[Question] - Factorio map editor for multiple surfaces.

[HeilTec]

Inspired by the factorio team challenge scenario I would like to try making some different kinds of MP scenarios.

First stop was - Factorio -> Edit - Scenario -> team-production-0.3.9
This was not any help as there was just a square of concrete tiles.

Then I looked in the folder C:\Users\HeilTec\AppData\Roaming\Factorio\scenarios\team-production-0.3.9
and found that the areas are generated by a script. {1}
Since I wanted to edit the maps to be used in the scenario I like to try to make I struck a wall there too.

Then I when to a google search spree using "factorio map editor" as base search and adding words like scenario and surface, but wasted my time. no documentation nor tips on this problem was obvious.

As a last resort I went to the IRC channel #factorio on esper.net in the hopes of meeting some knowledgeable person or a developer even.

chat

[22/09 21:24:31] <Heiltec> Anyone here who can tell me how to add, delete and select surface in the factorio map editor?
[22/09 21:25:01] <Leveller> mount -tvfa Hanziq --prague
[22/09 21:25:06] <Jezza> git add -A surface.txt
[22/09 21:25:13] <Heiltec> I've googled wide and narrow to no avail.
[22/09 21:25:28] <Jezza> Although, I've just realised how stupid that is.
[22/09 21:25:35] <Jezza> As -A would already stage everything...
[22/09 21:25:40] <Jezza> git add surface.txt
[22/09 21:25:42] <Jezza> Fixed
[22/09 21:25:47] <justarandomgeek> Leveller i apparently did far worse than i thought at balancing our audios, specifcally mine is way over-loud a lot of times
[22/09 21:26:00] <Heiltec> rofl - you are so helpful
[22/09 21:26:18] <Leveller> justarandomgeek: np. Broadcast it.
[22/09 21:26:27] <vurtual> install a windows vm and delete system 32 in it
[22/09 21:26:37] <Leveller> justarandomgeek: SOMEONE of all 100 will learn out of it.
[22/09 21:26:41] <Leveller> Thats why we do it.
[22/09 21:26:46] <justarandomgeek> Leveller yeah, it's not a showstopper, just mildly annoying
[22/09 21:26:51] <Leveller> Atleast i did learn.
[22/09 21:27:11] <justarandomgeek> and since i didn't record the audio tracks seperately, it's gonna be a pain to fix
[22/09 21:27:22] <vurtual> remember on 64-bit windows system32 is 64-bit, and syswow64 is 32-bit
[22/09 21:27:44] <justarandomgeek> vurtual i always love explaining that to people
[22/09 21:27:50] <vurtual> justarandomgeek: run the sausage fattener on it.
[22/09 21:28:36] <justarandomgeek> Heiltec i think approximately none of us know how to use the map editor
[22/09 21:28:46] <justarandomgeek> so you might be breaking new ground on that one
[22/09 21:29:25] <Heiltec> The devs obviously knows a trick or two they keep to themselves
[22/09 21:29:53] <Heiltec> The Team Challenge map is an example.
[22/09 21:29:55] <Jezza> Quick! Everyone paste their current clipboard!
[22/09 21:29:57] <Jezza> getMethodKey(ClassFile cls, MethodInfo method)
[22/09 21:30:05] * ateam55 (~ateam55@cpc72331-sotn15-2-0-cust272.15-1.cable.virginm.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 384 seconds)
[22/09 21:30:07] <Heiltec> arumba-stream
[22/09 21:30:19] <@HanziQ> I better not
[22/09 21:30:22] <Jezza> Should do it.
[22/09 21:30:25] <justarandomgeek> Leveller it's just been stupid busy this week though, servers on fire in various ways at various customers, thus all the delays
[22/09 21:30:33] <Leveller> https://youtu.be/MKjvLsbouSA?t=326
[22/09 21:30:34] <@TrangarBot> James McIlhargey: Bob's Pipe Size Comparison (6m 29s)
[22/09 21:30:35] <Leveller> eh
[22/09 21:30:35] <justarandomgeek> Jezza my clipboard is currently empty
[22/09 21:30:36] <vurtual> https://youtu.be/zm3pq9si6IY
[22/09 21:30:36] <@TrangarBot> GameGrumps: Alien Syndrome: Robo Eggs - PART 2 - Game Grumps (11m 25s, +6754 -45)
[22/09 21:30:39] <Leveller> last save.
[22/09 21:30:51] * ImQ009 (~ImQ009@89-67-36-214.dynamic.chello.pl) Quit (Quit: Leaving)
[22/09 21:30:57] <vurtual> on a my not phones my clipboard is just a
[22/09 21:30:58] <Jezza> justarandomgeek, That's just bad form.
[22/09 21:31:07] <Jezza> You should always have something in your clipboard.
[22/09 21:31:13] <vurtual> or thanks to firefox it becomes amazon.com
[22/09 21:31:25] <justarandomgeek> Jezza yeah, i think lastpass cleared it because i last used ti for a pw
[22/09 21:31:39] <vurtual> pasting passwords
[22/09 21:31:40] * Heiltec looks at @HanziQ - hoping for a tip on edito usage in conjunction with multible surfaces ...
[22/09 21:31:50] <Jezza> I thought lastpass didn't use the clipboard.
[22/09 21:31:56] <Jezza> I thought it just auto-entered it.
[22/09 21:31:57] <justarandomgeek> pasting into an app where lp couldn't autofill it
[22/09 21:32:01] <@HanziQ> ¯\_(?)_/¯
[22/09 21:32:03] <Jezza> Ohhh
[22/09 21:32:15] <vurtual> "what's the password?" *paste sounds* "... you can go."
[22/09 21:32:24] <Heiltec> How was the challenge map scenaroi created?
[22/09 21:32:47] <justarandomgeek> Heiltec open it up in the scenario folder and check it out
[22/09 21:33:14] <Jezza> We should get TrangarBot to randomly ask people to paste their clipboard.
[22/09 21:33:15] <Heiltec> ok - so the ingame editor is not able to do anything useful?
