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GingerNinja

Explaining how Resources are Spawned (Spreadsheet Included)

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Okay, I guess I will start with quick introduction.

My name is Ginger, and since atlas launched I have been helping out gamingalliance.net with their atlas server.
I have spent the past few months understanding not only the Grid Editor, but also the Dev Kit.

I was curious as to how the game spawned resources (What determined that this specific Rock gave you Granite not Sandstone etc). After looking into the Atlas Dev Kit, stumbling my way around I managed to find the Harvest Components for each resource type and, from here I viewed them with the reference viewer, and with this I found they where used by FoliageOverrides.

Upon further inspection, I was able to determine these foliage overrides controlled the Resources you would get when harvesting nodes.
They can be located in 'Game/Atlas/AtlasCoreBP/HarvestComponents/FoliageOverrides/'
For this quick explanation I will use 'FoliageOverride_01_NE_Tropical_RARE'.
If you right click this file and open it using the reference Viewer it shows us which sub_levels use it and which resources it "Spawns".
*Note: In order to see all resources / sub_levels you need to untick the box in the top left hand side of the Reference Viewer 'Search Breadth Limit'. this is currently set to 15 and there for will show a maximum of 15 resources/ sub_levels*

On the left hand side we see a list of the Sub levels. Mnt_H_Farthest_01, Mnt_I_Farthest_01 etc.
These are the Sub levels for islands in the Server Grid Editor.
To find an island which uses this type of sub level we need to look at island names, they need to match the first part example: 'Mnt_H' and they need to be a tropical Island.
now, looking at the editor there are 2 island which matches both of these criteria. 'Mnt_H_TR' & 'Mnt_H_WR'.
If we click on 'Mnt_H_TR' in the server grid editor and then click on edit island, a dialog will open, and inside that dialog we can see a button labeled 'Add Sublevels', above this button is a list of sub levels applicable to the current selected Island.
In the List We see 'Mnt_H_Farthest_01'. This island is a Tropical Rare Resource Island.
If we close the edit window and look at 'Mnt_H_WR' you will notice it is also a tropical Island but the sub level here is 'Mnt_H_Farthest_04' which is wrong for the Tropical_Rare islands we are looking for. 

 Below I have posted a link to a spread sheet I have created for each type of Biome type and all FoliageOverrides.
(It was completed so i thought until i realised I had to untick that box in the reference viewer)...
But, if you select atleast 1 island from each of the foilage overrides selected I believe you should have every resource available in your server / map.
 

'https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13S5ZrzTReY_8h_LiMN4vXWFMJYSvGQYGOaL6w0dqvUc/edit?usp=sharing


If this is hard to follow, I'm sorry. I'm just a  guy who likes pulling things apart, sometimes put them back together and I'm not great at explaining things hahaha..
I am only a hobbyist when it comes to programming also but, I have tried to edit the server grid editor to add a search-able Island list, but I have had little luck getting that to work.

Any questions please just post them here 🙂 happy map Building

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Nice work. I have been doing something similar, but using a Node.js program to extract the info and make JSON files that I can use to help make a map. Some work-in-progress files attached. There may be errors, YMMV, WIP, etc.

Note that without an update of the Dev Kit, I don't have the information to extract the new islands or trench.

ResourceExtract.7z

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10 hours ago, Andargor said:

Nice work. I have been doing something similar, but using a Node.js program to extract the info and make JSON files that I can use to help make a map. Some work-in-progress files attached. There may be errors, YMMV, WIP, etc.

Note that without an update of the Dev Kit, I don't have the information to extract the new islands or trench.

ResourceExtract.7z

Damn, Nice work there mate.
I just had a quick look and I'm impressed. 
As i mentioned above, i'm not that great at programming but I have tried looking into changing up the Server Grid Editor. I know I can/'t be the only person who sits there pulling their hair out scrolling through that list of islands to find the one I want. haha. The visual studio project seems straight forward, but I think I am approaching it all wrong.
I will look back into it again. I was wanting to first just add a search bar to be able to search through the island list, and then I was going to look into being able to sort the islands by sub levels.

