Custom minimap and loading screen?

Do you think that you will ever put a custom loading screen, or a custom mini map in the b.net lobby?

I have 3 possible mini maps:

it should be 3 since...2.1 is already out

newest is 3... oops... ill re-do them later tonight, but anyway, what do you think?

i think it's too ``basic``.the black screen dont do it.be more original!a black screen with some picture paste on it...idk if u could do better but it would be nice.

i wouldnt mind like a screen shot from a cool angle of a 6v6 game. either way, i like a big fight thing going on, which is why it has the background it has now... custom things like a background, take up map space, adding to the download the download time. I would rather use space to enhance gameplay, rather than adding a neat picture.

the only thing i plan to do with custom models, other than icons, is to add weapons and armor stuff, so when you get the item, it will appear on your hero. there would be a lot of duplicate items and such, but i would add maybe 50 item models, which would be pretty cool.

How about these three... better than a basic black background







Please tell me what you think... i may make a loading screen and show an in game screen-shot...

Glorn2 wrote:

the only thing i plan to do with custom models, other than icons, is to add weapons and armor stuff, so when you get the item, it will appear on your hero. there would be a lot of duplicate items and such, but i would add maybe 50 item models, which would be pretty cool.

wouldn't that take up quite a bit of map space? and what about heros that already have a weapon? will the weapon just be in the same hand? (ex. Paladin)

I like the last one but the color of ``custom hero arena`` isnt rly nice.

what do you think the color should be?

maybe a metalic color (darkness to lightness but not too flashy)...with black border or something like this.I dont rly know...play with 2 tone (sry if u dont understand because i speack french n im not bad in english but its hard to find some words)

FuzzyBanana92 wrote:

Glorn2 wrote:

the only thing i plan to do with custom models, other than icons, is to add weapons and armor stuff, so when you get the item, it will appear on your hero. there would be a lot of duplicate items and such, but i would add maybe 50 item models, which would be pretty cool.

wouldn't that take up quite a bit of map space? and what about heros that already have a weapon? will the weapon just be in the same hand? (ex. Paladin)

you can set them to many attach points. left hand, right hand, center of body, head, above head, feet, and i think there is 1 or 2 more attachment spot.

custom items models like that are like, 15-20 kb each, for normal ones. a custom loading screen of decent resolution is like, 150. the loading screen set up now is a big battle between 2 teams, unless you can really WOW me with a picture, I dont plan to add one. Using 7-8 custom item models would make the GAME a lot more interesting than a pretty picture during a 12 second load time... 30 seconds for people with slow computers.

to add 50 custom item models, which is a LOT (i will prolly only end up finding 35 or so that I actually use) would be 850 kb. that is a lot, considering the map is only like 1250 kb. I will prolly only use 35 or so, considering i can use affects in the game already for armors and other items. 35 = 550-600 kb. OR, I could add 4 custom unit models, and be at 850, or 3 and be over 600.

As someone that put in a custom loading screen before, I did a lot of work to keep it small. Blizzards .blp format is very good at optimizing its size. If you use a plain black fill, the size of the image will be like 2kb, no matter how big it is. So if you only use up a small amount of space on a big loading screen, you can make something that looks good, and doesn't take up much space.

alright, well, how`s this then...

if someone can make a picture that is a good representation of 2 teams of heroes fighting, or rushing into battle, or something of that nature, and keep it under sayyyy... 50 KB in size, then we can have a vote for it.

anyone who wants to enter a picture can, and we will start a poll for the top 5 or whatever. whoever makes the winning one can have their name in the credits. If none of them really appeal to me though, then I will hold off on it. The next edit will be 3.0 and will not be ready for a few months, so you have plenty of time to plan your artwork.

what size should the image be? 512x512? cause it will look stretched out when imported.

Plus, the image will be blurry from stretching/file size.

To be honest making a loading screen 50kb in size will look bad... imo

EDIT: This is what it looks like in game:

and:

i dont think that resolution is bad at all, for a full screen picture. I like the firt one a lot better than the second one. the whole humans verses humans thing isnt too hot for a game that has no humans in it, but it still looks really cool.

the resolution is nice though, lets see what the rest of the clan thinks.

Both of the images are 512x512 when you import it...

Top (155kb) BLP format - Click Here to Download
Bottom (204kb) BLP format - Click Here to Download

Also, what would you like to see in a minimap preview? and how big (50kb or less???)

hmmm, to compromise, say 100 kb. looking for kind of like what you got there, but based more around WC3 heroes (like the ones in the map)

a firey backround would be good too, as the next edit is gonna be a firey terrain. maybe an epic battle between 2 groups of wc3 heroes in the depths of hell? think you can pull all of that into 1 picture?

i could look for something along the lines of that... and ill try to make it under 100kb

the best i could do is around 175kb... if anyone knows of a way to compress .blp files, please let me know...

EDIT: Done Quickly.... may or may not be to your likening... (211kb yes... fairly large...)

EDIT 2: Removed image... now located in current quality below...

i think that looks pretty good.

would lowering the resolution save a bit of space? that is a pretty high resolution picture. 211 kb is 1/6 of my current map file size!100 kb is the limit. yeh gotta figure out a way to work around that limit.

Size (108kb) Download blp --> Click Here



Hope you like it...

yah, i like it, it is a little fuzzy, but i expeced it to be. i think the fuzzy to file size ratio is good though, the picture is still very easy to see, while managing a low file size.

Lets see what the rest of the clan thinks, i wont be able to add it until my next edit (late october?) but if there is no opposition by then, I will use this one. Of course I will credit you for it also.

Yay! Thanks... Other question... what about a minimap preview screen?

no minimap preview screen. I think the new map looks really cool as a minimap screen though. i really dont like games that have a custom minimap screen. i say `no` to that, if the majority of the clan wishes to over-rule me, then we may add one, but unless that happens, `nay`

well... thats your choice and im not one to change how the owner of the map feels about it