BZFlagWiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:DevelopmentPlans/2.6.0

2016-02-11T02:34:43Z

Optic Delusion: Would it be possible to add Allejo's Shot Limit Zone plugin features into the map section?

Would it be possible to add Allejo's Shot Limit Zone plugin features into the map section?

Sample conf

2015-04-21T00:01:52Z

Optic Delusion: simple edit to test functionality of wiki upgrade

<pre>
# This is a BZFlag Server (bzfs) configuration file.
# It assumes that you wish to connect to the bzflag list server.
# Please read through it carefully. Lines starting with a # are comments.
# to enable an option, remove the # at the beginning of a line. To
# disable that option, put the # back. There are some examples in this
# file. Make sure you change the examples if you uncomment the line. If
# you don't know what something does, you are okay to just leave
# it commented out. Failure to read through this file (looking for
# already uncommented lines) might be a little embarrassing. Have fun.

# This option is for debug. You can have as many as 4 of them.
# simple debug
#-d
# and more complex debugging.
-dd
#-ddd
#-dddd

# Sets the admin password for the server. It is necessary for server
# administration if no groups are used.
# CHANGE THIS!
#-password abcdef

# Enables inertia and sets the maximum linear and angular accelerations.
# The units are somewhat arbitrary so you'll have to experiment to find
# suitable values. The values must be non-negative and higher values
# yield greater inertia.
# Used to control "Mouse Enhancements"
-a 50 38

## World ##

# This specifies the world filename.
# Use this format for Windows
#-world "c:\mymaps\louschurchyard.bzw"
# Use this format for *nix and Mac
#-world /users/noob/lousdesktop.bzw

## Random World Generation ##

# This option allows world objects to be randomly rotated. Only applies
# if a randomly generated world is used.
#-b

# Enables capture-the-flag style game with a balanced random map.
# Default is free-for-all style game.
#-cr

# Adds teleporters to the game. for random maps only
#-t

# This option controls the building density on random worlds(1-10)
# Default is 5
#-density 7

# This option changes the size of random maps.
#-worldsize 800

# This option gives buildings random heights. This is used when
# you are using random maps.
#-h

## Game Styles ##

# This enables capture-the-flag style game. Default is free-for-all style.
# Requires one base object for each team to be specified in the world file.
# Can be used with random world generation.
#-c

# More than one team-flag may be specified.
# This is generally not desirable.
# B* - Blue Team G* - Green Team, P* - Purple Team, R* - Red Team,
#+f B*
#+f B*

# This sets the maximum number of shots before a reload.
# Default is 5.
-ms 3

# This makes most shots ricochet.
+r

# This option allows jumping.
-j

# These two flags can be used if they are not specified as options.
# +f R{1} # Ricochet
# +f J{1} # Jumping

# This option allows for flags on box buildings.
#-fb

# This option allows tanks to spawn on buildings. This is especially useful
# as tank spawn locations are calculated on the server without the
# advantage of knowing where shots are.
#-sb

# By default if a player kills a teammate, he dies too, this option turns this
# off. Used mostly for capture the flag style games.
#-tk

# Announce team kills to the admin channel.
#-tkannounce

# Kick a player if his ratio of teammate to non-teammate kills is this
# percentage or greater.
-tkkr 32

# This option allows you to tell the server how long a team flag remains
# before it is reset after the last player on a team leaves.
# Default is 30 seconds.
#-tftimeout 60

# Hunt the rabbit game is activated with this option.
# Use only one of these options.
# Choose rabbit based on score.
#-rabbit score
# Rabbit is chosen by whoever kills the rabbit.
#-rabbit killer
# Or you can choose the rabbit randomly.
#-rabbit random

# Open Free For All game is a teamless free-for-all game style. There are no
# teams, regardless of colors.
# Don't combine this with -c, -cr or -rabbit
#-offa

# It is possible to restrict bots and autopilot from being used on the server.
# This is accomplished with the following.
#-disableBots

# This option causes the server to quit after serving one game. This is
# handy if you want to do a timed game, or script a rotating server.
#-g

# This option sets the max score for players. The game ends when a player
# reaches this score and is declared the winner.
#-mps 100

# This sets the max team score. The first team to reach this score is
# declared the winner and the game is ended.
#-mts 250

# This dumps the score to console when it changes.
#-printscore

# This sets time limit (in seconds) for the game. Time starts when first
# client connects.
#-time 3600

# This option requires a timed game to be started using the /countdown
# command to start a timed game. Default is when first player joins.
#-timemanual

## List server Connection ##

# This is the public message that the server advertises on the public
# server list. This is required if you want to be shown on the list.
# It often advertises the map you are using. Keep it short.
-publictitle "Noo BZFlag Server With Random Map"

# This is also needed to be listed on the public server list. The
# address needs to be valid in DNS. It's your IP, plus port number.
-publicaddr 123.456.789.000:5154

# You need a public key to get your server listed on the official
# listserver. Read here how to get one:
# http://wiki.bzflag.org/ServerAuthentication
-publickey XXXXXXXXXXXX

# The server will listen on this port. Default port is 5154.
-p 5154

# Tells server not to respond to "pings". This makes the server private.
# You should remove -public and -publicaddr when using it.
# If your router is open, you can still give people your IP and port, and
# they will be able to connect, you just wont be on the list.
#-q

# You probably don't need to use this, but it is there if you do. This
# specifies where the server advertises itself. The built-in default
# should work just fine. You need to hunt down the proper address if
# it doesn't work. DON'T Change It
#-publiclist <list-server-url>

# Server will listen for and respond to "pings" (sent via broadcast) on
# the given interface. The server uses the first interface by default.
# This is the TCP/UDP/IP address the server will listen on.
# You don't need to use this unless your server has multiple
# interfaces and doesn't show up on the server lists.
#-i 123.456.789.000

## Player Connections ##

# Automatically assigns players to teams when they join so that teams are
# evenly matched in number of players. Players are placed on teams with
# lowest number of players first, then those with the lowest scores or
# kill ratios.
-autoTeam

# This sets the max number of players. It can be done in 2 ways. A flat
# count of players, or by number of players on a given team.
# This allows up to 50 players, no team limits.
# Typical home DSL connections max out at 12 players before lag begins.
# Lag equals players times shots. So a one-shot server could have more
# players, and vice-versa.
-mp 12

# This allows for max player by team.
# The order is rogue, red, green, blue, purple, observer.
#-mp 3,3,3,3,3,3

# userdb can be used to map users to local groups. In most cases you can
# probably live without this. Consider using global groups instead.
#-userdb /path/to/users.txt

# If you use the BZFlag forums at http://my.bzflag.org/bb
# and have established groups there, you only need groupdb
# Though local registrations can also be used.
# groupdb stores group to permission mappings.
#-groupdb /path/to/groups.txt

# If you have registered groups at the bzbb forums, only players
# in this group will see your server in the list.
#-advertise NOOB.COP

# This option kicks the user after they have been idle for a number of
# seconds. Idle means paused, not-spawning or not-responding.
-maxidle 300

# Set to not use a UDP connection for players. You typically do NOT want to
# do this (UDP is good!)
#-noudp

# Define a lag threshold over which players with high lag will be
# announced to the admin channel.
#-adminlagannounce 300

# Define a threshold over which players with high lag will be announced.
#-lagannounce 400

# This option warns the user their lag is too high when it crosses the
# number of milliseconds set.
-lagwarn 350

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about high lag for
# a certain number of times.
-lagdrop 3

# Packetloss and Jitter are two different things.
# Packetloss is a percentage of total data being completely lost.
# A player with packetloss is usually downloading files, switching
# between applications, or simply has a bad connection.
# Jitter is variation in the time between packets arriving, caused by network
# congestion, timing drift, or route changes.
# A player with jitter may be purposely manipulating his lag to avoid
# being shot, or to "lag through a wall".
# These next four functions should be used with caution, slower servers
# may wish to avoid using them altogether.

# This option warns the user their packet loss is too high.
#-packetlosswarn 4

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about packet loss
# a certain number of times.
#-packetlossdrop 2

# This option warns the user their jitter is too high when it crosses
# the number of milliseconds set.
# -jitterwarn 25

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about high
# jitter for a certain number of times.
# -jitterdrop 3

# This option tells the server where to store the ban list. The ban list will
# be loaded from this file when the server starts (if the file exists) and
# written back to the file when someone gets banned or unbanned. If this
# option isn't used the ban list will not be saved.
#-banfile /path/to/mybanfile.txt

# This option sets up your ban list. This is ip masks separated by commas.
# The * character is used as a wild card in range bans.
#-ban "192.168.1.5,10.10.2.*,10.2.*.*"

## General Options ##

# adds timestamps to every line of the log
#-ts

# uses UTC for timestamps instead of localtime and implies -ts
#-utc

# -pidfile /path/to/pidfile.txt
# Specify a file where the server will write its process ID so it may be used for remote administration.

# This is the server welcome message. Please change it.
-srvmsg " This is a Noo BZFlag Server "
-srvmsg " Have Fun and Play Nice "

# Define a message which will be broadcast to all players every 15 minutes.
-admsg " Noo BZFlag Server "
-admsg " BZFlag is Fun "

# This sets the amount of time in seconds that is required to pass between
# two identical messages sent.
-spamtime 15

# This sets the amount of times to warn spammers (see -spamtime) before they
# are kicked.
-spamwarn 3

# Specify a file that contains bad words that will be used when
# either -filterCallsigns or -filterChat is enabled.
# A multilingual badwords file can be found in source downloads.
#-badwords /path/to/badwords.txt

# Turn on the filtering of chat messages. Messages have words provided
# via a -badwords file are replaced with !@#$%^&* characters.
#-filterChat

# Turn on the filtering of callsigns. Callsigns are compared against
# bad words provided via -badwords.
#-filterCallsigns

# By default, all filtering is aggressive, matching much more than what
# is strictly listed in a -badwords file for convenience. Providing this
# option will make the -filterCallsigns and -filterChat comparisons
# exact match only.
#-filterSimple

# This forces all clients to use the same time of day. The time is
# determined by the server's clock. This disables the + and - keys
# on the clients.
#-synctime

## Player Controlled Functions ##

# This option specifies a help file that will be displayed when the player
# types /help name
# Maximum length is 50 lines and 120 characters per line
#-helpmsg shock /path/to/shockwavehelp.txt
#-helpmsg noob /path/to/noobhelp.txt

# You can specify a file so that people can type /report to report problems
# on the server. The reports are logged in this file.
#-reportfile /path/to/reports.txt

# You can also use this option to cause the /report to trigger a command
# as well as, or instead of, logging to a file.
#-reportpipe command

# This specifies the number of seconds in which a poll can be vetoed.
#-vetoTime 60

# This specifies the percentage of people required for a successful vote.
#-votePercentage 51

# This is the number of voters required to hold a poll.
#-votesRequired 6

# This is the length of time that players have to vote.
#-voteTime 60

## Flags ##

# This option allows for antidote flags to be available for players who
# get bad flags.
-sa

# Bad flags are automatically dropped after this many seconds.
-st 5

# Bad flags are automatically dropped after this many wins.
-sw 1

# This allows you to limit the number of shots from a particular flag.
#-sl GM 20
#-sl L 20

# There are two sets of flags. Flags that must be in the world at all times
# and flags that may get generated randomly. in addition. +f specifies flags that
# must be there and -f specifies flags that should never be generated.

# The server will randomly place flags from the following list.
# To be sure there is at least a certain amount of a flag on the map
# at any given time, you can use the +f option to guarantee a certain
# number of a flag.

# Good Flags
+f A{2} # Agility
+f CL{2} # Cloaking
+f F{2} # rapid Fire
+f G{1} # Genocide
+f GM{2} # Guided Missile
+f IB{2} # Invisible Bullett
+f L{2} # Laser
+f MG{2} # Machine Gun
+f N{2} # Narrow
+f OO{2} # Oscillation Overthruster
+f PZ{2} # Phantom Zone
+f QT{2} # QuickTurn
+f SB{2} # Super Bullet
+f SE{2} # SEer
+f SH{2} # SHield
+f SR{2} # SteamRoller
+f ST{2} # STealth
+f SW{2} # ShockWave
+f T{2} # Tiny
+f TH{2} # THeif
+f US{2} # USeless
+f V{2} # Velocity (high speed)
+f WG{2} # WinGs

# BAD FLAGS
+f B{1} # Blindness
+f BY{1} # BouncY
+f CB{1} # Color Blindess
+f FO{1} # Forward Only
+f JM{1} # JaMming
+f LT{1} # Left Turn only
+f M{1} # Momentum
+f NJ{1} # No Jumping
+f O{1} # Obesity
+f RC{1} # Reverse Controls
+f RO{1} # Reverse Only
+f RT{1} # Right Turn only
+f TR{1} # TRigger happy
+f WA{1} # Wide Angle

# Using "+f good" is the equivalent of doing +f for each of the good flags.
# If you want to restrict a certain flag, you can use the -f option.
# just like with the +f option. "-f bad" is the same as doing -f for
# all of the bad flags.
#-f bad #no bad flags
#+f good #one of each good flag
#-f G #no genocide

# For world weapons, a flag may be enabled, without placing it on the ground.
# by using the flag's switch, without a bracketed number.
#+f SW

# Use +s to have the server generate a certain number of extra flags
# and have them available at all times. This is in addition to
# any other flags specified.
#+s 20

# The server will have up to this many super flags at any time.
# Use this if you don't use any other method of flag generation.
#-s 30

## Variables ##

# There are three ways to load sets of server-specific variables.
# They can be specified in this .conf file.
# They can be specified in the .bzw map file in an options block.
# Or they can be specified in a third file with this option
#-vars /path/to/vars.txt

# Server variables can also be modified in-game using
# /set _varName value
# View the entire variable list by using
# /set (with nothing afterward) lists all vars
# /diff will list most non-default settings
# /? will list other available commands

# Here are a few examples of variables.
# Some variables are set to 0 for off, 1 for on.
#-set _obeseFactor 12
#-set _skyColor grey44
#-set _wingsJumpCount 3
#-set _tankExplosionSize 60
#-set _jumpVelocity 20
#-set _squishTime 7
#-set _mirror grey22
#-set _wallHeight 2
#-set _shotsKeepVerticalVelocity 1
#-set _drawGround 1
#-set _drawSky 1
#-set _drawClouds 0
#-set _drawMountains 0
#-set _fogMode exp
#-set _fogColor black
#-set _fogDensity .01
-set _rainType bubble

## Plugins ##

# Plugins have mostly superseded patches as a means of modifying
# the play of BZFlag servers. Recent improvements in the bzfs2.0.9 have enabled
# almost every server functionality to be modified with the plugin API.
#
# Plugins cannot be accessed unless you compile your plugins and
# bzfs binary with the option --enable-shared
#-loadplugin /path/to/playHistoryTracker

## Replay ##

# You can set up a server for replay mode by entering this option
#-replay

# This option sets the recording buffer to the specified amount of megabytes.
#-recbuf 2

# This option sets the directory to look for and save recordings.
#-recdir /path/to/recordings

## More Comments ##
# An excellent conf builder exists at this location
# http://groupdb.links-clan.net/bzfs_conf.php

# This is intended to include the minimum options for a working
# BZFlag server, that is also connected to the list server.
# All you need to do is edit your IP numbers in -publicaddr
# and start bzfs.
# As it connects to the list server, your terminal will show
# something that looks like a player has joined, then immediately left.
# When you see that happen, you have succeeded, and are listed.
# If you can not connect to the list server, you probably need to open
# port 5154 through your router, for both UDP and TCP. Instructions for that
# are not included here.

# You join your server locally, by opening your BZFlag game client
# and editing these lines in the JOIN GAME screen.
# In the SERVER line add localhost
# In the PORT line add 5154
# Then JOIN your server.

# Here are the short instructions.
# Open your router firewall at port 5154
# Change the -publicaddr line in this .file to match your IP.
# In your terminal, cd to the location of the bzfs binary.
# ./bzfs -conf /path/to/sample.conf
# Don't take out any # comment markers or add options that you think look cool
# until after you have the server working.
# The options you need have been included in this file.
# You don't even need to specify a map, bzfs will create a random map for you.
#
# You do not even need this .conf file to start a server.
# You can use as many options you'd like just typing them into the terminal.
# Assuming you have installed BZFlag in default locations.
# In Macintosh terminal application these two should work
# cd /Applications/BZFlag2.0.10/Contents/MacOS/
# ./bzfs -dd
#
# In windows command prompt, these two commands should suffice
# cd C:\program files\bzflag2.0.10
# bzfs.exe -dd
# All other path examples given in this file use *nix format
# Windows users will have to change all the path examples given in this file.
</pre>

[[Category:Server]]

Death and Shot Effects

2011-06-11T15:06:06Z

Optic Delusion: /* Genocide */ remove previous edit.

{{DesignDocument}}

==Overview==
2.4 should have some graphical punch to help people upgrade.

==Graphical Missile==
GM can now show a graphical missile.

==GM Trails==

A new 'Smoke' option has been added for GMs, it looks pretty sweet.
<gallery>
image:Gm_smoke_rocket.jpg
</gallery>

==Death effects==
Death effects have been changed so that we can have different effects based on death types.
The following is a list of ideas.

===Standard===
Have tank make explosions, fall apart in a pile then burn

===Steamroller===
Have tank squish flat and burn.

===Laser===
* Have tank glow then fade out, no explode
* Blinding white flash, then have tank glow then fade out, no explode. Wireframe?

===Super Bullet===
Current "rings" explosion

===Flag Capture===
Capping team's flag sprouts out of the top of tank and team colored confetti shoots out around before fade out. No explode.

===Genocide===
Skulls around tank as it falls apart then burns with skull/crossbones smoke.

===Phantom Zone===
* Like geno, but with ghost texture.
* Tank goes 2d in YZ falls over then shatters, Superman 2 style

===Water Death===
Tank slowly scale in Z with bubbles floating up

===Burrow===
* Tank Parts fly straight up in the air.
* Tank sinks into the ground and leaves a tombstone.
* Tank sinks into the ground and leaves a rabbit hole.

===Machine Gun, Rapid Fire===
Tank parts fly away, all using bullet's trajectory.

===High Speed, Agility===
Tank Parts fly away, using reverse of bullet's trajectory.

=== Shockwave===
Tank parts fly a short distance, and stop in mid-air before falling.

===Oscillation===
Tank turns into bricks.

===Bad Flags===
Similar to flag capture.

===Death Driver===
Electrical flashes around tank then char to black before fade with smoke.

===Server Kill===
Tank floats up and slowly fades out in a halo of light

===Guided Missile===
* Missile impact erupts into a small mushroom cloud, both tank an missile parts scatter out from point of impact
* leave scorch marks on ground/buildings that fades out slowly over time.

Death and Shot Effects

2011-06-11T15:03:44Z

Optic Delusion: /* Genocide */

{{DesignDocument}}

==Overview==
2.4 should have some graphical punch to help people upgrade.

==Graphical Missile==
GM can now show a graphical missile.

==GM Trails==

A new 'Smoke' option has been added for GMs, it looks pretty sweet.
<gallery>
image:Gm_smoke_rocket.jpg
</gallery>

==Death effects==
Death effects have been changed so that we can have different effects based on death types.
The following is a list of ideas.

===Standard===
Have tank make explosions, fall apart in a pile then burn

===Steamroller===
Have tank squish flat and burn.

===Laser===
* Have tank glow then fade out, no explode
* Blinding white flash, then have tank glow then fade out, no explode. Wireframe?

===Super Bullet===
Current "rings" explosion

===Flag Capture===
Capping team's flag sprouts out of the top of tank and team colored confetti shoots out around before fade out. No explode.

===Genocide===
Skulls around tank as it falls apart then burns with skull/crossbones smoke. Skull on radar, not at player's position , to allow all players to see that genocide has died.

===Phantom Zone===
* Like geno, but with ghost texture.
* Tank goes 2d in YZ falls over then shatters, Superman 2 style

===Water Death===
Tank slowly scale in Z with bubbles floating up

===Burrow===
* Tank Parts fly straight up in the air.
* Tank sinks into the ground and leaves a tombstone.
* Tank sinks into the ground and leaves a rabbit hole.

