Common map naming for the next full version or OA3

[Neon_Knight]

I'm thinking on a map naming such as oaffa1, oaffa2, oaffa3, oactf1, oactf2... It helps people to remember the names of the maps.

[Gig]

Uhm... I really don't know if it would make things easier or harder to remember.
Sure, it would give the look of a more coherent package. In base q3 all map names are like q3dm1, q3dm2, q3tourney1, etc... anyway anyone with autodownload enabled has got his lists (except single player tiers) full with maps with various different names.

But on the other side, maybe it's easier to identify/remember (associate in your mind names with maps) names like "slimefac" and "shouse" than "oadm1", "oadm2", etc.
While dm1, dm2 etc. would allow you to jump from a stock map to another one without knowing its name, simply "trying the next one".

A problem with names like oadm1, oadm2, etc. could be in case of maps later removed from the game... leaving "blank" spaces in naming would not be nice, but also using the same name for two completely different maps would not be very nice....

I don't know...

[Neon_Knight]

That's why I'm proposing it for OA3. Supposedly, the reboot will start with a way better mappool than current OA, where bad quality maps are aparted, so the remaining maps will be incorporated definitely into OA, and for future maps we've been already told by lei/FH that there will be a quality control for maps.

[PigCell]

The Team Arena/Quake Live approach would be to provide a UI that lets you select maps by title rather than file name. That way the who like names aren't confused, while the file names could be neatly arranged like oa<gamemode><number>. Like Gig said, it'd be creating holes in the numbering system would be awkward, so maybe the numbers should be assigned as late as possible (shortly before release)?

[Gig]

.. just to complete my previous post: even if for OA3 we will try to put in a map pool as much organized as we can... there could anyway be the hypotetical case of a map that will have to be flushed out later cause of some license problem we weren't aware of, or cause of even higher standards, or even if its author changes idea (I know that once released something under a free license, one should know it is late to change idea, but legal issues are never welcome anyway!). Maybe in such rare cases we could really re-assign that name to a completely different map in a later release and who cares?

PS: About giving more info in map list, or allowing to change the order in the GUI, could be interesting. Maybe an idea Sago may consider. It could be nice to show map "description" next to map name when using the "autocomplete" feature for "map" command in console... maybe we may suggest this to the ioquake3 team... do you think it may be nice or it may cause confusion?

[PigCell]

One could add a bunch of useful information, even things like suggested minimum/maximum players and the server skips maps in the rotation that don't fit. It's all possible, but I gather working with the UI is rather clunky. But yes, I'm all for a sane way of sorting/filtering maps.

[grey matter]

The ioquake team most likely will ignore your proposed changes to q3_ui, as this is left for each mod author to solve. They want to stay as close to vanilla id Q3 as possible. You should not mess with engine commands such as /map and /devmap. If you want to add descriptions, then add something like /mapinfo <mapname>.

I think numbering the maps is a very bad idea. I would not use a gametype in the name either, because some maps work for more than one gametype. Names are easier to remember and recognize for both players and admins.
I do however think an oa_ prefix would be good to indicate that those maps are meant for OA and thus will not work with id Quake3 (missing texture, shaders etc.).

You can add any information to those .arena files and use the existing COM_Parse() functions. There is already a field for a map description (longnamel)?

[Gig]

Uhm... changes to the GUI obviously would be proposed to OA only, not to ioquake3.

About console, instead... ioquake3 already changed q3 commands autocompletion, including "map". Real Quake 3 did not autocomplete map names, it is a feature ioquake3 added.... and they may decide to further improve it. Who knows without asking?

[Gig]

Noone repled here for several days... so now I wrote the autocomplete enhancement idea to ioquake3 bugzilla (number 5303). If they will not like the idea, I will not be offended... If they will like it, well I think it could be nice.

[Gig]

It seems that probably ioq3 won't do it, cause of the engine not being used to look for info inside .arena files or inside .bsp files.

[grey matter]

Be careful, that reply on ioquake3's bugtracker is from me, none of their officials.

I guess they might have the same view as I do (hence no additional replies), but they're usually open for changes, as long as you supply a working .patch for them to apply (i.e. code the feature yourself).

[VortexHU]

what about aliases, enabling referring to maps by game type and index (like ffa3) or their titles or file names? could this go into a .arena file?

[fromhell]

let's not forget this poll.

[grey matter]

what about aliases, enabling referring to maps by game type and index (like ffa3) or their titles or file names? could this go into a .arena file?

One would have to add an "index" field to the .arena files (assuming that a map with both ctf and dm, index 1 would be ctf1 and dm1. Otherwise a more sophisticated approach is needed ). "type" and "longname" are already present. Using that information, one could add an gamecode command which searches the .arena files, then calls the original /map command. So yes, this is possible.

I'd very much forget this poll, it's 1/3 1/3 1/3

[Neon_Knight]

I'd very much forget this poll, it's 1/3 1/3 1/3

Should I start a new poll?

[[ERROR_42]]

Wouldn't it make more sense to give them casual names, like "The Cistern"?

[Neon_Knight]

May clash with other maps using the same filename.

[Akom74]

Wouldn't it make more sense to give them casual names, like "The Cistern"?

I agree with you, but Neon_Knight is right.

[[ERROR_42]]

Well... Sunnufabitch...