Some Changes for Space CTF

[bl4cksheep]

Hey guys,

we plan to play Quake 3 at our next LAN next Week and I wanted to create the "old" Version of Space CTF from Quake Live. (Not the actual one...)
Well i started a Map Editor for the first time and tried to edit Space CTF but i realized its kinda complicated .

I dont want to do big chances just some minor one e.g. changing the rocket launcher in the middle of the map to the railgun and deleting the moving platform above. Can someone give me some advice how to do this fast? I dont want to understand what I am doing, just changing those things. Or is there a Space CTF version out there that fulfill my wishes? (Well I searched already but didnt find anything)

Or if it doesnt take too long? Maybe some user here could change it and upload it for us?

Thank you very much.

bl4cksheep

[Eraser]

Quake3 maps are created in a map editor called Radiant. The maps that are created with Radiant are then compiled using the q3map compiler, which outputs a bsp file. The BSP file is then loaded in Quake 3. This is also what is distributed with the game. Why is this important? Because you cannot edit the resulting BSP file with Radiant. You'll need the map file that has been created with Radiant for that. And since id Software has not released those map files it's impossible to edit existing Quake 3 maps that were made by id Software.

So there's only two ways for you to go about this. First option is to completely recreate the map from scratch yourself. The q3map compiler does, however, have an option to de-compile bsp files back into a map file. This will not get you a perfectly workable map file though as the de-compilation process messes a lot of things up in a map though. The resulting map file can, however, act as a guide to distances and sizes.

The second option is to write a mod that does the things you want to do. It's very much possible to write a mod that removes a specific weapon or the moving platform in a specific map.

You've probably already guessed it though. In both cases you really need to know what you are doing.

What I'm wondering about though, since I don't know about changes made in Space CTF for Quake Live, is if you aren't actually looking for the Space CTF map that originally came with Quake 3 Arena? Are you going to play Quake 3 Arena or Quake Live on your LAN party? If you're planning on playing Quake Live, then all is probably for nothing anyway, as you cannot play custom maps (or mods) on there. If you're planning on playing Q3A, then maybe the original Space CTF (q3ctf4) is what you're looking for?

[Therac-25]

we plan to play Quake 3 at our next LAN next Week and I wanted to create the "old" Version of Space CTF from Quake Live. (Not the actual one...)

Not sure what you're asking for here. The two maps are quite different.

[lvlshot]http://i.imgur.com/BRP3o.jpg[/lvlshot]
vs
[lvlshot]http://i.imgur.com/2UrfN.jpg[/lvlshot]

But to answer your question, Excessive can do what you want without map editing or coding, if you can do the legwork to figure out how to get a working configuration going.

After looking at the current release of Excessive, it actually contains an example entity file to modify q3ctf4, so you're in luck. Basically, the release of that mod contains a complete entities file for q3ctf4, and it overrides the original entity file -- so you can comment out the moving platform entity, and change the RL to an RG, and you're good to go.

[Therac-25]

Yeah, that works.

Just do this at the top of the q3ctf4 ents file (note if your server is on Linux, you might need to call the file Q3CTF4.ents -- case sensitivity and all that).

[lvlshot]http://i.imgur.com/Q3c5L.jpg[/lvlshot]

BFG and platform gone, RL is now RG. You can also put a quad up in the middle like in the QL version.

After getting ExcessivePlus working, make the top of the q3ctf4.ents file look like this:

Code: Select all

// Put a quad here like Quake Live
{
        "classname" "item_quad"
        "origin" "320 288 976"
        "spawnflags" "1"
}
// Change the RL in the middle to an RG
{
        "origin" "320 288 448"
        "classname" "weapon_railgun"
        "spawnflags" "1"
}

// Remove the platform
//{
//      "model" "*13"
//      "speed" "5"
//      "spawnflags" "2"
//      "phase" "0.3"
//      "height" "1684"
//      "origin" "10 -8 71.9"
//      "classname" "func_bobbing"
//}

// bfg? no way!
//{
//      "classname" "weapon_bfg"
//      "origin" "800 288 976"
//      "spawnflags" "1"
//}

[^misantropia^]

CPMA supports this too.

[Eraser]

oh that's pretty neat.
Doesn't Excessive come with the outrageous weapons though?

[Therac-25]

oh that's pretty neat.
Doesn't Excessive come with the outrageous weapons though?

It looks all soft-configurable. Comes with a bunch of config files that you can change all the parameters of every weapon.

[Eraser]

What I'm wondering about though... if I understand his original question correctly, then he doesn't want to play the version of Space CTF that's included with Quake Live but the one that is included with Quake 3 Arena. If he's planning on using Quake Live for his LAN party, then he can't load up any mods either can he? And if he's using Quake 3 Arena, then he doesn't need to make any changes because the correct version of the map is already in there, no?

[Therac-25]

What I'm wondering about though... if I understand his original question correctly, then he doesn't want to play the version of Space CTF that's included with Quake Live but the one that is included with Quake 3 Arena. If he's planning on using Quake Live for his LAN party, then he can't load up any mods either can he? And if he's using Quake 3 Arena, then he doesn't need to make any changes because the correct version of the map is already in there, no?

I don't really know what he's asking. But I don't know why anyone would want to play Quake Live at a LAN party.

[Eraser]

Well, if you don't own Quake 3 and you're the last honest person on the planet (as in: you're not warezing it). If you have someone with a premium Quake Live account you can set up a private server.

[^misantropia^]

But that'd still make it a WAN party, no?

[Eraser]

lol. I guess that technically it is, yes

[bl4cksheep]

Well thanks so far. I will look at the Excessive Link.

And to explain my "problem" or request again.
There are two versions of Space CTF.
The old Quake 3 one and the "new" Quake Live one. Both games have the "flaw" that the Railgun is on the platform above the base removing the tactical aspect from the map by trying to catch the Railgun (which in the old QuakeLive version was in the middle of the map). I dont know if its only my impression but i think more people were playing SpaceCTF in QuakeLive before it went out of the beta into the account system.
Like the change i mentioned above are some other changes which i would like to see in the map we are going to play at our LAN.

Thanks for the help. I will reply again once it works

[bl4cksheep]

you are great guys...i changed everything i wanted...now the map looks kinda similar to the quake live map i loved thank you again very much