Level Pack V2 24.05.2016 NEW UPDATE AND TRAILER! - New planets, immersive missions.

[True Destroyer]

NEW UPDATED HD YOUTUBE TRAILER IS HERE  (made for V2 on 24.05.2016) !!!!!!

If you have issues with sandbox on Amber: You may want to edit levels\custom\Amber\level005\scene.txt in notepad,
at the very end change the line:
EndMissionTake pos=317.5;295 dist=8 type=Me
to
EndMissionTake pos=317.5;295 dist=8.0 type=Me
I will fix it in the next version (If it will ever come).

Latest updates:
Added total of four Virtual Tactical Simulation levels.
First two were added earlier:
One is simplier and more firendly, other is not.
Both are unbeatable but always winnable survival time trials with randomly generated map, and your time score stored on disk! (Details below).
Next two were added recently:
They have been divided into training and challenge difficulty likewise, and both involve a convoy escort scenario.
Score is calculated based on remaining convoy health and distance between start location and random destination position.


To see how it looks now take a look HERE.

Tested and works with Colobot Gold Edition.

Features:
4 Planets
Amber - a desert planet engulfed in eternal sandstorm
Aria - alien, crystal world with clear sky
Ethertron - a disturbing cybernetic ancient monolith
And NEW: Virtual Tactical Simulation (well, not actually a planet) - a challenging virtual training reality
Other features:

• Custom textures (made from free samples or other reedited textures), including several different ground textures for Aria and Ethertron, sand for Amber, hex stadium ground for VSR, and backgrounds based mostly on edited versions of Homeworld 2 backgrounds, edited new water and oil/water/energy textures (all are HI-res and seamless)
  

• Custom or remade AI scripts for aliens and encountered bots! Weird stray bot encounters, aliens disrupting supply lines or striking when you least expect it,
  

• Realistic feel, due to balanced planet enviorment, object placement, and attention to the detail (this goes as far as having different water movements and wind conditions, fog and vision in different missions),
  

• Lore-friendly, balanced, but somewhat more realistic and demanding  missions, with some nice catches, or multiple ways to solve the problems, complete with briefings (F1 button - strongly recommended)
  

• Immersive space adventure ambient music (free for non commercial use) and other edited and mixed music.
  

• 8 different maps with hand made reliefs based on some random height maps or hand painted and filtered in a thousand ways,
  

• 7 missions and two additional sandbox levels based on previous missions + two training exercise and two challenges!
  

Teaser screenshot cutouts attached below.

Please report any feedback/bug reports/suggestions or problems with game/diffiiculty/balance in this thread.  Currently I'm especially looking for feedback regarding game balance, and ability to accomplish missions without them bugging out. Thank you


SCREENSHOTS:
Here.

DOWNLOAD LINK:
Updated level pack is on google drive, here's link, feel free to download, test and play it yourself:

Level Pack V2 - 24.05.2016 - With more randomly generated VTS simulations, and several game balance fixes!

To keep track of your VTS training/challenge efforts:

If you want to get your score in Virtual Tactical Simulation tracked,
move the 'files' folder from .zip with contents to your user colobot folder, you'll most certainly find it here:
On windows:
C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\colobot   - (note that it is NOT in program files)
On linux:
~/.local/share/colobot/
put 'files' folder in 'colobot' directory (when prompted to merge/replace, choose yes to all),
so the folder structure looks like colobot/files. From now on, you'll be informed about your score for four new levels when you play, and it will be stored in these files.

INSTALLATION:

Spoiler :

Simply place the .zip as it is (without unpacking) in the following folder (thx to melex750 for solution):
For windows:
ColobotGoldEditionDirectory\data\mods\
For Linux:
~/.local/share/colobot/mods/

if it does not work, you may copy the "custom" folder into your "data\levels" directory instead.