Thanks for sharing 🙂

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I've discovered that I am not finding all of the resources (e.g. Bark), as the dev kit files refer to other assets which I did not consider. A bit harder than I expected... So I would not rely on those files. I'll post again when I will have figured it out.

 

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Here`s my current work-in-progress. For some reason some of the maps don't refer to some resources like Garnets. Also, since I tag every resource that is in any sublevel, I get things like both Naptha and Crude Oil for some islands.

EDIT: Well, it seems Garnets can only be obtained as drops from Fire Elementals, or from fishing....

 

ResourceExtract-20190415.7z

Edited by Andargor

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Did either of you figure out a way to make resource nodes spawn the resource they represent?
IE: Get elderberries from elderberries. Get seasalt from seasalt. Get Rubies from rubies. Etc.

Is it all random?
It's a bit offsetting when you roll up to an obvious copper node and get tin, then go to another island with copper nodes that give cobalt and nothing is worse than looking for your first crystal node and getting salt.  -_-

I'd like to have each resource type actually tied to something I can control. Would allow for more thought-based map layouts. IE: Setting certain resources only available on pvp maps, etc. 

I haven't opened the devkit, trying to stick to configs for now. May need to change that.

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1 hour ago, N0ma13 said:

Did either of you figure out a way to make resource nodes spawn the resource they represent?
IE: Get elderberries from elderberries. Get seasalt from seasalt. Get Rubies from rubies. Etc.

Is it all random?
It's a bit offsetting when you roll up to an obvious copper node and get tin, then go to another island with copper nodes that give cobalt and nothing is worse than looking for your first crystal node and getting salt.  -_-

I'd like to have each resource type actually tied to something I can control. Would allow for more thought-based map layouts. IE: Setting certain resources only available on pvp maps, etc. 

I haven't opened the devkit, trying to stick to configs for now. May need to change that.

That is exactly what the resource overrides do. Think of it as, having 10 nodes total but 50 resources you need to be harvested in the game. Each node now needs to have a way of giving 5 different Resources.

The only way to change these resource nodes that I am aware of is to create an "Island Extension" mod  using the Devkit for each and every island you want to change, and make a copy of those islands and change the overrides. To do this to the extend of what your saying means you will never have all 6 types of all resources available on your map meaning mythical blueprints will not be craft-able.
The easier safer method would be to find islands which use each type of override and use them on your map as my original spread sheet shows. (Please keep in mind, I have not downloaded the Mega Update Devkit yet, (Australian Internet sucks and I still have a download Limit from my ISP....) Yep... Straya! (Need to ask my brother to use his NBN to help me download the devkit update again)) basically the information may be incorrect as of the latest large update, but could still be correct.
 

Also remember, Each Biome has select resources different to others. so Pure Tin and cobalt ores are usually found only on Tundra/Polar Islands, Pure Copper/Iron are Tropical? I believe.. and Silver is Temperate (This is off the top of my head)
Basically what I'm trying to say is, A Map needs thinking and planning to build and Can only be perfect with Testing, If you place 10 different tropical Islands these 10 islands all will have the same types of resources. same berries, same veggies, same rocks, same pure metal, same types of fiber and sap , wood, thatch etc.  
Not every Island Has a crystal Node.
Not every island Has An Oil Node.

Crystal Nodes are also used for Some metals, Stone ect.
Bamboo is used for straw, bamboo is also used to give wood and thatch on some islands and then Some times bamboo is Actually Bamboo and also gives Dark wood.

Nodes are Placed by each map designer and just because The island uses the "Temperate Rare Override" for example and A certain "Oil" is in the override does not mean that the Island 100% has that "Oil" because it may have been designed with 0(ZERO) oil Nodes. (this is where the testing your maps comes into play).


I hope this makes alot more sense now.
If I sound abrupt or rude in my explanation I do not intend it to be that way, just trying to dumb it down as much as possible so more people might understand better 🙂

It actually hurts my head trying to explain this... Maybe I need to learn animation and make a short animated cartoon explanation instead of Words :classic_rolleyes: Pixar seems good at using animation to get points across.. 😄
 

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Well the point is to make all 6 available but limit one to a specific island. Sounds like I need to install the devkit and squirt some wd-40 on the ol' programming wheels. 
There has to be a way to actually control the _exact_ resources spawned on each. If that means an island mod for each island, then that means an island mod for each island. 

