TLDR: Simply click the "Ready for upload" button at lower right in RIKdev to get a .zip file for your compiled map. Then drag that onto the upload box you get when clicking "Upload a level" on the levels page.
First off, it's strongly recommended to use RIKdev.exe when uploading levels. This automates the entire packaging process, so you can simply drag the automatically created .zip file into the browser window. This page is for those interested in the details, or who prefer to do this process manually for whatever reasons.
The first important thing to note, is that the name of the .zip will be used as the name for the level! Meaning 'Piercy-rudimentary.zip' would be named exactly 'Piercy-rudimentary'. If a new version is uploaded, it becomes 'Piercy-rudimentary(v2)'. The displayed name is case sensitive. Meaning, if it was uploaded as 'Piercy-RUdiMENtarY', that would also become the displayed name of the level. It doesn't matter what you named the .bsp and .map files, they will be renamed anyways.
Levels are uploaded in a simple .zip file. This file must contain the following:
- A .bsp file. This is the actual level loaded by the game.
- A .map file. This is the 'source' of the map. Using this file, the level can be easily edited and recompiled in the future.
- Lightmaps. These images contain precomputed lighting. They're currently required to display the level properly ingame.
After you upload the .zip, this is what the server does with it (the things being done behind the scenes when the upload progress says 'Processing'). If any of these points fail, e.g. if it doesn't find any lightmaps, the process is aborted and you will be notified that the processing was unsuccessful.
- Basic checks like filesize and so forth. Then saves the zip to a temporary folder.
- Does a basic check against a short list of banned names (mostly stuff that would interfere or be confusing with other functions on this website, things like 'list', 'admin', 'projectrik', and so on). Also makes sure it contains at least one a-z character, and that the name is at least 3 characters long.
- Checks if it's a new map, or an update to an existing one. Only admins or the original author can update an existing map.
- Extracts only the files it wants. 1 .map file, 1 .bsp file, and the lightmaps.
- Does some basic checks of the files
- Adds the .bsp together with the lightmaps to a new zip file. This will be available for public download. It does NOT include the .map file.
- The .map file is added to a separate zip. This file will only be accessible to admins and the map author. This way you always have a backup of your released level's source files. Both .zip files are kept as new versions are added. TODO ADD LINK TO READ MORE ABOUT VERSIONING
- Notifies the admins that a new map is ready to be verified. Sens a confirmation PM to the user who uploaded it.
After this, the level will not be displayed in the level listing until it has been manually verified.
The user who uploaded the level will become its “author”. If you'd like this changed, send a PM to Dinius or another admin and we can change it. As the level's author you'll be able to add a description to the level's page. Admins can also do this. In the future, comments, ratings, additional map details, and so forth might be added as well.
After this, the admins receive a new PM notifying them that there's a new level queued. When we verify it, we basically check things like:
- Basic “look over”. I.e. any visual bugs, bugs ingame, and so forth..
- Take some screenshots. Currently only admins can add these, it will probably change in the future. But until then, feel free to send us any additional screenshots you'd like included.
Note: screenshots of the level itself, not other random stuff. - Make sure it functions as intended. E.g. a timerun map must have a working start and stop timer, and the end must be reachable.
- Quick manual inspection of the .map file.
- Make sure the use of run_abort, trigger_respawn and trigger_teleport is ok.
- Entity check (no non-supported entities, etc)
- Comparison of the .map source and the compiled .bsp. These must match. In the future it could be required to make minor adjustments to the level, or something could change with the rendering system in the game making it a must to recompile the level.
- Makes sure a recompile of the .map gives the same result as the .bsp you supplied. At the moment at least, we don't re-upload our recompiled .bsp though (in order to save time). But this might change in the future given an automatic compile system where you'd only need to upload the .map file.
"Legal" / ToS, or whatever..
By uploading the level, you give us the right to:
- Alter it if we see the need
- Fix any bugs or alike
- Update it for adjustments, visuals, or compatibility needed for future versions of the game.
- Have it permanently available for download and to be played and ranked on the servers and so on.
The level / map will always be "yours", i.e. your name will always appear as author, and so forth. But we need to retain the rights mentioned above in order to not be stuck with a bunch of useless levels. None of this is intended as a "bad" thing for anyone, we just don't want to damage the "experience" / decrease the number of available maps / etc in case someone in the future would want to try to "cause problems" for a lack of better words.
For any questions feel free to PM me (Dinius) here or send an email to admin@projectrik.com