More info:

Spoiler :

I loved Colobot as a child, and I love it now as I study automatics and robotics. It's my first post on this forum. I've recently been working for fun with some map scripting and texture editing for Colobot. It grasped me like nothing before, and I made those levels, motivated by seeing general lack of userlevels for Colobot/Colobot Gold Edition on this forum and the internet. This is BETA version, i plan on updating it and currently im working on yet another planet. I cannot learn much more by myself and cannot find any more bugs, especially cause I'm designing these levels to be beautiful for everyone who plays them, yet I only brute-play them myself in order not to waste too much time, and focus on design rather than playing the game as it should be played. I always wanted to show that Colobot could have some interesting immersive missions that will have better atmosphere. Colobot Gold Edition supports this in a unique way, allowing to load textures of higher resolution almost anywhere! (I plan on releasing an optional higher resolution/subtly reedited replacement texture pack for colobot some time later, depending on your feedback). This game could be so good if more people made balanced and attractive user levels!

Levels should work with Colobot: Gold Edition Dev version. Included files do not replace anything, so you can safely remove these files later. Don't face-check the files to avoid spoilers regarding map/resource/item layout or used AI scripts!

I assume 2 will be the final version, I don't plan on adding more content. (This time, for real) I applied some fixes, remastered some textures, and put some more ideas to live. (I'd still totally love to add a companion PracticeBot in the second Aria mission though... It's just too much to program its AI with just one thread.)
Credits regarding textures and music in attached txt file found inside archive (full changelog is there too).

Recent changelog:

Spoiler :

(Full changelog is inside .zip file)


06052016 1L:

Added two Virtual Tactical Simulation levels.
One is simplier and more firendly, other is not.
Both are unbeatable but always winnable survival time trials with randomly generated map.

Updated lens flares for all levels.

24052016 2:

So that finally will be v2!
Added another Virtual Tactical Simulation levels (convoy escort).
Updating Youtube trailer!
Slighly modified earlier VTS levels (game balancing and minor bugfixes).
Minor bugfixes for earlier missions too.

As for textures remade for 1J version - here's quick comparison:

Spoiler :

Also - based on question asked by forum member:
-I don't have Colobot Gold Edition, will it work with regular Colobot?
-No. Get Colobot: Gold Edition here, it's takes around two minutes to download. (Around 100 MB).
(Details below)

Spoiler :

It most probably won't, you'd have to remake about anything. Get Colobot: Gold Edition here, it's takes around two minutes to download. (Around 100 MB).
It's free and it's the SAME GAME but better .

Post feedback, rate thread or write me a private message! You're welcome to do so

[melex750]

Good job on these custom levels, I like them very much.

True Levels 1F.zip 53.4mb

Place this zip file directly into the mod folder, the game will use the zip as is.  Colobot: Gold Edition alpha-0.1.6 or later.

For windows:

ColobotGoldEditionDirectory\data\mods\

For Linux:

~/.local/share/colobot/mods/

[True Destroyer]

Nice, I see you've already corrected all file references in scene files But please tell me, do these levels work for you?
I didn't do this thing earlier as it was not working for me (the mod folder system). I figured out now, it was caused by me using the unstable repositiory dev version. I'm using the regular alpha 1.6 now and these levels don't work for me (SIGSEGV error during loading).

So I'll work based on the file you modified from now as the file locations are more neat, adding you to credits

Edit: Ok, I just found a major showstopper bug - levels work only in Dev version of Colobot Gold - they dont load in Windows 64 bit alpha 1.6 for me. Need to update the description

So if anyone has it working like me, the only way to use them would be in dev version, and you have to copy data manually

[melex750]

They work for me as a zip in /mods. Try un-ziping them to a folder in /mods.
I'm playing with a recent dev version 64bit Linux. I can't test it on windows.
I will test it with other versions.
It maybe the %chap% reference or CRLF, I don't know. <--not likely.

EDIT:
It works with alpha-0.1.6-master.

I have have to compile locally because there is no current release for linux that I know of.

Maybe one of the admins can help.

[True Destroyer]

Nope, not working for me. But I'll include this option in instalation instructions, probably for Linux users for now.
Also the newest dev version seems to interpret view distances differently, and it caused to hinder vision too much. I fixed it and uploaded the updated version in the zip folder, that includes your file cleanup

Edit:
I'll just wait for now, maybe someone with Windows version will test them and give feedback. Meanwhile I'll start browsing bug threads.

[melex750]

I think it has something to do with the scene.txt file layout.

