An appeal to all mappers - bspzip!
I had thought of doing it myself; a complete guide on how to publish maps.
Well.... here's the personal list I've been making for myself, since I always have to look this stuff all up:
Edit: I went ahead and threw it up on the wiki:
http://wiki.thinkingwithportals.com/wik ... hing_A_Map
Please feel free to add and edit to it!
Well done Tigger. Two questions I have about the bmz:
Let's say I change something in my bmz ( like the bsp or maybe change the values for challenges in the bns) and I repackage it.
Will I have to re-import the bmz for the new changes to be applied?
I think I would because the files will need to be re-extracted to the portal/portal/maps folder.
Which leads to my next question:
Does Portal automatically overwrite files if you re-import or must you delete the portal/portal/maps/Package_Name folder first?
I've been playing it safe and deleting the folder than re-importing it in Portal.
What I recall from trying to create a .bmz for the map packs: If you have Hober.bmz, and you import it once, it'll be in a folder called Hober. If you import it again, it'll be in Hober1 (or maybe Hober2). And the next time, it'll create another one with a number one higher.
This was about 6 months ago, so this may be out of date, but that's what I remember.
no. this is correct (hober) cuz i have two "aldez" folders lol 
its creates sequential folder names
Edit: I went ahead and threw it up on the wiki:
http://wiki.thinkingwithportals.com/wik ... hing_A_Map
Please feel free to add and edit to it!
Well done. Two things I saw when I skimed through the text:
- the file name is bmz, not bnz
- I don't see a point in including ain files. Since the map is changed when it's resaved, they will be rebuilt anyway.
BTW, how can I make or edit a wiki file?
You have to make an account first. Then, editing a page is as simple as clicking "Edit" at the top of the page while logged in.
Creating a new page is a bit trickier. You have to go to the page that doesn't exist yet, like so, and then click the link to say "Edit this page", which will create it when you make the first "edit". Just make sure something links to it. Here is a good place.
Creating a new page is a bit trickier. You have to go to the page that doesn't exist yet, like so, and then click the link to say "Edit this page", which will create it when you make the first "edit". Just make sure something links to it. Here is a good place.
Thanks!
I tried to change all "bnz" to "bmz", and it worked! 
So, what's considered good etiquette on a wiki page? If I see something I don't like/something incomplete, can I rewrite it? Should I ask first in the discussion page?
If you see something factually incorrect or incomplete, sure, go ahead and fix it, no permission needed. If your only problem with it is that "you don't like it", then too bad.
Basically, every change should have something in the "reason for editing" box. If all that you can come up to put in the box is "this sucked" or "I didn't like this", then don't make the change.
On the other hand, if someone is working on a page as a personal project, they can put a WIP tag like this one. If you would rather people not edit your page, feel free to do that. But if you tell everyone not to work on the page and then you don't edit the page for a few days, I'll start asking why you're not working on it. If you can't give a good reason, I'll open it up to everyone.
And if you see one of those "don't touch this" tags, try to respect it.
Thanks for clarifying this for me, but of course I wouldn't edit a text that says it's a WIP or "Don't touch me!"