12 replies to this topic

[Vellron2005]

Here goes another plea...

Is there ANY chance you could release a map editor for MWO, with all the current map textures, models, and everything that currently exists in MWO?

I think that it would be a great help to you guys, since you would get a FREE way of making a bunch of maps through the fanbase, and you could then take the best maps and implement them in the game.

There are many people out there that would like nothing better than to do this, and I know that I personally would love to express my creativity in the form of all kinds of cool maps.

The only thing on PGI's part would be to create a relatively easy-2-use editor with all the scripts, objects, textures, and a way to test them (perhapse a Private Test Client), along with everything else that would be enough to create functional maps, and then check the best user-created maps for technical issues.

I think PGI and MWO would benefit greatly from this..

LET US HELP YOU MAKE THIS GAME TRULY GREAT!

Edited by Vellron2005, 13 October 2015 - 03:08 AM.

[Brollocks]

Yes, please. I have some experience with modeling and modding games and would love to let my creative juices flow building a map over several months.

Same with paint jobs for 'mechs, although that's possible now with rip tools which give you the model and texture files.

[StraferX]

I have asked for this since 2012 and honestly believe it would be the only thing to save MWO from the bargin bin on steam.

Retooling the old maps just is not cutting the mustard but they could put some of the CW maps into regular rotation for experimental purposes.

[Vellron2005]

Muddy Funster, on 13 October 2015 - 03:09 AM, said:

Yes, please. I have some experience with modeling and modding games and would love to let my creative juices flow building a map over several months.

Same with paint jobs for 'mechs, although that's possible now with rip tools which give you the model and texture files.

Yeah, but you can't use that repaint in-game... so its not really interesting to me.

I actually have completed a 3DS Max seminar (have a certificate and everything) and have a AutoCad 2D-3D and Adobe certificates. I currently work as a graphics designer, but I don't do much actual design work (more like sales, webshop menagement and translations), so building maps for a game I absolutely love would simply "fit".

Edited by Vellron2005, 13 October 2015 - 03:30 AM.

[Tom Sawyer]

This has been asked since nearly beta if not beta itself.

Been told maps cost upwards of 100k to 200k to develop. Maps are so complex normal mortals can not create them. It would take too long to vet maps created by players. Drop Ship Jesus does not like fan maps and will kill a kitten. The guys who created the maps in Living Legends are actually demons who if you look at their maps get your soul.

I think there are more threads asking for this power then there are maps

[Brollocks]

Vellron2005, on 13 October 2015 - 03:21 AM, said:

Yeah, but you can't use that repaint in-game... so its not really interesting to me.

No, but if it's good enough they would add it into the game.

[Vellron2005]

Muddy Funster, on 13 October 2015 - 03:27 AM, said:

No, but if it's good enough they would add it into the game.

Oh reeeeealy?

Edited by Vellron2005, 13 October 2015 - 03:32 AM.

[Vellron2005]

Tom Sawyer, on 13 October 2015 - 03:26 AM, said:

This has been asked since nearly beta if not beta itself.

Been told maps cost upwards of 100k to 200k to develop. Maps are so complex normal mortals can not create them. It would take too long to vet maps created by players. Drop Ship Jesus does not like fan maps and will kill a kitten. The guys who created the maps in Living Legends are actually demons who if you look at their maps get your soul.

I think there are more threads asking for this power then there are maps

As a person that knows a bit about design and computer engineering, I bet you most of that "average 150K price tag", or at least 75% of it, is the cost of "expert man hours".

Good, educated and highly creative designers get to charge their hours pretty steep..

And the rest of that price tag is probably high-end computers, and cost of turning the lights on.

User-created maps would cut that cost down by a huge margin, cose' the designers work for free, and use their own computers and electricity.

So you have to only "check and test" the 10 or so maps you like in a given map pack, and doing that takes you about 20% of the time and designer hours of making that many maps yourself in-house.

So don't tell me the maps would be too expensive to check..

As far as "veting" the maps and the time it would take, lets say its monday, and you get 100 user created map files on your drive at 8. AM. With a well done map editor + PTC, you open them, spend 10-or so minutes running around in a mech of your choice, and decide if you like them. That's 1000 minutes, or 16,66 hours. If two people do it, its a little over 8 hours of "checking" per person. And that's monday.

On tuesday, those two get together, sit down, and out of the 100, select the best 10. Then they get to work, and playtest the shibaz out of them. They fix what is immediately obvious. That might take a few days or weeks.

THEN, after the 10 maps's major issues and bugs are fixed, you send them out for PUBLIC TEST (something PGI should start implementing, just like the mech rebalance or mechbay)

After a week or two, you implement all the feedback, and start fixing what's broke.

After this is done, you release 10 maps at once... not one, not a revamp of an old map.. 10 MAPS AT ONCE!

Wouldnt that make the game...better?

Heck, they could outsource the whole map making process, and use only user-created maps for the game.

The designers could focus on testing and in-game incorporation, revamping old maps, and making new models for the editor.

That's a good business model if ever I heard of one..

You let the users create the world they play in, and you just give them the tools. And then you charge them for special cammo and mech packs.

Free labour (of love), a much bigger fanbase, much more immersive gaming experiance, and inevitably more paying players..

Edited by Vellron2005, 13 October 2015 - 04:09 AM.