At the bottom this stands out for me:

Camera pos=12.50;-250.00 h=2.50

while in other missions it looks like:

Camera eye=0.00;5.00;0.00 lookat=0.00;1.00;0.00 delay=0

But I'm not sure.

[True Destroyer]

I editied it as you suggested, and it still works if I copy the files directly, but is not seen in my mods folder in zip or unpacked nevermind though, what matters is it works (I've seen the Bug reports/issues on github, it turns out the game isn't stable at this state, so I'm glad it works anyhow). However you may want to update the files if you encounter low vision distance problem in the newest dev build.

[melex750]

on windows there is also the mod folder at:

c:\Program Files\Colobot Gold Edition\data\mods\

It may work at that location.

[True Destroyer]

It works now! But only when files stay inside the zip, that's why it hasn't worked for me before, once again I'm updating everything. Thanks for help

[melex750]

I think I found the problem. The game seems to not be properly converting "/" to "\" in scene.txt path descriptions for windows sake.
I converted them by hand in one file and tested it in Wine(windows emu for linux) and it loaded the mission.
This may be a known bug. I'll see if I can find it, or report it.

edit: always use / in level files.

[krzys_h]

* 0.1.6 official builds are broken and use <install_dir>\saves instead of C:\Users\<name>\colobot. I know about that but I forgot to fix it. I'll do it soon.
* In level files you should ALWAYS use / instead of \. PHYSFS library will convert them as necessary. If it doesn't, that's likely a bug in the library.
* I don't think there exists a Camera command that takes arguments pos= and h=
* Visibility range wasn't changed in latest dev, from what I recall that could depend on graphics settings
* If you unpack the mod .zip file, make sure it has it's own subdirectory, like mods/somename/<data files here>
I didn't have time to see the levels myself yet, but the screenshots look really awesome!

[tomangelo]

I've played them a little (not so much free time, sadly), but I must say, your levels are AWESOME. Maybe even better than original levels.
But there are some bugs,

Spoiler :

Wasps in first mission sometimes hangs in air while trying to collect Titanium

, also particle effects are quite buggy (like green dots while cheching if ground is flat, or when building, probably game code fault).

[True Destroyer]

I've played them a little (not so much free time, sadly), but I must say, your levels are AWESOME. Maybe even better than original levels.
But there are some bugs,

Spoiler :

Wasps in first mission sometimes hangs in air while trying to collect Titanium

, also particle effects are quite buggy (like green dots while cheching if ground is flat, or when building, probably game code fault).

Hey, I'm glad you like them The issue with building/flat ground is game related I believe (for example checking for flat ground always shows only green for me, so it doesn't work at all). The other issue is problematic to fix, I applied a simple placeholder solution already, so in 99% of situations it will simply resolve itself given enough time.

Spoiler :

I'd like to make it faster, but that'll require some more coding, I need to do some exercises about bot communication first. Now if two or more wasps gather near one target, they will randomly stay or fly away before attempting to grab, so given enough time they will always succed.

edit: I actually decided to increase the distance between two wasps at start, and reworked some code so they should interfere with each other much less. This was too prominent in the beginning of this level, yup, after 10 sec there were often two wasps bumping into each other

Edit: and yup, as melex750 pointed out the particle effects may be due to wind conditions, but it is intended for this map to try and simulate a sandstorm

[melex750]

The issues i noticed with particles may be related to high wind speed.

In Amber 1 scene.txt

TerrainWind speed= 30;26

[kevinvr]

[attachment=195]

It works now! But only when files stay inside the zip, that's why it hasn't worked for me before, once again I'm updating everything. Thanks for help

Hi There,
I kept getting a SIGSEGV error so I converted some stuff and now I have some working levels.
This is what I did -

True Levels: 
True Levels: Amber
In Amber levels 1, 2 and 3. (So Far)

In folders level001,level002, and level003:
Changed all .jpg and .bmp files to .png with "Microsoft Paint".

