FAQ/HowTo: GMAPs

[Projectshifter]

Originally Posted by falco10291029

Again, Operator's fault my a**.

Yes, operator's fault m8 >.<

It's come to my attention that there is a lot of problems when people try and setup gmaps. This was originally going to be a reply to falco's post, but I decided it might be better served as a new thread. If I remember I'll ask Jon or Lance to sticky it. It's just a little guide on setting up and troubleshooting gmaps.

If the GMap does not come up there are several reasons it could be. I'm not sure about a loadgmaps file being necessary, but I've seen it done on many servers. Otherwise, there are three main things you need to do in order to get a gmap to work.
(1) Have the GMAP uploaded and make sure it is properly setup in folder config. "gmap *.gmap" is NOT valid, as gmap is not a type. You'll want to do a file and a level line. I prefer to have a gmaps/ folder as it makes it more organized, so you would need two lines, one reading "level gmaps/*.gmap" and the other reading "file gmaps/*.gmap". You can verify that it is being read by doing /find <gmapname> at RC. If it says file not found, then you did not do the folder config properly, hence it cannot find the file. Also you may not have the filename correct (capital letters seem to cause problems when dealing with files)
(2) The gmaps= for serveroptions is very important. You EXCLUDE the .gmap So for example if you have test.gmap then you would just do gmaps=test You can have multiple gmaps= lines, unlike most serveroptions, however it is usually easier to just stick with one.
(3) You need to have a clientsided NPC do the command "loadmap". It is generally preferred to put it in the system NPC. A big problem with Gmaps not loading even after this is done, is caused by people not adding the weapon to themself x.x After the clientside (//#CLIENTSIDE) you'll need to do a "loadmap <gmap name WITHOUT .gmap>;" It is best to do it under if (created) or if (playerenters) so it does get loaded.

Common problems tend to be when people update the gmap or so and they don't close and reopen their client, and wonder why it won't work. You need to CLOSE and REOPEN your client after you change gfx, gmaps, etc. You will also want to start using the .gmap file instead of like start_a-01.nw. Generally you'll want to do /updatelevel <name of gmap WITH .gmap> so that it updates and receives the changes. I find it's best to add a database NPC and put it in the .gmap level to verify that it works. If it puts it in start_a-01.nw (if your gmap is named start) instead of start.gmap then it means you did not set it up properly, or you need to update the level and kill and remake the DB npc. Also, verify that you have all the levels specified. If it seems to work for the most part, except that it does not show the levels and their details, but it DOES show it as .gmap instead of .nw files then it means your level names are probably not valid. (NOTE: Using start.gmap is a bad idea. Kingdoms has a start.gmap and a main.gmap [common names], and it is bad to try and use the same gmap name as another server)
Finally, the best test is to check your playerlist from RC. Check if it shows you in the gmap name .gmap or .nw level. If it's in .nw then it's not setup properly, BUT if it shows .gmap you're good to go =D Hope this helps. If you need help setting it up other than this and you've tried to get it to work for a while, I'll hop on and check it out. Forum PM or email me. Cya l8er and peace.