===Machine Gun, Rapid Fire===
Tank parts fly away, all using bullet's trajectory.

===High Speed, Agility===
Tank Parts fly away, using reverse of bullet's trajectory.

=== Shockwave===
Tank parts fly a short distance, and stop in mid-air before falling.

===Oscillation===
Tank turns into bricks.

===Bad Flags===
Similar to flag capture.

===Death Driver===
Electrical flashes around tank then char to black before fade with smoke.

===Server Kill===
Tank floats up and slowly fades out in a halo of light

===Guided Missile===
* Missile impact erupts into a small mushroom cloud, both tank an missile parts scatter out from point of impact
* leave scorch marks on ground/buildings that fades out slowly over time.

Zone

2011-01-07T03:41:49Z

Optic Delusion: /* Notes */ use -fb or -sb when applicable

A Zone is a rectangular [[BZW]] map structure for spawn or flag zones. The zone lets you create a specific area for a certain flag or a certain team to spawn.

==Code==
The code for a zone is as follows:
zone
name example_zone
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
size 1.0 1.0 1.0
rotation 0.0
# Add two GM, one OO
zoneflag GM 2
zoneflag OO
# cause laser, shockwave
# good and bad flags to spawn in the zone
flag L
flag SW
flag good
flag bad
team 0 1 2 3 4
safety 1 2 3 4
end
Valid parameters for the zone are
<properties>
position=Defines the position of the zone in the word (x/y/z)
size=Defines the size of the zone (rectangular prism)
rotation=Defines a rotation around the Z axis for the box, in degrees.
zoneflag=Generates the flag listed inside this zone (adding "flag n" for the quantity). The flag will be generated specifically for the zone, regardless of BZFS options. One flag per call. Remember to use the -fb option in the option object.
flag=Listed flag will spawn in the zone. The flags must be be specified for the server via BZFS options. One flag per call.
team=Team players will spawn (0 - Rogue, 1 - Red, 2 - Green, 3 - Blue, 4 - Purple).
safety=Team flags listed here will fly to the closest safety zone when dropped (1 - Red, 2 - Green, 3 - Blue, 4 - Purple).
</properties>

==Function==
Zones are used to define spawn positions in within the XY volume of the Zone. The Z value for the spawn position will be the lower bounds of the volume in Z. Normal spawn rules still apply for spawns generated by zones and may disqualify a spawn from happening in a zone (Z clearance, shots, players, etc..). When multiple zones of the same type are defined, a random one is used for each spawn, if possible.

==Appearance==
Zones have no appearance in a map other than what they define (ex: flags or tank spawns).

==History==
Zones were added to BZFlag in version 2.0.0.

==Editor Support==
The zone object is not supported by any known editors.
==Notes==
Working with flag zones make sure you have enough clearance for flags, default flag height is 10 world units. A dropped flag will stay in a short tunnel if _flagHeight is less than 1.

If the zone is not on the ground, be sure to set -fb or -sb, or your spawns will always be on the ground.
[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map_Objects]]

Optimizations

2010-02-06T20:13:37Z

Optic Delusion: /* Graphics Optimizations */ SP: soothing smoothing

This article discusses how to optimize a client to get the moust out of it.

==Graphics Optimizations==
Clients that run older video cards or system may experience problems due to low frame rate. Low Frame rate ( less then 40fps ) can cause a sort of "fake" lag on the client and affect network performance. This in turn can and will affect gameplay.

Many of the graphics settings do affect frame rate. Users should attempt to change these settings in order to increase the frame rate. It should note that performance may '''degrade''' if some options are turned "down". One example of this is the texture filtering method. On any system with modern hardware ( from the last 8 years ) it should be set to '''LinearMipmapLinear''' as this is what most hardware is optimized for. This is mostly apparent on Apple's OSX operating system.

Other settings such as lighting, shadows, and smoothing can assist in increasing frame-rate. As a last resort the overall resolution of the client can be lowered.

It should be noted that BZFlag may not run on all hardware configurations. Some extremely low quality levels may not offer a playable experience on all maps, most notably those that use meshes.

==Time of Day==
For instances of maps that are run at "night" it is possible to change the local time of day so that it is easier for a user to see opposing tanks. the '''-''' and '''=''' keys by default allow a user to change the local time of day. This change does not affect the server.

==Tune the radar==
You will find soon, that the [[radar]] is actually the most important part of the screen. So make it as big as possible and transparent. Also set it into Enhanced style. However, on some maps big radar will fool you, if the map author has left some huge unimportant objects visible on a radar, but such maps usually aren't very playable and unpopular.

Shots must be clearly visible on the radar, so look at the settings "Radar Shot Size" and "Radar Shot Length"

==Other settings==
Set Display Threads to off to have larger visible area.

Set Track Marks setting as high as possible --- that will help you to track cloacked and st tanks.

==Get the most information during the game==
Use look button (the same you lock with GM) to find what flag someone carries. This button is a great help on maps without radar --- use it to figure where other tanks are, especially cloacked.

Hear attentively the sounds to figure weather there is a stealth jumping. It works well if you are somewhere high, so the enemy needs to jump to you.

As already mentioned, watch tanks marks to figure st's and cl's. Shadows from stealthed tanks can also help.

Listen for your teammates --- they provide some valuable information, e.g. enemy's st positions. You should be familiar with [[Jargon|bzflag jargon]].

Use you radar against campers. Imagine there is a laser camper higher then you. Get laser flag, hide some where he cant see you and turn to him. Then use 4 and 5 keys (or shift + wheel) to make him coincide with a special tick on the radar. So now you are aiming at him. Then jump and when you'll see camper, shoot. If you are lucky he won't be able to react fast enough and shoot you.

==Key mapping==
There certainly must be a separate article. Players usually find there own input settings, however there are some styles and useful ideas.

[[Category:Tactics]]

User:Yrogirg/Test

2010-02-06T20:00:20Z

Optic Delusion: /* Tune the graphics */ most graphics cards, not jus mac and linux

Getting the most from your client can give considerable advantages without [[Known Cheats|cheating]] and any [[Essential skills|skills]].

==Tune the graphics==
This only affects systems with VERY low FPS(under 60) Most systems get well over 100fps on even old hardware. Also Fog is enforced in 3.0--[[User:JeffM2501|JeffM2501]] 14:26, 6 February 2010 (EST)

I know fog forced in 3.0. And thats not about performance, its all about better aiming --- without fog and rain you concentrate better. Btw, I'm still writing and its my personal draft. [[User:Yrogirg|Yrogirg]] 14:35, 6 February 2010 (EST)

First of all, disable rain and fog, so you will be able to see further. This is especially handy with laser flag. But remember, some maps (e.g. Desert War) have very slight fog, that doesn't affect gameplay, but makes the map much more nicer. And note, that in [[BZFlag 3.0|3.0]] fog is enforced.

Then decide about lightning and shadows. Do you really need them? These settings affect the image contrast. Lightning may distort the appearance of objects, enemy is less visible when he is in a shadow. The only use of shadow is that stealth tanks have one, so it might help you to identify them.

Now lets turn to textures. You need them, except of one case. If the game is about a dark (black) labyrinth, where you can't tell wall from the ceiling, turn off textures and turn on lightning --- that will help you greatly. Experiment with the texturing display options. The setting "Linear Mipmap Linear" is fastest on almost all OS's and graphics cards.

There is another setting that affects the image, but you can't set it once and for all --- time of the day. When you spawn on the server you will see the map at the server time. You have to use - and = keys to adjust time of the day and to make it actually day.

==Tune the radar==
You will find soon, that the [[radar]] is actually the most important part of the screen. So make it as big as possible and transparent. Also set it into Enhanced style. However, on some maps big radar will fool you, if the map author has left some huge unimportant objects visible on a radar, but such maps usually aren't very playable and unpopular.

Shots must be clearly visible on the radar, so look at the settings "Radar Shot Size" and "Radar Shot Length"

==Other settings==
Set Display Threads to off to have larger visible area.

Set Track Marks setting as high as possible --- that will help you to track cloacked and st tanks.

==Get the most information during the game==
Use look button (the same you lock with GM) to find what flag someone carries. This button is a great help on maps without radar --- use it to figure where other tanks are, especially cloacked.

Hear attentively the sounds to figure weather there is a stealth jumping. It works well if you are somewhere high, so the enemy needs to jump to you.

As already mentioned, watch tanks marks to figure st's and cl's. Shadows from stealthed tanks can also help.

Listen for your teammates --- they provide some valuable information, e.g. enemy's st positions. You should be familiar with [[Jargon|bzflag jargon]].

Use you radar against campers. Imagine there is a laser camper higher then you. Get laser flag, hide some where he cant see you and turn to him. Then use 4 and 5 keys (or shift + wheel) to make him coincide with a special tick on the radar. So now you are aiming at him. Then jump and when you'll see camper, shoot. If you are lucky he won't be able to react fast enough and shoot you.

==Key mapping==
There certainly must be a separate article. Players usually find there own input settings, however there are some styles and useful ideas.

User:Yrogirg/Test

2010-02-06T19:57:06Z

Optic Delusion: /* Tune the graphics */ Linear Mipmap Linear

Getting the most from your client can give considerable advantages without [[Known Cheats|cheating]] and any [[Essential skills|skills]].

==Tune the graphics==
This only affects systems with VERY low FPS(under 60) Most systems get well over 100fps on even old hardware. Also Fog is enforced in 3.0--[[User:JeffM2501|JeffM2501]] 14:26, 6 February 2010 (EST)

I know fog forced in 3.0. And thats not about performance, its all about better aiming --- without fog and rain you concentrate better. Btw, I'm still writing and its my personal draft. [[User:Yrogirg|Yrogirg]] 14:35, 6 February 2010 (EST)

First of all, disable rain and fog, so you will be able to see further. This is especially handy with laser flag. But remember, some maps (e.g. Desert War) have very slight fog, that doesn't affect gameplay, but makes the map much more nicer. And note, that in [[BZFlag 3.0|3.0]] fog is enforced.

Then decide about lightning and shadows. Do you really need them? These settings affect the image contrast. Lightning may distort the appearance of objects, enemy is less visible when he is in a shadow. The only use of shadow is that stealth tanks have one, so it might help you to identify them.

Now lets turn to textures. You need them, except of one case. If the game is about a dark (black) labyrinth, where you can't tell wall from the ceiling, turn off textures and turn on lightning --- that will help you greatly. Experiment with the texturing display options. The setting "Linear Mipmap Linear" is fastest on most computers using OSX and Linux.

There is another setting that affects the image, but you can't set it once and for all --- time of the day. When you spawn on the server you will see the map at the server time. You have to use - and = keys to adjust time of the day and to make it actually day.

==Tune the radar==
You will find soon, that the [[radar]] is actually the most important part of the screen. So make it as big as possible and transparent. Also set it into Enhanced style. However, on some maps big radar will fool you, if the map author has left some huge unimportant objects visible on a radar, but such maps usually aren't very playable and unpopular.

Shots must be clearly visible on the radar, so look at the settings "Radar Shot Size" and "Radar Shot Length"

==Other settings==
Set Display Threads to off to have larger visible area.

Set Track Marks setting as high as possible --- that will help you to track cloacked and st tanks.

==Get the most information during the game==
Use look button (the same you lock with GM) to find what flag someone carries. This button is a great help on maps without radar --- use it to figure where other tanks are, especially cloacked.

Hear attentively the sounds to figure weather there is a stealth jumping. It works well if you are somewhere high, so the enemy needs to jump to you.

As already mentioned, watch tanks marks to figure st's and cl's. Shadows from stealthed tanks can also help.

Listen for your teammates --- they provide some valuable information, e.g. enemy's st positions. You should be familiar with [[Jargon|bzflag jargon]].

Use you radar against campers. Imagine there is a laser camper higher then you. Get laser flag, hide some where he cant see you and turn to him. Then use 4 and 5 keys (or shift + wheel) to make him coincide with a special tick on the radar. So now you are aiming at him. Then jump and when you'll see camper, shoot. If you are lucky he won't be able to react fast enough and shoot you.

==Key mapping==
There certainly must be a separate article. Players usually find there own input settings, however there are some styles and useful ideas.

Getting Help

2009-09-04T21:35:54Z

Optic Delusion: Undo revision 6667 (Wars of the Guelphs) by 206.205.112.34 (Talk)

Getting help on BZFlag is rather easy. There are a number of places to get help

==IRC Chat Room==
The BZFlag communities [[BZFlag on IRC|make heavy use of IRC]] for communication and collaboration.

The [http://freenode.net/ freenode network] is used for all IRC communications.
Common channels include:
* #bzflag ( development )
* #bzflag-chat ( help and general player talk )

A web interface is provided to these channels for registered forum users on the forum main page.

Please see [[BZFlag on IRC]] for more info.

==Web Forums==

BZFlag maintains a set of [[BZFlag Forums|official forums]], located at http://my.BZFlag.org/bb/

An older set of forums, now mostly unused, is located on SourceForge:
*http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=3248 - main page
*http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=9554 - help forum

==Quick Start==

Just want to start playing? Get going with BZFlag right away, [[Getting Started|with this Quick Start page]].

==Mailing Lists==

There are a number of BZFlag mailing lists. The best one for support questions is bzflag-user. Archives and subscription information can be found on the SourceForge BZFlag project mailing list page at http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=3248

==Common Support Issues==
The [[Common Support Issues]] page lists a number of the common problems with the game, and their resolutions.

==Documentation==
The game is documented via a series of manual pages ( or man pages ).
On Linux and other Unix like operating systems they are installed by default and can be accessed by using the '''man''' command and one of the following pages.
*bzflag
*bzfs
*bzadmin
*bzw

On Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX the manual pages are in HTML format. They are installed in the start menu for Windows, or in the extras folder on the install DMG for OSX.

The man pages are also available online in HTML format:
NOTE: As of June 2007 there is a problem with the man page conversion to HTML and the web manuals are NOT CORRECT! Use the man pages from source.
Corrected versions are being made, and will be posted on this wiki.

*[http://my.bzflag.org/bzfman.cgi?bzflag.6.in bzflag]
*[http://my.bzflag.org/bzfman.cgi?bzadmin.6.in bzadmin]
*[http://my.bzflag.org/bzfman.cgi?bzfs.6.in bzfs]
*[http://my.bzflag.org/bzfman.cgi?bzw.5.in bzw]

==Further Support==
If none of these methods provide a resolution to your problem, the project maintains a support tracking system on SourceForge. New tickets can be opened at this URL:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=3248&atid=203248

==See also==
[[BZFlag on IRC]]

[[BZFlag Forums]]

[[Common Support Issues]]

==External links==
[http://my.BZFlag.org/irc/irc.cgi BZFlag Web IRC gateway]

[[Category:Support]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]

Getting Started

2009-09-04T21:25:53Z

Optic Delusion: Undo revision 6666 GWEN STEFANI by 66.35.1.170 (Talk)

This article covers the basics of getting started with BZFlag. It is intended for new players who have just found the game and require assistance. More detailed help can be found on our [[Getting Help]] page.

==Getting Started==
These simple steps have been designed to allow new users to begin playing the game as quickly as possible.

===Downloading and installing the game===

The main thing users need to play is the game software. Users can [[Download]] the software for a number of different [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system|operating systems].

====Windows====
The most common operating system for players is Microsoft Windows. A simple installer can be found at, http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/bzflag/bzflag-2.0.10.exe?download . Simply Double click the downloaded file to install the game.

====Mac OSX====
The next most popular system for players is Apple's MacOS X for the Macintosh family of computers. The version for macs can be found at, http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/bzflag/BZFlag-2.0.10.dmg . Simply drag the BZFlag icon from the extracted DMG to your Applications folder to install the game.

====Linux====
The project does not distribute a premade binary package for linux, but many linux distrobutions have BZFlag in their package management systems ( APT, YUM, emerge, etc.. ). Linux users can always build the game from the source code. Please see the [[Download|downloads]] page for more information.

===Registering a callsign(Optional)===
It is not mandatory to register a callsign ( the name a player uses in-game), but it is highly recommended.

A few of the benefits of registering are:

* The callsign is reserved, and can not be used by any other player.
* Registered users post on the BZFlag forums
* Registered users can join global groups, and leagues.
* Many servers require registration to play.

Users that wish to register can simply do so on the BZFlag forums at [http://my.bzflag.org/bb/ucp.php?mode=register&sid=61d6ebbc0f4e1763d94200a18619c0d4 my.bzflag.org/bb]

===Running the game===

Once the game is installed, it must be run to play.

====Windows====
Windows users that have installed the game with the provided installer will find a shortcut to the game in the start menu, under program files. Users simply have to click this shortcut to start the game.

====Mac OS X====
Macintosh users simply have to double click the BZFlag icon that they dragged to their Applications folder to start the game.

====Linux====
Linux, and other unix based platforms can start the game by typing the command '''bzflag''' in a terminal.

===Joining a game===
When the game is first started it will show the main menu screen. Users navigate the menu by using the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight a menu item, and using the enter key to select and activate the highlighted item.

{|
|-
|
====Main Menu====
The main menu includes a number of menu items that lead to sub menus. The most important menu for new players is the '''Join Game''' item.
|[[Image:MainMenu.png|right|thumb|300px|The Main Menu]]
|-
|

====Join Game Menu====
Users wishing to join an internet game in progress should choose the '''Join Game''' item from the main menu.

On the first run of the game software all the fields in the Join Menu will be empty. Players need to use the arrow keys to highlight the '''Callsign''' item and input a player name. This name will be how other players see the user. Registered users should use the same callsign that they registered when playing. Registered users should also enter in their password into the item marked '''password'''. This password is only used for to verify your identity and is NEVER sent to the game server.

The e-mail string is optional and usually left blank by many users.

Once this information has been entered, the user must choose a server to play on. Servers are games of BZFlag that are hosted on the internet. There are over 200 servers to choose from. A listing of all the servers can be found by highlighting the '''Find Server''' menu item to bring up the server list.

|[[Image:JoinGame.png|right|thumb|300px|]]
|-
|
====Server List====
The server list menu shows a listing of all publicly available internet games. The list is sorted by the number of players on each server at any time, and will dynamically change over time. The servers with the highest player counts will always be at the top of the list.

The various servers can be highlighted using the arrow keys, and additional information about the highlighted game will be shown at the top of the screen. Once the user has chosen a server to join they must hit the enter key to select the server and return to the Join Game Menu.

|[[Image:ServerList.png|right|thumb|300px|The Serverlist]]
|-
|

====Entering a Game====
When a server is choosen from the Server List, it's information will be automatically entered into the appropriate fields in the Join Game menu. The user may then choose a team color, or leave the setting on automatic if they wish the server to assign them to a team.

When all the information is entered, the user simply has to choose connect menu item, and they will join the game. If additional textures or resources are needed to join the game, they will be downloaded automatically.
|-
|

====Playing BZFlag====
Once the user has joined the game they will be able to enjoy the gameplay that has made BZFlag one of the most popular open source games in history.
|-
|

=====Controls=====
The basic controls for the game are rather simple.

By default the mouse is used for movement. Moving the mouse up and down will move the tank forwards and backwards, while moving the mouse left and right will cause the tank to turn in that direction. Returning the mouse to the center of the screen will cause the tank to stop moving.

The left mouse button is used to fire the tank's weapon.

Optionally the keyboard can be used. The arrow keys control movement in the same way as the mouse, and the space bar is used to drop the flag you are carrying. The 'enter' key is used to fire the tanks weapon

Some servers offer a feature that allows tanks to jump. The ''tab'' key is used to start a small jump into the air. When jumping a tank normally can not change its speed or direction until it lands. Depending on the map, it may be possible for tanks to jump and land on various world objects and continue to fight.
|-
|

=====Objective=====
BZFlag is a team game, and has various objectives depending on the game type.

The default game type is '''Free For All''', commonly abbreviated as ''FFA''. This mode is similar to a team death match in other first person shooting type games. The objective is to destroy as many tanks as possible on other teams, while minimizing your own losses. Tanks are destroyed by being shot, in most cases one shot is all it takes to kill an enemy tank.

