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[PSA] Making Your Maps Future-Proof
With the eventual switch from Overcast Network's plugin suite to Operation Ares creeping closer, now is no better time to discuss how you can ensure that your maps will be compatible when the transition is made.
Build for Minecraft 1.8
The Operation Ares servers and plugins will be running on Minecraft 1.8, so any items, blocks, or other features added in Minecraft 1.9 and above will not work when loaded on the server. You can easily get around this issue by creating your maps in Minecraft 1.8. We understand this isn't anyways an option, so you can still build maps in newer versions, but you will have to be extra careful about what you include.
There are tools available which convert save files in newer versions back to Minecraft 1.8 which the Map Developers have already been utilizing heavily to convert our existing repository to be used for Operation Ares. We will be providing more details on how you can do this yourself as we get closer to Operation Ares' release.
Don't Mix Gamemodes
A major concern that many map makers voiced was the inability to combine certain gamemodes to the extent that you can in PGM. While this doesn't affect many maps overall, it does mean a lot of whacky and creative ideas won't originate from hacking together different modules, but instead will potentially have facets specifically made to achieve a particular requirement properly. The following is an excerpt from the Operation Ares thread explaining why this is:
With the redesign we will splitting up each game type into its own parsing section, and dividing up some modules so that they only work in some games. This is so we can design code for what it is supposed to be used for, and not have to worry as much about making everything possible everywhere like we had to in the past. This allows us to write specific game features that enhance some game types without having to worry about the side effects that they will have on everything else.
This means new maps that combine games such as CTW and DTM will not be supported in the future, and we advise against making these sorts of maps. Maps such as DTM and DTC mixes will still be supported, however. Additionally, RAGE will still be compatible with all gamemodes.
Keep the XML Simple
If you need to hack the XML in order to make your map work, it's simply not going to work in Operation Ares. Keep your XMLs as simple as possible. This will not only guarantee their ability to work in Operation Ares, but will make the Map Developers' lives, and your own, easier when converting the map XML for Operation Ares.
By following these three points, your map is almost guaranteed to work with Operation Ares. If you have any further questions about how this may affect your maps, please leave a comment and we'll try to answer to the best of our abilities.
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