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JimbobJeffers' Maps


Jimbob
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Just look at that cover image... I can feel the tension already.

This thread will contain all my LRR maps, as I create them, rather than creating a separate thread for each one. I doubt I'll make enough to replace all 25 levels in the game, but who knows?

 

 

For my first custom RR map, I present Crystal Catastrophe. There's room for improvement, but I'm happy with how it is. This map basically combines a few different level ideas from the original game into one.

 

Map Name: Crystal Catastrophe

Back Story: "Welcome, Rock Raider! This mission has two objectives, but first, let me explain the situation. A huge deposit of energy crystals was recently detected nearby, and a team of Rock Raiders was sent to find it. However, communication was lost and we have no idea what has happened - therefore your primary objective is to find the lost team of Rock Raiders, and your secondary objective is to locate the energy crystal seams and collect one hundred energy crystals! Good luck, Rock Raider.Oh, before I forget - our scanners have also picked up-*bzzzt*"

Map Objective: Collect 100 Energy Crystals

Replaces: Level 18

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Completion Time: 1 Hour

Download: Crystal Catastrophe

 

 

The second map I've made is Hard Luck. I was experimenting with the Height Map on this one, and also trying to get Rock Monsters programmed correctly. I like it, but unfortunately it's still not as challenging as I'd hoped.

 

Map Name: Hard Luck

Back Story: "This is going to be a tricky mission, Rock Raider. Scanners aboard the LMS Explorer have detected energy crystals around this cavern, but unfortunately the area isn't particularly level, and surrounded by water! Establish Rock Raider HQ and build a Cargo Carrier. Then, transport a Small Digger across the river and find a location to rebuild the HQ, so that you can finally collect 75 Energy Crystals. Good luck, Rock Raider!"

Replaces: Level 09

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Estimated Completion Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Download: Hard Luck

 

Installation instructions are included in downloads. All Estimated Completion Times assume the game is set to the fastest game speed throughout.

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I can't get the game to run  cc with your readme directions so obviously you either didn't explain it clearly enough or missed a step in your readme for CC. I'm not really sure where I could have possibly screwed up as I read the readme several times.

 

 

-------------------
Crystal Catastrophe
-------------------
by JimbobJeffers


Installation Instructions:

1. Navigate to the 'LegoRR0LevelsGameLevels' folder in your Rock Raiders installation, assuming you have extracted the WAD files. It is recommended you use a second copy of your installation to avoid corrupting the first.

2. Copy the 'CrystalCatastrophe' folder in this extracted ZIP file and paste it in the 'LegoRR0LevelsGameLevels' folder you opened.

3. Open the LEGO.CFG file in the 'LegoRR1' folder of your installation, and scroll down to the 'Level18' properties block. Replace this block with the block found in 'CrystalCatastrophe.CFG'. Save and close the file.

4. Recompile the WAD files and enjoy the game.

Are you sure there's nothing missing here?

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Actually not. But maybe:

 

You are using cafeteria, right? And you changed every 640x480 to 1920x1080?

If yes, here's the problem:

ObjectiveImage640x480 InterfaceBriefingPanelBriefingPanel.bmp,76,100

So, the only mistake I see is that you would have to change this 640x480 to 1920x1080.

 

Then it should work fine

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Actually not. But maybe:

 

You are using cafeteria, right? And you changed every 640x480 to 1920x1080?

If yes, here's the problem:

 

ObjectiveImage640x480 InterfaceBriefingPanelBriefingPanel.bmp,76,100

So, the only mistake I see is that you would have to change this 640x480 to 1920x1080.

 

Then it should work fine

 

If that's in the modified .CFG file in my mod, and Glisp is using Cafeteria, then that will solve it (thank you for posting that alan) otherwise I have no idea why that would happen. I always test mods I make before I post them, generally to completion (I did with these maps), so I hope that does solve the issue :)

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Thanks for the maps.

 

Your readme instructions are correct (although I don't actually replace original levels anymore). The 640x480 thing shouldn't make the game crash, it doesn't crash mine, it just means the background image for the objective panel will not appear.

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I'm not using Cafeteria because repositioning things is a pain. I also don't want to eliminate the Crystal and Ore counters completely. I need those. So obviously I screwed up somewhere but I'm not sure where as I followed the readme as close as possible. I don't even recall missing a step. So clearly there's something I did wrong but I'm not sure what.

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Have you tried creating a completely new installation and inserting the maps into that? Perhaps if you're using an existing one something has gone wrong somewhere. Alternatively you could just copy an original LEGO.CFG file and paste it over your current in case any mistakes have been made in it.

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  • 4 years later...
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ShadowDraikana

Since nobody reviewed either of these maps as far as I can tell, I feel obligated to do so:

---------------------

Crystal Catastrophe 

 

First off, I had to mod my Raiders to be able to drill Loose Rock after I couldn't make it to the base without running into that wall type. 

 

The setup with the multiple paths (and lost raiders) reminded me of Run the Gauntlet, Split Down the Middle, and Rock Hard.  Had no trouble finding the base, and met no resistance from the local wildlife whatsoever.  That doesn't count the one monster emerge you put in the maze.  Kind of stuck out like a sore thumb, but that might be me.  

