Fey

That is correct, there are values for sides 0-6 sandworm spawners, freighters, and other random junk. I don't remember what they are, Klof, but I know how to find them again...

Sick, Klof! And right on time, too. @AZ-Stalker You might wanna have a look at this!

You are not wrong! The tile revealed event can be set to run only once all on its own. Very conveniently, as you have more room for other conditions and events, and tile revealed triggers are useful. You can use them to spawn units for the player, reveal a larger area, or send a message of some sort.

Some colors past 7 can change between times you load up the same map, but others are the same. 13 is a nice green / black Atreides, but don't let them deploy an MCV. That will crash the game. 129 shouldn't change, IIRC. Nor should 98. There are probably neighboring indexes that are similar.

Staying alive comes first. Take it easy, mate. If you're changing the colors.bin, you could use any of the 8 original allocation indexes for style / tech and do the color up however you'd like. How about pink? Or, white? I added a slight blue tint to the Fremen gray color, which looks like this: https://prnt.sc/rlpb6c My mercs are orange, which looks like this: https://prnt.sc/rlpcvc There's a pretty "corpse scarab" colored Harkonnen index at 129: https://prnt.sc/rlpegm Could try a pronounced cyan color, different from Atreides, more similar to, like... the enemy units on the tower defense map, for instance. Or a deep green, like the Guild forces in Emperor: Battle for Dune. Play around with the colors at first, and when you're happy with the idea, fine-tune them.

You ARE very detail oriented! I sympathize! Don't worry, spotting EVERY tile can be pretty difficult. Once you map enough, you'll have eyes sharper than a crysknife. Not on this map, no, it wasn't a problem. It felt claustrophobic and sneaky, in the right ways. A good, subtle call. Your attention to detail is very obvious. I foresee great things! You might be surprised what's possible with a little micro. >.> I can't tell you how many times Cm and I have tried to discourage the player from doing certain things in a map, but some players just exploit the AI in totally unforeseen ways and then we have to think of a new strategy for making something "impossible." lol Non-linearity is usually a good idea, but the best sort of non-linearity is where several different strategies or routes are viable, and the player can gravitate in his own direction to achieve victory as long as he works well with what he's got. Having such a route is good. Some of my maps also have an "optional hard mode" depending on actions the player takes in-game, such as allying with a certain faction or making them your enemy, or deciding to roll over an inconvenient Fremen Sietch only to have a ton of Fremen come attack your base a while later. Speaking of, what color are you going to make the Redzani eventually? Green is fun and all, but the Ordos use that. How about index 98? Really nice black / red color. You know, for REDzani. Here's an in-game screenshot of an index 98 base: https://prnt.sc/rlkl7u Very bold red too. Can tell apart from Harkonnen on the minimap, and on the field.

They'll never stop blowing up the critical structures, I guarantee it. 😂 I literally did everything I could to make a certain enemy base as annoying to destroy as possible before the side-objectives were complete, and even explicitly stated those side-objectives both in the briefing AND in-game, and yet a certain someone went blowing up the side objectives and went through the enemy base the hard way... 😭 The other reasons I put the objectives at the top are because my briefings are stupidly long, to the point where some maps' briefings can't actually be displayed in their entirety in-game the dunemaster version. The mission objectives would be lost to the limitation then. Also, there's another thing below the briefing! The "additional intel" section with extra details about various things. So even if the player could scroll all the way to the bottom, he'd still have to scroll up a bit just to get to the objectives, and it does make it a bit unfair on folks replaying the maps who just want a refresher on the objectives without going through all the story again. Still looking forward to the new developments with your campaign, mate. We still need a Draconis IV tileset, unless we use the WC II snowy tileset Cm ported over, but at least Giedi Prime and Caladan are done up enough. I guess that snowy one could work, I just think of Draconis IV as being a lot more hostile-looking. No trees. I'd love to combine the TD snowy tileset with the WC II snowy tileset. TD cliffs and stuff, WC II ice. Would certainly make for a varied enough tileset...

