EPT+ Show Spoiler +
Preface:
After weeks of ignoring the map on which I had spent a fair amount of hard work creating due to publishing errors, I finally decided to search around and find the source of the problem. It turns out I had perfectly acceptable map values, however since I copy/pasted player settings under 'player properties' things weren't working properly. Things seemed to be looking up; I was finally able to successfully upload the map to battle.net without any errors.
Alright, so the next step is logging onto battle.net and creating my map. Wait - why are the teams all messed up and why can't I make the map 'open to public'? After an hour or two of searching around sc2mapster, I discover I have to change the game variants. Turns out the values you choose for game variants are extremely picky and several values you choose will result in errors when attempted to upload your map.
Finally! The map is uploaded once more and all seems well. But wait, my map doesn't yet show up on the 'join game' list and I still cannot select 'open to public' in the game lobby. More searching ensues. Who would have guessed, seems you also may not set your map to locked if you want people to be able to play it.
Awesome, so now I can finally release my map for the public to play but I have to leave it there to be stolen/editted by anyone. Although this journey was painful, it was only the beginning...
Publishing Day:
Everything is finally working as intended. I am able to open my map up to the public (because I left it unlocked) but of course no one is joining because no one sees it on the custom game list. I spam create 30 games or so to rise its popularity a bit and it takes off from there, making all that effort worth it (although I still retain some bitterness). In a couple hours, my map (Composition Wars, shameless plugging I know) takes first place among the list of custom games and players happily enjoy it.
However, it being the first version of the map I released, I end up finding so many things that need immediate changing/fixing. I don't like all these bugs in my map and don't want people to be stuck having to deal with them, and so I remove my map from my list of published maps. It doesn't matter, it remains on the custom game list and people continue playing it. I decide I cannot win and go fix the bugs and implement desired changes.
Upon completion I re-publish my map and begin spamming games once again in a vain attempt to have people play this updated version rather than the outdated and bugged one. After a short while I end up having a few observative players join my new version and we start a game. Lo and behold! Almost immediately I find yet more bugs that require fixing. This is quite the problem when you don't have (m)any people available to do the tedious work of helping test your map. I kindly request they don't bother pushing this map up in popularity any further and head back to the drawing board.
This time I spend 5-6 hours working on changes and making the best use as possible of local testing. It is now 5am and I believe this is a solid version I would be happy with people continuing to play. As the majority of people in this region are sleeping at this hour, there aren't as many games on the custom game list. I find this a great opportunity to spam my new version up to the top and have people replace it with the old version. Doesn't work so well...
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QUyBA.jpg)
Sweet, people like my map!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jIjfe.jpg)
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUU people are playing the old version instead of the new one even though it's RIGHT BELOW
When I wake up tomorrow, I fully expect the new version to be nowhere in sight. The old version may or may not still be up there on the list.
Anyways...
After weeks of ignoring the map on which I had spent a fair amount of hard work creating due to publishing errors, I finally decided to search around and find the source of the problem. It turns out I had perfectly acceptable map values, however since I copy/pasted player settings under 'player properties' things weren't working properly. Things seemed to be looking up; I was finally able to successfully upload the map to battle.net without any errors.
Alright, so the next step is logging onto battle.net and creating my map. Wait - why are the teams all messed up and why can't I make the map 'open to public'? After an hour or two of searching around sc2mapster, I discover I have to change the game variants. Turns out the values you choose for game variants are extremely picky and several values you choose will result in errors when attempted to upload your map.
Finally! The map is uploaded once more and all seems well. But wait, my map doesn't yet show up on the 'join game' list and I still cannot select 'open to public' in the game lobby. More searching ensues. Who would have guessed, seems you also may not set your map to locked if you want people to be able to play it.
Awesome, so now I can finally release my map for the public to play but I have to leave it there to be stolen/editted by anyone. Although this journey was painful, it was only the beginning...
