Balin's Tomb Reforged

[FlameofChange]

Hello there, i just viewed the triggers, and there's a lot of memory leaks concerning unit spawn. Also you can use loops to simplify a lot (instead of repeating the same action for player 1, 2, 3, etc...). I think it's the kind of polishing which can decide whenever a map is promising or not. Nothing too hard of course, it's one step further into experience.

 

[Bennoloth]

Hello there, i just viewed the triggers, and there's a lot of memory leaks concerning unit spawn. Also you can use loops to simplify a lot (instead of repeating the same action for player 1, 2, 3, etc...). I think it's the kind of polishing which can decide whenever a map is promising or not. Nothing too hard of course, it's one step further into experience.

I am not sure how to fix these memory leaks or what you're referring to? Every repeated spawn gets turned off eventually by another trigger. If you have any advice I would be grateful.

 

[FlameofChange]

"Create X [unit] at (center of [region])"
Here you are creating a location which is set to the center of a region. Once it's used, the memory keeps that data, and it won't be used again ! So everytime that action will trigger, you put more and more useless memory on the cache. When it bypass a certain limit, everyone will crash because the OS only allocate a certain amount of RAM for each process, and memory leaks can perfectly reach it.

The solution is to use a temporary variable.
"Set loc = center of [region]
create X [unit] at loc
custom script : call RemoveLocation(udg_loc)"

there's a full tutorial here

 

[Bennoloth]

"Create X [unit] at (center of [region])"
Here you are creating a location which is set to the center of a region. Once it's used, the memory keeps that data, and it won't be used again ! So everytime that action will trigger, you put more and more useless memory on the cache. When it bypass a certain limit, everyone will crash because the OS only allocate a certain amount of RAM for each process, and memory leaks can perfectly reach it.

The solution is to use a temporary variable.
"Set loc = center of [region]
create X [unit] at loc
custom script : call RemoveLocation(udg_loc)"

there's a full tutorial here

I appreciate it, will try my best but looks like a very large time investment. I intend to do it at some point but don't think it's necessary for the map to work, considering I have never had complaints of lag (and I have playtested this map on Bnet for months).

Are you saying that the next time a unit spawns in the Center of region X, that it won't use the same point as the previous trigger which spawned at Center of region X? It creates a second point for the same region? Cause if it only does it once, there will only be like, 20 of them. Shouldn't be too bad.

 

[FlameofChange]

I appreciate it, will try my best but looks like a very large time investment. I intend to do it at some point but don't think it's necessary for the map to work, considering I have never had complaints of lag (and I have playtested this map on Bnet for months).

Don't try, do it. Do or do not there's no try. Having a certain level of polishing is important for your mapping experience, and it would increase a lot the quality you spend in your maps. Also it would reduce the reasons of hazardous behaving from this map (and thus less surprises if you want to expand the complexity)

Are you saying that the next time a unit spawns in the Center of region X, that it won't use the same point as the previous trigger which spawned at Center of region X? It creates a second point for the same region? Cause if it only does it once, there will only be like, 20 of them. Shouldn't be too bad.

It's exactly what's happening indeed.

Single leaks won't affect anything but the dignity of a programer,
but tons of leaks instead will heavily affect the runtime process and may
lead to unsmooth execution, and in extreme cases to unuseability of the application.

This explains my point of view and i strongly suggest you to handle all of these, the goal would be to get a better eye about programming in Warcraft III.
It needed years for me to get into those, and it slowed me down a lot. So when i see enthusiastic newcomers i can't stop myself from keeping them from the errors i did. You will gain a lot of time, i'll guarantee it.

 

[Bennoloth]

Don't try, do it. Do or do not there's no try. Having a certain level of polishing is important for your mapping experience, and it would increase a lot the quality you spend in your maps. Also it would reduce the reasons of hazardous behaving from this map (and thus less surprises if you want to expand the complexity)


It's exactly what's happening indeed.

This explains my point of view and i strongly suggest you to handle all of these, the goal would be to get a better eye about programming in Warcraft III.
It needed years for me to get into those, and it slowed me down a lot. So when i see enthusiastic newcomers i can't stop myself from keeping them from the errors i did. You will gain a lot of time, i'll guarantee it.

Alright man you've inspired me, I have a 2 week old newborn but somehow this weekend I'll do it haha.

