Hidan

Tampering with the maps is a typical problem, some of us were discussing this problem in the following thread: https://forums.cncnet.org/topic/8632-archiving-and-registering-the-maps/

There’s a chronic problem with the survival maps and therefore I don’t think that the best survival maps should be the ones that get the most upvotes, I’m afraid the suggested pack of maps in the light of current problems will further deteriorate the problem. These problems were discussed in the following thread: https://forums.cncnet.org/topic/8632-archiving-and-registering-the-maps/

Thanks Ezer. I hope we’ll not lose our courage to let this topic be forgotten while the problem looms large. You are right, some maps may have an unknown author, and some are not tagged properly. But consider that the survival maps can take several tags at the same time e.g. Team game & Team Alliance & Cooperative. These tags must have a standard definition for the map maker but for a random player I’m not sure if there’s any difference between the tags which could mean almost the same thing. Categorizing according to author’s name will fix this problem of tagging. But what to do with anonymous authors as you mentioned? I think their map should be grouped in a miscellaneous category to protect their authenticity and make them easily accessible. According to what Dctanxman proposed I can think of the following categorization (to be ordered alphabetically): 1. Official RA2 maps a. Team Alliance b. Naval War etc. 2. Custom Maps (for none survival maps) a. Team Alliance b. Naval War etc. 3. Survival (Survival maps don’t really need a tag, in the light of thriving interest for these maps, a new taxonomy independent of old tagging system should be introduced) a. Author’s name (must have designed certain number of maps) b. Edited maps i. Could have a subcategory including editors name (if he passes the threshold of editing a certain number of maps) c. Misc. Now at this moment the difficulty I can think of is that there must be an algorithm to let CnCNet automatically sort the maps into the above-mentioned categories. Obviously, there’s no one at CnCNet tasked with checking the maps. Here the map makers’ initiative is highly appreciated. I checked out the FA2 software very quickly and could say that it won’t help with the new system of tagging unless CnCNet introduces a new standard that could translate a certain combination of old tags into a newly define tag such as “Survival”. Either a new map editing software should be made or CnCNet should introduce new compilers to sort the maps. Once we overcome this difficulty we could start thinking about categorizing the old maps. To conclude, first let me know what you think about the above-mentioned categorization, share yours too. Second, how can CnCnet automatically categorize the maps?

Thanks Dctanxman. As one of the prominent map editors your input is very valuable and has more edge on this matter. It goes without saying that map designers are far better informed about the inconveniences of this problem. But how could we draw CnCNet’s attention to this matter? By the way, ‘Survival mode’, categorizing by authors’ name and a threshold for being on the list, sounds like a great idea. Resembling a library where you choose your books according to authors’ style. ?

Lack of database for official and original maps is a huge problem and there doesn’t seem to be a mechanism in place to deal with that. As a survival player, I think pervasiveness of map editing software and know-how on the one hand, and on the other hand lack of regulations have brought about an urgency that requires all the friends’ attention. Here are some of the main problems: · There’s no place in the website where you can have access to all the maps. You cannot have them unless you join the games. E.g. I recently had to reinstall my OS and forgot to relocate the maps. Now I have lost many great maps and I’m having difficulty finding them. · Modded maps have infested all the games esp. survival games. This is to the point that the survival maps rarely have characteristics of the classical RA2. More nauseating is the introduction of unfair advantages. I don’t mean modding is bad, but some are blowing this out of proportion. · Some maps have been edited and the editor did not have the courtesy (or optimistically speaking, the knowledge of) indicating that the map has been edited. This becomes an issue when you have several duplicates of the same map and you cannot identify the original one before lunching the game. · This epidemic of editing and modding has recently reached a point that sometimes I feel like some people are intentionally doing this to dissuade many of us (survival players) from joining the games or even discouraging some if not many of the reputable map designer. There’s an obvious inclination from creativity to nonsense. I would like to propose some solutions to this problem and I’d be grateful if people share their opinion and help resolving this matter. The following are some of the proposals that came to my mind: All the maps must be archived. All the maps must be registered and indexed by their authors’ name, game mode, date of registration etc. I’m sure this will encourage many of the map designers once they are assured that their design will retain its originality and is not going to be tampered with. This will also encourage creativity among those who are editing the maps. Some edits have added more thrill to the games. Those editors who make the maps even more interesting are the ones who have gone through a long period of playing these maps, unlike the ones who are new, not good at any map and therefore edit for the worse. (“literature review” is a must before making up a theory ? ) Once the maps are registered and indexed, the client should be able to identify the edited ones and save/group them separately and even inform the players that the map being hosted is actually an edited one. All the maps including the edited and modded ones should have a separate category of their own; Both in the archive and in the client’s interface. They should also be saved on the players hard disk according to its indexed information so that people will have no difficulty removing any map they do not play or like. This will also ease the job of sifting through your maps when making a game. (seems like a favorites category would be of help too, just saying) I would also like to propose that some of the nick names should also be registered. i.e. CnCNet forums members should be able to be the only ones logging into the games with their profile name, but still having the option of choosing whatever nick they please to use when joining the games. Thank you for your attention.

Does CNC have a database or an archive of all the RA2-Yuri maps that people play?! When I was reinstalling windows I forgot to relocate the maps. Now I don’t find people playing some of the maps that I liked, thus cannot get them; esp. Survival maps.