installation advice in some of the .txt files (along with credits, bugs/fixed bugs, chronology, etc.) is inaccurate, while others are dead-on to the advice here.

I like custom maps because they give more of a "touch down and fight in a different place each mission' feel. It's gotten so that i'm just damn bored with the canned maps... I often just leave, unless I'm working with a good group of players. Some of the Customs are also just breathtaking. What I'd love to see is a few dozen (or MORE) maps eventually made 'official'. Choosing between 8 or 10 maps, versus 80 or a couple Hundred, could be a BIG difference in the 'legs' NS will eventually have.

Thx, Flayra and Co., and all you fanatic home mappers out there. Keep it comin'!!

Weltschmerz

One last note: I've installed just about all the custom maps I can find (over 200 so far), and I'm still having the issues of stuff being dropped in weird places. Sometimes .BSPs end up in Half-Life/ns with all the .WADs (stargate-XT9 does this, for instance), sometimes everything will unzip into a folder called ns_mapnamehere, which could show up in Half-life/ns or even Half-life/ns/maps and must be dissected correctly. Not sure what's going on, but the above advice has helped in moving things around.

Question: Does it depend on how the mapper set things up, as to how things unzip? I'm finding it's RARE for a map to unzip correctly the first time, overall... But no matter, I'm straightening it out/cleaning up, and some servers will pick up the slack and give me what I'm probably not missing, just got mis-unzipped....

One odd thing: in some folders, like Sounds and Sprites, there are .SPRs that get dropped just into that folder, while others are dropped into a ns_mapnamehere folder within Sprites. Not sure if I should mess with this or not... the .SPRs in their own foldernames seem to be generic types, while the .SPRs in the main Sprites folder seem to be ns_mapnamehere.SPR. Usually, anyway.

Now, of course, since (IMHO) NS is being 'dumbed down' a bit for 3.0, and I'm not sure if all these maps will work with it, and I'm not sure I want to play the 'new' spikeless-lerk version (among other weird changes) anyway... hopefully 2.X keeps getting played, somehow, somewhere... <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->

amckern

mappers chose how to zip the files

and the sprites, issue, if u got the space, unzip them to all 3 places, minimaps, root sprites folder, and mapnamehere folder

amckern