Capture the Flag is another common game type. Its objective is to pick up the flag from an opposing team and return it to your base. Tanks are destroyed the same way as in FFA games.

The least common type of game is '''Rabbit Hunt'''. In this game mode, one user is a white-colored '''rabbit''' tank, and everyone else is a orange-colored '''hunter''' tank. The '''hunter''' tank(s) must chase and kill the rabbit tank. The '''hunter''' tank which kills the '''rabbit''' tank then becomes the '''rabbit''' tank.
|-
|

=====Non-Standard Teams=====

Usually, you may not shoot members of your own team. But, there is one exception to this rule, called the '''rogue''' team. '''Rogue''' tanks are black in the view window, and yellow on the radar. They may shoot their "teammates", and gain points for it. This is because '''rogue''' tanks are each on a one-man team of their own. '''Rogue''' tanks are usually found on '''Free For All''' maps, but are occasionally found on '''CTF''' maps.
|-Rogue.
|

=====Flags=====
There are four different kinds of flags on an average server:
* Team flags are colored to correspond with the teams on the map. The idea is to grab the other team's flag and bring it back to your base.
* Superflags are "power ups" for your tank. Some examples of superflags can be '''Guided Missile''' (Allows your tank to lock onto and shoot others), '''laser''' (Allows your tank to shoot an infinitely fast and long laser beam), and '''Stealth''' (Your tank does not appear on radar).
* Bad Flags restrict the movement or actions of your tank. Some bad flags are ''''No Jumping, Obesity, Trigger Happy,''' and '''Left turn only.'''
* Antidote flags are flags that appear only when you have a bad flag. Driving over an antidote flag removes the bad flag from your tank.
|-
|

=====Customizing Controls=====
You can alter most of the controls in the menu (or, if you prefer, by editing the BZFlag config file.)
In the menu it is located at Options > Input settings > Key mapping

To assign a keystroke, mouse button or joystick button to a particular command select the command with Up or Down arrows, press Enter and press the keystroke or button you wish to associate with that command.
You can assign two different keystrokes/buttons to a given command, by repeating the assignment process.

Note: you can assign a keystroke or button already in use for a different command, but if you do remember that the old command will be unmapped..

To delete an assignment select the command with Up or Down arrows and press Delete.
If the command has two assignments, the first (leftmost) assignment is deleted, and the second (rightmost) assignment takes its place.

|-
|

=====Interface Elements=====
Most of the interface elements can be changed in the GUI settings, or by editing the config file.
|-
|

======Scoreboard======
Once a player has joined a server, they should notice a number of things, including the scoreboard.

Internet games commonly feature between 5 and 20 players. The names of these players will be listed in the scoreboard on the left hand side of the screen. The scoreboard can be hidden and shown by using the ''S'' key. The scoreboard is usually set up to show a players name, score, teamkills, email string, flag, kills/deaths, and the amount of kills/deaths you have scored against that player. For example, in this scoreboard, player "Andrey" has a score of 2, 0 teamkills, and email string of "Andrey@andreypc", has the SW (shock wave) flag, has 8 kills, 6 deaths, and has been killed by player "me1" 0 times, and has killed player "me1" once. Flags whose names are in white are powerful flags. Team flags are always the color of that team on the scoreboard. Other flags are just the same color as the player using them.

|[[Image:Scoreboard.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Scoreboard]]
|-
|
======Team Scoreboard======
There is also a scoreboard for team scores. In FFA this shows the kills, deaths, and overall score. In CTF this shows the amount of flags that team has captured, and the amount of times their flag was captured, and the score. Also, to the right is the amount of players on that team. The rogue team is never included on the team scoreboard.
|[[Image:Teamscoreboard.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Team Scoreboard]]
|-
|

======Radar======
The [[Radar]] (In the bottom left), shows a bird's eye, 2d view of the map. This is useful for dodging bullets, and seeing where other players are in relation to the users' tank. The user's tank is displayed in the center of the radar, in white. Two lines from the user's "blip" on the radar represent the user's FOV (Field of view). The user's bullets are also displayed in white. Other teams are shown on the radar in their respective color, red shown in red, green shown in green, etc. The rogue team is shown in yellow. Flags are shown as little x's, and team flags as colored x's. A square is also around each radar "blip." This represents height. The larger the square, the higher something is. If a "blip" has an X through it, that tank has a flag.

|[[Image:Radar.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Radar]]
|-
|

====Sportsmanship====

When playing BZFlag, it is important to keep a few simple rules in mind:

* Players should never shoot tanks on their own team (except for the rogue players).
* Players should be civil to other players in all respects.

|[[Image:Screenshot1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A Screenshot of a standard 2.0.9 client playing on Missile War 2]]
|}

Category talk:Gameplay

2009-08-22T03:01:47Z

Optic Delusion: Normalized Score?

I spent some time looking and couldn't find any info about Normalized Score. Seems like this might be worth adding to the wiki, as it's frequently imsunderstood. but I can't decide where to put it. Gameplay or Client areas? Here's what I found out, if anybody feels like adding it to the wiki.
From clientbase/Player.cxx: float Player::getNormalizedScore() const
Code: ((float)wins - losses) / ((wins+losses>20) ? wins+losses : 20)
means: (wins - losses) / (if (wins + losses > 20) then wins + losses, else 20)
Q: Why is the 20 in the formula?
A: without the '20 hack', you would geta divide by zero error for (wins + losses) == 0.

BZW Exporter for Wings3D

2009-03-22T21:00:12Z

Optic Delusion: Maajor Update

The BZW Exporter for Wings3D was written by trepan so that users of Wings3D could export their 3D models to BZFlag world files.

==Download==
You can download the plugin [http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=13848 here]. To install, save the .tar.gz to your computer and simply hit File->Install Plugin. Then, select the .tar.gz file which you saved to your local machine. Do not expand the compressed file.

==OS Support==
The BZW export plugin will work on any operating system that supports Wings3D version 0.99.53. The plugin has been updated March 22,2009. In the future it will be added to official Wings3D releases, and be pre-installed.

[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

Talk:Map Info(object)

2009-03-22T15:16:29Z

Optic Delusion: Has not the "map info object" been implemented by trepan? Perhaps this page should be moved out of design proposals.

Has not the "map info object" been implemented by trepan? Perhaps this page should be moved out of design proposals.

Skybox

2009-02-05T01:12:12Z

Optic Delusion: /* Code */ TeleFrame-->TeleMaterial as per r18997

Skyboxes replace the normal scenery of BZFlag.

The material names needed to create a skybox are:
* LeftSkyboxMaterial
* RightSkyboxMaterial
* TopSkyboxMaterial
* BottomSkyboxMaterial
* FrontSkyboxMaterial
* BackSyboxMaterial

==Working with Skyboxes.==

Unless all six images load correctly, no skybox will be displayed. For this reason it is recommended to start with a working skybox, and change one texture at a time, testing each image one at a time. Colors are applied to this test world to assist in identifying left/right and front/back materials.
Image size will be automatically scaled to fit. Maximum default image size for clients is 1024 by 1024 pixels. Power-of-two pixel dimensions are recommended, but not required. You will notice a thin black line in the corners, this is a bug.

==Code==

{|
|
world
name SkyboxMaterialTest
size 230
end
options
-set _drawCelestial 0
-set _drawClouds 0
-set _drawGround 1
-set _drawGroundLights 0
-set _drawMountains 0
-set _wallHeight 0
end
# For reference, Include the other two "Magic" Material names.
# TeleMaterial will be available in BZFlag version 3.0
# teleporter texture
material
name LinkMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
# -set _drawGround 0 will disable the GroundMaterial
material
name GroundMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
#Space Skybox
material
name skyboxBase
color 1 1 .99999999
end
material
name LeftSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox1.png
diffuse red
end
material
name FrontSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox2.png
diffuse yellow
end
material
name RightSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox4.png
diffuse green
end
material
name BackSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox5.png
diffuse blue
end
material
name TopSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox3.png
diffuse purple
end
material
name BottomSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox6.png
diffuse white
end
#End Space Skybox

|}

Material

2009-02-05T01:10:41Z

Optic Delusion: /* General */ TeleFrame-->TeleMaterial as per r18997

A material is used in a BZFlag world to define a new look for otherwise regular objects, such as [[Meshbox|meshboxes]].

==Code==
To put a material in your map, first it must be defined:
{|
|
material
name example_material
texture filename
addtexture filename
notextures
notexcolor
notexalpha
texmat -1
dyncol -1
ambient 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
diffuse 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
color 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
specular 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
emission 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
shininess 0.0
resetmat
spheremap
noradar
noshadow
noculling
nosorting
nolighting
alphathresh 0.0
groupalpha
occluder
end
|}
Valid parameters for a Material are:
<properties>
name=name for reference
texture=set the texture (must be .png but don't include the extension unless on the Internet)
addtexture=add a texture (again, no extension is needed)
notextures=don't use textures.
notexcolor=don't apply the [[Color(BZW)|color]] to the texture
notexalpha=don't use the texture's alpha channel
texmat=specify a [[TextureMatrix|texture matrix]]. -1 for no texture matrix. (addtexture must be used before texmat)
dyncol=specify a [[DynamicColor|dynamic color]]. -1 for no dynamic color.
ambient=ambient color
diffuse=diffuse (main)[[Color(BZW)|color]]
[[Color(BZW)|color]]=synonym for diffuse
specular=specular [[Color(BZW)|color]]
emission=emission [[Color(BZW)|color]]
shininess=shiny!
resetmat=restore default values
spheremap=use spherical texture coordinate mapping
noradar=do not display on radar (except normal mode)
noshadow=do not render shadows
noculling=do not cull by face winding (double-sided)
nosorting=do not do front-to-back alpha sorting
nolighting=disable lighting
alphathresh=alpha thresholding value
groupalpha=sort translucent faces as a group
occluder=faces with this material will occlude
</properties>
To actually apply a material, you must use some sort of reference in an object, like so:
{|
|
meshbox
position 0 0 10
rotation 0
size 10 10 5
matref example_material
end
|}

==Transparency==
The transparency effect is created by setting the alpha component of a material's [[Color(BZW)|color]] to a value less than one.
Transparent objects should be sparingly, because everything behind them must always be rendered. In addition, very large transparent objects may be sorted and drawn in the wrong order. This is caused by the fact that the Z-buffer cannot be used because it would allow another transparent object to cover the transparent object, which would not look right. Thus, the transparent elements are instead sorted by determining the distance to a point in the center, which works well as long as there are not too many large transparent objects.
The same applies to textures that have transparent sections.

==Magic Material Names==
===General===
[[GroundMaterial]] 
WaterMaterial 
LinkMaterial For Teleporter 
TeleMaterial For Teleporter Frame (BZFlag version 3.0)

===Skybox===
[[LeftSkyboxMaterial]] 
[[RightSkyboxMaterial]] 
[[FrontSkyboxMaterial]] 
[[BackSkyboxMaterial]] 
[[TopSkyboxMaterial]] 
[[BottomSkyboxMaterial]] 

==History==
Materials were added in [[BZFlag 2.0.0]].

==Editor Support==
Materials are supported in [[Blender]] with [[BZWTools]], [[pyBZEdit]], and [[Wings3D]] with the [[BZW Exporter for Wings3D]]. Materials are NOT supported in [[BZEdit]], [[BZFed]] or IBZEdit.

==A note about textures==
A material can be composed of colors and textures. Textures are .png files that are either in the client directory or on the Internet. The terms ''material'' and ''texture'' are often confused and misunderstood, so bear the above in mind.

[[category:Map_Objects]]
[[category:Map Making]]

Weapon (object)

2009-01-18T22:08:04Z

Optic Delusion: /* Code */ how to have weapon without it's flag.

A weapon object is a [[BZW]] map structure that defines a fixed weapon effect. This is also called a '''world weapon'''.

==Code==
The code for a weapon object is as follows
{|
|
weapon
name example_weapon
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
rotation 0.0
color 0
tilt 0.0
initdelay 10.0
delay 10.0 3.0 5.0 3.0
type V
trigger oncap
eventteam 1
end
|}
Valid parameters for a weapon object are:
<properties>
name=the name of the weapon, generally unused.
position =the position in world units for the effect to begin at
rotation =the orientation in degrees for the effect to fire in.
color =the color the weapon should be. 1 - red 2 - green 3 - blue 4 - purple 0 - rogue
tilt =the vertical tilt in degrees for the effect to fire in.
initdelay =the delay to wait after the server starts before the effect is triggered.
delay =a list of delays to loop through after the startup delay. (optional)
type = the [[FlagCode]] for the flag effect to use for the weapon.
trigger =if a delay is not used, when to trigger the flag, currently only oncap is valid.
eventteam =the team to use when looking at oncap weapons. Use numeric values 1 - red 2 - green 3 - blue 4 - purple. Explodes when the flag of that team is captured.
</properties>
The weapon object can be used as many times as desired on a map.
The flag for the weapon must be specified in options. If a worldweapon is desired, without a corresponding flag on the ground, it can be specified without a quantity. +f <flag>

==Appearance==
The weapon object will produce a weapon effect that is exactly the same as similar effects produced by players.

==History==
The weapon object was added in [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]].

==Editor Support==
The weapon object is only fully supported by the [[BZWTools]] blender plug-in.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map Objects]]

Server Variables

2008-12-05T08:09:52Z

Optic Delusion: clarify _maxFlagGrabs

The BZFlag Server (BZFS) allows administrators to configure a large number of gameplay and configuration settings from within the client. The /set command in-game allows users with the appropriate permissions to change these values. These may also be known as BZDB variables and "/set variables" depending on who you speak with.

Unless otherwise noted, time values are measured in seconds, distances in [[world units]], and speeds in [[world units]] per second.