Fair enough, as long as it flows smoothly! Also fair enough. Once you have a lot of experience with pure single-player, you'll find it easier to make a co-op map, I'm sure. Knowing intimately what you're capable of allows you to work around the limitations in co-op maps in various ways. Briefing doesn't show up in-game in Gruntmods version, but it does in Dunemaster. Weird limitation of Gruntmods version, which otherwise is extremely useful for testing new maps because of its debugging toolkit. You CAN, however, read the briefing before the map begins via the mission launcher, which we use to launch the maps anyway! Some people don't read the briefing AT ALL. Even native English speakers. I've had folks fail my maps and complain that they didn't know they were supposed to capture X building, or could expect Y to happen. So, I've taken to putting the mission objectives above the briefing, like so: https://prnt.sc/rl8cv3 I know it's weird, but the format seems to help folks not get themselves killed for no reason. Some people don't even read the objectives. lol Anyway, you can assign a text file to the mission. Put a line like this in the .ini: TextUib=FeyTextS011.uib Or write it in the editor, here: https://prnt.sc/rl8gjc And then you'll just need to save a .uib file by that name. If you have trouble finding the right editor, I can send mine. Anyway, the in-game text for custom messages used by the .ini seems to ignore this file, so don't worry about what number you use for events. The .uib is there to change other stuff you see in-game, such as "<Faction> has become hostile!" messages, or unit names. Here's a Sardaukar unit in-game that acts as the player commander: https://prnt.sc/rl8jjf So it works! The "<Faction> has become hostile!" messages are the ones you'd want to change to make your ally go, "Hey, you're shooting at the wrong target. >_>" My maps tend to do something similar to alert the player to the sandworm. If you use an allocation index between 0-6 for the sandworm, and make the sandworm neutral towards the player (but not the other way around), it will generate a "<Faction> has become hostile!" message the first time it's attacked. Not perfect, it can swallow a Harvester before the player gets the "Wormsign!" message, but hey, the commanders are only human. They miss stuff like that sometimes. Remember, a neutral faction being attacked will not only generate such a message, but it will also make both factions hostile towards each-other. If the units at the base should not attack their commander AT ALL, then having them become allied with the player (and vice versa) when the base is discovered is probably the best idea. And using a "casualties greater than 0" triggered message is the best course of action. It is "greater than," by the way! So if you want it to happen after 1 unit is dead, the casualties threshold should be set to 0. On some of my maps, an allied MCV will fly in from off the map to start building a base with you, but this requires an MCV off the map so the AI doesn't think "I have nothing, I must go into berserk mode." When the AI flies its 'real' MCV in and deploys it, units off the side of the map become hostile to the off-map MCV and destroy it. Then, when the AI has base structures, but no MCV, they become allied with the player. At this time, because the MCV off the map is destroyed, no strange terrain will be revealed to the player and the AI ally can begin to function as normal. In the brief window they have a unit on the map somewhere and are neutral towards the player, they don't have anything that can fire back at the player, so the message about your accidental attack fits. If you want them to get combat units along with their MCV, you can have those arrive after the player is allied. https://prnt.sc/rl8qnu Hopefully that answers your questions. Ahh, it sounds like a character-driven story! My campaign is also character-driven, focusing on individual commanders and stuff to bring more identity to each faction. I'm quite excited to see your style develop! I gave it a quick run. "Knightfall," I like that. It's very evident that you have experience with mapping and balancing. You have a keen eye for details. This was a well-balanced first map rich in aesthetic and story. Still some misplaced tiles, but again, you'll get used to spotting them. Here are where they appear: https://prnt.sc/rl947t https://prnt.sc/rl964v https://prnt.sc/rl9cev https://prnt.sc/rl9ebv https://prnt.sc/rl9ijs I also pointed out the tiles you might want to replace the funny ones with. Regarding the balance: You give the player enough to work with, even if he makes a mistake. The incidental dangers you can avoid are not too dangerous that they eliminate your ability to complete the mission. The three Light Infantry just before you get to the friendly base were surprising, but not unmanageable. A good sort of surprise. Revealing the last group of Harkonnen infantry to fight, and giving the player some reinforcements to handle them, was a good call. The map is also small enough and not dangerous enough to warrant more map reveals around the terrain - the player could explore on his own and not run into extreme danger, and that's good. If we HAD to fight the Trike and two Light Infantry, revealing them ahead of time so the player could plan was definitely the right thing to do. Regarding the aesthetics: There's a good balance of dunes, rock, open sand, and doodads around. Very strong aesthetics, definitely feels like a winding Arrakis mountain range. For the sort of map it is, the narrow pathways the player's units must take are not concerning in the slightest, but I am obligated to remind you that due to unit pathing being funny, I recommend using wider pathways on any standard maps, or any maps where the player really needs to be able to micro his units effectively. It can be a bit tricky to make things aesthetically pleasing and functional, but as long as you keep in mind how the map is expected to play out, you can design the terrain around that expectation. Just as an example, here's one of my maps: https://prnt.sc/rl9wbn The player sets up his own base atop the ruins of the Atreides base. The basin is surrounded by cliffs, but there's plenty of flat, open space where the action will take place. There's some infantry rock in convenient spots. And, more subtly, there are dunes that slow the enemy advance to not only give the player more time to react, but help to keep the light vehicles closer to the heavier ones since light vehicles are slowed down more by dunes. Also, there is enough space for the worm to go wriggling all around the main rock island. We all have our own styles and what you do is up to you! I just hope to provide an example of "functional and aesthetic," if it helps you out at all. FYI, I played at the default resolution of 640x400. I noticed the messages were sometimes fairly long, but never clipped into the sidebar. Which is good! This is a common mistake and I recommend continuing to write messages that fit the default resolution. That's about all I've got to say for now. Hope that helps!

