Map Maker Beta ...

[Redleg]

One of the things I want most to do with mapping is to add buildings to a map that are not present.

For example, perhaps map L1 has a House4b that I like. How can I grab that house and put it in my new map which may be named MyTest? Or can it be done via map-maker?

Also is it possible to find a database that lists all of the various buildings, trees, etc in the game so they can be edited/added to? ...... and accessed by say, Scene Edit or Map Maker?

What I hope to accomplish is the ability to cut/paste the building or other terrain files from one map into another sorta like the trees are handled in Map Maker.

Or am I outside the realm of reality?

[rickier65]

Not sure what you mean by "clipped by menu bars..:, etc. MM has fixed size, and I just open it in the middle of my screen.

In any event, attached is a map.bmp for the piepsk map I was working on. The first error when loading is "....found FFFFBF" - used GIMP to paint this. After that msg, I used GIMP to substitute FFFFFF for all FFFFBF, then got another different error. After about 12 of these errors (and fixing in between each one) I decided to just proceed - (I actually I ended up using antoehr GIMP tool to 'flatten' the map to 5 colors I think - but when it loaded - it still had errors).

I tired just looking around map but couldnt pin down where the errant pixels were, - found lots of FFFFFF but no FFFFBF, but don't doubt they were there.

I'm assuming that GIMP somehow created the problem, but don't know how.

I've attached the pipskmap.zip which contains the BMP.

Thanks
Rick

[Stridor]

Rick here are your bad pixels:

The color values are in hex RGB

so

FF FF FF = 255 255 255 = white

00 00 00 = 0 0 0 = black

FF FF BF = light yellow

When working with these maps it is essentially that you don't apply filters or resize or feather cuts n' pastes in you paint program as all these operations may change color values without you noticing. Almost always you can just ignore it and continue but keep in mind that things might not turn out the way you thought (eg the MM makes no trees because it can't see a valid tree area color etc)

Regards

S.

[Stridor]

ORIGINAL: Redleg

One of the things I want most to do with mapping is to add buildings to a map that are not present.

For example, perhaps map L1 has a House4b that I like. How can I grab that house and put it in my new map which may be named MyTest? Or can it be done via map-maker?

In scenedit select the house you want and see what its mediaId tag is. Then in your own map add a new child with the same tag from the list. You can cut and paste the xml entries as well but the first way is easier and less error prone.

Also is it possible to find a database that lists all of the various buildings, trees, etc in the game so they can be edited/added to? ...... and accessed by say, Scene Edit or Map Maker?

No, it is a good idea. I started the project a while back but it is a big job so I abandonded it. Essentially we need someone with MS3D or a directX viewer to go through all the mediaIds (models) render then in 3/4 projection and the save them as a bitmap. The you could "go shoping" as it were for what you want and then place it in MM.

What I hope to accomplish is the ability to cut/paste the building or other terrain files from one map into another sorta like the trees are handled in Map Maker.

Or am I outside the realm of reality?

No that is quite possible even now.

Regards

S.

[rickier65]

Stridor -

Thanks, I'm going to try this again and I'll try to be careful of how I create the AImap. GIMP has so many options when painting, I"m not always sure exactly which ones are set, or what they do when they are set.

I may try paint.net next time and see if it stays cleaner.

I actually thought I was being careful - but obviously not.

Thanks again.
Rick

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Redleg

One of the things I want most to do with mapping is to add buildings to a map that are not present.

For example, perhaps map L1 has a House4b that I like. How can I grab that house and put it in my new map which may be named MyTest? Or can it be done via map-maker?

Also is it possible to find a database that lists all of the various buildings, trees, etc in the game so they can be edited/added to? ...... and accessed by say, Scene Edit or Map Maker?

What I hope to accomplish is the ability to cut/paste the building or other terrain files from one map into another sorta like the trees are handled in Map Maker.

Or am I outside the realm of reality?

Redleg -

What you want to do can be done now with SceneEdit. I created a Balta scenario by modifying one of the existing maps - removing some roads, adding some woods, and removing some buildings, and adding others.

I also tested being able to add foreigh objects when Saf-Biffa started his modding, I wanted to be able to add them using the insert option, and I was able to do that.

I don't recall off hand what I had to do, but I can look at my notes if you want.

Rick

[Stridor]

New version 0.3d is out

[Redleg]

Rick.

What would be very helpful would be an example of capturing a house in one map and taking it to any other map.

Everything I have tried, failed miserably.

Any hint or clues will be appreciated.

[benpark]

Redleg, I believe most every building is available in the scene editor.

If there is a building in particular that you want to use, browse through the folder for the map you saw it on. You can identify it from the look of the .dds file. Then, start the scene editor, and load your map. Click the tab at left, and open it up until you see the folder scene/children. Right click that, and click "insert"-you will now see a list of a hundred or so models to choose from, and the model you took the .dds name from should be on that list.

[Redleg]

Benpark.

I believe there is some overlap between the buildings, etc in Maps. But there are many graphics that seem to be unique to a particular scenario.