{{InfoBox|Note|Some values, such as _worldSize, only take affect at server start since they affect the world file that is generated. It is recommended to apply these in the map file so they are loaded with the map.}}
{|{{Prettytable}}
|-
|{{Hl3}}|'''Name'''
|{{Hl3}}|'''Default'''
|{{Hl3}}|'''Description'''
|-
| _agilityAdVel || 2.25 || Multiplies _tankSpeed for tanks holding Agility flag for a specified amount of time (_agilityTimeWindow)
|-
| _agilityTimeWindow || 1 || The amount of time (in seconds)that the tank will have the speed specified by _agilityAdVel
|-
| _agilityVelDelta || 0.3 ||
|-
| _angleTolerance || 0.05 || If a tank has turned more than it was expected to, plus this tolerance, a new update is sent so the other clients are aware of the change in heading
|-
| _angularAd || 1.5 || Multiplies _tankAngVel to determine how fast tanks can turn while holding the Quick Turn flag
|-
| _avenueSize || 2*_boxBase || Space to leave between objects in random maps?
|-
| _baseSize || 60 || Width and Depth (bases have constant height) of the square bases for CTF games
|-
| _boxBase || 30 || Width and Depth of boxes on a random map?
|-
| _boxHeight || 6*_muzzleHeight || Height of boxes on a random map?
|-
| _burrowDepth || 1.32 || Determines how far down tanks drop when they have the Burrow Flag. Making this much lower makes it below the floor, and impossible to kill tank!
|-
| _burrowSpeedAd || .8 || Multiplied by _tankSpeed to determine how fast tanks holding the Burrow Flag move.
|-
| _burrowAngularAd || .55 || Multiplied by _tankAngVel to determine how fast tanks can turn while holding the Burrow flag.
|-
| _coldetDepth || 6 ||
|-
| _coldetElements || 4 ||
|-
| _countdownResumeTime || 5 || This enforces a delay when resuming a paused countdown. If the argument is lower or equal to 0 then resuming is instantly, otherwise it is delayed according to the value (in seconds). ''Available in 2.1 and later''
|-
| _cullDepth || 6 ||
|-
| _cullDist || fog || Far plane culling distance ('fog' uses the fog parameters).
|-
| _cullElements || 16 ||
|-
| _cullOccluders || 0 ||
|-
| _disableBots || none || A value of 1 in this variable does not allow autopilot or bots on the server, equivalent to the old -prohibitbots command line option.
|-
| _drawCelestial || 1 || Draw the stars, sun, and moon.
|-
| _drawClouds || 1 || Draw the clouds.
|-
| _drawGround || 1 || Draw the ground plane.
|-
| _drawMountains || 1 || Draw the mountains.
|-
| _drawSky || 1 || Draw the sky pyramid.
|-
| _explodeTime || 5 || After a tank is killed, this is how long it takes to blow up, and then "respawn". Larger values translates into longer explosions and more client processor time. Note that an explosion is invisible if you are inside it, so large values may make it invisible up close, and extremely large values may make explosions entirely invisible.
|-
| _flagAltitude || 11 || The height that the flag flies up dropped and the height that a flag spawns at.
|-
| _flagEffectTime || 0.64 || How much time it takes for the flag to go into effect.
|-
| _flagHeight || 10 || The height of the flag (not its pole).
|-
| _flagPoleWidth || 0.025 || The diameter of the flag pole.
|-
| _flagPoleSize || 0.8 || The height of the flag pole.
|-
| _flagRadius || 2.5 || Determines how close a tank must be to a flag to pick it up.
|-
| _fogMode || none || Valid values: linear, exp, or exp2.
|-
| _fogDensity || 0.001 || Used for exp and exp2 fog modes.
|-
| _fogStart || 0.5*_worldSize || Used for linear fog mode, the distance where fog begins to occlude vision.
|-
| _fogEnd || _worldSize || Used for linear fog mode, the distance where the fog occludes everything.
|-
| _fogColor || "0.25 0.25 0.25" || RGB or black, red, blue (alpha is ignored).
|-
| _friction || 0 || Zero is normal friction, the closer to 0 the harder it is to start and stop, and the higher the number the easier it is to start and stop.
|-
| _gmActivationTime || 0.5 || The amount of time (in seconds) it takes for a Guided Missile to become active after it is fired. Any contact under this time will not result in detonation (setting it to low could cause its owner to run into its own GM and be blown up!
|-
| _gmAdLife || 0.95 || Multiplied by _shotRange to determine the distance guided missiles will go.
|-
| _gmTurnAngle || 0.628319 || The angle at which a Guided Missile will turn to follow its target. (Measured in radians)
|-
| _gravity || -9.8 || The rate at which a tank will fall (or be kept from jumping) Measured in [[World units]]/Seconds^2. Setting this to a zero or positive value will result in tanks being unable to stay down and will float away.
|-
| _handicapScoreDiff || 50 || How much of a score difference (from the leader?) there must be for a player to get a handicap
|-
| _handicapVelAd || 2 || Player with handicap will receive this much more (_tankSpeed + _handicapVelAd) velocity than the normal _tankSpeed value. ''**Note: These could be factors rather than additions''
|-
| _handicapAngAd || 1.5 || Player with handicap will receive this much more (_angularAd + _handicapAngAd) turning ability than the normal _angularAd. ''**Note: These could be factors rather than additions''
|-
| _handicapShotAd || 1.75 || ''**Note: These could be factors rather than additions''
|-
| _identifyRange || 50 || If a flag is this distance or closer to a tank carrying the Identify (ID) flag, it will display the closest flag's type.
|-
| _jumpVelocity || 19 || The speed a tank moves vertically while jumping.
|-
| _laserAdVel || 1000 || The length of each laser shot. Laser's aren't exactly "infinite" as their description states, they go on for as long as this variable states.
|-
| _laserAdRate || 0.5 || Multiplied by _rFireAdRate to determine the firing rate for a laser.
|-
| _laserAdLife || 0.1 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a laser remains after being fired.
|-
| _latitude || 37.5 || The latitude at which the world exists. This affects the timezone.
|-
| _lgGravity|| 12.7 || Modifies the gravity for owners of the Low Gravity flag. Similar to the _gravity variable. ''Available starting in version 2.1''
|-
| _lockOnAngle || 0.15 || Angle (in radians) in relation to tanks heading (positive or negative) that will allow a Guided Missile to lock onto a target.
|-
| _longitude || 122 || The longitude at which the world exists. This affects the timezone.
|-
| _lRAdRate || 0.5 ||
|-
| _maxBumpHeight || 0.33 || Any difference between the surface a tank is on and the top surface of an object the tank runs into that is less than this value will allow the tank to simply move up to the object rather than being stopped by it.
|-
| _maxFlagGrabs || 4.0 || How many times a flag can be dropped before it respawns. At the first spawn, flags are assigned a random # between 1 and _maxFlagGrabs. Each grab reduces that number by 1, until zero is reached, then the flag spawns at a new location. Flags will always respawn no matter how many flag grabs they have left if dropped over an 'unsafe' zone.
|-
| _maxLOD || 32767 || The max level of detail to allow.
|-
| _mirror || none || Options: '''white''', '''black''', '''red''', '''blue''', '''pink''', '''purple''', '''orange''', etc... ("black 0.75" is a good setting, some invalid options such as '''mirror''' will give a mirror look)
|-
| _momentumLinAcc || 1 || Momentum flag's effect on going forwards and backwards.
|-
| _momentumAngAcc || 1 || Momentum flag's effect on turning.
|-
| _momentumFriction || 0 || Friction (same as _friction) when holding the Momentum flag.
|-
| _mGunAdVel || 1/_mGunAdRate || The speed of the machine gun's bullets.
|-
| _mGunAdRate || 10 || _reloadTime divided by _mGunAdRate gives how long machine gun bullets take to reload.
|-
| _mGunAdLife || 1.5 || Multiplied by _shotRange to determine the distance machine gun bullets go.
|-
| _muzzleFront || _tankRadius + 0.1 || Location of muzzle of tank (affects bullets and player camera location).
|-
| _muzzleHeight || 1.57 || See _muzzleFront.
|-
| _noClimb || 1 || Allow or disallow climbing on sloped surfaces. A value of 0 allows, 1 disallows.
|-
| _noShadows || 0 || Enables of disables shadows. A value of 0 allows, 1 disallows.
|-
| _noSmallPackets || 0 ||
|-
| _notRespondingTime || 5 || The amount of time (in seconds) the server should wait before reporting a tank as not responding.
|-
| _obeseFactor || 2.5 || Multiplier of normal size that determines how big a tank gets when carrying the Obese flag.
|-
| _pauseDropTime || 15 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a tank needs to be paused before its flag is dropped automatically.
|-
| _positionTolerance || 0.09 ||
|-
| _pyrBase || 4 * _tankHeight || Base size of pyramids generated by the default random map generator.
|-
| _pyrHeight || 5 * _tankHeight || Height of pyramids generated by the default random map generator.
|-
| _radarLimit || _worldSize || The maximum area that the radar can see (when not rotated).
|-
| _rainBaseColor || none || When _rainType = rain, sets color of the bottom of raindrops.
|-
| _rainDensity || none || Determines how many drops of rain are in the space defined by _rainSpread.
|-
| _rainEndZ || none || The height above the ground where rain should stop falling.
|-
| _rainMaxPuddleTime || none || The amount of time (in seconds) a rain puddle should exist before disappearing.
|-
| _rainPuddleSpeed || none || The speed at which puddles should spread out.
|-
| _rainPuddleColor || none || Color of rain puddles. none means no puddle.
|-
| _rainPuddleTexture ||none || Texture of puddles. Best to leave default.
|-
| _rainRoofs || 1 || '''0''' rain falls through everything '''1''' rain hits buildings, but puddles are only on the ground '''2''' rain hits buildings, and creates puddles on them
|-
| _rainSpread || none || The radius from center of map where rain will fall.
|-
| _rainSpeed || none || The speed at which the rain falls.
|-
| _rainSpeedMod || none || Randomizes _rainSpeed by adding/subtracting up to this number from each raindrop's speed
|-
| _rainSpins || none || '''0''' Rain does not spin as it falls '''1''' Rain spins as it falls.
|-
| _rainStartZ || none || The height above ground that rain should fall from.
|-
| _rainTexture || none || The name of the texture in data directory. ''Works with _rainTypes of frog, particle, bubble, snow, fatrain''
|-
| _rainTopColor ||none || When _rainType = rain, sets color of the top of raindrops.
|-
| _rainType || none || Adjusts all _rain* and _use* variables automatically Valid Options : '''frog''', '''particle''', '''rain''', '''bubble''', '''snow''', '''fatrain'''
|-
| _rejoinTime || _explodeTime || The number of seconds before clients can rejoin a game, after they leave.
|-
| _reloadTime || _shotRange/_shotSpeed || Time between shot reloads, note that this can cut shot range short.
|-
| _rFireAdVel || 1.5 || Multiplied by _shotSpeed to determine the speed of the rapid fire bullets.
|-
| _rFireAdRate || 2 || The reload time (in seconds) for rapid fire bullets.
|-
| _rFireAdLife || 1/_rFireAdRate || How long the rapid fire bullets last.
|-
| _shieldFlight || 2.7 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a shield flag floats in the air (after you drop it) before coming down again.
|-
| _shockAdLife || 0.2 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a shockwave lasts.
|-
| _shockInRadius || _tankLength || The starting radius of the shockwave. Negative values will make the shockwave shrink and expand.
|-
| _shockOutRadius || 60 || The outer radius of the shockwave. If greater than _shockInRadius, the shockwave expands outward. If less than _shockInRadius, the shockwave starts big and shrinks inward.
|-
| _shotRadius || 0.5 || For collision detection.
|-
| _shotRange || 350 || Range of shots, note that they can be cut short by _reloadTime.
|-
| _shotSpeed || 100 || Speed of shots.
|-
| _shotTailLength || 4 ||
|-
| _shotsKeepVerticalVelocity || 0 || If '''0''', shots always move straight in relation to the ground. If '''1''', shots are affected vertically by the tank's speed, and can fly up and down. Lasers are also affected.
|-
| _skyColor || white || Sets the sky to a specific color.
|-
| _srRadiusMult || 2 || Radius of steamroller effect.
|-
| _squishFactor || 1 || How much tanks squish when landing.
|-
| _squishTime || 1 || How much squishy time you get after falling to the ground.
|-
| _syncTime || 1 || Whether or not to sync the players time with the servers'.
|-
| _syncLocation || 0 || Whether or not to sync the location time with the servers'.
|-
| _tankAngVel || 0.785398 || How fast the tank can turn.
|-
| _tankExplosionSize || 3.5 * _tankLength || How large the tank's explosion is.
|-
| _tankHeight || 2.05 || The height of the tank.
|-
| _tankLength || 6 || The length of the tank.
|-
| _tankRadius || 0.72 * _tankLength || The radius of the tank.
|-
| _tankSpeed || 25 || The speed of the tank
|-
| _tankWidth || 2.8 || The width of the tank.
|-
| _targetingAngle || 0.3|| Something to do with GM...
|-
| _teleportBreadth || 4.48|| Random maps?
|-
| _teleportHeight || 10.08 || See _teleportBreadth.
|-
| _teleportTime || 1 ||
|-
| _teleportWidth || 1.12 || See _teleportHeight.
|-
| _thiefAdLife || 0.05 || The amount of time (in seconds) that a thief shot lasts.
|-
| _thiefAdRate || 12 || The amount of time (in seconds) that the Thief "shot" reloads.
|-
| _thiefAdShotVel || 8 || The speed of thief.
|-
| _thiefTinyFactor || 0.5|| Multiplied by the normal tank size to shrink a tank carrying the thief flag.
|-
| _thiefVelAd || 1.67 || Multiplied by _tankSpeed to determine how fast tanks holding the thief goes.
|-
| _thiefDropTime || reloadTime * 0.5 ||The amount of time you must wait to fire a shot after stealing a flag.
|-
| _tinyFactor || 0.4 || Multiplied by the normal tank size to shrink a tank carrying the tiny flag.
|-
| _trackFade || 3 || The amount of time (in seconds) before track marks fade.
|-
| _updateThrottleRate || 30 ||
|-
| _useLineRain || none || '''0''' Rain is not a vertical line '''1''' Rain is vertical lines, smoothly shaded from _rainTopColor to _rainBaseColor
|-
| _useRainPuddles || none || '''0''' Rain does not create puddles '''1''' Rain creates puddles
|-
| _useRainBillboards || none || '''0''' Rain is lines or polygons '''1''' Rain is billboards, textured and look the same from all angles
|-
| _velocityAd || 1.5 || Multiplies _tankSpeed to determine the speed of a tank carrying the high speed (V) flag
|-
| _wallHeight || 3 * _tankHeight|| The outer wall height.
|-
| _weapons || 1 || Used with world weapons, '''0''' world weapons will not fire '''1''' world weapons will fire
|-
| _wideAngleAng || 1.745329 || The viewing angle when a tank has the Wide Angle bad flag.
|-
| _wingsGravity || _gravity || How much gravity affects tanks with the WG flag.
|-
| _wingsJumpCount || 1 || The number of jumps a tank with the wings flag can do before returning to the ground.
|-
| _wingsJumpVelocity || _jumpVelocity || The initial velocity of a jump with wings, in [[world units]]/sec.
|-
| _wingsSlideTime || 0 || When in the air, the tanks will slide for this long.
|-
| _worldSize || 400 || The size of the world. This should not be set during play, as the walls will not move for currently connected players. Setting this larger will allow tanks to go outside the map, and setting it smaller will cause tanks to be kicked for leaving the world boundaries.
|}

[[Category:Server]]

Sphere

2008-11-16T19:07:26Z

Optic Delusion: hemi sphere

The sphere is a [[BZW]] Object that defines a sphere in the game arena.

==Code==
[[Image:Sphere.png|right|frame|300px|Sphere Appearance]]
The code to place a sphere in your map is as follows:
{|
|
sphere
name example_sphere
divisions 4
flatshading
hemisphere
position 0 0 10
size 10 10 10
radius 10
rotation 0
shift 0 0 0
scale 0 0 0
shear 0 0 0
spin angle nx ny nz
phydrv example_phydrv
smoothbounce
matref example_material
end
|}
Valid properties for a [[sphere]] are
<properties>
name=defines the name of the sphere, it is not required, and often unused
divisions=defines the number of subdivisions (pieces) of the sphere
flatshading=enables flat shading, smooth shading is the default
hemisphere=only draw the top half of the sphere
position=defines the center point of the sphere
size=defines the size of the sphere
radius=sets all size values to the same value
rotation=defines rotation for the sphere
shift=shifts the sphere (repeatable)
scale=scales the sphere (repeatable)
shear=shears the sphere (repeatable)
spin=spins the sphere around vector n (repeatable)
phydrv=attaches a physics driver to the sphere
smoothbounce=makes ricochets use normals
matref=defines a material for the sphere to use
</properties>

==Appearance==
By default, the sphere is a perfect sphere, with a red brick texture around the outside. You can, however, make the sphere elongated on one side (just don't use the radius option).

==History==
The sphere object has been supported since [[BZFlag 2.0.0]]. In previous versions of BZFlag, this object will not work.

==Editor Support==
Editors that support the sphere object include [[Blender]] using the [[BZWTools]], [[Wings3D]] using the [[BZW Exporter for Wings3D]], and [[pyBZEdit]]. [[BZEdit]], [[BZFed]], and [[IBZEdit]] do NOT support the sphere.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map_Objects]]

Modeltool

2008-10-29T01:34:24Z

Optic Delusion:

Modeltool has two modes of operation: Normal and Drawinfo.

In normal operation it converts wavefront.obj files to .bzw mesh. The easiest way to do this is to place both the modeltool binary and an obj file in a directory, then open your terminal and cd to that directory, and ./modeltool your_filename.obj. A bzw format file will be created, with your mesh inside of it.

Modeltool Arguments
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-m : disable materials (matref)
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-s : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp

In drawinfo mode, a third file, called a diconf is required. This is a plain text file, named with the extension .diconf

DIconf Arguments
-lod 0 filename.obj :Specify a mesh to convert
-angvel <val> : Apply angular motion to the drawinfo. In radians per second.
-nomats : do not write materials.
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments : add comments (line numbering) to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val> : the longest triangle strip to use for LODs (16 recommended)
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

Map FAQ

2008-10-29T00:07:53Z

Optic Delusion: /* Moving Objects */ drawinfo is no longer difficult to generate.

This page is an aim at answering some frequently asked questions regarding map creation, and to help people new to mapping.

==Common Misconceptions==
First off let's clear up some common terms and misconceptions:

• The word '''"map"''' is not synonymous to the word '''"server"'''. They are different things. A map is run on a server.

• When we say 'server' we mean 'BZFS', the BZFlag server application that comes with every stable binary release of BZFlag. BZFS allows you to host a BZFlag game, with either a randomly generated map, or a custom map.

• The standard extension for a BZFlag map is ".bzw". There are a variety of ways for making maps, and this can be done on any platform [[BZFlag]] runs on.

• You will often hear the different types of map objects referred to by the first version of [[BZFS]] they appeared in. "1.x" objects are simple boxes, pyramids and teleporters. "2.0" or "2.x" objects are objects such as [[mesh|meshes]], [[arc|arcs]], [[material|materials]], etc. With skill, these can be textured to look like almost anything you want.

• Textures '''must''' be in the .png format.

• Team numbering occurs frequently in BZW. Each team is given a number, and these are as follows: 0 = rogue; 1 = red; 2 = green; 3 = blue; 4 = purple.

• '''Think carefully about the layout of your map: Is it going to be fun to play?''' This is a factor that many people call 'playability'. This is probably the most important thing for a map that is intended to be played on. It may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised at the number of maps that are either too full of eye candy, or just badly thought out. You want to think about, among other things, distribution of obstacles, how balanced it is for CTF, concentration of ricochet bullets and sloped surfaces to rebound lasers.

==Frequently Asked Questions==

===How Do I Make a Map/World for BZFlag?===
'''There are many ways to do this:'''

• You can use a dedicated map editor such as [[BZEdit]], [[iBZEdit]] or [[BZFed]]. In general, dedicated editors will only support simple map objects such as a box, a pyramid or a teleporter, and there are none in active development. On the whole, this is the easiest way to create maps for most people. See [[Category:Map_Making]] for more.

• You can use a 3D modeling application, such as Blender or Wings3D. There are plugins available for each. With a 3D modeler, you can create much more complex maps, but there is a much steeper learning curve.
The blender plugin, [[BZWTools]], can be found [http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5862 here].
The wings plugin can be found [http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3652 here].

• Lastly, you can edit maps by hand in your favorite plain text editor. Most maps made by hand tend to be fairly simple, though experienced mappers have made some extraordinary maps in this way. It is a good idea to be familiar with the structure of BZW code, as often exported meshes from 3D modelers will require 'touching up' in a text editor. Even the most experienced 3D modeler user needs to know how to text edit.

===Making 2.0 Objects===
'''How do I make a cylinder/cone/sphere etc.?'''

You can't do it in BZEdit. You will need to add them by hand in a text editor.

See [[Category:Map_Making]] and [[BZW]] for more in depth info.

===Adding Textures===
'''I created a map in BZEdit, how do I add my own colors and textures?'''

BZEdit will '''not''' create colored, complex objects. If you want to texture a map made in bzedit, you will need to do so in a text editor such as NotePad. You must change the boxes you want texturing to meshboxes, and define your textures with the [[material]] object.

'''Where can I host textures that I have made for my map?'''

BZFlag offers a free texture hosting service at http://images.bzflag.org . To qualify to be hosted, you need to own the rights to use those textures (i.e. you made it, or you have permission to use it from the creator).
You can submit images via the [http://images.bzflag.org/submitimages submissions page], and they will be moderated. Be patient - the moderation can take some time. Remember - this service is a privilege, not a right.

===Moving Objects===
'''Can I make moving objects in BZFlag?'''

The short answer is no, and there probably never will be moving objects that tanks can interact with. You can, however make moving textures with the textureMatrix object.

The long answer is yes, simple moving objects have been made that move in a circle around the central Z axis using a method of mesh drawing called DrawInfo, however these objects are always shootthrough and drivethrough, and tanks cannot interact with them in any way - in other words decorative only. The DrawInfo code was never fully documented, but is relatively easy to generate using [[modeltool]]. If you can make an object in wavefront.obj format, you can make drawinfo.

===BZEdit For Mac OS X===
'''Can I get BZEdit for Mac OS X?'''

Yes, it's called [[iBZEdit]]
Alternatively, you could use Wings 3D, or Blender if you're prepared for a steep learning curve - or you could go for plain text editing in the TextEdit application that came with your OS.

===Flag and Tank Spawns===
'''How can I get a flag to spawn in a specific place in my map?'''

Use the following simple code:
zone
size 0.1 0.1 0.1 ## Size of the zone
pos 0 0 0 ## Position of the zone (i.e. the place it will spawn)
zoneflag GM 2 ## For example, this will create two GM flags.
end
Note this does '''not''' require you to use the +f bzfs option. If you use zoneflag, the flag will be created automaticaly.

'''How can I get a tank to spawn in a specific place in my map?'''

Use the following simple code:
zone
size 10 10 10 ## Size of the zone
pos 0 0 0 ## Position of the zone (i.e. the place it will spawn)
team 0 1 2 3 4 ## Every team will spawn here..
end
Next to 'team' you put the numbers of the teams you wish to spawn. See above for more details.

===Death Physics===
'''I want tanks to die when a tank touches this box... How?'''

You can create boxes that kill tanks when they are touched by using a [[physics|physics driver]]. A physics driver can be applied to any 2.0 object. Specifically, we need the 'death' function.
physics
name myDeath ## Name of physics driver.
death You Died! ## Message displayed on death.
end
Then you add the reference to the object or mesh face:
phydrv myDeath

===World Weapons===
'''How do I add automatically-shooting weapons in my map?'''

See [[World Weapon]]. You can configure the weapon to fire on a flag capture, like on all your favorite CTF servers.

===Starting a Server===
'''How do I start a server to host my map?'''

http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2915

[[BZFS]]

==Getting Your Map Out There==
There is a forum dedicated entirely to this on the [http://my.bzflag.org/bb BZBB]. It's the 'Map Releases' forum. Please bear the following in mind when you release your map.

• '''Releasing you map does not necessarily mean you will get hosting for your map''', so do not post "OMGZ this map is sooo good i spent like 2 hours making it and it's like amazing all my friends think it rawks!!!!!!11". It's not going appeal to many people. Instead give about a paragraph to describe your map, and any server settings you may recommend for playing. Be sure to use full sentences, and check your spelling!

• Extensions, extensions: you should always give your map the '.bzw' file extension, text edited or otherwise. It dosn't matter what you made it in - it's all the same format. It's just good practice.

• '''Give your map an imaginative name''' - not just "xyz's CTF", and not something obvious like "Bridges" or "Castles", as there are probably about five other maps with this title. Instead think of something decriptive and short. Think as though you were titling a movie or a song, something that's going to be attractive to people browsing the forum or listserver.

• Take nice screenshots using the roaming feature in observer mode. Most people will use only the screenshots to get an idea of how well your map will actually play. Try to capture the essence of your map with as little screenshots as possible, no more than three or four, and (if you can) convert your images to JPEGs for faster downloading.

• Furthermore, '''releasing your map means that anyone can download your map.''' If they decide to host your map they don't have to make you an admin on their server. If you have any issues with the way they are using your map take it up with them personally. It's not up for public discussion. See [http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=10575 this announcement] for more information on releasing and licencing in this forum.

• Be open and ready for criticism - if you're new to mapping, the chances are that your map isn't going to be a smash hit, so don't be too offended if somebody doesn't like it. Instead take that criticism on board and use it to improve your map, or to make further maps better.

==Getting Help==
'''If you're looking for some further help with BZW, you can post a question in this forum, or you can always try the ##bzw IRC channel on irc.freenode.net.'''

'''Lastly, have fun making maps. Many players enjoy mapping even more than actually playing the game, and find it an ammusing and challenging passtime. Just remember to persevere, and with some work, you could be the next Dutchrai or Louman!'''

BZW Exporter for Wings3D

2008-08-13T23:56:49Z

Optic Delusion: /* OS Support */

The BZW Exporter for Wings3D was written by trepan so that users of Wings3D could export their 3D models to BZFlag world files.

==Download==
You can download the plugin [http://trepan.bzflag.bz/wings3d_to_bzw_1.1.tar.gz here]. To install, save the .tar.gz to your computer and simply hit File->Install Plugin. Then, select the .tar.gz file which you saved to your local machine. Do not expand the compressed file.

