City Map

[DontWorryImABot]

First of all, hello everyone.

I'm new to the forums so pardon me if I posted this thread in the wrong section.
I have a few questions regarding the MTA capability. I've been a fan of GTA RolePlay for over a decade now, and wasn't active in any GTA community for the past two years.
I've been working on various SA maps before, and in most cases I was trying to build a new village, town, or even a map. I've spent countless hours working on stuff like that but none of my designs have ever seen the light of the day.

Now, as I'm not active anywhere nor up-to-date with the new versions, I'm curious whether this is now possible or still just a dream.
My questions are:
- Is creating a separate map (does not have to be as big as the original one, maybe the size of LA + a few small places outside it) possible?
- Would it be playable in a server? What would be the players limit? Would I experience issues with models not loaded correctly or in time?
- For multiplayer purposes, is it better to create a new map using the map editor, or do a whole new 3D map, import it into the game, code the game mode and make the players download the edited game / files before joining the server? (Is this possible at all?)
- What is the model limit for MTA / SAMP?
- Would it be better to create a new map outside the original map, or remove the original map first and create the new one on the same location?

I hope it's not too much. Thank you in advance.

Have a great day,
DontWorryImABot.

[Dutchman101]

It's definately possible to get rid of San Andreas and run another map without any technical issues, for example take a look at this: https://forum.multitheftauto.com/topic/101142-mta-converted-maps/

In that topic there's maps like Vice City, and world maps from other games, for MTA..

[Tut]

Adding to the above, I'm currently working on a semi large scale project outside of SA map. We have 5000 units on each axis (so essentially 16000 square meters instead of 6000 which SA uses) to build on. We'll be replacing world objects from San Andreas by using colshapes to load/unload custom models. Essentially you have a cuboid shape, and if ID 1337 is inside of the cube, it will be replaced by a custom object. If it's outside of the shape, say in SA map, it will retain its original model. This allows us to replace virtually any object we want, so long as we do it outside of the locations where it's currently mapped in San Andreas. We'll be using this or something similar for replacing vehicles too, so we can have different types of trucks and boats.

There are map boundary limitations that we're not going to care about that much, but it's something you should take into consideration when creating maps that are combat oriented, etc.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Tut

[DontWorryImABot]

Thank you for your answers!
 

7 hours ago, Dutchman101 said:

It's definately possible to get rid of San Andreas and run another map without any technical issues, for example take a look at this: https://forum.multitheftauto.com/topic/101142-mta-converted-maps/

In that topic there's maps like Vice City, and world maps from other games, for MTA..

Thanks, this looks great! It gives me hope that it's possible

4 hours ago, Tut said:

Adding to the above, I'm currently working on a semi large scale project outside of SA map. We have 5000 units on each axis (so essentially 16000 square meters instead of 6000 which SA uses) to build on. We'll be replacing world objects from San Andreas by using colshapes to load/unload custom models. Essentially you have a cuboid shape, and if ID 1337 is inside of the cube, it will be replaced by a custom object. If it's outside of the shape, say in SA map, it will retain its original model. This allows us to replace virtually any object we want, so long as we do it outside of the locations where it's currently mapped in San Andreas. We'll be using this or something similar for replacing vehicles too, so we can have different types of trucks and boats.

There are map boundary limitations that we're not going to care about that much, but it's something you should take into consideration when creating maps that are combat oriented, etc.

Great! So, you are suggesting to load custom models instead using the standard MTA map editor and just map the whole city?

Edited July 18, 2020 by DontWorryImABot

[Tut]

4 minutes ago, DontWorryImABot said:

Great! So, you are suggesting to load custom models instead using the standard MTA map editor and just map the whole city?

It really depends on what you're creating. I personally do it all in a modeling software where I can mold out certain parts of the land e.g the seaport. It also lets me do mapping, by exporting to IPL and converting that to createObject. Rest of the team is using map editor for structures that already exist in the game, since we're trying to keep download size small as possible.

[DontWorryImABot]

2 minutes ago, Tut said:

It really depends on what you're creating. I personally do it all in a modeling software where I can mold out certain parts of the land e.g the seaport. It also lets me do mapping, by exporting to IPL and converting that to createObject. Rest of the team is using map editor for structures that already exist in the game, since we're trying to keep download size small as possible.

Thanks. I was actually worried I'd go with just MTA Editor and use standard objects that already exist for landscape, roads, buildings, etc, that there would be too many objects in the game.
Not sure how would this affect online experience if I run a server with it. Also, would I experience empty space while driving (models that are not loaded yet - like late loads?)

@Tut

I feel like I'm not clear enough, so I came up with a quick example for you.
https://ibb.co/92w3nyP

This is what I'm talking about - you see how those buildings look faded? They just disappear at one point. I mean I understand this is how rendering works in games but the vanishing point is just too close to the player. In most places it feels like I'm able to view just one block in front of me.

 

[Tut]

9 minutes ago, DontWorryImABot said:

Thanks. I was actually worried I'd go with just MTA Editor and use standard objects that already exist for landscape, roads, buildings, etc, that there would be too many objects in the game.
Not sure how would this affect online experience if I run a server with it. Also, would I experience empty space while driving (models that are not loaded yet - like late loads?)

I don't think you'll have any issues with objects failing to stream in, so long as you utilise low LOD objects and keep every high LOD objects fairly low poly and textures low resolution. Respect the game engine's capabilities and avoid using objects which stand out from SA in terms of geometry and textures.
If you're going to use any converters such as Scen2res, I recommend you always go through the code and make sure there are no errors, and try to optimize them manually as much as possible.