For example, L9 Map has Pinetree A01, A02, A03.
Cruising through the various scenarios, I find woodpiles, wagons, telephone poles, wires, fence, sheds, silos, a couple of different churches, factories, wrecked train cars, unwrecked traincars, railroad tracks, and so on.

One scenario may use building 1A, 3A, 4A and 4B for example and that is all that will be listed in Scene Edit. Another scenario may use 1 or 2 of the aforementioned but also use 6A and 6B. There are a couple of maps that have no buildings whatever.

What I hope to accomplish, for example, is to create a map with the Pinetrees from L9 and the Kharkov Tree 10 (evergreen) and have more variety. Also, some maps have some small buildings that seem to be stores - at least it has a sign in front...... One scenario even has a sort of large drainage pipe (I doubt I would use it, but there it is).

So I believe that some sort of compendium of all of these buildings, trees, etc and some mechanism to export/import these dudes would greatly increase the variety of landscapes in the game.

Since each map has different features, I kept thinking there would be some sort of a file listing all available buildings, trees, etc.

So when I am editing a map using Scene Edit, I am limited to making copies of those buildings in that map (some of which I would like to get rid of and replace with some buildings in other maps that I like much better or which meet the theme of the battle I am trying to create.

Again, I will appreciate any information about this.

[Stridor]

Redleg,

PCK has a master list of all map place able objects which lives within the games dll files. As such it is not available to be user modified (well not easily anyway). You can however add your own place able objects reference list via the media.xml mechanism. If you use the MM to make maps for you one of the nice things it does is to scan your Media/Mods directory and build a master media.xml file for your map with all your added mod content so that you don't need to do this yourself. A downside is that anyone who downloads your map must also have these mods.

ALL models are available to you in scenedit regardless of which map you are working on because scenedit has access to both the master game list as well as the media.xml resource list for your current map. Look at the screen shot below. This map I generated from MM and called test. If you look at the object hierarchy you will see that MM has already made some master "headings" under which those object types are placed. For any budding map makers it is a good idea to put your objects under MAPNAME_structures. This way MM will not mess with them if you need to go back into MM to make some changes to your map and have already placed some structures. Right click on the children entry of test_structures and select insert. You will be presented with a master list of all possible objects. There are hundreds.

Someone needs to make a better catalogue than this (eg a visual one rather than a text one). ATM you can try clicking on different objects and inserting them into the map to see what they are. Remember to hit "G" to make them align with the ground! Every single object within the game is available this way. Note: some objects don't work but you will need to see these for yourself. If ever SE throws an exception just ignore it and continue.

I hope this helps

[Redleg]

Stridor:
Thanks a lot. I will attempt to see how I can use this..... soon, very soon.[:'(]

Another bit of a problem. A crash with MapMaker which happened twice in a row using the same data.

If I tell the progrma to proceed, nothing happens. A screenshot of the error here; a zipped copy of the height map and map.bmp will follow in case you want it.

I am 99.99 percent sure I did not make any typo in colors and I didn't modify the height map at all. As you can see, I heavily modified map.bmp using Paint net.

[Redleg]

Stridor:

Thanks for the previous info. I'll attempt to put it into play (so to speak)[;)]

Here are Height (unedited).... and Map.bmp which was heavily edited in Paint Net.

[Stridor]

Redleg,

Your heightmap (which looks like the 1A HM) is 64x64 and saved as RGB color (it should be greyscale).

Your AI map is fine.

I have found the bug you discovered and made an update which is on the #1 post as usual. I suggest everyone update to this new version.

Regards

S.

[Redleg]

Stridor: Many thanks for the fix.

BTW, the info you sent put me in the driver's seat. Now I can do what I have been wanting to do since I first started playing this game! Good stuff. Much appreciated.

As you can tell, I haven't messed with graphics hardly at all so I can be a good subject because if I get it, then most everyone will get it.

[Redleg]

Better late than never! [;)]

Here's the map I was working on yesterday. The significant changes are conversion of some farm land to forest. The inclusion of larger heavy wooded areas.

Edit: Forgot to mention the addition of several buildings.

Question: How to get rid of the "Placeholder Mask Png" on the heightmap?... or need I do that?

[Stridor]

MM now supports map labels.

You define the labels in the MM (you can set the label height above ground so there is some flexibility), edit them (they are pngs so graphics/icons are possible rather than just plain text if you prefer) and then they will appear on the map.

At the moment labels are fixed in the game (no ability to turn them off). However like the show trees toggle PCK should soon have the ability to turn map labels on and off. I have coded them in such a way as to make this very easy to do in the PCK code for the future.

This is just a demo SS to give you some idea. You would never do this in the game as it looks a bit ugly in this quick and dirty SS.

[Stridor]

Here is the new look MM with label support. You can drag and drop labels and move them about the map.

The structures section is new and in time will support selecting from a visual catalog of 3D elements (structures) and placeing them on the map. This should speed up map making even more as well as further reduce the time spent in SE.

[Redleg]

Stridor:

This should be of great interest to those who are producing "historical" scenarios.
Or those, like me, who might want to label the deployment area.

[benpark]

What wizardry is this!?!

Fan-Tas-Tic.[&o]