==OS Support==
The BZW export plugin will work on any operating system that supports Wings3D version 0.98.34. It must be noted that this plugin is gettin a little old, and it does not appear as if it will ever be updated. If you want to use this plugin, you are MUST USE Wings version 0.98.34. Newer versions of wings will not load the plugin correctly.

[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

BZW Exporter for Wings3D

2008-08-13T23:55:20Z

Optic Delusion: /* OS Support */ MUST USE 0.98.34

The BZW Exporter for Wings3D was written by trepan so that users of Wings3D could export their 3D models to BZFlag world files.

==Download==
You can download the plugin [http://trepan.bzflag.bz/wings3d_to_bzw_1.1.tar.gz here]. To install, save the .tar.gz to your computer and simply hit File->Install Plugin. Then, select the .tar.gz file which you saved to your local machine. Do not expand the compressed file.

==OS Support==
The BZW export plugin will work on any operating system that supports Wings3D version 0.98.34. It must be noted that this plugin is gettin a little old, and it does not appear as if it will ever be updated. If you want to use this plugin, you are MUST USE Wings version 0.98.34. Newer versions of wings will not work.

[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

World (object)

2008-05-23T13:19:40Z

Optic Delusion: Undo revision 4632 by 141.158.90.103 (Talk)

A World object is a [[BZW]] map structure that defines various options for the map.

==Code==
The code for a world object is as follows
{|
|
world
name example_world
size 400.0
flagHeight 10.0
freeCtfSpawns
end
|}
Valid parameters for a world object are
<properties>
name=the name of the map, generally unused.
size=the size of the outer world walls from the center of the map to each wall. The default is 400 [[world units]], providing a world 800 units across.
flagHeight=defines the height in Z of the standard flagpole.
noWalls=removes the default outer stone walls (and the radar signature of the wall), from the map. This is different than "set _wallHeight 0", which leaves the radar alone.
freeCtfSpawns=after a team-flag is captured, players spawn randomly, not at the base.
</properties>

The world object can only be specified once in a map.

==History==
The world object was added in [[BZFlag 1.10.0|v1.10]].

==Editor Support==
The world object is only fully supported by the [[BZWTools]] blender plug-in.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map_Objects]]

World (object)

2008-05-19T03:28:23Z

Optic Delusion: added radar comments to noWalls

Sample conf

2008-03-05T14:17:37Z

Optic Delusion: version 2.0.10

<pre>
# This is a BZFlag Server (bzfs) configuration file.
# It assumes that you wish to connect to the bzflag list server.
# Please read through it carefully. Lines starting with a # are comments.
# to enable an option, remove the # at the beginning of a line. To
# disable that option, put the # back. There are some examples in this
# file. Make sure you change the examples if you uncomment the line. If
# you don't know what something does, you are okay to just leave
# it commented out. Failure to read through this file (looking for
# already uncommented lines) might be a little embarrassing. Have fun.

# This option is for debug. You can have as many as 4 of them.
# simple debug
#-d
# and more complex debugging.
-dd
#-ddd
#-dddd

# Sets the admin password for the server. It is necessary for server
# administration if no groups are used.
# CHANGE THIS!
-password abcdef

# Enables inertia and sets the maximum linear and angular accelerations.
# The units are somewhat arbitrary so you'll have to experiment to find
# suitable values. The values must be non-negative and higher values
# yield greater inertia.
# Used to control "Mouse Enhancements"
-a 50 38

## World ##

# This specifies the world filename.
# Use this format for Windows
#-world "c:\mymaps\louschurchyard.bzw"
# Use this format for *nix and Mac
#-world /users/noob/lousdesktop.bzw

## Random World Generation ##

# This option allows world objects to be randomly rotated. Only applies
# if a randomly generated world is used.
#-b

# Enables capture-the-flag style game with a balanced random map. Default is
# free-for-all style game.
#-cr

# Adds teleporters to the game. for random maps only
#-t

# This option controls the building density on random worlds(1-10) default is 5
#-density 7

# This option changes the size of random maps.
#-worldsize 800

# This option gives buildings random heights. This is used when
# you are using random maps.
#-h

## Game Styles ##

# This enables capture-the-flag style game. Default is free-for-all style.
# Requires one base object for each team to be specified in the world file.
# Can be used with random world generation.
#-c

# More than one team-flag may be specified.
# This is generally not desirable.
# B* - Blue Team G* - Green Team, P* - Purple Team, R* - Red Team,
#+f B*
#+f R*

# This sets the maximum number of shots before a reload. The default
# is 5.
-ms 3

# This makes most shots ricochet.
+r

# This option allows jumping.
-j

# These two flags can be used if they are not specified as options.
# +f R{1} # Ricochet
# +f J{1} # Jumping

# This option allows for flags on box buildings.
#-fb

# This option allows tanks to spawn on buildings. This is especially useful
# as tank spawn locations are now calculated on the server without the
# advantage of knowing where shots are.
#-sb

# By default if a player kills a teammate, he dies too, this option turns this
# off. Used mostly for capture the flag style games.
#-tk

# Announce team kills to the admin channel.
#-tkannounce

# Kick a player if his ratio of teammate to non-teammate kills is this
# percentage or greater.
-tkkr 32

# This option allows you to tell the server how long a team flag remains
# before it is reset after the last player on a team leaves. The default
# is 30 seconds.
#-tftimeout 60

# Hunt the rabbit game is activated with this option.
# Use only one of these options.
# Choose rabbit based on score.
#-rabbit score
# Rabbit is chosen by whoever kills the rabbit.
#-rabbit killer
# Or you can choose the rabbit randomly.
#-rabbit random

# It is possible to restrict bots and autopilot from being used on the server.
# This is accomplished with the following.
#-disableBots

# This option causes the server to quit after serving one game. This is
# handy if you want to do a timed game, or script a rotating server.
#-g

# This option sets the max score for players. The game ends when a person
# reaches this score and is declared the winner.
#-mps 100

# This sets the max team score. The first team to reach this score is
# declared the winner and the game is ended.
#-mts 250

# This dumps the score to console when it changes.
#-printscore

# This sets time limit (in seconds) for the game. Time starts when first
# client connects.
#-time 3600

# This option requires a timed game to be started using the /countdown
# command to start a timed game. Default is when first player joins.
#-timemanual

## List server Connection ##

# This is the public message that the server advertises on the public
# server list. This is required if you want to be shown on the list.
# It often advertises the map you are using. Keep it short.
-public "Noo BZFlag Server With Random Map"

# This is also needed to be listed on the public server list. The
# address needs to be valid in DNS. It's your IP, plus port number.
-publicaddr 123.456.789.000:5154

# The server will listen on this port. Default port is 5154.
-p 5154

# Tells server not to respond to "pings". This makes the server private.
# You should remove -public and -publicaddr when using it.
# If your router is open, you can still give people your IP and port, and
# they will be able to connect, you just wont be on the list.
#-q

# You probably don't need to use this, but it is there if you do. This
# specifies where the server advertises itself. The built-in default
# should work just fine. You need to hunt down the proper address if
# it doesn't work. DON'T Change It
#-publiclist <list-server-url>

# Server will listen for and respond to "pings" (sent via broadcast) on
# the given interface. The server uses the first interface by default.
# This is the TCP/UDP/IP address the server will listen on.
# You don't need to use this unless your server has multiple
# interfaces and doesn't show up on the server lists.
#-i 123.456.789.000

## Player Connections ##

# This requires clients to use UDP (a good thing). This will generally
# make the server behave better, and make play more smooth.
# This will kick players who are unable to establish a UDP connection
# when they attempt to fire.
-requireudp

# Automatically assigns players to teams when they join so that teams are
# evenly matched in number of players. Players are placed on teams with
# lowest number of players first, then those with the lowest scores or
# kill ratios.
-autoTeam

# This sets the max number of players. It can be done in 2 ways. A flat
# count of players, or by number of players on a given team.
# This allows up to 50 players, no team limits.
# Typical home DSL connections max out at 12 players before lag begins.
# Lag equals players times shots. So a one-shot server could have more
# players, and vice-versa.
-mp 12

# This allows for max player by team.
# The order is rogue, red, green, blue, purple, observer.
#-mp 3,3,3,3,3,3

# Registered player files which will be loaded on startup.
# Use all three if you are not connecting to the list server.
# Players can use /register passwd and /identify passwd
# to confirm their identities.
# passdb stores local user password mappings.
#-passdb /path/to/passes.txt
# userdb stores user to group mappings.
#-userdb /path/to/users.txt

# If you use the BZFlag forums at http://my.bzflag.org/bb
# and have established groups there, you only need groupdb
# Though local registrations can also be used.
# groupdb stores group to permission mappings.
#-groupdb /path/to/groups.txt

# If you have registered groups at the bzbb forums, only players
# in this group will see your server in the list.
#-advertise NOOB.COP

# This option kicks the user after they have been idle for a number of
# seconds. Idle means paused, not-spawning or not-responding.
-maxidle 300

# Set to not use a UDP connection for players. You typically do NOT want to
# do this (UDP is good!)
#-noudp

# Define a lag threshold over which players with high lag will be
# announced to the admin channel.
#-adminlagannounce 300

# Define a threshold over which players with high lag will be announced.
#-lagannounce 400

# This option warns the user their lag is too high when it crosses the
# number of milliseconds set.
-lagwarn 350

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about high lag for
# a certain number of times.
-lagdrop 3

# Packetloss and Jitter are two different things.
# Packetloss is a percentage of total data being completely lost.
# A player with packetloss is usually downloading files, switching
# between applications, or simply has a bad connection.
# Jitter is variation in the time between packets arriving, caused by network
# congestion, timing drift, or route changes.
# A player with jitter may be purposely manipulating his lag to avoid
# being shot, or to "lag through a wall".
# These next four functions should be used with caution, slower servers
# may wish to avoid using them altogether.

# This option warns the user their packet loss is too high.
#-packetlosswarn 4

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about packet loss
# a certain number of times.
#-packetlossdrop 2

# This option warns the user their jitter is too high when it crosses
# the number of milliseconds set.
# -jitterwarn 25

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about high
# jitter for a certain number of times.
# -jitterdrop 3

# This option tells the server where to store the ban list. The ban list will
# be loaded from this file when the server starts (if the file exists) and
# written back to the file when someone gets banned or unbanned. If this
# option isn't used the ban list will not be saved.
#-banfile /path/to/mybanfile.txt

# This option sets up your ban list. This is ip masks separated by commas.
# The * character is used as a wild card in range bans.
#-ban "192.168.1.5,10.10.2.*,10.2.*.*"

## General Options ##

# adds timestamps to every line of the log
#-ts

# -pidfile /path/to/pidfile.txt
# Specify a file where the server will write its process ID so it may be used for remote administration.

# This is the server welcome message. Please change it.
-srvmsg " This is a Noo BZFlag Server "
-srvmsg " Have Fun and Play Nice "

# Define a message which will be broadcast to all players every 15 minutes.
-admsg " Noo BZFlag Server "
-admsg " BZFlag is Fun "

# This sets the amount of time in seconds that is required to pass between
# two identical messages sent.
-spamtime 15

# This sets the amount of times to warn spammers (see -spamtime) before they
# are kicked.
-spamwarn 3

# Specify a file that contains bad words that will be used when
# either -filterCallsigns or -filterChat is enabled.
# A multilingual badwords file can be found in source downloads.
#-badwords /path/to/badwords.txt

# Turn on the filtering of chat messages. Messages have words provided
# via a -badwords file are replaced with !@#$%^&* characters.
#-filterChat

# Turn on the filtering of callsigns. Callsigns are compared against
# bad words provided via -badwords.
#-filterCallsigns

# By default, all filtering is aggressive, matching much more than what
# is strictly listed in a -badwords file for convenience. Providing this
# option will make the -filterCallsigns and -filterChat comparisons
# exact match only.
#-filterSimple

# This forces all clients to use the same time of day. The time is
# determined by the server's clock. This disables the + and - keys
# on the clients.
#-synctime

## Player Controlled Functions ##

# This option specifies a help file that will be displayed when the player
# types /help name
# Maximum length is 50 lines and 120 characters per line
#-helpmsg shock /path/to/shockwavehelp.txt
#-helpmsg noob /path/to/noobhelp.txt

# You can specify a file so that people can type /report to report problems
# on the server. The reports are logged in this file.
#-reportfile /path/to/reports.txt

# You can also use this option to cause the /report to trigger a command
# as well as, or instead of, logging to a file.
#-reportpipe command

# This specifies the number of seconds in which a poll can be vetoed.
#-vetoTime 60

# This specifies the percentage of people required for a successful vote.
#-votePercentage 51

# This is the number of voters required to hold a poll.
#-votesRequired 6

# This is the length of time that players have to vote.
#-voteTime 60

## Flags ##

# This option allows for antidote flags to be available for players who
# get bad flags.
-sa

# Bad flags are automatically dropped after this many seconds.
-st 5

# Bad flags are automatically dropped after this many wins.
-sw 1

# This allows you to limit the number of shots from a particular flag.
#-sl GM 20
#-sl L 20

# There are two sets of flags. Flags that must be in the world at all times
# and flags that may get generated randomly. in addition. +f specifies flags that
# must be there and -f specifies flags the should never be generated.

# The server will randomly place flags from the following list.
# To be sure there is at least a certain amount of a flag on the map
# at any given time, you can use the +f option to guarantee a certain
# number of a flag.

# Good Flags
+f A{2} # Agility
+f CL{2} # Cloaking
+f F{2} # rapid Fire
+f G{1} # Genocide
+f GM{2} # Guided Missile
+f IB{2} # Invisible Bullett
+f L{2} # Laser
+f MG{2} # Machine Gun
+f N{2} # Narrow
+f OO{2} # Oscillation Overthruster
+f PZ{2} # Phantom Zone
+f QT{2} # QuickTurn
+f SB{2} # Super Bullet
+f SE{2} # SEer
+f SH{2} # SHield
+f SR{2} # SteamRoller
+f ST{2} # STealth
+f SW{2} # ShockWave
+f T{2} # Tiny
+f TH{2} # THeif
+f US{2} # USeless
+f V{2} # Velocity (high speed)
+f WG{2} # WinGs

# BAD FLAGS
+f B{1} # Blindness
+f BY{1} # BouncY
+f CB{1} # Color Blindess
+f FO{1} # Forward Only
+f JM{1} # JaMming
+f LT{1} # Left Turn only
+f M{1} # Momentum
+f NJ{1} # No Jumping
+f O{1} # Obesity
+f RC{1} # Reverse Controls
+f RO{1} # Reverse Only
+f RT{1} # Right Turn only
+f TR{1} # TRigger happy
+f WA{1} # Wide Angle

# Using "+f good" is the equivalent of doing +f for each of the good flags.
# If you want to restrict a certain flag, you can use the -f option.
# just like with the +f option. "-f bad" is the same as doing -f for
# all of the bad flags.
#-f bad #no bad flags
#+f good #one of each good flag
#-f G #no genocide

# Use +s to have the server generate a certain number of extra flags
# and have them available at all times. This is in addition to
# any other flags specified.
#+s 20

# The server will have up to this many super flags at any time.
# Use this if you don't use any other method of flag generation.
#-s 30

## Variables ##

# There are three ways to load sets of server-specific variables.
# They can be specified in this .conf file.
# They can be specified in the .bzw map file in an options block.
# Or they can be specified in a third file with this option
#-vars /path/to/vars.txt

# Server variables can also be modified in-game using
# /set _varName value
# View the entire variable list by using
# /set (with nothing afterward) lists all vars
# /diff will list most non-default settings
# /? will list other available commands

# Here are a few examples of variables.
# Some variables are set to 0 for off, 1 for on.
#-set _obeseFactor 12
#-set _skyColor grey44
#-set _wingsJumpCount 3
#-set _tankExplosionSize 60
#-set _jumpVelocity 20
#-set _squishTime 7
#-set _mirror grey22
#-set _wallHeight 2
#-set _shotsKeepVerticalVelocity 1
#-set _drawGround 1
#-set _drawSky 1
#-set _drawClouds 0
#-set _drawMountains 0
#-set _fogMode exp
#-set _fogColor black
#-set _fogDensity .01
-set _rainType bubble

## Plugins ##

# Plugins have mostly superseded patches as a means of modifying
# the play of BZFlag servers. Recent improvements in the bzfs2.0.9 have enabled
# almost every server functionality to be modified with the plugin API.
#
# Plugins cannot be accessed unless you compile your plugins and
# bzfs binary with the option --enable-shared
#-loadplugin /path/to/playHistoryTracker

## Replay ##

# You can set up a server for replay mode by entering this option
#-replay

# This option sets the recording buffer to the specified amount of megabytes.
#-recbuf 2

# This option sets the directory to look for and save recordings.
#-recdir /path/to/recordings

## More Comments ##
# An excellent conf builder exists at this location
# http://groupdb.links-clan.net/bzfs_conf.php

# This is intended to include the minimum options for a working
# BZFlag server, that is also connected to the list server.
# All you need to do is edit your IP numbers in -publicaddr
# and start bzfs.
# As it connects to the list server, your terminal will show
# something that looks like a player has joined, then immediately left.
# When you see that happen, you have succeeded, and are listed.
# If you can not connect to the list server, you probably need to open
# port 5154 through your router, for both UDP and TCP. Instructions for that
# are not included here.

# You join your server locally, by opening your BZFlag game client
# and editing these lines in the JOIN GAME screen.
# In the SERVER line add localhost
# In the PORT line add 5154
# Then JOIN your server.

# Here are the short instructions.
# Open your router firewall at port 5154
# Change the -publicaddr line in this .file to match your IP.
# In your terminal, cd to the location of the bzfs binary.
# ./bzfs -conf /path/to/sample.conf
# Don't take out any # comment markers or add options that you think look cool
# until after you have the server working.
# The options you need have been included in this file.
# You don't even need to specify a map, bzfs will create a random map for you.
#
# You do not even need this .conf file to start a server.
# You can use as many options you'd like just typing them into the terminal.
# Assuming you have installed BZFlag in default locations.
# In Macintosh terminal application these two should work
# cd /Applications/BZFlag2.0.10/Contents/MacOS/
# ./bzfs -dd
#
# In windows command prompt, these two commands should suffice
# cd C:\program files\bzflag2.0.10
# bzfs.exe -dd
# All other path examples given in this file use *nix format
# Windows users will have to change all the path examples given in this file.
</pre>

[[Category:Server]]

Sample conf

2008-03-05T14:13:19Z

Optic Delusion: correct old web link http://groupdb.links-clan.net/bzfs_conf.php

<pre>
# This is a BZFlag Server (bzfs) configuration file.
# It assumes that you wish to connect to the bzflag list server.
# Please read through it carefully. Lines starting with a # are comments.
# to enable an option, remove the # at the beginning of a line. To
# disable that option, put the # back. There are some examples in this
# file. Make sure you change the examples if you uncomment the line. If
# you don't know what something does, you are okay to just leave
# it commented out. Failure to read through this file (looking for
# already uncommented lines) might be a little embarrassing. Have fun.