 

[Daffa]

Is this your map? If not, do you have permission to upload and editing from the author?

 

[FlameofChange]

I think this might help you.

Spoiler

 

[Bennoloth]

Is this your map? If not, do you have permission to upload and editing from the author?

The original map was made in 2002 and I gave the creator as much credit as I could. I have no way of contacting him asking for permission to edit. This is an updated version of his map that I made, which from what I can tell falls within the site rules.

I think this might help you.

Spoiler

View attachment 322270

Thanks man. I posted on the forums about some of the other issues which I have not made significant progress on yet. If you have more time to help out I would be happy to discuss on an instant messenger like Discord.

 

[森林里的小鱼人]

Hello! I'm a translator in China , i'm interested in your map, beceuse i'm fascinated with the polt of The Ring, there is no deny that this map capture my heart, so i want to translate it to Chinese and ask you for the permission.
i won't upload it to any platform unauthorized, and i also wait for your reply. i just hope share it with Chinese WAR3 players. My e-mail is [email protected], please contact me。
I'm looking forward your reply.

 

[Daffa]

Sorry for just responding. Valid enough. Will try to allocate time or delegate someone for this.

 

[森林里的小鱼人]

I'm a beginner in HIVE, So what should I do?

 

[Daffa]

I'm referring to the author, when I posted it. @Bennoloth expect a review sometime down the line.

 

[森林里的小鱼人]

OK..... I receive your message from my e-mail, i'm sorry for that.

 

[eubz]

Balin's Tomb Reforged
Submitted by Bennoloth

- Terrain needs more polishing. There are terrains which are very sharp and needs to be smoothen.
- Needs to look into the trigger for too many memory leaks, like location and unit groups: See Basic Memory Leaks
- Polish the map. This needs to be in AWAITING UPDATE until polished.

 

[Bennoloth]

To: 森林里的小鱼人

As mentioned in email, it's OK with me.

To: GhostOfPast

I have used the Player Group Heroes to do multiple actions quickly (actually would have saved me hours of time to do it this way in the first place). I call that part a success, but not uploading a new map yet just for that.

I tried to fix my location leaks and no luck yet. I get a script error I don't understand at all. I'll continue to work on it.

To: eubz

I don't quite understand what you mean about sharp terrain. Could you please explain further? For the most part I tried not to change the terrain, to maintain the nostalgia of this old RoC map. For memory leaks, as mentioned above, I am having trouble with the "call RemoveLocation" script, but working on it.

 

[Bennoloth]

Hi, I tried to message eubz directly, but for any other curators watching this, here was my message (he did not reply for a few weeks):

1. I wanted to keep the original terrain as it's based on a RoC map and changing the terrain will affect the nostalgia factor. If there is anything in particular you think is very off please let me know.

2. I added the Garbage Collector script and I believe that will fix the memory leaks. There was a long running desync that used to happen which no longer does. No one ever reports slowness. The map feels very non-buggy and ready to go.

3. Please let me know anything else I need to do before this map can be accepted.

End

 

[eubz]

I will see the map's progress soon and post new review when done.

 

[Shar Dundred]

The suggested changes from @eubz have still not been made.

Moved to Substandard.

 

[Bennoloth]

The suggested changes from @eubz have still not been made.

Moved to Substandard.

Hi please see my reply on this thread. I don't feel this is a fair judgement without replying to my last. Anyway Reforged broke this map so I have to figure how to make it playable at all again before it can be reviewed. I'm not sure if you're basing this on the fact that in Reforged, the lobby doesn't even work. A detailed reply would be appreciated as I've been trying to get this map approved for literally over a year.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Please read the review from @eubz.

 

[Bennoloth]

Please read the review from @eubz.

I replied to him in this thread. This was my reply:

1. I wanted to keep the original terrain as it's based on a RoC map and changing the terrain will affect the nostalgia factor. If there is anything in particular you think is very off please let me know.

2. I added the Garbage Collector script and I believe that will fix the memory leaks. There was a long running desync that used to happen which no longer does. No one ever reports slowness. The map feels very non-buggy and ready to go.

3. Please let me know anything else I need to do before this map can be accepted.

+++

I understand now that the lobby wasn't working in Reforged due to point #2, so I have disabled the Garbage Collector script, and the game can be hosted again. If I either find an updated version of it, or change all of the triggers to avoid memory leak, am I good then?