[Brollocks]

Vellron2005, on 13 October 2015 - 03:31 AM, said:

Oh reeeeealy?

I don't see why not. Quality work given for free with no rights attached? All the designer would want or expect would be the paint job added to his account for free, while everyone else would pay MC.

[Ghogiel]

The map editor is downloadable. You will have to use an older CE3 build before the PBR change or your mats won't be compatible with the version PGI uses. So while you have all the game assets and can mostly build maps that would, with minor set up, work in game. Just that PGI isn't interested in user created content so you'll just have created cool looking maps that won't get any playtesting interations.

[Vellron2005]

Ghogiel, on 13 October 2015 - 04:04 AM, said:

The map editor is downloadable. You will have to use an older CE3 build before the PBR change or your mats won't be compatible with the version PGI uses. So while you have all the game assets and can mostly build maps that would, with minor set up, work in game. Just that PGI isn't interested in user created content so you'll just have created cool looking maps that won't get any playtesting interations.

Yes, but that's just it, isn't it?

PGI would not use them.. and you would have no way of testing them..

Instead of using some high-skill-2-use editor, they could make an actual official MWO editor with pre-made objects, scrips, tutorials and game elements that anyone (not just skillful designers) could use (much like the old Descent, Duke Nukem or Warcraft 2 editors).

But PGI has to WANT to use that content..

I don't really understand why they wouldn't?

Its not like they would not have final say as to what is implemented in-game and what's not..

And my previous post explains how I feel they could make it work on a big big (and cheap) scale..

P.S.

Ghogiel, please post a link to this download, and perhapse to some tutorials on how to use it?

Edited by Vellron2005, 13 October 2015 - 04:21 AM.

[Ghogiel]

Vellron2005, on 13 October 2015 - 04:19 AM, said:

Yes, but that's just it, isn't it?

PGI would not use them.. and you would have no way of testing them..

Instead of using some high-skill-2-use editor, they could make an actual official MWO editor with pre-made objects, scrips, tutorials and game elements that anyone (not just skillful designers) could use (much like the old Descent, Duke Nukem or Warcraft 2 editors).

But PGI has to WANT to use that content..

I don't really understand why they wouldn't?

Its not like they would not have final say as to what is implemented in-game and what's not..

And my previous post explains how I feel they could make it work on a big big (and cheap) scale..

P.S.

Ghogiel, please post a link to this download, and perhapse to some tutorials on how to use it?

PGI will never create a map editor that they don't use themselves just for noobs who don't want to actually learn CE. Making something more user friendly than the actual SDK would be hard, (crytek have spent like over a decade and 10s of thousands of dev hours into making the level editor functional and intuitive.. Any stripped down CE level editor made by PGI would be absolute crap in comparison.

This versions should work for MWO>
http://cryengine-3-s...former.com/3.4/

You can probably use ~v3.4.5

google how to use it/ use crytek documentation to learn what to do.

There are several threads in the user created content forums that would be worth a look to see some level dabblings people from the MW community have made in CE3.

Edited by Ghogiel, 13 October 2015 - 05:16 AM.

[Tom Sawyer]

Vellron2005, on 13 October 2015 - 03:48 AM, said:

As a person that knows a bit about design and computer engineering, I bet you most of that "average 150K price tag", or at least 75% of it, is the cost of "expert man hours".

Good, educated and highly creative designers get to charge their hours pretty steep..

And the rest of that price tag is probably high-end computers, and cost of turning the lights on.

User-created maps would cut that cost down by a huge margin, cose' the designers work for free, and use their own computers and electricity.

So you have to only "check and test" the 10 or so maps you like in a given map pack, and doing that takes you about 20% of the time and designer hours of making that many maps yourself in-house.

So don't tell me the maps would be too expensive to check..

As far as "veting" the maps and the time it would take, lets say its monday, and you get 100 user created map files on your drive at 8. AM. With a well done map editor + PTC, you open them, spend 10-or so minutes running around in a mech of your choice, and decide if you like them. That's 1000 minutes, or 16,66 hours. If two people do it, its a little over 8 hours of "checking" per person. And that's monday.

On tuesday, those two get together, sit down, and out of the 100, select the best 10. Then they get to work, and playtest the shibaz out of them. They fix what is immediately obvious. That might take a few days or weeks.

THEN, after the 10 maps's major issues and bugs are fixed, you send them out for PUBLIC TEST (something PGI should start implementing, just like the mech rebalance or mechbay)

After a week or two, you implement all the feedback, and start fixing what's broke.

After this is done, you release 10 maps at once... not one, not a revamp of an old map.. 10 MAPS AT ONCE!

Wouldnt that make the game...better?

Heck, they could outsource the whole map making process, and use only user-created maps for the game.

The designers could focus on testing and in-game incorporation, revamping old maps, and making new models for the editor.

That's a good business model if ever I heard of one..

You let the users create the world they play in, and you just give them the tools. And then you charge them for special cammo and mech packs.

Free labour (of love), a much bigger fanbase, much more immersive gaming experiance, and inevitably more paying players..

Oh I agree Velleron. Please feel free to dig for MY threads stating nearly the exact thing. I have friends who created some killer maps for LL and other games. Yet when they spoke to the devs all we go where Hey check out this shiny mech pack.