# This option is for debug. You can have as many as 4 of them.
# simple debug
#-d
# and more complex debugging.
-dd
#-ddd
#-dddd

# Sets the admin password for the server. It is necessary for server
# administration if no groups are used.
# CHANGE THIS!
-password abcdef

# Enables inertia and sets the maximum linear and angular accelerations.
# The units are somewhat arbitrary so you'll have to experiment to find
# suitable values. The values must be non-negative and higher values
# yield greater inertia.
# Used to control "Mouse Enhancements"
-a 50 38

## World ##

# This specifies the world filename.
# Use this format for Windows
#-world "c:\mymaps\louschurchyard.bzw"
# Use this format for *nix and Mac
#-world /users/noob/lousdesktop.bzw

## Random World Generation ##

# This option allows world objects to be randomly rotated. Only applies
# if a randomly generated world is used.
#-b

# Enables capture-the-flag style game with a balanced random map. Default is
# free-for-all style game.
#-cr

# Adds teleporters to the game. for random maps only
#-t

# This option controls the building density on random worlds(1-10) default is 5
#-density 7

# This option changes the size of random maps.
#-worldsize 800

# This option gives buildings random heights. This is used when
# you are using random maps.
#-h

## Game Styles ##

# This enables capture-the-flag style game. Default is free-for-all style.
# Requires one base object for each team to be specified in the world file.
# Can be used with random world generation.
#-c

# More than one team-flag may be specified.
# This is generally not desirable.
# B* - Blue Team G* - Green Team, P* - Purple Team, R* - Red Team,
#+f B*
#+f R*

# This sets the maximum number of shots before a reload. The default
# is 5.
-ms 3

# This makes most shots ricochet.
+r

# This option allows jumping.
-j

# These two flags can be used if they are not specified as options.
# +f R{1} # Ricochet
# +f J{1} # Jumping

# This option allows for flags on box buildings.
#-fb

# This option allows tanks to spawn on buildings. This is especially useful
# as tank spawn locations are now calculated on the server without the
# advantage of knowing where shots are.
#-sb

# By default if a player kills a teammate, he dies too, this option turns this
# off. Used mostly for capture the flag style games.
#-tk

# Announce team kills to the admin channel.
#-tkannounce

# Kick a player if his ratio of teammate to non-teammate kills is this
# percentage or greater.
-tkkr 32

# This option allows you to tell the server how long a team flag remains
# before it is reset after the last player on a team leaves. The default
# is 30 seconds.
#-tftimeout 60

# Hunt the rabbit game is activated with this option.
# Use only one of these options.
# Choose rabbit based on score.
#-rabbit score
# Rabbit is chosen by whoever kills the rabbit.
#-rabbit killer
# Or you can choose the rabbit randomly.
#-rabbit random

# It is possible to restrict bots and autopilot from being used on the server.
# This is accomplished with the following.
#-disableBots

# This option causes the server to quit after serving one game. This is
# handy if you want to do a timed game, or script a rotating server.
#-g

# This option sets the max score for players. The game ends when a person
# reaches this score and is declared the winner.
#-mps 100

# This sets the max team score. The first team to reach this score is
# declared the winner and the game is ended.
#-mts 250

# This dumps the score to console when it changes.
#-printscore

# This sets time limit (in seconds) for the game. Time starts when first
# client connects.
#-time 3600

# This option requires a timed game to be started using the /countdown
# command to start a timed game. Default is when first player joins.
#-timemanual

## List server Connection ##

# This is the public message that the server advertises on the public
# server list. This is required if you want to be shown on the list.
# It often advertises the map you are using. Keep it short.
-public "Noo BZFlag Server With Random Map"

# This is also needed to be listed on the public server list. The
# address needs to be valid in DNS. It's your IP, plus port number.
-publicaddr 123.456.789.000:5154

# The server will listen on this port. Default port is 5154.
-p 5154

# Tells server not to respond to "pings". This makes the server private.
# You should remove -public and -publicaddr when using it.
# If your router is open, you can still give people your IP and port, and
# they will be able to connect, you just wont be on the list.
#-q

# You probably don't need to use this, but it is there if you do. This
# specifies where the server advertises itself. The built-in default
# should work just fine. You need to hunt down the proper address if
# it doesn't work. DON'T Change It
#-publiclist <list-server-url>

# Server will listen for and respond to "pings" (sent via broadcast) on
# the given interface. The server uses the first interface by default.
# This is the TCP/UDP/IP address the server will listen on.
# You don't need to use this unless your server has multiple
# interfaces and doesn't show up on the server lists.
#-i 123.456.789.000

## Player Connections ##

# This requires clients to use UDP (a good thing). This will generally
# make the server behave better, and make play more smooth.
# This will kick players who are unable to establish a UDP connection
# when they attempt to fire.
-requireudp

# Automatically assigns players to teams when they join so that teams are
# evenly matched in number of players. Players are placed on teams with
# lowest number of players first, then those with the lowest scores or
# kill ratios.
-autoTeam

# This sets the max number of players. It can be done in 2 ways. A flat
# count of players, or by number of players on a given team.
# This allows up to 50 players, no team limits.
# Typical home DSL connections max out at 12 players before lag begins.
# Lag equals players times shots. So a one-shot server could have more
# players, and vice-versa.
-mp 12

# This allows for max player by team.
# The order is rogue, red, green, blue, purple, observer.
#-mp 3,3,3,3,3,3

# Registered player files which will be loaded on startup.
# Use all three if you are not connecting to the list server.
# Players can use /register passwd and /identify passwd
# to confirm their identities.
# passdb stores local user password mappings.
#-passdb /path/to/passes.txt
# userdb stores user to group mappings.
#-userdb /path/to/users.txt

# If you use the BZFlag forums at http://my.bzflag.org/bb
# and have established groups there, you only need groupdb
# Though local registrations can also be used.
# groupdb stores group to permission mappings.
#-groupdb /path/to/groups.txt

# If you have registered groups at the bzbb forums, only players
# in this group will see your server in the list.
#-advertise NOOB.COP

# This option kicks the user after they have been idle for a number of
# seconds. Idle means paused, not-spawning or not-responding.
-maxidle 300

# Set to not use a UDP connection for players. You typically do NOT want to
# do this (UDP is good!)
#-noudp

# Define a lag threshold over which players with high lag will be
# announced to the admin channel.
#-adminlagannounce 300

# Define a threshold over which players with high lag will be announced.
#-lagannounce 400

# This option warns the user their lag is too high when it crosses the
# number of milliseconds set.
-lagwarn 350

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about high lag for
# a certain number of times.
-lagdrop 3

# Packetloss and Jitter are two different things.
# Packetloss is a percentage of total data being completely lost.
# A player with packetloss is usually downloading files, switching
# between applications, or simply has a bad connection.
# Jitter is variation in the time between packets arriving, caused by network
# congestion, timing drift, or route changes.
# A player with jitter may be purposely manipulating his lag to avoid
# being shot, or to "lag through a wall".
# These next four functions should be used with caution, slower servers
# may wish to avoid using them altogether.

# This option warns the user their packet loss is too high.
#-packetlosswarn 4

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about packet loss
# a certain number of times.
#-packetlossdrop 2

# This option warns the user their jitter is too high when it crosses
# the number of milliseconds set.
# -jitterwarn 25

# This option kicks players after they have been warned about high
# jitter for a certain number of times.
# -jitterdrop 3

# This option tells the server where to store the ban list. The ban list will
# be loaded from this file when the server starts (if the file exists) and
# written back to the file when someone gets banned or unbanned. If this
# option isn't used the ban list will not be saved.
#-banfile /path/to/mybanfile.txt

# This option sets up your ban list. This is ip masks separated by commas.
# The * character is used as a wild card in range bans.
#-ban "192.168.1.5,10.10.2.*,10.2.*.*"

## General Options ##

# adds timestamps to every line of the log
#-ts

# -pidfile /path/to/pidfile.txt
# Specify a file where the server will write its process ID so it may be used for remote administration.

# This is the server welcome message. Please change it.
-srvmsg " This is a Noo BZFlag Server "
-srvmsg " Have Fun and Play Nice "

# Define a message which will be broadcast to all players every 15 minutes.
-admsg " Noo BZFlag Server "
-admsg " BZFlag is Fun "

# This sets the amount of time in seconds that is required to pass between
# two identical messages sent.
-spamtime 15

# This sets the amount of times to warn spammers (see -spamtime) before they
# are kicked.
-spamwarn 3

# Specify a file that contains bad words that will be used when
# either -filterCallsigns or -filterChat is enabled.
# A multilingual badwords file can be found in source downloads.
#-badwords /path/to/badwords.txt

# Turn on the filtering of chat messages. Messages have words provided
# via a -badwords file are replaced with !@#$%^&* characters.
#-filterChat

# Turn on the filtering of callsigns. Callsigns are compared against
# bad words provided via -badwords.
#-filterCallsigns

# By default, all filtering is aggressive, matching much more than what
# is strictly listed in a -badwords file for convenience. Providing this
# option will make the -filterCallsigns and -filterChat comparisons
# exact match only.
#-filterSimple

# This forces all clients to use the same time of day. The time is
# determined by the server's clock. This disables the + and - keys
# on the clients.
#-synctime

## Player Controlled Functions ##

# This option specifies a help file that will be displayed when the player
# types /help name
# Maximum length is 50 lines and 120 characters per line
#-helpmsg shock /path/to/shockwavehelp.txt
#-helpmsg noob /path/to/noobhelp.txt

# You can specify a file so that people can type /report to report problems
# on the server. The reports are logged in this file.
#-reportfile /path/to/reports.txt

# You can also use this option to cause the /report to trigger a command
# as well as, or instead of, logging to a file.
#-reportpipe command

# This specifies the number of seconds in which a poll can be vetoed.
#-vetoTime 60

# This specifies the percentage of people required for a successful vote.
#-votePercentage 51

# This is the number of voters required to hold a poll.
#-votesRequired 6

# This is the length of time that players have to vote.
#-voteTime 60

## Flags ##

# This option allows for antidote flags to be available for players who
# get bad flags.
-sa

# Bad flags are automatically dropped after this many seconds.
-st 5

# Bad flags are automatically dropped after this many wins.
-sw 1

# This allows you to limit the number of shots from a particular flag.
#-sl GM 20
#-sl L 20

# There are two sets of flags. Flags that must be in the world at all times
# and flags that may get generated randomly. in addition. +f specifies flags that
# must be there and -f specifies flags the should never be generated.

# The server will randomly place flags from the following list.
# To be sure there is at least a certain amount of a flag on the map
# at any given time, you can use the +f option to guarantee a certain
# number of a flag.

# Good Flags
+f A{2} # Agility
+f CL{2} # Cloaking
+f F{2} # rapid Fire
+f G{1} # Genocide
+f GM{2} # Guided Missile
+f IB{2} # Invisible Bullett
+f L{2} # Laser
+f MG{2} # Machine Gun
+f N{2} # Narrow
+f OO{2} # Oscillation Overthruster
+f PZ{2} # Phantom Zone
+f QT{2} # QuickTurn
+f SB{2} # Super Bullet
+f SE{2} # SEer
+f SH{2} # SHield
+f SR{2} # SteamRoller
+f ST{2} # STealth
+f SW{2} # ShockWave
+f T{2} # Tiny
+f TH{2} # THeif
+f US{2} # USeless
+f V{2} # Velocity (high speed)
+f WG{2} # WinGs

# BAD FLAGS
+f B{1} # Blindness
+f BY{1} # BouncY
+f CB{1} # Color Blindess
+f FO{1} # Forward Only
+f JM{1} # JaMming
+f LT{1} # Left Turn only
+f M{1} # Momentum
+f NJ{1} # No Jumping
+f O{1} # Obesity
+f RC{1} # Reverse Controls
+f RO{1} # Reverse Only
+f RT{1} # Right Turn only
+f TR{1} # TRigger happy
+f WA{1} # Wide Angle

# Using "+f good" is the equivalent of doing +f for each of the good flags.
# If you want to restrict a certain flag, you can use the -f option.
# just like with the +f option. "-f bad" is the same as doing -f for
# all of the bad flags.
#-f bad #no bad flags
#+f good #one of each good flag
#-f G #no genocide

# Use +s to have the server generate a certain number of extra flags
# and have them available at all times. This is in addition to
# any other flags specified.
#+s 20

# The server will have up to this many super flags at any time.
# Use this if you don't use any other method of flag generation.
#-s 30

## Variables ##

# There are three ways to load sets of server-specific variables.
# They can be specified in this .conf file.
# They can be specified in the .bzw map file in an options block.
# Or they can be specified in a third file with this option
#-vars /path/to/vars.txt

# Server variables can also be modified in-game using
# /set _varName value
# View the entire variable list by using
# /set (with nothing afterward) lists all vars
# /diff will list most non-default settings
# /? will list other available commands

# Here are a few examples of variables.
# Some variables are set to 0 for off, 1 for on.
#-set _obeseFactor 12
#-set _skyColor grey44
#-set _wingsJumpCount 3
#-set _tankExplosionSize 60
#-set _jumpVelocity 20
#-set _squishTime 7
#-set _mirror grey22
#-set _wallHeight 2
#-set _shotsKeepVerticalVelocity 1
#-set _drawGround 1
#-set _drawSky 1
#-set _drawClouds 0
#-set _drawMountains 0
#-set _fogMode exp
#-set _fogColor black
#-set _fogDensity .01
-set _rainType bubble

## Plugins ##

# Plugins have mostly superseded patches as a means of modifying
# the play of BZFlag servers. Recent improvements in the bzfs2.0.9 have enabled
# almost every server functionality to be modified with the plugin API.
#
# Plugins cannot be accessed unless you compile your plugins and
# bzfs binary with the option --enable-shared
#-loadplugin /path/to/playHistoryTracker

## Replay ##

# You can set up a server for replay mode by entering this option
#-replay

# This option sets the recording buffer to the specified amount of megabytes.
#-recbuf 2

# This option sets the directory to look for and save recordings.
#-recdir /path/to/recordings

## More Comments ##
# An excellent conf builder exists at this location
# http://groupdb.links-clan.net/bzfs_conf.php

# This is intended to include the minimum options for a working
# BZFlag server, that is also connected to the list server.
# All you need to do is edit your IP numbers in -publicaddr
# and start bzfs.
# As it connects to the list server, your terminal will show
# something that looks like a player has joined, then immediately left.
# When you see that happen, you have succeeded, and are listed.
# If you can not connect to the list server, you probably need to open
# port 5154 through your router, for both UDP and TCP. Instructions for that
# are not included here.

# You join your server locally, by opening your BZFlag game client
# and editing these lines in the JOIN GAME screen.
# In the SERVER line add localhost
# In the PORT line add 5154
# Then JOIN your server.

# Here are the short instructions.
# Open your router firewall at port 5154
# Change the -publicaddr line in this .file to match your IP.
# In your terminal, cd to the location of the bzfs binary.
# ./bzfs -conf /path/to/sample.conf
# Don't take out any # comment markers or add options that you think look cool
# until after you have the server working.
# The options you need have been included in this file.
# You don't even need to specify a map, bzfs will create a random map for you.
#
# You do not even need this .conf file to start a server.
# You can use as many options you'd like just typing them into the terminal.
# Assuming you have installed BZFlag in default locations.
# In Macintosh terminal application these two should work
# cd /Applications/BZFlag2.0.8/Contents/MacOS/
# ./bzfs -dd
#
# In windows command prompt, these two commands should suffice
# cd C:\program files\bzflag2.0.2
# bzfs.exe -dd
# All other path examples given in this file use *nix format
# Windows users will have to change all the path examples given in this file.
</pre>

[[Category:Server]]

Sample Group File

2008-02-02T14:47:42Z

Optic Delusion: remove special permissions for racetoseven plugin

<nowiki>#</nowiki> An excellent groupdb builder exists at this location http://groupdb.links-clan.net/ 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> In this example everyone in the SAMPLE.ADMIN group also gets the permissions 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> of SAMPLE.COP, because of the *SAMPLE.COP entry which adds the permissions 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> of SAMPLE.COP to SAMPLE.ADMIN, and everyone in the SAMPLE.OWNER 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> group gets the permissions of SAMPLE.ADMIN (including the SAMPLE.COP) permissions 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> because of the *SAMPLE.ADMIN entry. 

SAMPLE.COP:+FLAGHISTORY +KICK +KILL +BANLIST +PLAYERLIST +POLL +VETO +PRIVATEMESSAGE +ACTIONMESSAGE +ADMINMESSAGESEND +ADMINMESSAGERECEIVE +IDLESTATS +SPAWN +TALK +SAY +MUTE +UNMUTE +ANTIBAN +ANTIPOLL +ANTIPOLLBAN +ANTIPOLLKICK +ANTIDEREGISTER +REJOIN +SAY +FLAGMASTER

SAMPLE.ADMIN: *SAMPLE.COP +BAN +UNBAN

SAMPLE.OWNER: *SAMPLE.ADMIN +BAN +UNBAN +SETVAR +SHUTDOWNSERVER

MUTE: !TALK

<nowiki>#</nowiki> There are 2 "default" groups which are on every server they are 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> EVERYONE and VERIFIED. EVERYONE is, well, everyone, including 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> those in other groups. VERIFIED are users who have Globally Identified, 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> also including those in other groups. You may include them in 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> your group file. Permissions can be prefixed by one of 3 symbols +, -, or !. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> +PERM adds the permission 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> -PERM removes a permission 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> !PERM denies a permission, even if you inherit it from one of the other 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> groups you belong to 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> If the permission has no symbol + is assumed. If there is a conflict in perms 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> between groups a person belongs to the order of presidence (from lowest to highest) 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> is -, +, !. This means if there is a -PERM and +PERM, the permissions that the 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> user gets is +PERM. On the other hand if there is a +PERM and a !PERM the user 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> is denied that PERM. The order in which the permissions are in the group file 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> is not important. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> The line below removes all of the default permissions from the EVERYONE group and then 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> gives them back TALK and SPAWN. 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> EVERYONE: -ALL +SPAWN +TALK 
<nowiki>#</nowiki> 

[[Category:Server]]

Modeltool

2008-01-05T13:06:50Z

Optic Delusion: radians per second, not per minute.

Modeltool can now convert .obj files to bzflag drawinfo. It can be downloaded with the source code through [[SVN]], and it is found in the bzflag/tools/ directory.

Modeltool Arguments
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-m : disable materials (matref)
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-s : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp

DIconf Arguments
-angvel <val> : Apply angular motion to the drawinfo. In radians per second.
-nomats : do not write materials.
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments : add comments to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val> : the longest triangle strip to use for LODs (16 recommended)
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

Modeltool

2007-12-31T05:38:28Z

Optic Delusion: had forgotten -angvel

Modeltool can now convert .obj files to bzflag drawinfo. It can be downloaded with the source code through [[SVN]], and it is found in the bzflag/tools/ directory.

Modeltool Arguments
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-m : disable materials (matref)
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-s : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp

DIconf Arguments
-angvel <val> : Apply angular motion to the drawinfo. In radians per minute.
-nomats : do not write materials.
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments : add comments to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val> : the longest triangle strip to use for LODs (16 recommended)
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

Modeltool

2007-12-31T05:19:27Z

Optic Delusion: differentiate arguments and diconf arguments

Modeltool can now convert .obj files to bzflag drawinfo. It can be downloaded with the source code through [[SVN]], and it is found in the bzflag/tools/ directory.

Modeltool Arguments
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-m : disable materials (matref)
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-s : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp

DIconf Arguments
-nomats : do not write materials.
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments : add comments to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val> : the longest triangle strip to use for LODs (16 recommended)
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

3d Transformations

2007-12-28T00:36:59Z

Optic Delusion: Copy JPA's 3-d trandormations page from http://kapsi.fi/~jpa/stuff/bzw/ ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 Used by permission

The following is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005, Used by permission.

=Introduction=
In version 1.10.8 and older bzflag, objects position, rotation and size where defined by, logically, position, rotation and size keywords. When 2.0 introduced 3d rotation, this had to change. Position and rotation have been obsoleted by their superiors, shift and spin. Size could be replaced with scale, but there is no need for that on traditional objects (mesh are a bit different). All keywords are order-specific. If you do shift before spin, it will still spin the object around 0 0 0, moving it somewhere else than where it was meant to be.

box
position 50 100 0
size 20 20 5
rotation 45
end

can now be written:

meshbox
size 20 20 5
spin 45 0 0 1
shift 50 100 0
end

=Spin=

Spin can be used to rotate object around a specific axis. Axis is a line, defined by two points. First value after spin-keyword is rotation in degrees. The other three values determine which axis the spin will be applied. It is usually simple to think rotation around the standard axises. You can spin around any axis, diagonal or anything. Anyway, all rotations can be made by rotating around standard axises, and they are usually most simple to think of.