 

On top of this, the Docks building is utterly useless.  Why?  The Raiders use the edge of the wall on the right hand side of the "lake."  If you intended the player to need to utilize the Docks, then consider partially redoing that cavern so that the Raiders won't do this.  Then there are those potholes under the Super Teleport and Geological Center... not your fault, though.  

 

After strip-mining the maze (and dealing with Idleness Syndrome), I opened up the caverns near the base.  As expected, there were plenty of monsters emerges.  Didn't take me long to tear through into the crystal cache, and from there it was just a matter of getting the crystals back.  
 

Pretty easy map overall, as there aren't enough monsters to be a legitimate threat.  Not taking away from the design of the level as a whole, as I thought it was very nicely done.  Really enjoyed playing through it.

 

EDIT 12/10/2017: There are a bunch of emerges in the maze, but only one seems to work.  This is because several triggers and emerges were put under the same number such as 1.  In Cyrem's map creator, there are only 20 emerges allowed.  Apparently only one trigger number will work with one emerge point of the same number.  So, if an update is made to the creator to allow more than 20 emerges, or there is a way to make the existing triggers/emerge work, the maps need to be fixed. 

 

--------------

Hard Luck

 

Reviewed on 12/10/2017:

 

First off, I was a bit worried I'd need to mess with a few things to get the mission to work in my mod.  Turns out there are just enough crystals on the island for it to function.  

 

I was extremely stingy with the crystals I initially found (since I didn't know how many there were) until I discovered the second seam.  From there, it was pretty much smooth sailing (pardon the pun).  

 

It didn't take me long to strip-mine the island and get my Cargo Carrier + Small Digger team together.  Then it became a matter of figuring out which path lead to the large cavern where I needed to move my base.  Admittedly, I found it on my second path choice.  Still, I felt obligated to check out the other areas just in case ;)

 

Unfortunately, I ran into the dreaded Idleness Syndrome when I tried getting my second base set up.  To try to fix this, I beamed up everything on the island (save the Tool Store, Power Station, and Support Station) and collected the resources left behind.  Then I beamed up my Raiders and Tool Store.  Reason I left my working Support Station on the island was just in case I couldn't get one built in my new base.   I was going to perform this process anyway, but I did it sooner so as to try to get rid of the idling problem.

 

After several mind-numbing minutes, I finally got a base built and some defenses in place.  I then proceeded to strip-mine the cave up to the hard rock (which obviously marked a new cavern).

 

It wasn't too hard to figure out that any monster resistance was going to be in that last cavern.  To my disappointment, only two emerge points worked for me.  This mission suffers from the same emerge map trigger problem as in Crystal Catastrophe (see my edit above).  Since the monsters weren't working, I found it too easy to get the remaining needed crystals.

 

Overall, it was very clear to me that there was some serious thought put into the designing of the map.  What I personally loved about the mission was the fact that you need to use the Cargo Carrier, something you rarely needed to use in the main game (or even in Baz's levels).

 

This alone scored points immediately in my playbook, as did the island aspect of the level.

 

A problem that did I notice with the level: when I opened the map with the aforementioned creator, I saw trigger/emerge points in the other paths around the lake.  I'm sorry, but these are completely pointless in having unless the user manually changes the used textures in the level to ice.  Oddly enough, none of them even worked anyway on my playthrough.  Furthermore, some of the triggers were placed in solid rock walls.  This a big no-no. 

 

This doesn't detract from the level in any way, as it is a minor issue.

---------

 

Both of these were very well thought out and designed maps, and I thank @JimbobJeffers for sharing them.

Excellent job!  

 

I'm hoping you eventually try making more, as I enjoyed playing through these.  

 

One last thing: making your own menu bmp images for the levels is a huge bonus and adds that much more to my assessment of the maps.  Shows that you put a lot of effort into them.

 

 

Edited by Slimy Slug
Fixed glitch in post
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  • 1 year later...

I also got around to playing these via my Custom Level Cafeteria Framework, which makes installing levels about a thousand times easier :P (even when it's not provided as a Cafeteria patch it takes less than 5 minutes to edit the template accordingly). This also meant I was playing with Hover Scout Upgrade, which is particularly important for Crystal Catastrophe.

 

Hard Luck is a really good map that I'd reccomend. Crystal Catastrophe I just can't though.

 

 

 

Hard Luck:

 

This map was really good. Not staggeringly amazing, but really good. It got that feeling of "Build up an HQ from just a Tool Store" so nicely, and is the only level so far that's actually made me concerned about my oxygen but not enough to make me outright fail.  The starting island's outline was really well arranged, and it was nice to see the Energy Crystal Seam and work out how to drill it.

 

There weren't a lot of crystals on the island, and I worked this out fairly quickly after drilling ten walls or so. Reasoning that all the crystals were behind Hard Rock , I mass-dynamited all the Hard Rock walls in sight. Success! Enough crystals to build LRR HQ. :P

There were a lot of walls, but not a large amount of crystals. This meant I mass-drilled all the walls and just left my STTs to pick up the mess, which was just a bit of a waste....

