How to reuse 0.3.019 maps with PS 0.3.020, for those with slower computers

[Giraut Mawhrin]

Hi everybody,

The new version of Planeshift is great... unless you have an older machine that was already so-so performance-wise with 0.3.019, in which case 0.3.020 will kill your gaming experience. What's more, the crystalspace lighter2 that the new PS maps use break the -fullbright flag, so you can't escape the general darkness of the new map anymore and you can't benefit from the speed improvement -fullbright gives.

There are a lot of things you can do to the new maps to improve the situation, chiefly remove the grass blades in hydlaa_plaza, hydlaa_jayose and hyjayose, and remove the lightmaps in the new maps to force lighter2 to revert partially to fullbright. I'll post instructions on how to do this if someone asks. However, the simplest thing to do is reuse the old 0.3.019 maps in PS 0.3.020. Here's how to do this (I tested this on Linux, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work on other platforms):

- have an unpacked PS 0.3.019 distribution ready
- cd into the planeshift 0.3.020 directory
- rename data/ and art/ to data.0.3.020/ and art.0.3.020/
- copy over the data/ and art/ directory from PS 0.3.019
- remove data/effects/spells/electrotouch.eff
- copy data.0.3.020/LiberationMono-Regular.ttf and data.0.3.020/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf into data/
- replace data/gui/bookwriting.xml with data.0.3.020/gui/bookwriting.xml

Run ./psclient -fullbright, be happy

Additionally, to reduce the jerkiness of the game once its loaded, you can re-enable models pre-loading at startup time. To do this, edit psclient.cfg, and set "PlaneShift.Client.Loading.PreloadModels" to true.

If you're happy with the new maps, but you want to restore fullbright in some of the lighter2 maps because it's too dark (like in hydlaa_plaza, hydlaa_jayose, hyjayose, hydlaa_winch, hydungeon, sewers, hysewers, laanx, laanxdungeon, magicshop and a couple other maps whose name escape me right now), you can use the following shell script:

http://users.skynet.be/ppc/planeshift/remove_lightmaps.sh

To use this script, on the hydlaa_plaza map for example:

- copy the script into art/world
- cd into art/world
- invoke ./remove_lightmaps.sh hydlaa_plaza.zip

The original map file will be moved away, and a new map file with the lightmaps removed will be created in its place. You can now re-run the client and enjoy proper lighting.

I hope this helps!

[evil scotsman]

Wow, thanks for this, as a user of a low spec computer this will prove invaluable 

[Caarrie]

- remove data/effects/spells/electrotouch.eff

Why do you have to remove that file? the other half of it is in the release AND should be used successfully. also following this guide will make you lose out on a lot of things like the entrance to the winch.

[Giraut Mawhrin]

Why do you have to remove that file?

This is the electrotouch.eff from 0.3.019. When it's there, the 0.3.020 client fails when it tries to load it.

also following this guide will make you lose out on a lot of things like the entrance to the winch.

This isn't true. I can get into the winch just fine. The only thing lost with this is a texture on a certain type of shield, that then appears as a checkered error texture. A small price to pay to be able to play the game at all.

At any rate, if you find this guide doesn't work for you, simply zap art/ and data/, restore art.0.3.020/ and data.0.3.020/ as art/ and data/, it takes but a minute and you have lost nothing.

[Caarrie]

Why do you have to remove that file?

This is the electrotouch.eff from 0.3.019. When it's there, the 0.3.020 client fails when it tries to load it.

then copy your /art/effects directory and that WILL fix that problem from .020

[Suvok]

YES! So far I wasn't able to log into PlaneShift because of a client crash. I transfered the old hydlaa_plaza.zip from 019 and it works! Thanks Giraut for the idea!