There's no way that these devs created visual graphics with names that have zero controlled correlation to the resources they spawn. I want literally every 'granite' to produce 'granite' and literally every 'ruby' to produce 'ruby'.
The dumbest thing ever to get iron from a copper node. I go back to that because it's every 'pure' metal rock i've seen. Copper. Always copper. Iron doesn't look like copper.
I'll be going through both your files and downloading the devkit. 
I'm missing something.

I do appreciate your response and hope to continue this endeavor. 

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Okay,
I decided to open the dev kit and dive in..
I loaded "SeamlessTest\Ocean" Level, and then Opened the Levels menu and Loaded "Cay_A" and 1 set of matching SubLevels.
"Cay_A"   "Cay_A_Far_01"  "Cay_A_Fartherest_01"    "Cay_A_Near_01"

Once loaded I ran around the Island in the editor and Held H observing which Resources Nodes had incorrect name... To my shock, None of them did...

I found the resource Override Actor. As shown in the Picture below and Clicked the Edit option on the Right side.
sceneOutliner.png.ff2ed1f4dc069b760e79da71b16856e9.png
I then proceeded changing a few of the overrides for the trees from softwood to Cedar and changed a few bushes aswell.


673203926_FoliageOverrideEdit.thumb.png.c3b0523f0df2db76434bb40a76799899.png

I then saved the file and then loaded the island in the editor again.. Sure enough Now I was seeing Palm trees which gave me Light wood and Reeds instead of Fronds and strong wood
And I also saw the bushes I had changed.

So with this, If you wanted to change the Islands resources, then you could edit this actor, and export it as a map extension, and then apply it within the server grid editor using your mod id and new islands _Fartherest sub level.

If you wanted to do as you say @N0ma13 then you can simply delete the Overrides by clicking the trash can in the edit screen (Delete all elements). this will revert all the settings back to defaults and empty the list of overrides. (For islands which have a rare Override, there may be both overrides listed, but i am unsure as I did not check this, but besure all overrides are cleared.)



I assume you could then save and Rename the Island sublevels and re package them as a new map extension and follow the process to add it to your own maps/servers... 
https://devkit.playatlas.com/en/latest/Guides/GettingStarted.html#creating-map-extensions

With all this said, Don't forget that any changes you make here will change the original files so, create a back up of the "SeamlessTest" folder OR any island files inside that you intend to change in case you screw something up and need to revert. 🙂 

Someone smart could probably program a simple mod to remove/ignore these override actors, but I'm not that guy sadly.

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Found a couple things so far..

Have to download the 'optional' content pack to edit any islands that are already there. 

Seems the "1" of a thing tend to correlate as expected but the 'variations' present alternates.

Bark can be found under the 'debris' foliage types.

With over 100 entries on each level this is going to take forever.

 

Edited by N0ma13

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On 4/16/2019 at 6:46 AM, Andargor said:

Here`s my current work-in-progress. For some reason some of the maps don't refer to some resources like Garnets. Also, since I tag every resource that is in any sublevel, I get things like both Naptha and Crude Oil for some islands.

EDIT: Well, it seems Garnets can only be obtained as drops from Fire Elementals, or from fishing....

 

ResourceExtract-20190415.7z

Is it possibe to find resources for a new island such as Mnt_AG_EU and so on?

Edited by Sergey

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On 5/10/2019 at 8:45 AM, Sergey said:

Is it possibe to find resources for a new island such as Mnt_AG_EU and so on?

Perhaps, I haven't tried yet. However, in our current game my extracts were not as useful as we would have liked. I extract everything in the sublevels, but there is no indication with my method on what the probability is of something spawning. So sometimes I placed islands on our map that are supposed to have one type of resource, but when we go in game, we can't find it.

 

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seen marble anywhere??? i searched your spreadsheet and didnt find any entry for marble

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