Would you want a BF Map Archive?

[Crookedfoot]

I've been toying with this in my mind, and when I asked Chris, he didn't say no.

I figured out how we can set up an archive of maps that you guys submit.
They would be hosted here at BF, so they could go well over the usual size limit of 200K.
This would open the door for those huge RPG maps some of you talk about from time to time, music intensive maps, etc...
By downloading from here, it would also save some of you the dowload time we have all grown to despise on Bnet.
Naming would be the main issue I could forsee... the maps could not have the [ tags or special charactors «╛╤○τÃœ╝Ä╚ they screw up links sometimes from the server.
I have a 10 meg email, and if that's a problem I could always recieve over a messager.

What do you think?

 

[FakeNameHere]

l dont know why you didnt have one in the first place. So... yes, but one thing lm concerned about is too much freedom in accepting maps. Battleforums is the mecca for new USM map makers and is always the first on google [First thing is the B, then the A, putting it in front of Blizz forums. lf possible, someone could see if the maps are either unacceptable, or unplayable to average to decent.

 

[Crookedfoot]

I think some of our map makers here would be a staright forward additon by name only, Bolt Head for starters.
I also have a few that I've saved from attachments.

Maybe this would be an excuse to have a Forum Map Tester position.
Someone to do the testing, or knows the map maker in question as far as reputaion is concerned.

But even if the map was not A-1 Best of the Best, if it came from a BF member and is playable, I'm all for adding it to the list.
Maybe with a ranking next to it to that came from member testing, 1=not so good, 5=great.
Anything less than 1=possible removal from list, maybe.

I'd personally like to see a multiperson campaign made, host it here, your group downloads it in a zipped file, place in SC folder appropriately and play it.
Too bad a person would have to make each game unlike the single person campaigns that load automatically.


The only real reason we never had an archive before is we haven't had ftp access for very long, then we had server problems, so things like this have been put on hold for a while.
Now it's time to get some stuff rolling for the members.

 

[FakeNameHere]

l may not be a Bolt head [pun] but l do know the diffrence between creating 50 marines against 1 9999 hit-point ultralisk trying to pass as a map. lf possible, l could test quite a few maps (Weekends only).

 

[nonl33t]

i think i could test maps and im thinking we can also have one big .rar (rar usually zips the best) archive with all the maps and personnaly i could contribute about 700+ maps (fond a site with 730 bound maps or so and used a dl manager to dl them all effortlesly) and i am likeley to start making my own soon when i get ideas on plots and i could probably host some on my tripod account (only about 45 mb or so)

 

[Crookedfoot]

I don't have any problems as far as a few of our favorites, it helps give everyone a feel for who we are.
I've got a few myself that I'd like to see, like the "Antioch2" campaign, too bad it's a one person campaign though.
But I'd personally like to see BF member maps as much as possible.
That way we can show what we can do more than what others have done.

I'll start sliding in a few that have been submitted in the past and set up a page of links, or maybe a .php, along with email information.
If it doesn't fly, I can make it go away easy enough.

 

[nonl33t]

thats cool also when people make maps maybe they can advertise the forum in the briefing or something

 

[-MatriX-]

I like the idea, but as long as you support what you've said. If the rating were more specific it would help the forum have more of a variety of graded maps.

Another thing we might want to think about, is different threads for different types of maps. This may not be neccessary but it could be useful, so say if you're planning to test all the maps but hate tag games, you could search most of the threads except for the tag threads. The one concern about this the amount of posts people could recieve. Instead of one they would get 5 or 10 for posting possibly near the same thing.

-Matrix-​

 

[Sakuhta]

We could section it off into

Playable maps:

and

Highly Recomended maps:

etc.

I would be glad to test maps, all days of the week. We get bored at work.. and they gave us complete access.

 

[nonl33t]

well im thinking that we could have sub forums here in the ums forum and then each map will be tested and have its own thread like at the mod forum on www.phpbb.com and then if you install a certain mod callled the articles mod then we can even rate the maps and have an average rating but if you dont wanna install another mod cuz i takes time or tends to mess up the forum then we can just have normal polls

 

[Wing Zero]

I kinda like this saves me time but i dont mind looking for them unless its a hard map to come by

 

[nonl33t]

and it encourages users to sign up for the forum and make this forum more fun (*suckup*even though its already really fun*suckup*)

 

[Crazy Demon]

I think the idea of having a map section would be perfect! It would have saved my time looking for all the Tuxedo Templar maps that he has created, for I am sure that he would sumit his maps in. I'm a big fan of him, as u can see, having every single one of his releases except for Starcraft photo shop

 

[FakeNameHere]

Originally posted by nonl33t
i think i could test maps and im thinking we can also have one big .rar (rar usually zips the best) archive with all the maps and personnaly i could contribute about 700+ maps (fond a site with 730 bound maps or so and used a dl manager to dl them all effortlesly) and i am likeley to start making my own soon when i get ideas on plots and i could probably host some on my tripod account (only about 45 mb or so)

No offense but your not really the one to talk when contributing to a forum you barely even post in.

 

[Crazy Demon]

Why does that matter FakeNameHere? So what if he hasn't been posting in the forum much? Everyone has to start somewhere. He's just starting in this BF Map Archive.
I think u should just lay off on him...

 

[nonl33t]

also i just joined a few days ago id like to see what you can do in your first few days and liek what crazy demon said why does that matter?

 

[Crookedfoot]

For now I have this set up http://www.battleforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62621

I don't think there would be any benefit to makeing a seperate forum just for map testing.
We've always discussed maps and triggers in here, why take away from something that works.
If we do have a need for it later we can make one then.

I'll let the mods figure out how they want to handle testing and rating.
I'd suggest get the maps into an attachment or get me to host them, then make a thread with a poll.

If you guys work out a group for testing, have a mod get me a list of names and I'll put together a special title for the members involved.

 

[nonl33t]

well i can upload all my maps to my site and people can just dl them and pm me or sumtin when they test it and then ill move the tested maps to a folder im gonna upload all my maps as one pack to my friends lycos ftp (which he doesnt use so i just use it when ever i want for whatever i want heheh). to dl the "map pack" follow this link here
P.S. it wont be up till about 12:30 am eastern

 

[Bolt Head]

I have a few concerns about this.

1. First off i know Blizzforums renames files possably Battle forums too. It will add a [1] before the first period in the file name. This happened with my last map i submitted "Time Up Bound" and I latter found out there were multiple versions circulateing on B-net because of the differant save names.

2. The second thing is without a good rateing system, I fear the whole system may become massive unused collection of maps. What nonl33t says kinda proves this. Having 700 or so maps may sound cool but how many of those maps will be played? Is it worth all the space. You would have to go with a newgrounds type set up if your expecting a large data base.

Anyways im not going to personaly upload any of my maps but my major maps are here http://www.staredit.net/?act=Downloads&do=search Type (U)Bolt_Head in the Author blank and press submit.

 

[Renzokuken]

Well, it's a good idea, but like Bolt Head said, if we have too many, it'd just get too hard to manage. We'd need some sort of proper database.
If we are going to use what we have now, the moderators of the UMS Section would need to be a bit active, and they'd need to edit posts and such (I like formatting ), and they would have to test the maps themselves.
If we accept most maps at the start and people do rate the maps, if a map gets an overall rating of 1, scrap it. It'd save space because no one would download it.
The person that posts the map should describe it somewhat, because descriptions would certainly sway me in downloading it.
For example -

Type: Bound
Name: Renzo Bound
No. of players: 6
Dimensions: 128x96
File size: 75kb

Something like the above? And then maybe write a blurb? It'd certainly look professional.