[crossfire] server commit for map2 support.

[Alex Schultz]

Mark Wedel wrote:

><snip>
>
>2) the map2 has support for 10 layers.  However, compared to the old 3 layer 
>method where it tried to find something to fill each of those 3 layers, 
>different layers are well defined to hold specific data (objects, monsters, 
>etc).  So you will probably never see all 10 layers filled with something at the 
>same time.  But you can pretty easily see 5 or 6 layers filled (stand on floor 
>with a sign, drop 3 objects, and have someone cast a spell over you :)
>
>  One of the main reasons for doing this is that one of the problems with the 
>old client is objects shifting layers - this caused more a problem with big 
>images and whether they should or should not be erased.
>  
>
I'm a bit concerned about this. I'm not sure that simply adding more 
layers is the real fix to the objects shifting layers, simply a 
workaround. I'm not completely sure what the proper fix would be though, 
however perhaps a proper fix would be arbitrary layering, not limited 
except by how many a server is configured to send and limits on some 
variables. A possible implementation of "arbitrary layering" would be by 
sending the layer as <majorlayer><minorlayer> where each is an <either 4 
or 8, not sure> bit signed value. The server would allocate by 
majorlayer starting at 0, to insert below majorlayer 0, it goes into the 
negatives, above into the positives, and for in between two already 
allocated layers, it starts using the minorlayer values like a decimal 
place.
Please note, I don't endorse my particular proposal of "arbitrary 
layering", but that some form of "arbitrary layering" would be the 
proper fix to the above problem.

Alex Schultz