In "scene.txt" files:
In the line - TerrainWater image="%lvl%/oil.jpg" level=33.7 moveX=0.05 moveY=0.1 air=TO water=TO color=20;20;20;0 brightness=0.1
Removed (air=TO water=TO)
Replaced all .jpg and .bmp with .png
 
These levels/missions now work fine in Colobot Gold version 0.1.6 on my Windows 10 PC.
I extracted everything to C:/Program Files/Colobot Gold Edition/data/levels/custom
Attached is a screenshot of levels/custom on my PC:
[attachment=195]

[melex750]

TO = texture opaque
TT = texture transparent
CO = color opaque
CT = color transparent

air =  view from above water
water = view from under water

[kevinvr]

TO = texture opaque
TT = texture transparent
CO = color opaque
CT = color transparent

air =  view from above water
water = view from under water

Yes, for some reason they will not work in version 0.1.6
We will see what happens when 0.1.7 comes out.

Have a nice day!

---

It works now! But only when files stay inside the zip, that's why it hasn't worked for me before, once again I'm updating everything. Thanks for help

Hi There,
I cannot seem to be able to research or build a subber In Aria levels 1 or 2.
Do I need to add it as DoneResearch?
Thanks

[True Destroyer]

I'm uploading version where all jpgs and bmps (not including res and relief files) were converted to png, and scene files modified accordingly. I also removed Texture Opaque stuff, but left it for first planet. No new features yet from future updating plans though.
For 0.1.6 verision users I'll atach alternative scene.txt's for replacement, without any TO stuff (Transparent oil looks silly on first planet and I don't like to keep it official, so for 0.1.6 users there's a small emergency replacement. )
Edit.: Tested levels with Colobot Gold aplha 0.1.6 win64 portable and levels work even with Texture Opaque stuff on first planet. More info in first post

Overall it should work without any errors with dev version, and with alpha 0.1.6 (win64 portable at least).

---

I just uploaded updated version of my levels I'm also making a youtube video for them, as the thread reached more than 1000 views

Edit: Video uploaded, you can watch the trailer here.

[RaptorParkowsky]

@True Destroyer : Good Job on these levels. I haven't passed any yet because of lack of free time but I'm gonna play this finally in following days.

But there's unfortunately one scary thing that I must say about it. The optimization. I mean this package is really huge, even as for a standard level pack with hi-res textures and music. ~128 MB download and ~145 unzip makes it even bigger than standard debug Colobot: Gold Edition build. It's all because there's so many unnecessary file duplicates that you could remove without messing up so much with the levels itself. Just place textures that are used by several levels and change some lines in scene files. For example:

All levels from "Amber" chapter that are using the terra001.png texture currently search it into level directory:

Code:

TerrainInitTextures image="%lvl%/terra.png" // Search a file into levels\custom\Amber\level001\...

But you can move this and also other duplicated texture into chapter directory and change this line into something like this:

Code:

TerrainInitTextures image="%chap%/terra.png" // Search a file into levels\custom\Amber\...

If multiple chapters are using the same files, then you can put these files into category (of the game mode) directory and load them by this command:

Code:

TerrainInitTextures image="%cat%/terra.png" // Search a file into levels\custom\...

The same you can do not only with texture files, this is only an example.

After removing duplicates you can go further and follow the other tips:

• Compress all textures into high-compressed lossless PNG, even those resource and relief ones.
  
• Remove all Construct.bmp's. They aren't used by any level, so their existance isn't really helpful.
  
• Don't copy files that are already in the Colobot: Gold Edition data package (for example lens1.png). You should do this only when you want to save the look of original Colobot texture in your level even if standard Gold Edition data package will change and update several assets used in original levels.
  
• Use "#Include file=" command in scene file if your levels' code are using a lot of lines that are the same between levels or chapters. Then you can just split those lines of "SceneCode" into separate file.
  

Well, that's it for now. Remember, I'm not criticizing your work, especially when I not really played it yet. That's only my suggestion after a quick check of your package after download.

And sorry for my english, hope I'm readable enough .

[True Destroyer]

@RaptorParkowsky Thanks, I just uploaded a repacked version, its down to around 85 MB now
Yep, I left it a bit messy before, but now its organized the way you suggested (shared files are in chapter directory), the "construct.bmp" files are removed (they were never expected to stay there I just forgot to remove them earlier), and the biggest issue - textures for Ethertron which took up to 50 MB, now take only 25 as they are compressed as you suggested