New resource request - Rickenbacker maps (completed)

[66349851a25e4voodoo47]

Note - this is now included in SCP, do not use unless you know what are doing.


so as we all know, Rickenbacker lacks proper maps, probably because of the time constraints. and it would be really nice to have them created - if available, we could implement them in SCP.

-must fit the general SS2 map aesthetics.
-must be reasonably accurate.

[66349851a2a03unn_atropos]

I would modestly suggest my Blueprints of the U.N.N. Rickenbacker for this.

[66349851a2c34ZylonBane]

I stand by my opinion that automapping rick1 in any sort of useful way is basically impossible. It's sliced into so many layers that to fit every layer into the map window they would all have to be ridiculously small. Rick2 and rick3 are the opposite-- they're so tiny that you don't even need a map.

[66349851a2d74voodoo47]

I'm quite sure that something could be done. somewhat accurate maps are still better than no-maps.

no such thing as perfection in this world.

[66349851a2ea1ZylonBane]

The horror...

[66349851a3044Kolya]

What about a sideview map?

[66349851a317bZylonBane]

1. Not technically possible (the player position marker is hardwired for X/Y coordinates)
2. Would be pretty much useless even if it could be done

[66349851a3319Da9L]

Im pretty convinced that a map for Rickenbacker would actually make the player more confused than benefit for anything. As ZB is saying all the layers is the cause of this

[66349851a340dvoodoo47]

we don't know unless we try. and it's not like we are getting spammed by tons of user made Rick maps anytime soon.

[66349851a3831ZylonBane]

Im pretty convinced that a map for Rickenbacker would actually make the player more confused than benefit for anything. As ZB is saying all the layers is the cause of this

Uh, no. What I'm saying is that rick1 has so many layers, and each layer is so large, that it's physically impossible to fit them on the map screen at a useful size. It's a really, really, big map. Probably the biggest in the game. When you view it in DromEd it looks like a freaking Borg cube.

Even if there was a way to fit everything in at a useful size, it would then require manually setting the map IDs on hundreds of room brushes. A huge amount of effort for barely any benefit to the player since most of rick1 is linear.

[66349851a3d6fGrosnus]

This is my best attempt at making this happen:

Deck A is basically a giant cluster of insets, but instead of showing that in a standard way, I decided to seperate map into layers and only show specific "sub-insets" for each layer.
Something similar was done here: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=2049

A few areas accessible by ladder are intentionally skipped which is not uncommon in vanilla maps anyway. I was even thinking about merging Nacelle B tunnels into one area intead of 3 - in current form it might be even more confusing with automap than without. Besides, I feel there's way too many numbers in the map already.
I tried to keep the style as close as possible to original, so I had to stick to several "rules" of layouting, which only made it more difficult to fit everything in. In the end the scale isn't that bad - Rec2 map has even smaller elements than this.

All rooms and markers are set in .mis files, so everything should work fine. I had to split a lot of room brushes into smaller boxes to match map segments. It's based on SCP maps, so SCP will be required to try it out.
I don't think new automaps are going to work in saves, so new game is also required, at least from my experience.

Overall it works much better during gameplay - even though Rickenbacker is very linear, uncovering new areas gives a nice sense of exploration - something I always liked in games with maps like this.
[Rickenbacker_automaps.zip expired]

[66349851a3e7dZylonBane]

Holy cow.

[66349851a3f9bvoodoo47]

what he said. based on beta4 maps, I would assume? //yes. also, if you are using SHTUP, the intrface folder from the archive needs to be copied there as well.

saves from before entering Rick for the first time should be fine.

[66349851a4272Marvin]

I guess Christmas is coming early to the SSorg community this year, what with the logo update and now this.

[66349851a43a3voodoo47]

yeah - pretty sure we'll want to release the next version of SCP sooner than Halloween this year.

[66349851a4696Grosnus]

also, if you are using SHTUP, the intrface folder from the archive needs to be copied there as well.

What do you mean exactly, copied to where? Is there some sort of compatibility issue?
Also, I just noticed there's typo in rick2 map, I'll fix it later today.

[66349851a483fvoodoo47]

yeah, because I've added the files directly to SCP, so SHTUP overrode (woah, that's an actual word) the new maps. should be ok as long as you use the maps as a standalone mod. anyway, it's nothing you would need to be concerned about, we will merge the files properly for the upcoming SCP/SHTUP release(es).

[66349851a4cccOlfred]

yeah - pretty sure we'll want to release the next version of SCP sooner than Halloween this year.

Don't let certain people hear that

And yeah, nice job on the map!

[66349851a4dd1Grosnus]

Ok, the typo in rick2 is fixed now.
I updated the attachment in my first post.

[66349851a4ed4unn_atropos]

Did you use my blueprints as a base? If so, my hours of useless work were not in vain after all  .

Indeed a awesome time to be a System Shock fan, with all the new shiny stuff coming out!

[66349851a503bGrosnus]

Your blueprints helped me get a sense of scale, especially for rick1. Thanks to that I was able to nail the scale in first try, otherwise if I made a mistake it would be very painful to redo everything  .

In the end I had to retrace all walls directly from missions, because there were some differences in the map vs the actual area where player can walk, e.g. the area around missile control room.
That was the fun part though, the worst was to divide room brushes into smaller chunks without introducing room errors  .

[66349851a537aJDoran]

Grosnus, that looks great (at least to my inexpert eyes). When you think about it, considering how small the SS2 fan-community is, we're incredibly lucky to have so many talented members prepared to give their time and effort to improve the game.
 

yeah - pretty sure we'll want to release the next version of SCP sooner than Halloween this year.

Or you could release a maintenance release (SSP beta 4.1?) any time you liked, instead of waiting until you feel enough of a milestone has been released to afford the jump to beta 5.

[66349851a5489aluminumhaste]

Holy crap that looks amazing!
I've downloaded the resource, but ummm, where do I stick it to get it working?

[66349851a5597voodoo47]

use the modmanager, put it on top of SCP and SHTUP.