[22/09 21:33:18] <justarandomgeek> data\base\scenarios\team-production-0.3.10 in the tree
[22/09 21:33:39] <justarandomgeek> iirc the blueprint.dat there is made with map editor, but the interesting parts come from the lua
[22/09 21:33:55] <Heiltec> ty justarandomgeek - I know where my folders are located - please be serious
[22/09 21:34:15] <Jezza> O_o
[22/09 21:34:23] <justarandomgeek> i am serious - i had to dig to remember it, so figured i'd share the result
[22/09 21:34:33] <Jezza> Yeah, justarandomgeek. Stop being so funny.
[22/09 21:34:49] <Heiltec> so - the whole thing is generated by script?
[22/09 21:34:56] <Jezza> It controls it.
[22/09 21:35:13] <Jezza> That's mostly how scenarios are done.
[22/09 21:35:20] * Heiltec starts the Atom
[22/09 21:35:24] <Jezza> Ew.
[22/09 21:36:09] <justarandomgeek> yeah, i haven't dug through it in great detail yet, i just have a vague understanding of how it works
[22/09 21:36:19] <justarandomgeek> the source can probably answer better than i can from here
[22/09 21:36:28] <Jezza> I remember Trangar making 1rps originally with the scenario system.
[22/09 21:36:42] <Jezza> It seems pretty straight-forward, albeit it messy.
[22/09 21:37:01] <Jezza> seemed*
[22/09 21:37:03] <justarandomgeek> but ask me in a week or two and i'll probably know more about it
[22/09 21:37:51] <@Rseding91> Notepad++?
[22/09 21:38:24] <Leveller> Rseding91: justarandomgeek has taught me all i know about combinators. And will soon do some lessons on YT.
[22/09 21:38:33] <Leveller> About stuff i wanna know. And he shows me.
[22/09 21:38:45] <@Rseding91> ooooooookkk.....
[22/09 21:38:57] <Leveller> Not just.. "this is how it works" but rather "this is how you can apply combinators in your game"
[22/09 21:39:01] <Leveller> Like. The good stuff.
[22/09 21:39:17] <Leveller> But .. 2 rookies. Doing it on recording.
[22/09 21:39:19] <Jezza> "And here's how you build a computer to manage your base."
[22/09 21:39:26] <Jezza> "You can now take the weekend off."
[22/09 21:39:41] <justarandomgeek> Jezza nah, not quite that far yet
[22/09 21:40:15] <justarandomgeek> i do plan to somehow do a run through explaining the process of building the computer though at some point
[22/09 21:40:21] <Jezza> "Here's how you can build a Brainfuck interpreter"
[22/09 21:40:32] <Shingles> interesting
[22/09 21:40:36] <Shingles> i want to watch that stream
[22/09 21:40:39] <Shingles> i never use combinators
[22/09 21:40:50] <Jezza> They're pretty cool.
[22/09 21:40:54] <Jezza> I use them for a ton of things.
[22/09 21:41:03] <justarandomgeek> Shingles have i linked you my computer yet? :p
[22/09 21:41:07] <Jezza> Keeping track of my throughput for my smelting setups.
[22/09 21:41:10] <justarandomgeek> can never remember who i have/n't
[22/09 21:41:14] <Shingles> not yet justarandomgeek let's see it
[22/09 21:41:15] <Jezza> A brainfuck interpreter.
[22/09 21:41:25] <justarandomgeek> Shingles https://github.com/justarandomgeek/factorio-computer
[22/09 21:41:25] <Jezza> Literally 2s of things.
[22/09 21:41:50] <justarandomgeek> Shingles it's also in a public hosted world if you want to walk around in it
[22/09 21:41:51] <Leveller> Hege
[22/09 21:41:56] <Shingles> whoa
[22/09 21:42:06] <justarandomgeek> i need to label the buttons better though so people can play with it without me
[22/09 21:42:11] * ksft (~k@pool-108-7-196-122.bstnma.fios.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout: 195 seconds)
[22/09 21:42:27] <Leveller> Thou we ARE looking for more material that everyday factorioman can implement into the own factory.
[22/09 21:42:47] <justarandomgeek> Leveller that's kinda why i just want to do saturday afternoon streams or something
[22/09 21:42:51] <Shingles> what am i looking at
[22/09 21:43:09] <justarandomgeek> and then when something gets asked for a lot, then do a dedicated video on the generalized version of the thing
[22/09 21:43:13] <Jezza> A computer.
[22/09 21:43:14] * Heiltec closes remote window to irc client in disappointment noting that seems that one must help oneself

So here I am - still unable to find good use of the map editor and unable to just start on the scenario I want to make.

---
(added notes)
{1} The script looks like it was generated from a map with the many decimals in the positions. If I could see the script making that script it might help.

[DaveMcW]

That is not a feature the map editor supports.

[HeilTec]

That is not a feature the map editor supports. The production challenge was built by script, and must be edited by script.

I am not trying to make another production challenge. My idea is just inspired by the challenge scenario.

I am looking for a way to create multiple surfaces by editing maps and a way to integrate them.
Obviously some much effort in scripting is needed for the logic and player control, but that is not the problem.

As an example imagine choosing among several different maps on entering a server.
Each map a natural looking world customized for the scenario play using map editor.

[ssilk]

I think before the map editor can be useful Factorio needs to make clear how to edit a map, many maps (some surfaces) and a scenario and what follow after that is completely unexplored country.