[TOOL] [DISCONTINUED] Empyrion Playfield Designer Alpha7 v1.36.1 [deprecated version]

did you switch to Build 1006 (Ver. 6.09), although i guess i set that as default on first start.

 

Prob not but now it works

 

@jmcburn

Hey, I have spent a long old time amongst the playfield YAML and know it like the back of my hand, I really love what you have created but before i give up my old ways i just wanted to check that the tool is updated with everything that the current YAML has, as in there is nothing missing from the tool that is implemented in the current closed testing build?

its no worries its a lot to expect the tool to be to that level but of course for the server we need to have the most upto date options to avoid any legacy conflicts or missed additions

Thanks in advance for then reply

 

Just wanted to note that you can make 2 different githubs. One you keep private for the code itself but then makes it easy for YOU to see your version changes sometimes. (Edit to add that having a github has saved my butt when I had to reinstall Windows and couldn't find my original files in my last backup.) The second one you make public and can include basic help like a readme, screenshots, example files, an updated zip , then have the wiki and bug reports for the tool there. That is how freaky did it for Rocket Mod for Unturned. The actual code repo was invite only for a very long time but the bug reports and wiki was on that public repo. (He has since made it open for view, but contributions have to have the code approved.)

With that said, I understand the reluctance to use it. Sometimes more eyes is not a good thing, and it can get annoying to keep rejecting any changes made by other people when it is open source. On top of that, if the EPG is going to be incorporated into this tool, then it is best to wait anyways since that could be a huge amount of code change (or not).

Just wanted to throw it out there that you can use github without actually using it for the code. This thread works just as well. Now to download the new version and see if I can make some good playfields for a scenario for Experimental V. Please keep up the good work.

 

Well, i try to keep it updated to latest version as fast as i can. But i can't guarantee anything, as i don't know, how long it takes to implement new things, and i'm doing this in my spare time.

Releasing simultaneously with a new closed build won't be possible as i start developing/implementing new features, when a new closed build with changes to the yaml is getting released.
Then it depends on the complexity of the changes, how fast i can implement and how much of the existing code if have to break for it to make them work.
My goal is to release a new version, when an experimental build is released, so that people have something to test the new features on.

But keep in mind, that EPD is also still in alpha development stage, so bugs are very possible.

/jmc

 

I do use BitBucket for repo management/code versioning online, and it has basically all the main features that Github has. Wiki, Issue Tracker, ...

Haven't looked into it in more detail though, as i didn't have any time left.

I also thought about setting up a simple homepage with wiki/forum on one of my servers, but same problem. Simply no time left after EPD at the moment.

And i would still have to drop an announcement/changelog in the forum as well to get people to notice, so for the time beeing, i guess, the forum and google drive will have to do, as it's the quickest way for me to publish a new release.

As soon i have some time available i will think about the bitbucket/wiki/issue thing again.

Thanks for the feedback.

/jmc

 

v.1.26.0 - MapDistance POI Property Key works great, and NightlightColor parameter works too.

 

Great, thx for the feedback.

 

discovered this utility today i've to say it is awesome. The're are still some things that i don't understand, e.g. wildlife.

I've configured my biomes under creatures -> new. Still, while selecting the biome and adding some Animals. They do not spawn. regardless of which altitude or ammount i configure them.

Anyone else experienced this ?

 

Could you please post your playfield. I will gladly have a look.

Biome creation isn't that straightforward, i'm afraid. I'm just drafting out a new concept to improve useability here.

/jmc

 

I've not had an issue with wildlife yet, but I haven't got that far in most of my attempts. I started from absolutely nothing... used this tool to clear just about everything, and then I worked on terrain and lighting and weather. Now I'm trying to add POI's, and THAT is a pain right in the arse. If I can't correctly position those, no point going forward.

 

What issues are you having exactly? Maybe i can help.

are you using fixed, random or both?

/jmc

 

I got her now. The console command ENTS is really nice... it shows you YOUR position, and the BA position, so you can see them side by side.

 

I've send you a PM. Thanks.