My "Summers' Solstice" campaign is kinda sorta mercenaries too. You're involved with the smugglers, but you do mercenary work as needed. Because the world won't leave you alone and you gotta kill 'em to catch any sort of break. If you want to browse the custom campaigns, check this thread out, mate. https://forum.dune2k.com/topic/27756-all-completed-mods-and-tools-index-dune-2000/

A common complaint about the Heighliner tileset is that there is nothing that can be put in the "void" tiles. You'd think there'd be some stars or something in the background, but it IS meant to be the deck on the inside of a ship. I've reasoned that it's pitch black because the hull of the ship is in the way of the stars, but still, it would be a nice doodad to have... so, I was thinking of adding some star images to the Heighliner tileset so the void can be filled with something if desired.

Kind of! If there's only ONE allied Sardaukar, it will have that name, and then any enemy ones you mouse over will read "Enemy Unit" without the new name. Are you attempting to do a co-op campaign, or a single player one, by the way? I know a few things about how co-op maps work, but single player maps, we happen to know a lot more about. And they tend to be easier to work with.

Been following this thread. This is some really neat stuff! That's a LOT of dots in a single territory. Maybe a few would suffice? Small House icons to indicate the base owner?

Oh. Lol I totally keep forgetting about that function. My bad! Another limitation. The other House MUST be neutral or enemy to not appear on the minimap. There are ways around this one too. My campaign has a LOT of maps where the player needs to go discover an ally somewhere and be like "hey buddy, remember me?" You can even add a special message in place of the "becomes hostile" message like maybe the friendly commander tells you to check your fire or something. Friendly fire! Importantly, make sure you set the player's allegiance to the faction you want to be neutral as "Ally" and that faction can be neutral towards the player. The player will not get the option to attack that target, but attacking the ally will result in both the player and that faction becoming hostile towards each-other. You could even make the AI act very defensively so it keeps to itself while the player completes his objectives, even if the player does wind up attacking accidentally - but in a multi-player match, remember, one AI is for every side for some reason. I know, it's a total hassle. I've been thinking about how I would do a co-op campaign, using tech limits and such to make two AIs build different stuff, reinforcement drops could help, but the more complex behaviors... Impossible. However, you can tell the game that one casualty = failure. Perhaps that would suffice. Because the game said so, so screw you. XD This is another unfortunate behavior. It's luckily not something that anyone seems to pay attention to, especially not on faster speeds because the map ends much quicker at max speed, but I do make sure to fix any bugs with it. Like, any dialogue that's meant to pop up when the player reveals a tile can be set to only be said when player's units destroyed = false. Putting a commander unit on the field? You can put a different name for anything you want on any map. Changing the stats of a unit, like HP, requires a mod. I recommend picking up TibEd if you haven't already. It can give you a bunch of neat modding options. Lots of campaigns use mods, and getting a player to play with them is very easy because if you pack up your zip a certain way, the mod is put into place with the maps. A backup folder can be provided easily, and used to return the game to normal with the same simple copy + paste. D2k might be simple, and limited in certain ways due to its simplicity, but it certainly makes it easier to jump in and enjoy it! Bah, I'd love to change this one. I had a look through the data.r16 graphics database and found no text characters. The letters are surely around somewhere, I just haven't found them yet. When they are found, it should be a simple matter of replacing the sprites... This one's easier. You can use a colors.bin file to precisely change the House colors, or you can use allocation indexes. Allocation indexes actually change the FACTION, meaning you can set three different AIs to allocation index 1, and ALL of them will show up as Harkonnen. This is one of D2k's really cool features where you can make it appear as though a single AI is controlling a large base and producing stuff quickly when, really, it's several different AIs controlling different parts of that base. It takes some extra work to make it convincing. Campaign maps can use allocation indexes above 7. This results in