X-axis eg. spin 45 1 0 0
Y-axis eg. spin 45 0 1 0
Z-axis, normal rotation, eg. spin 45 0 0 1

[[Image:spin.png|alt text]]
[[Image:spin2.png|alt text]]
=Shift=

Shifting means moving the object. It is used in same manner as old position-keyword. Without position-keyword, object is placed around 0 0 0. When shift moves it from origin, coordinates are just like with position. However, shift is repeatable, and sequential moves will use last point as origin.
[[Image:shift.png|alt text]]

=Shear=

Shearing is "a deformation of an object in which parallel planes remain parallel but are shifted in a direction parallel to themselves." If you don't understand, look at the image below. The three values after shear-keyword define a vector. Vectors lenght represents change per Z-axis unit. If you have 10 units high meshbox, and shear it by 1 0 0, top will move 10 * 1 away from the bottom in X-axis direction. In next example, we use shear to make an escalator with nice ends.

physics
name escalator
linear 15 0 15
end
meshbox
size 10 10 100
shear 2 0 0
phydrv escalator
end

meshbox
size 10 10 10
shear 1 0 0
end

[[Image:shear.png|alt text]]

File:Shear.png

2007-12-27T23:53:23Z

Optic Delusion: File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File:Spin2.png

2007-12-27T23:52:32Z

Optic Delusion: File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File:Spin.png

2007-12-27T23:51:58Z

Optic Delusion: File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File:Shift.png

2007-12-27T23:51:19Z

Optic Delusion: File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

File is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA), used by permission.

Texturing how to

2007-12-27T23:42:31Z

Optic Delusion: Dynamic color section seems particularly weak.

The following is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA)

=Materials=
As of version 2.0.10 all BZFlag objects except base and teleporter frame support materials. (Technically the box and pyramid objects do not support materials, but they get auto converted to meshbox and meshpyr.)

To have a texture, you need a material. According to bzw manpage, a material object is defined as follows:

material
name example_material
addtexture filename # add texture (without PNG extension)
notextures # specify that no textures are to be used
notexcolor # the color is not applied to the texture
notexalpha # don't use the texture's alpha channel
# if a texture is specified, but not found, the default texture
# will be used. if the default texture is also not available, then
# the color will be used (untextured)
texmat -1 # texture matrix (-1 for none)
dyncol -1 # dynamic color (-1 for none)
ambient 0.2 0.2 0.2 1.0 # ambient color
diffuse 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 # diffuse color (main color)
color 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 # synonym for 'diffuse'
specular 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 # specular color
emission 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 # emission color
shininess 0.0 # shininess
resetmat # restore default values
end

Not all combinations and uses of those options will be descibed in this tutorial, but it should give you a basic idea about materials and textures.

The most basic material is as follows:

material
name red
diffuse 0.8 0.2 0.2 1
end

As you may guess, it is red. Diffuse and other color definitions in bzw are RGB in 0..1 range. In most programs, RGB is in range 0..255. To convert values from bzw to other programs or vice versa (for choosing colors etc.), use:

RGB = BZWColor * 255
BZWColor = RGB / 255
Simple, huh? So, if we want to know what diffuse 0.8 0.2 0.2 1 is in RGB, we do:

0.8 * 255 , 0.2 * 255 , 0.2 * 255 , 1 * 255
And the result is:
204 , 51 , 51 , 255

Four values, why? The fourth number is the alpha channel, or transparency. A value of 1 is fully opaque, and 0 would be invisible. 0.9 is slightly transparent and 0.1 almost invisible.

Defining texture can be done either for all faces:
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
matref red
end

Material can also be defined for just one side:

meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
matref red
top matref blue
end
That first defines all faces as red, and then changes top of the box to blue. Order is important!

=Textures=

This far, we havent used any textures. Client has to have the textures used on the map. You can make your own textures with any image editor capable of saving as ".png", but you have to make them available in internet and players have to download and install them to see your map right! There are some builtin textures in bzflag, though:

boxwall (the ordinary texture for walls)
clouds (on the sky)
mesh
pyrwall (ordinary pyramids)
roof (ordinary box roof)
std_ground (grass)
telelink (teleport texture)
tetrawall
wall (outer wall, rocks)
water
There are some others, but these are the most usable ones. With diffuse and creative mind, you can usually get almost anything from them.

Textures are added with addtexture-keyword. If we wanted to add a texture to our red meshbox, the complete code would look like:

material
name red
diffuse 0.8 0.2 0.2 1
addtexture boxwall
end

meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
matref red
end
Texture scaling

Example of texsize use:

meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
texsize 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
matref red
end
Values after the texsize keyword are specific to the object. Usually the order is sides first, top/bottom after that. Two values specify the size of the texture. If value is positive, it is relational to the size of the object. In our example, 0.5 means there will be 0.5 texture-tiles per face, ie. whole tile is twice as big as the side of the box. Negative values specify size in bzmap units, -8 -8 -8 -8 seems to be the default size that means each tile will be 8x8 bzmap units. For arc, there seems to be no top/bottom values. If you want more detailed control over textures, trepan recommends to use textureMatrix.

=Dynamic colors=

I will discuss dynamic colors very briefly, since they are quite complicated and out of the scope of this tutorial. Dynamic colors are colors that change. And no, they do not change at the same time for all the clients, so you can't have traffic lights etc.

According to bzw man page, there are five dynamic color commands: limits, sinusoid, clampUp, clampDown and sequence. Of these, only sinusoid and limits are used here.

dynamicColor
name flash
red sinusoid 8 0 1 #8 seconds cycle, from 0 to 1
blue limits 0 0 #always 0
green limits 0 0 # always 0
end
material
name red
dyncol flash
end
<Object that material is used in>

Texturing how to

2007-12-27T23:40:50Z

Optic Delusion: Copied JPA's texturing how-to. I'm not entirely happy with it. Some things have changed since the introduction of BZFlag 2.0. I will revisit this post.

The following is ©Petteri Aimonen 2005 (JPA)

=Materials=
As of version 2.0.10 all BZFlag objects except base and teleporter frame support materials. (Technically the box and pyramid objects do not support materials, but they get auto converted to meshbox and meshpyr.)

To have a texture, you need a material. According to bzw manpage, a material object is defined as follows:

material
name example_material
addtexture filename # add texture (without PNG extension)
notextures # specify that no textures are to be used
notexcolor # the color is not applied to the texture
notexalpha # don't use the texture's alpha channel
# if a texture is specified, but not found, the default texture
# will be used. if the default texture is also not available, then
# the color will be used (untextured)
texmat -1 # texture matrix (-1 for none)
dyncol -1 # dynamic color (-1 for none)
ambient 0.2 0.2 0.2 1.0 # ambient color
diffuse 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 # diffuse color (main color)
color 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 # synonym for 'diffuse'
specular 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 # specular color
emission 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 # emission color
shininess 0.0 # shininess
resetmat # restore default values
end

Not all combinations and uses of those options will be descibed in this tutorial, but it should give you a basic idea about materials and textures.

The most basic material is as follows:

material
name red
diffuse 0.8 0.2 0.2 1
end

As you may guess, it is red. Diffuse and other color definitions in bzw are RGB in 0..1 range. In most programs, RGB is in range 0..255. To convert values from bzw to other programs or vice versa (for choosing colors etc.), use:

RGB = BZWColor * 255
BZWColor = RGB / 255
Simple, huh? So, if we want to know what diffuse 0.8 0.2 0.2 1 is in RGB, we do:

0.8 * 255 , 0.2 * 255 , 0.2 * 255 , 1 * 255
And the result is:
204 , 51 , 51 , 255

Four values, why? The fourth number is the alpha channel, or transparency. A value of 1 is fully opaque, and 0 would be invisible. 0.9 is slightly transparent and 0.1 almost invisible.

Defining texture can be done either for all faces:
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
matref red
end

Material can also be defined for just one side:

meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
matref red
top matref blue
end
That first defines all faces as red, and then changes top of the box to blue. Order is important!

=Textures=

This far, we havent used any textures. Client has to have the textures used on the map. You can make your own textures with any image editor capable of saving as ".png", but you have to make them available in internet and players have to download and install them to see your map right! There are some builtin textures in bzflag, though:

boxwall (the ordinary texture for walls)
clouds (on the sky)
mesh
pyrwall (ordinary pyramids)
roof (ordinary box roof)
std_ground (grass)
telelink (teleport texture)
tetrawall
wall (outer wall, rocks)
water
There are some others, but these are the most usable ones. With diffuse and creative mind, you can usually get almost anything from them.

Textures are added with addtexture-keyword. If we wanted to add a texture to our red meshbox, the complete code would look like:

material
name red
diffuse 0.8 0.2 0.2 1
addtexture boxwall
end

meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
matref red
end
Texture scaling

Example of texsize use:

meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
texsize 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
matref red
end
Values after the texsize keyword are specific to the object. Usually the order is sides first, top/bottom after that. Two values specify the size of the texture. If value is positive, it is relational to the size of the object. In our example, 0.5 means there will be 0.5 texture-tiles per face, ie. whole tile is twice as big as the side of the box. Negative values specify size in bzmap units, -8 -8 -8 -8 seems to be the default size that means each tile will be 8x8 bzmap units. For arc, there seems to be no top/bottom values. If you want more detailed control over textures, trepan recommends to use textureMatrix.

Dynamic colors

I will discuss dynamic colors very briefly, since they are quite complicated and out of the scope of this tutorial. Dynamic colors are colors that change. And no, they do not change at the same time for all the clients, so you can't have traffic lights etc.

According to bzw man page, there are five dynamic color commands: limits, sinusoid, clampUp, clampDown and sequence. Of these, only sinusoid and limits are used here.

dynamicColor
name flash
red sinusoid 8 0 1 #8 seconds cycle, from 0 to 1
blue limits 0 0 #always 0
green limits 0 0 # always 0
end
material
name red
dyncol flash
end
<Object that material is used in>

Physics

2007-12-27T19:16:13Z

Optic Delusion: removed old ==Code== section as it has been replaced.

Physics, or Physics Driver, when applied to an object, will affect a tank touching it in some way. Physics can be applied to any 2.0 object, namely: [[mesh]], [[meshbox]],[[meshpyr]],[[sphere]],[[cone]],[[tetra]], and [[arc]]. Similar to [[material|materials]], they can not be applied to the [[box]] or [[pyramid]] objects unless the server ([[BZFS]]) is version 2.0.9 or later.

The valid parameters for physics are:
<properties>
name=Name of the physics driver, for reference
linear=Cause a tank to move linearly at the given velocity (x/y/z). For example linear 5 0 0 would cause any tanks on the object to move at a velocity of 5 towards X+ (the side of the map with the highest value of X).
angular=Cause a tank to rotate at the given velocity,(Rotation velocity, x/y coordinates of the centre).
slide=Cause the tank to accelerate slowly during the time given. (i.e. Makes a 'slippery' surface.)(Time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death=Causes the tank to die on contact. Player sees the given message
</properties>

== Working with Physics ==

Physics drivers are applied to objects to affect tanks. Physics can be applied to all BZW world objects, including individual mesh faces.
From bzw man page:

physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0 # x/y/z linear velocities
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0 # rotation freq, x/y coordinates
slide 0.0 # time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death Message goes here. # the 'death' property requires a non-blank message
end

Death - Kills the tank and gives specific message. Example:

physics
name landmine
death Oops, you hit a mine
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv landmine
end

Slide - Reduces the friction of surface. Value specified determines time to reach full speed. If you set value of 1, it takes one second to reach maximum speed on surface. Slide feels like slippery ice and makes accurate shooting difficult.

physics
name slippery
slide 0.5
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv lslippery
end

Avenue - Linear and angular make the tank move. Linear motion can be used to make escalators, trampolines etc. Values given are motion in x/y/z. Usually, you want Z to be zero, so that it won't throw tank into air. Note that physics driver does not imply moving texture. This example makes a physics driver, moving 10 units per second in x-axis direction, and applies it to meshbox 200 units long in x direction.

# Simple box with horizontal physics driver:
physics
name moving
linear 10 0 0
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 200 10 5
phydrv moving
end

Trampoline - Setting Z axis motion to higher value than zero makes a trampoline.
Value defines the initial vertical velocity tank gets.Note that it is relational to the height of the trampoline. You can calculate how high tank goes as follows:
Height = ( velocity ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * gravity )
Default gravity is 9.81, so in our example:
Height = ( 50 ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * 9.81 ) = 2500 / 19.62 = ~ 127 units

# Trampoline
physics
name trampoline
linear 0 0 50
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv trampoline
end

Angular movement - First of three values after angular-keyword tells the rotation speed per second. Second and third are the x/y position of center point. To get actual movement speed, use:
Speed = Rotation * 2 * Distance from center * PI
Pi is approximately 3.14159, and the speed on the outer edge of our example is:
Speed = 0.1 * 2 * 50 * 3.14159 = ~ 31 units per second

physics
name spin
angular 0.1 0 0
end
arc
position 0 0 0
size 50 50 5
phydrv spin
end

Escalators are a special type of linear motion. When using physics drivers, you must note that object rotation or spin don't affect them. If you want mirrored escalators, you must have two physic drivers. Escalators need both vertical and horizontal movement, and you must experiement a bit to have suitable values. You might need to move backwards a bit on the escalator to get up - this depends on how well the movement values fit together. To have nice looking escalators you should use shear (described in 3d transformations) so that the ends don't "stick" out of ground. Spin or mesh won't be described here.

physics
name escalator
linear 10 0 10
end
meshbox
size 100 10 5
spin -45 0 1 0 #spin -45 degrees around y-axis
shift 0 0 71 #shift is like position, but works better with spin.
phydrv escalator
end

== Editor Support ==
Physics is supported by the BZWTools for Blender.

==History==
The Physics object was added with the [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]] release of BZFlag.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map Objects]]

Physics

2007-12-27T19:10:47Z

Optic Delusion: linear == avenue?

Physics, or Physics Driver, when applied to an object, will affect a tank touching it in some way. Physics can be applied to any 2.0 object, namely: [[mesh]], [[meshbox]],[[meshpyr]],[[sphere]],[[cone]],[[tetra]], and [[arc]]. Similar to [[material|materials]], they can not be applied to the [[box]] or [[pyramid]] objects unless the server ([[BZFS]]) is version 2.0.9 or later.

== Code ==
{|
|
physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0
slide 0.0
death Message goes here.
end
|}
The valid parameters for physics are:
<properties>
name=Name of the physics driver, for reference
linear=Cause a tank to move linearly at the given velocity (x/y/z). For example linear 5 0 0 would cause any tanks on the object to move at a velocity of 5 towards X+ (the side of the map with the highest value of X).
angular=Cause a tank to rotate at the given velocity,(Rotation velocity, x/y coordinates of the centre).
slide=Cause the tank to accelerate slowly during the time given. (i.e. Makes a 'slippery' surface.)(Time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death=Causes the tank to die on contact. Player sees the given message
</properties>

== Working with Physics ==

Physics drivers are applied to objects to affect tanks. Physics can be applied to all BZW world objects, including individual mesh faces.
From bzw man page:

physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0 # x/y/z linear velocities
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0 # rotation freq, x/y coordinates
slide 0.0 # time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death Message goes here. # the 'death' property requires a non-blank message
end

Death - Kills the tank and gives specific message. Example:

physics
name landmine
death Oops, you hit a mine
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv landmine
end

Slide - Reduces the friction of surface. Value specified determines time to reach full speed. If you set value of 1, it takes one second to reach maximum speed on surface. Slide feels like slippery ice and makes accurate shooting difficult.

physics
name slippery
slide 0.5
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv lslippery
end

Avenue - Linear and angular make the tank move. Linear motion can be used to make escalators, trampolines etc. Values given are motion in x/y/z. Usually, you want Z to be zero, so that it won't throw tank into air. Note that physics driver does not imply moving texture. This example makes a physics driver, moving 10 units per second in x-axis direction, and applies it to meshbox 200 units long in x direction.

# Simple box with horizontal physics driver:
physics
name moving
linear 10 0 0
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 200 10 5
phydrv moving
end

Trampoline - Setting Z axis motion to higher value than zero makes a trampoline.
Value defines the initial vertical velocity tank gets.Note that it is relational to the height of the trampoline. You can calculate how high tank goes as follows:
Height = ( velocity ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * gravity )
Default gravity is 9.81, so in our example:
Height = ( 50 ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * 9.81 ) = 2500 / 19.62 = ~ 127 units

# Trampoline
physics
name trampoline
linear 0 0 50
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv trampoline
end

Angular movement - First of three values after angular-keyword tells the rotation speed per second. Second and third are the x/y position of center point. To get actual movement speed, use:
Speed = Rotation * 2 * Distance from center * PI
Pi is approximately 3.14159, and the speed on the outer edge of our example is:
Speed = 0.1 * 2 * 50 * 3.14159 = ~ 31 units per second

physics
name spin
angular 0.1 0 0
end
arc
position 0 0 0
size 50 50 5
phydrv spin
end

Escalators are a special type of linear motion. When using physics drivers, you must note that object rotation or spin don't affect them. If you want mirrored escalators, you must have two physic drivers. Escalators need both vertical and horizontal movement, and you must experiement a bit to have suitable values. You might need to move backwards a bit on the escalator to get up - this depends on how well the movement values fit together. To have nice looking escalators you should use shear (described in 3d transformations) so that the ends don't "stick" out of ground. Spin or mesh won't be described here.

physics
name escalator
linear 10 0 10
end
meshbox
size 100 10 5
spin -45 0 1 0 #spin -45 degrees around y-axis
shift 0 0 71 #shift is like position, but works better with spin.
phydrv escalator
end

== Editor Support ==
Physics is supported by the BZWTools for Blender.

==History==
The Physics object was added with the [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]] release of BZFlag.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map Objects]]

Physics

2007-12-27T19:09:53Z

Optic Delusion:

Physics, or Physics Driver, when applied to an object, will affect a tank touching it in some way. Physics can be applied to any 2.0 object, namely: [[mesh]], [[meshbox]],[[meshpyr]],[[sphere]],[[cone]],[[tetra]], and [[arc]]. Similar to [[material|materials]], they can not be applied to the [[box]] or [[pyramid]] objects unless the server ([[BZFS]]) is version 2.0.9 or later.

== Code ==
{|
|
physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0
slide 0.0
death Message goes here.
end
|}
The valid parameters for physics are:
<properties>
name=Name of the physics driver, for reference
linear=Cause a tank to move linearly at the given velocity (x/y/z). For example linear 5 0 0 would cause any tanks on the object to move at a velocity of 5 towards X+ (the side of the map with the highest value of X).
angular=Cause a tank to rotate at the given velocity,(Rotation velocity, x/y coordinates of the centre).
slide=Cause the tank to accelerate slowly during the time given. (i.e. Makes a 'slippery' surface.)(Time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death=Causes the tank to die on contact. Player sees the given message
</properties>

== Working with Physics ==

Physics drivers are applied to objects to affect tanks. Physics can be applied to all BZW world objects, including individual mesh faces.
From bzw man page:

physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0 # x/y/z linear velocities
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0 # rotation freq, x/y coordinates
slide 0.0 # time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death Message goes here. # the 'death' property requires a non-blank message
end

Death - Kills the tank and gives specific message. Example:

physics
name landmine
death Oops, you hit a mine
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv landmine
end

Slide - Reduces the friction of surface. Value specified determines time to reach full speed. If you set value of 1, it takes one second to reach maximum speed on surface. Slide feels like slippery ice and makes accurate shooting difficult.

physics
name slippery
slide 0.5
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv lslippery
end

Avenue -Linear and angular make the tank move. Linear motion can be used to make escalators, trampolines etc. Values given are motion in x/y/z. Usually, you want Z to be zero, so that it won't throw tank into air. Note that physics driver does not imply moving texture. This example makes a physics driver, moving 10 units per second in x-axis direction, and applies it to meshbox 200 units long in x direction.