 

A Little crash course in creatures and biomes:

As I'm developing EPD, i regularly get some crash courses from one of the devs in playfields, their do's and don'ts and their limits. I still just know a few things, but that's what i learned so far regarding creatures and biomes:

Couple of things, why creatures might not spawn:

• My fault, will be fixed:
  if delay is set to zero in EPD, the yaml file parser doesn't write 0 out into file by default. Most of the properties in yaml get defaulted by empyrion anyways, so 0 would be 0 in game. That's not the case with Delay. It has to be explicitely set to 0 in playfield.
• My fault, will be fixed:
  Creature amount limit is 5, so setting it higher, might not work either.
  I will change the input limit to 5 in epd in future releases.
• Reload won't work with creatures (yet?).
  So for changes to take effect, you will have to delete the savegames' playfield folder, that contains ents.dat. Don't know if that's gonna change in empyrion in the future. Same goes for Resources as well (at least at the moment, not sure, if that's gonna change).
• 'Evil' Creatures will spawn independently from set delay only after 24hrs to make the start for fresh players easier. Don't have a list yet, who those are, but hopefully i will get it.
• Biome Names can't have spaces in them e.g.: 'Low Fields' has to be changed to 'LowFields'
• Generally:
  biome names also trigger biome sounds. If you use something custom, there won't be any biome specific sounds in game.
• Each biome should always be in this form:
  Each biome should (or must) have a dummy biome to cover all slope ranges. I will automatically create those in future, but as i said, i'm just learning as well and did not know that before, either.
  
  
• Every altitude range (0..255) should be covered by biomes
• No altitude range should overlap with another

So, following those rules should help you out in creating better and hopefully working playfields.

/jmc

 

That is some nice information.


1. i tried this by manually setting delay to 0.
2. set all "mobs" to 2. I've noticed that the default playfields have set this value to 1 or 2 , too.
3. i don't use this fuetare at all
4. good to know, swapped all hostile creatures to friendly creatures
5. That's a goodie. Now that i've change Biome names to non-custom i finally get the alien sounds like on masperon
6. I still try to understand. I have no idea what slope means. Sure i know the translation into my language but i don't understand. Slope for what ? Terrain ? difficulty ? 0-90.... when i look at the default playfields they almost all have "duplicate" biomes e.g. 0-12 , 0-180 . So about the duplicates it is true.

when I see your example, you have defined the same altitude for dummy AND real Biome. But it is cutting off the decorations. Example Red-Grass on top of mountains (in the playfield i've submitted to you). At some point i really have messed up some things with slope and "the right order of bioms seems to be essential".

The only point i've got "mobs" was when i had almost everything dummy biome. And guess, they spawned in "unknown" biomes. There where plain fields without biome info ingame. There i had animals.

Is there a cutoff for places to spawn ?? I have many pants in great height and amounts. Maybe there isn't any palce to spawn after all the plants ?

 

Defines the slope/steepness of terrain 0..means flat, 90 means 90° (vertical wall). dummy biome simply fills all the not previously defined slope ranges for that biome. That's why you have to set it to 0-90;

That's true, forgot that. has to be in right order, as empyrion works it's way down the list.

maybe, don't know yet. It's best not to use too much deco at first, as it can make the game crash. I've tested decoration amount set to 5000 and then the game crashed.
Amount has always to be set in respective to biome size. Small biomes, little values, bigger biomes, larger values.
But you have set RestrictYMinMax to 0..40. That means that creatures will only spawn between an altitude of 0 and 40. Nothing above.

But this is all still try & error. You will have to find the right amount for your biome.
This is where reload comes in handy. It's easy to test such things with changing a value saving and reloading.

Hope this helps.

/jmc

 

@jmcburn - Heads up. When importing a playfield YAML... the utility doesn't appear to import POI coordinates correctly.

Here is the YAML in text form:




Here it is imported:



Saving overwrites with the wrong values.

 

Thx a lot. Obviously missed some CultureInfo check there. Will be fixed in next version.


EDIT:
Haha, well, i guess it's best not to put things off for too long.



Nice of me to remember myself

/jmc

 

@jmcburn

I ran into an issue today. When trying to set a fixed player start in a survival playfield, my screen is not tall enough to click the Okay or Cancel buttons at the bottom without hiding my toolbar.