distorted colors, usually, but sometimes they can look pretty cool. My smugglers campaign changes from smuggler tech tree to mercenary halfway through, so the allocation index the player goes by is 35. This is usually dark brown, but if you mess with the video settings, it can make the player appear red in-game instead. Either way, it's different from the orange color the mercenaries are wearing. Some allocation indexes have consistent colors, like allocation index 98 is a red and black Ordos. Very cool. The only problem is, you can't change the color of a faction on its own. The colors are tied to the factions, so allocation indexes are the only way to make, say, (mostly) green Atreides in the original game (allocation index 13, for instance). Multi-player maps can only use the original 8 allocation indexes, 1-7, IIRC. Colors should be based on whatever's selected in the pre-game lobby. Also, testing them by yourself will result in some weird phenomena where the correct allocation indexes don't appear, where if you have two players at least, uhh... right, I forgot about this. In multi-player games, all factions' pre-placed structures default to Atreides, even if they are not Atreides. 😅 Something about the structures loading in before the factions, and Atreides is the default. So, I guess the correct allocation indexes won't appear, period, unless FunkyFresh fixes that issue. He identified the problem, we know that, but I haven't heard he's fixed it yet. We're limited either way. Don't be disheartened though! And don't be fooled. There is a LOT you can do with this game. Just get creative, and try not to ask too much! This is a bit tricky, but try having a reinforcement Carryall drop somewhere in an inaccessible part of the map. Let it let out a ton of junk units, and then have the trigger unit spawn at the very end. Once you know how the timing works out, you can add a timer that will hit 0 when the trigger unit spawns. Once the trigger unit spawns, simply say, "if X unit exists, Y reinforcements drop." Y reinforcements being the real reinforcements. I use this sort of technique to have conversations play out. Example: https://youtu.be/uUcxiTGVIWk?t=10 This short escort mission involves a LOT of dialogue and delays, where you escort the brown Sardaukar past Imperial forces. Regarding re-naming units, you might notice that infantry unit has a unique name if moused over, as does the Fremen Fedaykin. They are the characters talking. Although I'm not sure arma actually does mouse over them for long enough... anyway, the reinforcements dropping off the side of the map is why the conversation has delays in it. Pretty neat trick, huh? You could also have, say, a Light Infantry become hostile towards a Gun Turret off the side of the map, and when the Gun Turret is destroyed, the reinforcements drop. That would be for a longer timer. However, you could still hear the sound of the Light Infantry shooting, so this is not necessarily a good idea unless you can put those two FAR away from the player, a la S15 where you're on the total opposite side of the map to the dummy triggers and can't hear a thing. I'm very excited. New stuff is always awesome. Glad to have ya mate, welcome to the community, hope you have fun mapping! There's a lot more to discover about D2k, so explore all your options. Mapping Monster Cm could attest to this.

I'm not sure about the near future. This campaign is in its "final draft" state (not counting a game-breaking bug that SOMETIMES occurs on S09V2 which I have yet to fix). The tower defense map works just fine! It simply happens to look a little funny in the first three seconds, that's all. If you want to give it a try, it's "SBON3: Against the Storm" in the mission launcher, but I would advise against reading the briefing because there are spoilers that far into the campaign. If you aren't already aware of how things go, that is. I don't think I'll differentiate in coloration, but I'll certainly arrange them so it's obvious. Like... 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 In that sort of formation where it's obvious whose concrete is whose. I'll have to take a look at my nearest opportunity!

Thank you! I do plan to add some star images, and I'd love to implement working concrete for each faction just to make something like the turret slots on the tower defense map easier to make. In the tower defense map (here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHP2GDdsjhk), at the very beginning, two Quads shoot at each-other for about three in-game seconds before spontaneously combusting, and they clear out the walls so the player has concrete at each turret slot. I've been super busy lately, but I'll see what I can do to implement these new things as quickly as I can.