 

But I was only half done! This is where the level design wasn't so great....

The map allows you multiple choices of 'hmm, which cavern should I go an explore?' However all but one of these are utter dead ends, containing 0 crystals. However, in mining them to find this out you create rubble... which then causes a bit of Idleness Syndrome because the raiders can't get to it. Even worse, some of these access ways start with rubble from the beginning of the game due to walls on their own instantly being knocked down.

 

The one that wasn't a dead end was just rather boring. Move your STT fleet over with a Cargo Carrier, rebuild LRR HQ, and go strip-mining again. There were more crystals in less walls, which was good. But I only ever encountered one monster, and I had an Improvements Pack LMLC at this stage, so it was hardly problematic. Enough to quickly make me scurry to arm some raiders: but then I never saw anything more. :/ Slugs could have been a good addition to this map if done properly (=> nothing DDI ever did).

The crystal limit of 75 is very good; 50 often is quite small, and higher than 100 feels a little absurd and usually involves strip-mining.

 

Improvement ideas:

  • A few more crystals in the starting area, or a few less walls.
  • Link the areas that have nothing to the one that does, just to clear the rubble
  • Monsters need reworks to be meaningful

 

 

 

 

Crystal Catastrophe:

 

The idea behind this level was quite good, but it just didn't work out. The game engine doesn't like levels like these: see also Baz's Run the Gauntlet. The difficulty is that you have no obvious way to mark tiles as "Don't ever bother clearing this rubble" (you can do it via absurd priority disabling shenanigans). As such, when you discover the base, all your LRRs are desparate to shovel that block of land literally a hundred tiles away.

Fortunately, I was running Hover Scout Upgrade. This meant that I had free, no-sandwiches, clear-rubble-and-carry vehicles; perfect, exactly what I needed! However, even despite this the map size meant that it took a long time for the rubble to all go away. I teleported up my Geological Centre just to get crystals to power the lot.

 

You could have gotten around this by creating two levels, one of "get back home" and the second "find the cache." But that can be a little pain to install.

 

The maze to the HQ was quite boring: once you picked the right way there were no 'go left' or 'go right' choices, just 'go straight, go straight, go straight again, keep going straight.' But as someone who's tried to design maze levels, I know how hard making something nice is.

 

A couple of YT vids and 3x speed later, I could progress with the level as normal. Unfortunately it proved to be very boring. :/ I'll outline why:

  • Random landslides weren't disabled. This meant landslides would occur a) all the way 100 tiles backwards and b) on the other side of the pond. Both are major contributors to Idleness Syndrome. Fortunately the former would go away thanks to upgraded Hover Scouts and some reinforcing, and the latter would go away because RRs can walk across a pond if the Solid Rock is straight along the edge: which it was.
  • If my objective was to unite the lost Raiders with the HQ, why don't I start from the HQ? Why do I start from four lost raiders?
  • The crystal cache feels out of place. Only in the silly comics and the broken Rocky Horror are there absurd crystal caches. In no other levels do you have a truckton of Crystal Seams. It just feels really weird for a level to be concluded by this.
  • There are not enough crystals around the HQ area. There... just... aren't. :/And then you get one hundred all from a single cavern. And there is waaaaay too much ore in the HQ area. Why is there a section dedicated to ore? You don't need it, you've got 100+ from picking up all the rubble you made on the way in.
  • The pond, and walls across the pond, is entirely useless. Okay, it's got crystals in it, but due to the way the game engine handles it if you want to cross the lake you need to teleport up and rebuild LRR HQ, which isn't worth it for the 10 crystals.
  • The Rock Raider HQ was entirely devoid of Power Paths. Admittedly, this is because Path.map and hidden caverns aren't friends, but you can still (eventually) get what you want via SetTutorialBlockIsPath in the NERPs. I can't blame you for this though, as you probably didn't know this existed.

Additionally, I never saw a single monster, so whatever you did there didn't work. :P You can have multiple triggers but multiple emerges do usually not work, and emerges must be on 'flat' wall tiles (not corners).  You can also script them, which is the only sane way to have 10 monsters appearing at once without it becoming an endless horde.

 

Improvement Ideas:

  • The level's sufficiently annoying to warrant re-doing from scratch, if you wanted to make changes.
    • The starting maze is uninspiring
    • The HQ doesn't have enough crystals anywhere near it,
    • The lake, pond, and accompanying resources are useless,
    • Why do you start control over raiders, not an HQ?
    • The crystal cache seems out of place
    • Monsters don't work
  • Use PTL shenanigans (ClearComplete NULL) to make sure no ore is made from rubble. That makes clearing the rubble a lot easier.
  • Split into two levels: a) find the base and b) do things with the base to not have to bother with the rubble shenanigans.

 

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  • 3 months later...

Old topic, I know, but I converted Hard Luck into a Cafeteria patch for use in Custom Level Cafeteria Framework. I also a) fixed the rubble that is created on level start, b) added Recharge Seams, and c) fixed the monsters.

 

Uses slot 06: Download. This level is well worth playing and quite fun, but you will have to rebuild your base if you don't want Idleness Syndrome to strike.

 

 

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