NB: The map always turns off its spawns, there are no infinite spawns. So at most you're going to have around 30-50 "points" for the whole game. I hardly think it's a real issue and it's never caused issues. The concern is that I am causing the game to generate a "point" for each spawn, but it's never getting to a huge number that would cause a crash or anything.

There are 10 waves in the beginning. Then another area with maybe 5 spawns before it turns off, or 10 if the players REALLY take their time. Then another area with about 10 spawns. So 30 as a conservative number for the majority of the game.

The final area which lasts about 5 minutes does have more spawns, there are spiders which move in circles. It probably generates as many points as the previous 45 minutes. But again, never had a crash there.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Okay, I was under the impression that the map still suffered from the original issues & that you had not reacted to it/went "inactive".
Since that was wrong, I am moving this back to Pending and will take a look at it in the next few days.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Map appears to be functional.

Approved!

 

[Bennoloth]

Map appears to be functional.

Approved!

I love you! Thanks!

 

[emil23]

I love you! Thanks!

why are you using arthas and uther models in 2020? models also matter map looks less attractive

 

[Bennoloth]

why are you using arthas and uther models in 2020? models also matter map looks less attractive

Read rest of thread for answer to this. How did you like the gameplay?

 

[RedKiwi]

Hey Bennoloth, my friends and I in New Zealand meet up for LAN Parties every few months and Balin's Tomb has been a favorite of ours at these events for years so I was very pleased to see someone else take an interest in this fantastic classic map! Unfortunately, the version of the game that we play at these events is 1.26a, so we will not be able to enjoy your improvements.

However, for years I have wanted to make my own alterations to this map but have not been able to because the map file was protected. I was wondering if you could share with me how you managed to get around this protection to make your improvements, as I would love to be able to optimize this map for my LAN group who use 1.26a, as well as make alterations to models and terrain.
You can reach me on my email at [email protected]

Cheers

 

[Bennoloth]

Hey Bennoloth, my friends and I in New Zealand meet up for LAN Parties every few months and Balin's Tomb has been a favorite of ours at these events for years so I was very pleased to see someone else take an interest in this fantastic classic map! Unfortunately, the version of the game that we play at these events is 1.26a, so we will not be able to enjoy your improvements.

However, for years I have wanted to make my own alterations to this map but have not been able to because the map file was protected. I was wondering if you could share with me how you managed to get around this protection to make your improvements, as I would love to be able to optimize this map for my LAN group who use 1.26a, as well as make alterations to models and terrain.
You can reach me on my email at [email protected]

Cheers

Hiya. Glad to hear it, it's a classic! I don't think there are any protections on the map I put out. Can you not modify it? If not, try one of the many versions on www.epicwar.com

Good luck

 

[Blasterixx]

Tested the map with a full lobby, and here are my thoughts:

• If Frodo goes down, it’s game over, so I think he needs a bit more love—maybe more health and armor.
• The enemy units hit way too hard; some skeletons and ogres are dealing like 500 damage, which is just crazy.
• Also, those ranged skeletons that spawn in the starting area—what are we supposed to do about them?
• Overall, the map feels pretty unbalanced.

Here is the gameplay video:

 

[Bennoloth]

Tested the map with a full lobby, and here are my thoughts:

• If Frodo goes down, it’s game over, so I think he needs a bit more love—maybe more health and armor.
• The enemy units hit way too hard; some skeletons and ogres are dealing like 500 damage, which is just crazy.
• Also, those ranged skeletons that spawn in the starting area—what are we supposed to do about them?
• Overall, the map feels pretty unbalanced.

Here is the gameplay video:

I'm glad you tried it out! There is an easy mode and if you don't enjoy those aspects, easy mode pretty handily fixes most of your issues.

Easy mode has no archers, less ogres, more armor on Frodo, and a free level up for all characters. Those who have played the game a few times may find easy mode to be quite boring though. Beating these obstacles is a good part of the fun of the game.

To beat the ranged skeletons, a good Legolas can simply autoattack them down, Windwalking away if needed. Gandalf and Merry can provide some support, but especially Gandalf needs to be careful as he doesn't have Wind Walk.

As far as the Red Skeletons and Ogres, they must be bursted down as a team with Windwalk damage, Storm Bolts, and focus fire.

If you play any more and manage to beat it let me know!