A20 World Generator - External Program (Request)

[XINTERP]

Hey TFP, is there any way we can get the new Map Generator that is released for A20 as a separate program? Before A20 I used NitroGen and KingGen frequently to generate maps randomly for a home based server a bunch of friends would play on. We got into a rhythm of resetting the server once every 3 months on the blade, and I would like to be able to do the same moving forward if possible. The maps we would make were 16k maps with no reset on loot. What was there at the beginning of the map, was there. That's it.

I know that's a lot more work than just a plain request to "Give map generator, pls copy & Paste, giv now" but I would honestly be willing to pay money to get a supported official map generator to take load off of my gaming machine or for faster map generation. I also understand that that's adding another game/program that you would have to manage on your back end and could be problematic for a number of reasons.

Please tell me this was an option that was thought of, and that I'm not crazy for wanting this.

[ljay87]

This would be great. Whether TFP were able to do this or allow third party support for something like this to take the weight of it off of themselves, this would be a great idea.

[P3rf3ctVZer0]

You know this would save on quite a few headaches.

[XINTERP]

NitroGen seemed like the most customizable and user friendly option that there was of the two.

It provided multiple options for separate categories as well as a few changes. Lots of these changes were updated with the A20 map rendering updates with custom plops from TFP. Cities and Towns now randomly generate and fill in a unique boundary with individual structures to match the grid.

A20 also includes at least one Trader per large or greater town/city from what I can tell, so nothing bad there. Only good things came with that update.

 

Here are a few things on top of what is automatically done now that I would like to see added if they choose to take this task up.

• The ability to define a map name
• The ability to select the primary size of the map (Up to the most stable size you can run within the game, preferably reaching 16k)
• The ability to determine where the map will get saved
• An option for Landscape that allows multiple different options between the following
  • Balanced - No Mountains (A balance of all landscapes below without Mountains)
  • Balanced - No Rocky Hills (A balance of all landscapes below without Rocky Hills)
  • Balanced - No Deserts (A balance of all landscapes below without Deserts)
  • Balanced - No Tundra (A balance of all landscapes below without Tundra)
  • Balanced (A balance of all landscapes below)
  • Flatland
  • Mountains
  • Rocky Hills
  • Deserts
  • Tundra
• An option for each Landscape Section listed above (Flatland, Mountains, Rocky Hills, Deserts, Tundra) to adjust parameters of each Landscape, or an option to determine how much of what landscapes we want on the map
• Biome Control - In case we don't want certain Biomes on the map
• A border Biome option - Some people don't like the random Radiation Zone that borders the entire map. We would rather have the option to set a specific biome around the map that would give us a well known "Don't go any further you moron." heads up. Most commonly this was Water for our server and made the map feel like it was a giant island that was inhabited by a flourishing population.
• An option to add biomes to specifically the northern and southern 3/5/10% of the map based on size. Usually this was North (Snow) and South (Desert) before hitting a Water biome on our server.
• The ability to have the map generate with more or less roads
• The ability to control the damage of said roads that were generated (Ranging from completely destroyed to pristine and untouched)
• The ability to control both Small and Large Lake spawn amount, meaning you could have more large lakes and no small lakes, or vice versa, or a mixture of both. Likely sliders for both or ticboxes or something like that would be the best way to determine with the generator.
• An option to either have or not have Vicious Cracks that run throughout the map
• An option that had the ability to change where players spawn in - Single Spawnpoint, Random, Far from a town, Close to a town, Near the middle of a town, or on a Rooftop.
• An option to adjust how many cities spawned from None to an Extreme Amount
• An option to adjust how many traders spawned within cities - None, one, two, a few, many, etc...
• Options similar to the ones for cities, but for towns.
• An option to increase or decrease each of the following spawns per map - Farms, Car Lots, and Mountain Huts
• An option to add a high density Highway/Interstate/Metro that runs through the map that would provide a roughly safe option for travel once repaired and slightly modified by the player
• The ability to generate Multiple Maps concurrently, one after another, all individual, so we could generate multiple and choose one from the randomizer that we would like.
• And finally, the ability to add additional updated mod structures to the database of structures that already exist within the game by default - This should help people who want to run things like the Compo Pack, Darkness Falls, or any other big mods that require custom buildings.

Again, I know what I'm asking for isn't something that is simple. I wholly realize that and know that this amount of work is beyond my ability to do, as well as the majority of others.

I will pay real life dollars, even full game price, just to get a supported map generator.

*starts foaming at mouth*

[doughphunghus]

[redacted] - something funny, but figured not to have it saved for all eternity

Edited May 8, 2022 by doughphunghus (see edit history)

[Jinx_DG]

How would having this as a separate program give you want you want?  

[Gamida]

IIRC there is a new map generator being worked on right now by forum member(s)

[XINTERP]

1 hour ago, Gamida said:

IIRC there is a new map generator being worked on right now by forum member(s)

Thank goodness.
 

8 hours ago, Jinx_DG said:

How would having this as a separate program give you want you want?  

It's not just about me. And a large part of it is about predicted randomizing. Sometimes people don't like the fully random maps that exist with the current RWG but still want something new each time they play a map. While it has become better, being able to control what biomes are more plentiful, the ability to increase map size to 16k, the ability to increase or decrease the spawns of towns, and more... the possibilities are endless.

When you're playing with a theme in mind, not to mention a mod that overhauls the game, its hard to bring this to light if the current RWG doesn't work out quite how you have planned for the game or map that you want. And with Gamida's statement above, it looks like other people who share that through process are already on the task. Not to mention, it becomes a bit tedious to create a map on the current pc, verify and doublecheck everything after it takes time to generate, chop out the spawnpoints, and transfer the files to the server. These things take additional time, where with a predictive random world generator, we can set hard values and define a range for these values, and have a map generate within those values to be exactly what we were looking for while still having it be random, on the same machine.

[Gamida]

Here is a YT vid from Tallman Brad Gameplay having a look at Teragon.

 

 

[XINTERP]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:29 AM, Gamida said:

Here is a YT vid from Tallman Brad Gameplay having a look at Teragon.

I looked a bit further in that thread for Kinggen. That literally ticks all my boxes and then some. I know that it exists, but it's not open to the public from the information that I gathered in that thread. I wish it was open for testing. I know a bunch of people would love to test it out, including myself.

[Jinx_DG]

Thanks for the explanation. I appreciate the in depth reply.