Clearer minimaps

[ekulstorm]

I just discovered this game, and it looks great.
However, I immediately disliked the clutter on minimaps, I think it really harms the clarity.
I decided to clean up one of them, and I think it's a lot more clear how the map layout actually is.

Before:

After:

I will do a few more over on some of the other maps over time, probably.

Installation
Download here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/adcopcry ... kzacv&dl=0

Replace the .crn file in the map .dpk (e.g. map-station15_1.2.dpk in pkg/ dir).
I've found the easiest way to do this is:

1. Install 7zip

2. Create a folder called 'minimaps', and put the .crn file inside.

3. Right-click the minimaps folder > 7-Zip > Add to archive

4. Select the correct map dpk

[Ishq]

Very cool! How did you clean these up?

[ekulstorm]

Very cool! How did you clean these up?

Thanks! I just edited it as an image, not generated it. So I guess a map update would make it obsolete.
Use crunch to convert the existing .crn file to .dds file. Then edit it in gimp.
Re-rexport to .dds file, and convert back to .crn.

[illwieckz]

Hi ekulstorm, Nice work and welcome!

To achieve this directly in map source, I added in the 0.56 version of Unvanquished a special skycaulk material to apply to unseen sides of sky brushes:

• github.com/UnvanquishedAssets/tex-common_src.dpkdir/pull/10

By using that special textures, sky volumes are never painted in minimaps. So on every future map rebuild, the minimap will be proprely regenerated without needing any manual edition.

We started using the feature in 0.56 with the chasm map as a showcase, here we can see how it looked before:

and how it now looks:

But this has not been done yet on other maps because we lack manpower. We need people helping us.

Basically, since we created the git repositories for the maps, I'm the one having done almost all of the map maintenance but that's too much work for me with all the other things I already do for Unvanquished (engine development, editor development, releases, communication, public relations, etc.).

Code: Select all

Stats for all Unvanquished .map file edition since 0.51.1 (from 2018, first release based on git repositories):

illwieckz: 187
viech: 7
sweet: 3
afontain: 1

I created the skycaulk material especially to make it easier for contributors to achieve clearer minimaps directly in the map source using the map editor.

If you want to help clean-up the minimaps in the source directly, we can teach you how to do that. It would be very helpful for us. Just tell us.

[ekulstorm]

If you want to help clean-up the minimaps in the source directly, we can teach you how to do that. It would be very helpful for us. Just tell us.

Thank you!

I would be happy to contribute a bit... in a couple month's time, as I'm in a busy period at work & moving house over the next 2 months.
After that, yeah, I'd be happy to help .