[CF-Devel] An Idea for crossfire

[Adam Ashenfelter]

 I havent developed for crossfire, or posted on this list before.  I
have a couple ideas, but I thought this one might be the most
interesting

I was thinking the outdoor epic sized map could be generated
procedurally.  The map would be broken up into x by x sections that
would be tiled together to give the illusion of a seamless outdoor map.
When a section first comes into view, a perlin noise function(using
global x,y coordinates as seeds) would be used to determine if tiles are
land tiles, or water tiles.   Then, another function would be run to
determine if the land tiles contain any foilage.  A third function would
be run that determinse if the land tiles contain certain degree's of
mountains terrain.  Then a normal map file could be read in.  If the map
file contains a floor tile for a cell, that tile replaces the generated
tile, any non floor objects are placed on top.
Pros:  A huge fairly interesting map can be created very quickly, then
tweaked by map designers to add more interesting features.  Takes up
very little space.
Cons:  Generating map may take to much server time, and cause game
pauses.  Designers might want more control overall on the map.
More info on Perlin noise is available at the following URL.
     
     http://freespace.virgin.net/hugo.elias/models/m_perlin.htm
     
     
I'll try to write a sample program that just creates map files if
anybody is interested.

Thanks
Adam Ashenfelter


Sorry If this is a resend again.