Official forums for BZFlag.org

Does anyone remember the map where one team tried to attack the other's base while the defending team used turrets (with WW's i believe) up above to shoot them? I just remembered this map and wanted to play on it again, but i couldn't find it. (and unfortunately, i don't remember who made it.)

It think it was rob5a.....

I remember that one as well. Did they take it off?

Short answer yes.

short answer yes? there is a long answer?

It's long gone.

so I take it no one has the map file? If anyone does, I would be glad to host it!

Ask Rob5a that's who I thought made it, but he doesn't play anymore so, there's no way of contacting him.

That map was hosted on BZBattleground at one point and I would look for it there and put it back up but that map was a real memory hog because of all the bullets being fired, so for that reason it was taken down.

o, that make sense. also, it would be nice to see Obstacle Course again

I've never seen that map how long ago was it taken down?

Obstacle Course was hosted on BZBattleground by Jefenry while he was learning Perl. It was sometime 2010, if I remember correctly. I think those files were lost when BZBattleground had some issues.

Ah yes ahs3 only has 3 or 4 servers up. He used to have like 12. I think he had the same problem.

ahs3 has all of his files (or most) and so do the other BZBG devs (flying_popcorn, Jefenry, Tedius, R3lax, me). We're just busy and don't have time to put stuff up.

allejo wrote:That map was hosted on BZBattleground at one point and I would look for it there and put it back up but that map was a real memory hog because of all the bullets being fired, so for that reason it was taken down.

It was on bzbattleground?! The only reason I said rob5a is because I thought I saw him say I'm gonna reboot the server rejoin please.

a bullet gone crazy wrote:

allejo wrote:That map was hosted on BZBattleground at one point and I would look for it there and put it back up but that map was a real memory hog because of all the bullets being fired, so for that reason it was taken down.

It was on bzbattleground?! The only reason I said rob5a is because I thought I saw him say I'm gonna reboot the server rejoin please.

Originally it was hosted by Cobra_Fast on the WTWRP server, where rob5a had SSH access to. Then the load on that server got too large and the map was later moved to BZBattleground.

Oh that explains it thanks a lot allejo!

I gotta chime in and say this map was a load of fun when it was up. Aiming the turret was a pain. I always thought the map would be well served is someone took a few extra minutes of mapping and made it look like you were sitting inside a tank and the bullets were coming out of the turret instead of those simple platforms. Think about it - a tank, driving a tank!

Tankception!?!!?

Try this http://bzstats.strayer.de/servers/stats ... 24&lang=en

a bullet gone crazy wrote:Try this http://bzstats.strayer.de/servers/stats ... 24&lang=en

Well, that looks like it was it...
Too bad that site didn't save the map file

Sniper752 wrote:Well, that looks like it was it...
Too bad that site didn't save the map file

An automatic map archiving system....Might not be a bad idea....Hmm...

sigonasr2 wrote:

Sniper752 wrote:Well, that looks like it was it...
Too bad that site didn't save the map file

An automatic map archiving system....Might not be a bad idea....Hmm...

What about maps hosted on their own servers without open source licenses?

allejo wrote: What about maps hosted on their own servers without open source licenses?

I don't know the exact technical details about it, but as far as I know you can go on any map and save that world locally. Since this is allowed, it can be used without problems. As far as distribution goes, I think that itself is where the violation would occur. Either you are keeping the map for yourself, you are releasing it based on the terms of a known map license, or you are violating a license upon releasing it.

If the maps were to be archived at least, then someday an older map people used to like can be pulled up at any given time! Since we now have the /owner command, the automated archiving system could save maps with this owner data so that the server owner can be contacted to find out the details and credentials for hosting the map. This could be done responsibly I believe and preserve maps for the future.

You can't request the map file from the server. All you get is a binary representation of the map objects. It is impossible to recreate the original BZW file using this data as you don't actually have all of the original data.

In addition, the fact that there is a method of saving the map in the game does not mean that someone can just make a website that grabs all of this and puts it up for download. The difference is that using 'save world' yourself would be more for personal use, and creating an archive site would not be for personal use. And even if you can save the world yourself, that doesn't mean you can then go and host a server with that map file without breaking copyright.

Not to mention that some maps would be useless without custom plugins.

So, I don't see that happening due to the legal and technical limitations. There are many people that release maps as open-source here on the forum. Those users that do not would not appreciate their map being stolen, I'd imagine.

Would someone who was collecting these maps to keep an archive for their own personal use then be "legal"? In a sense, a lot of maps would be considered useless without all their fancy settings, but someday when someone wishes for it to be recreated, it is that much easier to make happen.

Sure; flags, settings, and plugins may be missing, but the map is left pretty well intact from using save world. If someone were to just archive the maps privately, then at least the maps themselves will be preserved for the future, the public doesn't necessarily have to know about it nor have access to it. And like I mentioned, contacting old server owners / map creators is not too difficult once the map is wished to be hosted again.

I remember some old maps I wish I could have kept archives of. Even asking the people that originally created them said they lost them unfortunately, but would have been fine with me hosting them if I actually had copies of the map.