Talk:MAPS

Errr... need a bit of formatting help... see the page? I want to put on all the separate levels so that they are easily seen to readers. I managed to get the Skyranger showing as thumbnails, but the next heading should be below the thumbs, but isn't... :o( How can I get it to format right, or any other ideas would be appreciated! Cheers ---- Phoenix 18 April 2006 09:59 BST

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One possible option would be to put a <BR clear="all"> after the image, so that all text that follows the image will continue underneath it.

For more image manipulators, check out Magic Words.

- NKF

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Excellent! Cheers NKF!

- Phoenix

Extra/unused .MAP files?

Hi all,

I've been looking at UFO's .MAP files in quite a bit of depth and I've found a few that don't seem to be used in the game. I've done a cursory examination of them in Hex Workshop and listed some of their attributes below. In a plain steam distribution, the files are:

• MAP3.MAP - Seems to be a hilly area, unknown MCDs - Mountain terrain seems the best fit

32X48X3

• MAP4.MAP - Seems to be an underground base, unknown MCDs - Mountain terrain seems the best fit

32X48X3

• PABDUCT.MAP - What appears to be two pyramids linked together, unknown MCDs

10X20X4

• PHARVEST.MAP - Dome shaped craft, unknown MCDs

20X20X4

• PSCOUT.MAP - Pyramid shaped craft, unknown MCDs

10X10X4

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

• TEMP.MAP - Lowest level of URBAN17, same MCDs

10X10X1

• TEMP1.MAP - VERY simplistic design looks a little like the medium scout, probably just a test like the other TEMP maps, unknown MCDs

10X10X1

• TEMP2.MAP - Middle level of URBAN08, same MCDs

20X20X1

• TEMP3.MAP - Same as TEMP2 but without stairs

20X20X1

• NOSHIP.MAP - It's empty. created by xcomutil, no? Whoops, you're right... this map isn't included with the game

10X10X2

• UFO_000.MAP - Smaller version of the medium scout, unknown MCDs

10X10X2

• UFO_010.MAP - Similar to the large scout, but bigger; unknown MCDs

20X20X2

• UFO_1A.MAP - Small scout, MCD is UFO1, map is used by game so I'm not sure why I'm listing it

10X10X3

• UFO_1B.MAP - Smallest scout, MCD is a modified version of UFO1 that's fairly easy to determine - just subtract an index

2X2X3

Anybody know what they are? The first two are especially weird; there's no way they could fit into an X-Com map unless it was the same map every time, like a TFTD ship attack. Off the Rails 11:02, 8 February 2011 (EST)

There's also UFO_010, UFO1A and UFO1B. Obviously, some of these are early UFO designs (for which we haven't been able to determine a correct set of MCD files to use - we'd probably have to build an MCD from scratch if we ever wanted to see them), but some I'm outright unsure about. -  Bomb Bloke (Talk/Contribs) 17:25, 8 February 2011 (EST)

Although I'm new here, I've been lurking for a while and, for a month or so, learning to make .MAP data my bitch. I've an idea: assuming the MCD array starts with BLANKS.MCD, we can figure out whether a particular map tile is empty or not (ie if the relevant byte in the file is 00, the tile contains nothing; otherwise it must contain something...) and therefore come up with a basic floorplan for the terrain. I'll have a crack at it and put the results on my user page. Off the Rails 16:04, 10 February 2011 (EST)

There's an easier way to actually 'see' what the files might contain using Daishiva's MapView. The question is that you don't know which MCD sets are required for each map (except for the UFOs) so it would take a lot of trial and error and mostly likely they are simply garbage (I've checked UFO_000, and it never made any sense, regardless of the MCD combination I tried). Hobbes 16:38, 10 February 2011 (EST)

Indeed, that's what I meant when I said we may need to build new MCDs; the ones needed to load the old UFO MAPs simply weren't included, best I can make out. I suspect we might be able to do wonders with a bit of tile re-ordering, but if may be we're outright missing some of the graphics we need. Anyway, Rails, I've taken the liberty of adding some additional info to your initial list. -  Bomb Bloke (Talk/Contribs) 18:15, 10 February 2011 (EST)

actually UFO1A is the small scout it uses UFO1.MCD, UFO_010 is the medium scout. UFO1B.MAP (2x2x3) and UFO_000.MAP (10x10x2) are the two unknown ufos. - Daiky

Whoops, careful with the history buttons... attempting to edit a page while viewing an older version performs a revert to that version. Anyway, yes, my mistake with UFO1A, but you're confusing UFO_010 with UFO_110. -  Bomb Bloke (Talk/Contribs) 18:43, 11 February 2011 (EST)

So it occurred to me late last night that rebuilding the MCDs was too much like hard work... Rebuilding the MAPs to work with existing MCDs would be much faster. I've performed a quick conversion of the PSCOUT map and added pics above. Not sure if the original hull was yellow (it probably would've been alloy-coloured), and I'm uncertain whether those are supposed to be seats in the hall on the lowest level, but other then those two points it should be nearly accurate.

Different wall tiles were used where the north-walls meet the west-walls, which typically isn't the case with the maps used in the finished game. When these two tiles meet, the game crops the sprites on the fly in order to prevent the overlap effect you get in Daishiva's MapView. I'm thinking this map was designed before the cropping feature was added, and so it would've used pre-cropped sprites. -  Bomb Bloke (Talk/Contribs) 19:01, 12 February 2011 (EST)