Publishing Day:
Everything is finally working as intended. I am able to open my map up to the public (because I left it unlocked) but of course no one is joining because no one sees it on the custom game list. I spam create 30 games or so to rise its popularity a bit and it takes off from there, making all that effort worth it (although I still retain some bitterness). In a couple hours, my map (Composition Wars, shameless plugging I know) takes first place among the list of custom games and players happily enjoy it.
However, it being the first version of the map I released, I end up finding so many things that need immediate changing/fixing. I don't like all these bugs in my map and don't want people to be stuck having to deal with them, and so I remove my map from my list of published maps. It doesn't matter, it remains on the custom game list and people continue playing it. I decide I cannot win and go fix the bugs and implement desired changes.
Upon completion I re-publish my map and begin spamming games once again in a vain attempt to have people play this updated version rather than the outdated and bugged one. After a short while I end up having a few observative players join my new version and we start a game. Lo and behold! Almost immediately I find yet more bugs that require fixing. This is quite the problem when you don't have (m)any people available to do the tedious work of helping test your map. I kindly request they don't bother pushing this map up in popularity any further and head back to the drawing board.
This time I spend 5-6 hours working on changes and making the best use as possible of local testing. It is now 5am and I believe this is a solid version I would be happy with people continuing to play. As the majority of people in this region are sleeping at this hour, there aren't as many games on the custom game list. I find this a great opportunity to spam my new version up to the top and have people replace it with the old version. Doesn't work so well...
Sweet, people like my map!
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUU people are playing the old version instead of the new one even though it's RIGHT BELOW
When I wake up tomorrow, I fully expect the new version to be nowhere in sight. The old version may or may not still be up there on the list.
Anyways...
Problems
- Obscure error messages from the data editor. Requires thorough internet searches to discover the problem.
- Map must be unlocked in order to publish (Assuming that will be fixed anytime now...)
- Popularity sorting (as I'm sure everyone is already aware of)
- Map creators cannot remove versions of their own map
- Cannot host maps other than ones on the popular list, ones from Blizzard, and ones you've published. 'Recently played' doesn't work :\
Changes?
- Change/add error messages to make them more descriptive. Obviously the editor knows why it is rejecting a certain map for publishing and so it should be able to provide a more detailed error report.
- Fix map locking
- Revert back to the SC1/WC3 method of custom game lists (one fix). There was nothing wrong with it. SC2 NEEDS to have custom names for different custom game lobbies. Oftentimes there are several different ways to play the same map and people draw in the right players for the mode they will be playing through naming systems when hosting. For those of you who say Blizzard threw this system together quickly and that's why it doesn't function so well - it would have taken less effort to create battle.net 2.0 with a system they have already used in previous games rather than sorting by 'popularity'.
- Allow map creators to delete and/or replace ALL instances of any version of their map they want. Obviously games in progress/lobby will stay and/or unlocked maps, but game lobbies for any deleted versions will no longer be able to be made. Version changes need to be able to happen much faster for the sake of both the map publisher and the players.
- Currently there aren't many options available for what maps you can host. I'm assuming features simply haven't been implemented yet. However, they of course need to let you host any locked maps you've previously played (so long as it hasn't been removed) as well as any unlocked map you've played.
Random Idea:
Basically how it's always been for SC1 and WC3 is certain map creators will create their own website/forum for their map where players can find the latest version and news. I think map publishers should be able to create their own pages in battle.net 2.0 that players can browse to which will showcase maps they have published as well as any news the publisher might want to add. It will make searching for maps easier as well as save some time/money/effort on website maintenance.
Anyways, this was the result of an entire day spent on map fixing. I know there's a thread somewhat similar to this, but I think it'll be nice if people know just how frustrating the system is to deal with. Also, Blizzard really needs to realize how broken the system is (if they don't already). I know it's beta etc, but release isn't very far away and plenty needs to be fixed.
.![[image loading]](http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy304/firebound12/Screenshot009.jpg?t=1275758902)
