new map for testing, Playground of the Gods

[myythryyn]

hello, i have submitted another map for testing. its the weekend, so it not up in the testing section yet, but you can get it here if you want to try it out.
http://elrath.com/mapvaultresults.php?m ... g&D6=1&p=1

if you liked battle for androna, or like very big epic maps that take a long time to play and have alot of room to explore, then this map is for you. it has six playable factions, and can be customized to be teams if you want.
there is alot to do on the map, and it is challenging even on normal, the AI is able to create muliple large armies.

sadly though, it looks like i pushed the editor too far this time, and the map description "too big for you" is a literal statement.
i almost filled the entire 216x216 surface and underground with terrain and objects. which i guess is "too big" for the game to handle.
ive noticed that when the map becomes largely revealed, the games performance goes down due to animations i suppose.
but, its a fun map, so im sure youll enjoy it anways. The AI turn lengths are bearable, its just long saving and reloading times, and moving your heros around that i noticed lag later on in the map. and sometimes the AI gets stuck in a teleporter which only lasts a turn or two.

the other bad thing about how large the map is, is that it does randomly crash sometimes. i have no idea why.
maybe someone can provide some ideas as to why, but since there are no scripts(multiplayer map), nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing custom made, i can only think it is the large amount of objects on the map, or something to do with the objects. can anyone else suggest something that might cause it to crash?

so if you do test the map, save often. it crashes very rarely, but it does happen once in awhile.
on the four tests i did, the first two tests, there was only one crash each time, third test it crashed two times, then the last test, it crashed two times again so far, still testing it. i played four different factions in different areas each time.
so it seems to be completly random and it doesnt happen during any particular moment. though it has crashed a couple times when loading the map, which is why i think it has to do with the objects. if it does happen alot to anyone, please let me know.
i hope this doesnt discourage you from trying it, overall, i think this is a must play map, with alot of interesting things to see and do

ok thxs to anyone wants to test this map

[Sir_Toejam]

too big for me, too!

good luck with your new map, and keep 'em coming.

maybe another smaller map like "fury" next time?

[myythryyn]

yes, i am starting my next story map, its going to be the undead this time.
i think im done with "too big for you maps" for now, since it seems that the game isnt designed to handle maps that size.
as soon as your are about 50 percent done an XL map making it starts to completely try your patience, and becomes a test to see how much aggravation you can handle. then the last 10 percent is always the worst with so much lag and wait times.

im now making a smaller map, and its so nice. Loading the map takes seconds, not mintues, you can press save, and the game saves right away, you dont have to wait for the game to calculate AI pathing, you can move around the map with no lag...

but i am happy to say in my fourth test playground of the gods, the map has not crashed all afternoon, so maybe it was just random bad things that caused the map to crash when it did.

[Razeriel]

That's cool, I've played "Battle for Androna" and liked it very much.
In fact - XXL maps are my favourite size. I'm also doing my second XXL map but it is very far from complete state yet.
As for Playground af Gods - I will play it soon enough and then post my opinion here.

[alavris]

Myythryyn, you work like a robot 3 maps in such short time... Unfortunately I can play only the smallest sizes maps on my comp so I will not have opportunity to test your map...
.

[Razeriel]

That's it. We played this map for 3 days, but then I accidentally erased our savegames
But I played enough to have my opinion about it.
Me and my wife played for Sylvan and Dungeon. Good idea to place the Sylvan underground. Adds "something new" to the game
We didn't notice any bugs or errors. The game crashed 2 times, but it's the fault of the game engine, imo, which can't handle too many objects.
Anyway nothing tragic, due to autosave feature.
There was some "sloppiness" or better to say some "slowdown" because of too much objects, but it passes when the quantity of monsters\treasures on the map diminishes (when they are beaten\collected). A little "too much" for us was the number of teleports and labyrinths, you can easily be lost in there
But imo this adds to interest of gameplay

Overall a good map, my congratulations! We'll be looking forward for your next XXL map (may be "not too much" a little) whenever it will be done

[myythryyn]

thxs for trying the map out razeriel
sorry to hear you lost your save games.
and im dissapointed that the map crashed two times on you, so its not just on my system this happens. i suppose two crashes over three days of play isnt enough to make the map unplayable, but i myself prefer to make maps that do not crash at all, like battle for androna.

i think what i might do is go over the entire map and remove alot of objects, and see if that helps, and remove all objects from the edge of the map, since i have heard that can cause problems.

i dont really want to remove objects, i intended this to be one of the biggest maps made, but if the game cant handle it and crashes, then ill have to change that.

as for the teleporters, this map is a concept map involving teleporters, and i had a feeling that it might not go over very well with people. people would find the teleporters confusing. the concept i wanted to try for though was to give the map a complete random factor.
with the teleporters, the AI behaves completely different everytime you play the map, its never the same. as well, the player has a large amount of possible paths they can take, so the map can be played different everytime.

but if the teleporters end up just confusing the player, then i guess its not something ill do in any further maps. i do have a plan for another XL map that will be more plain and regular.

so far though, i have recieved very little feedback on the map. which i can only think is a bad sign. with the other maps i made, i recieved lots positive and negative feedback fairly quickly. this map, just your response so far, and one other commenta and thats, two sources of feedback.
maybe people are downloading it, and giving up playing it due to crashes, or find the map confusing, or too big and lengthy to play.

well anyways, if anyone else has any other feedback, it would be appreciated.

[Razeriel]

No, I don't think the reason is in your map. I think, people just..er.."cool down" with Heroes 5 - they play this game not as much as earlier. But with the release of the addon, I hope it will change

[godlyatheist]

if i play with haven i get very disappointed. i see six peasant hut around the town so i get ellina right away. BUT only one of the hut allows me to recruit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the rest doesn't even allow you to move to it.

plz fix and let me have my free gold.

[myythryyn]

if i play with haven i get very disappointed. i see six peasant hut around the town so i get ellina right away. BUT only one of the hut allows me to recruit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the rest doesn't even allow you to move to it.

plz fix and let me have my free gold.

the peasants in those huts are very busy right now playing the hammers of fate expansion and making maps with the new available objects. So they arent available for recruiting right now....

but other than that for balance reasons, each faction only has one available lvl one creature dwelling. imagine if all six were available to haven what fun that would be
so the huts are just decoration.