Does front/middle/back mean anything?

Last time I tried to make an arc, setting any encounter to front, middle or back made no difference.
Back could spawn in the first room, front could spawn in the very last room.
To make a story occur in sequence on a large map, players had to backtrack all over the place, something everyone quickly tired of.
It was broke.
Did they ever fix it?

---

Front, middle, back is not broken, it just does not act as expected by the player in some maps.

Go into the editor and look at the thumbnail of your mission's map. It shows the spawn points now, and whether they are front, middle, or back. That should help you place them as you want unless the map is one of those with some of the very bizarre spawn points.

---

@Doctor Gemini

Arc #271637 - Welcome to M.A.G.I. - An alternative first story arc for magic origin heroes. At Hero Registration you heard the jokes about Azuria always losing things. When she loses the entire M.A.G.I. vault, you are chosen to find it.

The only way to really be sure about where something will spawn on a particular map is to test it. Create objects named Front, Back, and Middle, place them in the locations that match, then go on the map and see where they really show up. Do the same for Boss, ambush, hostage, and anything else you want to be sure of. Mob spawns are usually okay, but it only takes one showing up in the wrong place to screw up your mission. Also, the object and mob spawns can be, and usually are, messed up separately. You can have an object set for the middle that spawns with the boss who is set for the back.

Outside maps do not have front, middle, or back, no matter what the map actually says. Anything placed on them spawns randomly.

Because of the problems with spawning points, if your missions has requirements about placements to make your story work, Random maps are a very, very bad idea.

---

Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------

Here's another delightful bug, if you put in too many Middle objects (often MA will let you) then after all the Middle spawns are full they will start spawning in the Front and Back areas as well.

Also, Battles seem to take the "Any" details, not the Boss ones.

---

---

I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!

Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati

---

Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
----------------------
Fighting The Future Trilogy
----------------------

---

[url="http://adingworld.wordpress.com/mission-architect-story-arcs/"][b]My Story arcs[/b][/url]: [i]The Siren Supremes[/i] ([b]1143[/b]), [i]The Missing Geneticist[/i] ([b]2542[/b]), [i]Elemental Jones[/i] ([b]263512[/b]), [i]The Soul Hunter[/i] ([b]294431[/b]), [i]Heart of Steel[/i] ([b]407104[/b]), [i]Project Serpens[/i] ([b]434082[/b])

I've found a few maps where front/middle/back works for mobs, but not objects, or vice versa. In the mission I'm working on now, "back" works for floor objects, but wall objects must be set to "middle" in order for them to spawn in the "back", red-marked area of the map.

I can set the objects in the desired locations using this modified nomenclature, but this also means that some future patch will fix the bug, and "break" my mission. I've only got a few missions to retest after each patch, but it must be a royal pain in the butt for people that many published arcs.

---

I seem to be getting the hang of placements now. Certianly much easier since the MA update which shows the spawn points on your chosen map.

There is one spawn that is bugging me but not sure if anything can be done about it.

I am using the President Marchand's Office map on a final mission with the goal being to arrest Countess Crey.

I would like her to spawn in the office or on the open roof.

Thinking "back" would do it turns out she spawned on the second floor as there is one red X on that floor symbolising back spawn point on the entire map.

I looked at the map preview in the editor and noticed that most of the map was all white meaning "middle" but with a small batch of green for "front" on the 1st floor. I figured the floor numbering was a little off like some of the Arachnos maps.

When I started a solo test though I realised that it was meaning the first room on entry however she did spawn on the roof so I though, sweet, leave it at that.

Just done another pre-publish test though with a team and she spawned in one of the corridoors on the second floor.

Anyone tried something similar with that map and get the spawn in the office or roof everytime?

---

Credit goes to FrankyT49 for animated avatar

List of toons on Union Handbook

Leon Tasker: "Dunelm Group! What is your profession?"

Dunelm Group: "OOOOORRRAAAAH!"