How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post here for all aspects of map making and level design. Click here to visit the Keep's official map site, Diabolic Cartography.

Moderator: Paul Siramy

Post Reply
User avatar
Spectrum
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 12:40 pm
Location: Denmark
Denmark

How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by Spectrum » Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:04 pm

I am in D2R; I don't know if that makes a difference.

I have tried to increase the sizes of a bunch of areas by simply upping the SizeX and SizeY in levels.txt (columns H through M). That did not work.

The Icy Cellar in Act 5 ("Act 5 - Ice Cave 3A") and Stony Tomb Level 1 ("Act 2 - Tomb 1 A") in Act II were tiny even though I resized them to 400x400.

Act III crashed when I tried to go to Kurast Bazaar. (I had set the sizes of all 6 temples to 400x400; I had not changed the outdoor areas.)

In Act I, I was able to go to the Cave Level 1 ("Act 1 - Cave 2"), but when I ran too far in the level the game crashed. (I had changed both level 1 and 2 to be 400x400.)

So evidently I need to do more than just edit levels.txt.

I understand that certain areas are preset (eg the Kurast Causeway) and cannot just be resized using SizeX/SizeY, but I thought that at least the Stony Tomb and the Cave should be fine since they look very random. But apparently I am wrong. I guess I will need to venture into other files like lvlprest.txt or the maps.

I could not find an introduction to this topic. Does there exist one?

Thanks in advance! :)

User avatar
kain_abel_666
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 12:13 pm
Location: Canada
Canada

Re: How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by kain_abel_666 » Mon Nov 15, 2021 12:06 am

400x 400 is huge.
That will 100% overlap and cause crashes.

Think about Act 1 for a minute. Imagine the outdoor areas connecting. Picture the full map revealed. Sometimes the map curves back on itself by the time you hit stoney field. Sometimes dark woods and tamoe highlands are pretty close together even though black marsh is in between. Now look at levels.txt and see their sizes. There is no way you could cram 400x400 in there.

Remember that all these "random" levels are made up of smaller preset rooms.

Many random dunegeons can be increased with rooms column in lvlmaze.txt but don't expect to go that high.

I know map making is a PITA even in legacy and near impossible for a full preset in d2r.
I've stayed quite a while and heard what you have to say. Now it is time for the real Kain to emerge.

User avatar
Spectrum
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 12:40 pm
Location: Denmark
Denmark

Re: How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by Spectrum » Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:52 am

kain_abel_666 wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 12:06 am
400x 400 is huge.
That will 100% overlap and cause crashes.

Think about Act 1 for a minute. Imagine the outdoor areas connecting. Picture the full map revealed. Sometimes the map curves back on itself by the time you hit stoney field. Sometimes dark woods and tamoe highlands are pretty close together even though black marsh is in between. Now look at levels.txt and see their sizes. There is no way you could cram 400x400 in there.
Do underground caves also overlap with other things?

In the above I did not change any outdoors areas. Only underground areas.

User avatar
kain_abel_666
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 12:13 pm
Location: Canada
Canada

Re: How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by kain_abel_666 » Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:38 am

yes underground caves will most certainly overlap
the only reason you dont see caves on your map while outside is the automap layer is different - they all still occupy the same 2D space and it exists per act
I've stayed quite a while and heard what you have to say. Now it is time for the real Kain to emerge.

User avatar
Spectrum
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 12:40 pm
Location: Denmark
Denmark

Re: How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by Spectrum » Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:30 am

kain_abel_666 wrote:
Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:38 am
yes underground caves will most certainly overlap
the only reason you dont see caves on your map while outside is the automap layer is different - they all still occupy the same 2D space and it exists per act
Huh. OK. Thanks.

Can you point me to any existing, working mods that have changed area sizes, so I can look at them as working examples?

User avatar
kain_abel_666
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 12:13 pm
Location: Canada
Canada

Re: How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by kain_abel_666 » Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:44 pm

Well most mods just design brand new levels and use either presets or rearange the levels in spaces that will not overlap. I'm not sure if any of then have hardcoded locations.
I've stayed quite a while and heard what you have to say. Now it is time for the real Kain to emerge.

User avatar
Spectrum
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 12:40 pm
Location: Denmark
Denmark

Re: How much do I need to do to change the sizes of areas?

Post by Spectrum » Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:36 am

kain_abel_666 wrote:
Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:44 pm
Well most mods just design brand new levels and use either presets or rearange the levels in spaces that will not overlap. I'm not sure if any of then have hardcoded locations.
All right. Can you point me to any existing, working mods that have added new levels using soft-modding (no code changes), so I can look at them as working examples?

Post Reply

Return to “Map Editing”