# Simple box with horizontal physics driver:
physics
name moving
linear 10 0 0
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 200 10 5
phydrv moving
end

Trampoline - Setting Z axis motion to higher value than zero makes a trampoline.
Value defines the initial vertical velocity tank gets.Note that it is relational to the height of the trampoline. You can calculate how high tank goes as follows:
Height = ( velocity ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * gravity )
Default gravity is 9.81, so in our example:
Height = ( 50 ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * 9.81 ) = 2500 / 19.62 = ~ 127 units

# Trampoline
physics
name trampoline
linear 0 0 50
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv trampoline
end

Angular movement - First of three values after angular-keyword tells the rotation speed per second. Second and third are the x/y position of center point. To get actual movement speed, use:
Speed = Rotation * 2 * Distance from center * PI
Pi is approximately 3.14159, and the speed on the outer edge of our example is:
Speed = 0.1 * 2 * 50 * 3.14159 = ~ 31 units per second

physics
name spin
angular 0.1 0 0
end
arc
position 0 0 0
size 50 50 5
phydrv spin
end

Escalators are a special type of linear motion. When using physics drivers, you must note that object rotation or spin don't affect them. If you want mirrored escalators, you must have two physic drivers. Escalators need both vertical and horizontal movement, and you must experiement a bit to have suitable values. You might need to move backwards a bit on the escalator to get up - this depends on how well the movement values fit together. To have nice looking escalators you should use shear (described in 3d transformations) so that the ends don't "stick" out of ground. Spin or mesh won't be described here.

physics
name escalator
linear 10 0 10
end
meshbox
size 100 10 5
spin -45 0 1 0 #spin -45 degrees around y-axis
shift 0 0 71 #shift is like position, but works better with spin.
phydrv escalator
end

== Editor Support ==
Physics is supported by the BZWTools for Blender.

==History==
The Physics object was added with the [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]] release of BZFlag.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map Objects]]

Physics

2007-12-27T19:07:56Z

Optic Delusion:

Physics, or Physics Driver, when applied to an object, will affect a tank touching it in some way. Physics can be applied to any 2.0 object, namely: [[mesh]], [[meshbox]],[[meshpyr]],[[sphere]],[[cone]],[[tetra]], and [[arc]]. Similar to [[material|materials]], they can not be applied to the [[box]] or [[pyramid]] objects unless the server ([[BZFS]]) is version 2.0.9 or later.

== Code ==
{|
|
physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0
slide 0.0
death Message goes here.
end
|}
The valid parameters for physics are:
<properties>
name=Name of the physics driver, for reference
linear=Cause a tank to move linearly at the given velocity (x/y/z). For example linear 5 0 0 would cause any tanks on the object to move at a velocity of 5 towards X+ (the side of the map with the highest value of X).
angular=Cause a tank to rotate at the given velocity,(Rotation velocity, x/y coordinates of the centre).
slide=Cause the tank to accelerate slowly during the time given. (i.e. Makes a 'slippery' surface.)(Time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death=Causes the tank to die on contact. Player sees the given message
</properties>

== Working with Physics ==

Physics drivers are applied to objects to affect tanks. Physics can be applied to all BZW world objects, including individual mesh faces.
From bzw man page:

physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0 # x/y/z linear velocities
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0 # rotation freq, x/y coordinates
slide 0.0 # time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death Message goes here. # the 'death' property requires a non-blank message
end

Death - Kills the tank and gives specific message. Example:

physics
name landmine
death Oops, you hit a mine
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv landmine
end

Slide - Reduces the friction of surface. Value specified determines time to reach full speed. If you set value of 1, it takes one second to reach maximum speed on surface. Slide feels like slippery ice and makes accurate shooting difficult.

physics
name slippery
slide 0.5
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv lslippery
end

Linear and angular make the tank move. Linear motion can be used to make escalators, trampolines etc. Values given are motion in x/y/z. Usually, you want Z to be zero, so that it won't throw tank into air. Note that physics driver does not imply moving texture. This example makes a physics driver, moving 10 units per second in x-axis direction, and applies it to meshbox 200 units long in x direction.

# Simple box with horizontal physics driver:
physics
name moving
linear 10 0 0
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 200 10 5
phydrv moving
end

Trampoline - Setting Z axis motion to higher value than zero makes a trampoline.
Value defines the initial vertical velocity tank gets.Note that it is relational to the height of the trampoline. You can calculate how high tank goes as follows:
Height = ( velocity ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * gravity )
Default gravity is 9.81, so in our example:
Height = ( 50 ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * 9.81 ) = 2500 / 19.62 = ~ 127 units

# Trampoline
physics
name trampoline
linear 0 0 50
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv trampoline
end

Angular movement - First of three values after angular-keyword tells the rotation speed per second. Second and third are the x/y position of center point. To get actual movement speed, use:
Speed = Rotation * 2 * Distance from center * PI
Pi is approximately 3.14159, and the speed on the outer edge of our example is:
Speed = 0.1 * 2 * 50 * 3.14159 = ~ 31 units per second

physics
name spin
angular 0.1 0 0
end
arc
position 0 0 0
size 50 50 5
phydrv spin
end

Escalators are a special type of linear motion. When using physics drivers, you must note that object rotation or spin don't affect them. If you want mirrored escalators, you must have two physic drivers. Escalators need both vertical and horizontal movement, and you must experiement a bit to have suitable values. You might need to move backwards a bit on the escalator to get up - this depends on how well the movement values fit together. To have nice looking escalators you should use shear (described in 3d transformations) so that the ends don't "stick" out of ground. Spin or mesh won't be described here.

physics
name escalator
linear 10 0 10
end
meshbox
size 100 10 5
spin -45 0 1 0 #spin -45 degrees around y-axis
shift 0 0 71 #shift is like position, but works better with spin.
phydrv escalator
end

== Editor Support ==
Physics is supported by the BZWTools for Blender.

==History==
The Physics object was added with the [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]] release of BZFlag.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map Objects]]

Physics

2007-12-27T19:04:25Z

Optic Delusion: Added "working with physics" section, copied from http://kapsi.fi/~jpa/stuff/bzw. Credit goes to (and permission to use received from) JPA.

Physics, or Physics Driver, when applied to an object, will affect a tank touching it in some way. Physics can be applied to any 2.0 object, namely: [[mesh]], [[meshbox]],[[meshpyr]],[[sphere]],[[cone]],[[tetra]], and [[arc]]. Similar to [[material|materials]], they can not be applied to the [[box]] or [[pyramid]] objects unless the server ([[BZFS]]) is version 2.0.9 or later.

== Code ==
{|
|
physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0
slide 0.0
death Message goes here.
end
|}
The valid parameters for physics are:
<properties>
name=Name of the physics driver, for reference
linear=Cause a tank to move linearly at the given velocity (x/y/z). For example linear 5 0 0 would cause any tanks on the object to move at a velocity of 5 towards X+ (the side of the map with the highest value of X).
angular=Cause a tank to rotate at the given velocity,(Rotation velocity, x/y coordinates of the centre).
slide=Cause the tank to accelerate slowly during the time given. (i.e. Makes a 'slippery' surface.)(Time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death=Causes the tank to die on contact. Player sees the given message
</properties>

== Working with Physics ==

Physics drivers are applied to objects to affect tanks. Physics can be applied to all BZW world objects, including individual mesh faces.
From bzw man page:

physics
name example_phydrv
linear 0.0 0.0 0.0 # x/y/z linear velocities
angular 0.0 0.0 0.0 # rotation freq, x/y coordinates
slide 0.0 # time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
death Message goes here. # the 'death' property requires a non-blank message
end

Death - Kills the tank and gives specific message. Example:

physics
name landmine
death Oops, you hit a mine
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv landmine
end

Slide - Reduces the friction of surface. Value specified determines time to reach full speed. If you set value of 1, it takes one second to reach maximum speed on surface. Slide feels like slippery ice and makes accurate shooting difficult.

physics
name slippery
slide 0.5
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv lslippery
end

Linear and angular make the tank move. Linear motion can be used to make escalators, trampolines etc. Values given are motion in x/y/z. Usually, you want Z to be zero, so that it won't throw tank into air. Note that physics driver does not imply moving texture. This example makes a physics driver, moving 10 units per second in x-axis direction, and applies it to meshbox 200 units long in x direction.

# Simple box with horizontal physics driver:
physics
name moving
linear 10 0 0
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 200 10 5
phydrv moving
end

Tramoline - Setting Z axis motion to higher value than zero makes a trampoline
Value defines the initial vertical velocity tank gets.Note that it is relational to the height of the trampoline. You can calculate how high tank goes as follows:
Height = ( velocity ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * gravity )
Default gravity is 9.81, so in our example:
Height = ( 50 ^ 2 ) / ( 2 * 9.81 ) = 2500 / 19.62 = ~ 127 units

# Trampoline
physics
name trampoline
linear 0 0 50
end
meshbox
position 0 0 0
size 10 10 5
phydrv trampoline
end

Angular movement - First of three values after angular-keyword tells the rotation speed per second. Second and third are the x/y position of center point. To get actual movement speed, use:
Speed = Rotation * 2 * Distance from center * PI
Pi is approximately 3.14159, and the speed on the outer edge of our example is:
Speed = 0.1 * 2 * 50 * 3.14159 = ~ 31 units per second

physics
name spin
angular 0.1 0 0
end
arc
position 0 0 0
size 50 50 5
phydrv spin
end

Escalators are a special type of linear motion. When using physics drivers, you must note that object rotation or spin don't affect them. If you want mirrored escalators, you must have two physic drivers. Escalators need both vertical and horizontal movement, and you must experiement a bit to have suitable values. You might need to move backwards a bit on the escalator to get up - this depends on how well the movement values fit together. To have nice looking escalators you should use shear (described in 3d transformations) so that the ends don't "stick" out of ground. Spin or mesh won't be described here.

physics
name escalator
linear 10 0 10
end
meshbox
size 100 10 5
spin -45 0 1 0 #spin -45 degrees around y-axis
shift 0 0 71 #shift is like position, but works better with spin.
phydrv escalator
end

== Editor Support ==
Physics is supported by the BZWTools for Blender.

==History==
The Physics object was added with the [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]] release of BZFlag.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map Objects]]

Skybox

2007-12-27T15:27:06Z

Optic Delusion:

Skyboxes replace the normal scenery of BZFlag.

The material names needed to create a skybox are:
* LeftSkyboxMaterial
* RightSkyboxMaterial
* TopSkyboxMaterial
* BottomSkyboxMaterial
* FrontSkyboxMaterial
* BackSyboxMaterial

==Working with Skyboxes.==

Unless all six images load correctly, no skybox will be displayed. For this reason it is recommended to start with a working skybox, and change one texture at a time, testing each image one at a time. Colors are applied to this test world to assist in identifying left/right and front/back materials.
Image size will be automatically scaled to fit. Maximum default image size for clients is 1024 by 1024 pixels. Power-of-two pixel dimensions are recommended, but not required. You will notice a thin black line in the corners, this is a bug.

==Code==

{|
|
world
name SkyboxMaterialTest
size 230
end
options
-set _drawCelestial 0
-set _drawClouds 0
-set _drawGround 1
-set _drawGroundLights 0
-set _drawMountains 0
-set _wallHeight 0
end
# For reference, Include the other two "Magic" Material names.
# TeleFrame will be available in BZFlag version 3.0
# teleporter texture
material
name LinkMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
# -set _drawGround 0 will disable the GroundMaterial
material
name GroundMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
#Space Skybox
material
name skyboxBase
color 1 1 .99999999
end
material name LeftSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox1.png
diffuse red
end
material
name FrontSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox2.png
diffuse yellow
end
material
name RightSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox4.png
diffuse green
end
material
name BackSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox5.png
diffuse blue
end
material
name TopSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox3.png
diffuse purple
end
material
name BottomSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox6.png
diffuse white
end
#End Space Skybox

|}

Skybox

2007-12-27T15:26:41Z

Optic Delusion:

Skyboxes replace the normal scenery of BZFlag.

The material names needed to create a skybox are:
* LeftSkyboxMaterial
* RightSkyboxMaterial
* TopSkyboxMaterial
* BottomSkyboxMaterial
* FrontSkyboxMaterial
* BackSyboxMaterial

==Working with Skyboxes.==

Unless all six images load correctly, no skybox will be displayed. For this reason it is recommended to start with a working skybox, and change one texture at a time, testing each image one at a time. Colors are applied to this test world to assist in identifying left/right and front/back materials.
Image size will be automatically scaled to fit. Maximum default image size for clients is 1024 by 1024 pixels. Power-of-two pixel dimensions are recommended, but not required. You will notice a thin black line in the corners, this is a bug.

==Code==

{|
|
world
name SkyboxMaterialTest
size 230
end
options
-set _drawCelestial 0
-set _drawClouds 0
-set _drawGround 1
-set _drawGroundLights 0
-set _drawMountains 0
-set _wallHeight 0
end
# For reference, Include the other two "Magic" Material names.
# TeleFrame will be available in BZFlag version 3.0
# teleporter texture
material
name LinkMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
# -set _drawGround 0 will disable the GroundMaterial
material
name GroundMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
#Space Skybox
material
name skyboxBase
color 1 1 .99999999
end
material name LeftSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox1.png
diffuse red
end
material
name FrontSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox2.png
diffuse yellow
end
material
name RightSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox4.png
diffuse green
end
material
name BackSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox5.png
diffuse blue
end
material
name TopSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox3.png
diffuse purple
end
material
name BottomSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox6.png
diffuse white
end
#End Space Skybox

|}

Skybox

2007-12-27T15:21:23Z

Optic Delusion:

Skyboxes replace the normal scenery of BZFlag.

The material names needed to create a skybox are:
* LeftSkyboxMaterial
* RightSkyboxMaterial
* TopSkyboxMaterial
* BottomSkyboxMaterial
* FrontSkyboxMaterial
* BackSyboxMaterial

==Working with Skyboxes.==

Unless all six images load correctly, no skybox will be displayed. For this reason it is recommended to start with a working skybox, and change one texture at a time, testing each image one at a time. Colors are applied to this test world to assist in identifying left/right and front/back materials.
Image size will be automatically scaled to fit. Maximum default image size for clients is 1024 by 1024 pixels. Power-of-two pixel dimensions are recommended, but not required. You will notice a thin black line in the corners, this is a bug.

==Code==

{|
|
world
name SkyboxMaterialTest
size 230
end
options
-set _drawCelestial 0
-set _drawClouds 0
-set _drawGround 1
-set _drawGroundLights 0
-set _drawMountains 0
-set _wallHeight 0
end
# For reference, Includes the other two "Magic" material names.
# teleporter texture
material
name LinkMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
# -set _drawGround 0 will disable the GroundMaterial
material
name GroundMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
#Space Skybox
material
name skyboxBase
color 1 1 .99999999
end
material name LeftSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox1.png
diffuse red
end
material
name FrontSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox2.png
diffuse yellow
end
material
name RightSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox4.png
diffuse green
end
material
name BackSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox5.png
diffuse blue
end
material
name TopSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox3.png
diffuse purple
end
material
name BottomSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox6.png
diffuse white
end
#End Space Skybox

|}

Skybox

2007-12-27T14:39:53Z

Optic Delusion:

Skyboxes replace the normal scenery of BZFlag.

The material names needed to create a skybox are:
* LeftSkyboxMaterial
* RightSkyboxMaterial
* TopSkyboxMaterial
* BottomSkyboxMaterial
* FrontSkyboxMaterial
* BackSyboxMaterial

==Working with Skyboxes.==

Unless all six images load correctly, no skybox will be displayed. For this reason it is recommended to start with a working skybox, and change one texture at a time, testing each image one at a time. Colors are applied to this test world to assist in identifying left/right and front/back materials.
Image size will be automatically scaled to fit. Maximum default image size for clients is 512 by 512 pixels. Power-of-two pixel dimensions are recommended, but not required. You will notice a thin black line in the corners, this is a bug.

==Code==

{|
|
world
name SkyboxMaterialTest
size 230
end
options
-set _drawCelestial 0
-set _drawClouds 0
-set _drawGround 1
-set _drawGroundLights 0
-set _drawMountains 0
-set _wallHeight 0
end
# For reference, Includes the other two "Magic" material names.
# teleporter texture
material
name LinkMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
# -set _drawGround 0 will disable the GroundMaterial
material
name GroundMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
#Space Skybox
material
name skyboxBase
color 1 1 .99999999
end
material name LeftSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox1.png
diffuse red
end
material
name FrontSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox2.png
diffuse yellow
end
material
name RightSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox4.png
diffuse green
end
material
name BackSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox5.png
diffuse blue
end
material
name TopSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox3.png
diffuse purple
end
material
name BottomSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox6.png
diffuse white
end
#End Space Skybox

|}

Skybox

2007-12-27T14:33:13Z

Optic Delusion: Expanded skybox materials, provided example world. would like to replace image links with bzflag.org image links, need to upload files.

Skyboxes replace the normal scenery of BZFlag.

The material names needed to create a skybox are:
* LeftSkyboxMaterial
* RightSkyboxMaterial
* TopSkyboxMaterial
* BottomSkyboxMaterial
* FrontSkyboxMaterial
* BackSyboxMaterial

Working with Skyboxes.
Unless all six images load correctly, no skybox will be displayed. For this reason it is recommended to start with a working skybox, and change one texture at a time, testing each image one at a time. Colors are applied to this test world to assist in identifying left/right and front/back material.
Image size will automatically be scaled to fit. Maximum default image size for clients is 512 by 512 pixels. Power-of-two pixel dimensions are recommended, but not required.

==Code==

{|
|
world
name SkyboxMaterialTest
size 230
end
options
-set _drawCelestial 0
-set _drawClouds 0
-set _drawGround 1
-set _drawGroundLights 0
-set _drawMountains 0
-set _wallHeight 0
end
# For reference, Includes the other two "Magic" material names.
# teleporter texture
material
name LinkMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
# -set _drawGround 0 will disable the GroundMaterial
material
name GroundMaterial
addtexture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/blackholes/nebula4.PNG
end
#Space Skybox
material
name skyboxBase
color 1 1 .99999999
end
material name LeftSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox1.png
diffuse red
end
material
name FrontSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox2.png
diffuse yellow
end
material
name RightSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox4.png
diffuse green
end
material
name BackSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox5.png
diffuse blue
end
material
name TopSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox3.png
diffuse purple
end
material
name BottomSkyboxMaterial
matref skyboxBase
texture http://cbg.bzflag.org/images/Panzer/borg/borgskybox/skybox6.png
diffuse white
end
#End Space Skybox

|}

Modeltool

2007-12-27T01:05:55Z

Optic Delusion:

Modeltool can now convert .obj files to bzflag drawinfo. It can be downloaded with the source code through [[SVN]], and it is found in the bzflag/tools/ directory.

Modeltool options
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-nomats : do not write materials.
-m : disable materials (matref)
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-s : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments : add comments to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val> : the longest triangle strip to use for LODs (16 recommended)
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

Modeltool

2007-12-27T00:57:01Z

Optic Delusion: make pretty

Modeltool can now convert .obj files to bzflag drawinfo. It can be downloaded with the source code through [[SVN]], and it is found in the bzflag/tools/ directory.

Modeltool options
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-nomats : do not write materials.
-m : disable materials (matref)
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-sh : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments : add comments to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val>: the longest triangle strip to use for LODs (16 recommended)
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]

Modeltool

2007-12-27T00:48:22Z

Optic Delusion: added -bounding and -nomats. Is my -bounding drfinition correct?

Modeltool can now convert .obj files to bzflag drawinfo. It can be downloaded with the source code through [[SVN]], and it is found in the bzflag/tools/ directory.

Modeltool options
-g <name> : use group definition
-tx <dir> : set texture prefix
-nomats : no materials are output in the .bzw.
-sm : use the smoothbounce property
-yz : flip y and z coordinates
-n : disable normals
-t : disable texture coordinates
-m : disable materials
-a : disable ambient coloring
-d : disable diffuse coloring
-s : disable specular coloring
-sh : disable shininess
-sf <val> : shine multiplier
-e : disable emission coloring
-gx <val> : scale the model by this factor
-gsx <val> : shift the map by this value in X
-gsy <val> : shift the map by this value in Y
-gsz <val> : shift the map by this value in Z
-bspskip <val> : skip faces with this material when importing a bsp
-bounds : compute the bounds and sphere for draw info meshes and write them to the map
-bounding : generates invisible faces (and a material) to be used for collision detection
-comments: add comments to the resulting bzw file (will make it a lot larger
-striplimit <val>: the longest triangle strip to use for LODs
[[category:Map Making]]
[[category:Map Editors]]