Official News - page 4

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR PLANET

by Hazed

So you've worked hard to design what you think is the perfect planet, and you're ready to email it to feedback@ibgames.com to be linked into the game. But before you send that email, just pause and do a final check that you've done the things that need to be done. It's important that there are no errors in your planet files that might upset the game – because if we find anything wrong, we'll chuck the files back at you to fix which will delay your brave new world being linked into the game.

The Tesla planet checker spots some of the obvious mistakes that players have made in the past. The most common problems are to do with the map information that you have to type in to specify the title of the map, the landing pad location number, and the orbit location number. Other common problems are giving the files the wrong names, particularly the space map which should be called "space.loc" and should not include the actual name of the system, or including an initial capital in the filenames when they should be all in lower case.

There's a checklist of exactly how the map information and filenames should be in the Workbench Manual at http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/workbench/manual/checklist/intro.html.

You can also use Gwaptiva's excellent stock planet generator (for Windows computers) to set up the files correctly before you start putting your planet together. Even if you don't want to use a stock planet, using this program will ensure that the map information and filenames are correct – you can then delete the stock planet locations, leaving the map squares blank and ready for your creative touch. Download the stock planet generator at http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/workbench/stock/index.html.

Finally, when you submit your planet, PLEASE remember to put Fed2 somewhere in the subject line – otherwise your mail might get lost in the daily torrent of spam we receive!

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