Making my first ABII map, and I have questions!

[benpark]

Thanks for opening up the thread for mapping and modding.

Where I'm at in the somewhat tortured journey to figure out the map creation for this engine - I am making a test map to learn the ropes of the area around Munster. I have created a map with heights and layers in QGIS that correspond to what I imagine I may need in ABII based upon the terrain colors (and having played the game). I'm now testing the map in the game, and my Preview map shows up, and I see the ma in the map list. I have toggled the editor setting to activate the Map Editor in the development.ini file, and loaded up the game. On to my current struggle:

-The map editor seems easy enough to figure out as a refining tool once the game starts. I have to load it as a scenario, however which means you always have to Save and Exit. I moved some stuff around on another map. I may see that again someday if it did save. How do I edit my entire map without doing it in this manner?

-My heights are all showing when in the 3D portion of the map editor (the DEM loaded), but none of my underlying terrain textures (and no 3D structures, roads, trees, ect). My swatch file was lifted right from the one provided, and I did color check between a stock map. That seems good. Anything else that would stop that from showing? It is a 2048x2048, 72PPI, BMP file.

[Veitikka]

-The map editor seems easy enough to figure out as a refining tool once the game starts. I have to load it as a scenario, however which means you always have to Save and Exit. I moved some stuff around on another map. I may see that again someday if it did save. How do I edit my entire map without doing it in this manner?

It's not possible to edit a larger area than 512x512 pixels in the game. Any image editor can be used to edit the full map if needed.

-My heights are all showing when in the 3D portion of the map editor (the DEM loaded), but none of my underlying terrain textures (and no 3D structures, roads, trees, ect). My swatch file was lifted right from the one provided, and I did color check between a stock map. That seems good. Anything else that would stop that from showing? It is a 2048x2048, 72PPI, BMP file.

If the terrain .bmp fails to load it's usually because the height and terrain file dimensions don't match, or the terrain file is not saved as a 24bit .bmp.

[benpark]

I found the culprit- The "Names" file. I had a blank in. I've got to remember how to grab them from the cut-out area in QGIS.

It is a mess! I'm going to start a new map, based upon what I have learned up to now. Maybe by the third one or so, I'll have something to show for it. I'm going for less detail in QGIS, as it does seem to come down to hand-painting the terrain file to some degree.

Thanks for the game, and the help.

armoredbrigade2.exe Screenshot 2025.01.10 - 12.20.32.22 - Copy - Copy.png (2.21 MiB) Viewed 709 times

[benpark]

A few useful QGIS links that have been helpful:

UTM Zone finder:
https://mapscaping.com/utm-zone-finder/

OSM Finder:
https://mapscaping.com/openstreetmap-category-viewer/

Data for most of the earth:
https://download.geofabrik.de/

[benpark]

I've started on a new map, now that I understand how the roads are laid down. I see that the edits are being saved in the game editor when I go in and out of it to manually place things, but my "terrain.bmp" file isn't updated with the changes. I do see that there's a "Map is Locked" warning, though the file seems read/write.

[Veitikka]

I've started on a new map, now that I understand how the roads are laid down. I see that the edits are being saved in the game editor when I go in and out of it to manually place things, but my "terrain.bmp" file isn't updated with the changes. I do see that there's a "Map is Locked" warning, though the file seems read/write.

Custom maps must be in 'Documents\My Games\Armored Brigade 2\data\map', not in the game installation folder.

Changes must be saved by pressing Ctrl+S before exiting the map editor.

[benpark]

Thanks, I'll move it.

I see that there is an overlay function (after reading the Discord AB mapping thread). I'll try placing that in the same folder, and return to ask where it goes if that isn't the place.

[benpark]

abscreen - Copy.jpg (1.87 MiB) Viewed 625 times

Things are coming together. A tip for anyone starting out, and re-drawing the roads, etc from the QGIS output- Use the Shape tool (in Photoshop), set to 1 pixel, and hold down the SHIFT key to get the angles for the roads when they can adhere to that. Once I realized that was like Combat Mission mapping (terrain also drawn on a grid), I figured it out.

These are big maps. This could take a while, but nice to see results.

[benpark]

Still chugging along. I really appreciate that line tool in the map editor!

I posted about the warehouses not loading. That would help give some variety to the towns.

I saw in the Discord that someone had suggested a tile for backyards for towns. Small outbuildings and small garden plots. That would add some more variety to towns, as well.

Some system for randomizing textures would also be good. That would be an "1", "2", "3" type system at the end of the texture name, and would be loaded in some random pattern. That would give some extra textures for houses, soldiers and vehicles. Combat Mission did it that way, an a number of other games use that method, as well. It helps get more mileage out of the models.

Once I finish this up, I'll be looking at smaller maps, from historical maps. Less time spent in QGIS, beyond Georeferencing, maybe forest and waterways, and heights. The overlay is good enough in the editor that someone that can read topo maps can differentiate road systems, etc.

armoredbrigade2 - Copy.jpg (419.26 KiB) Viewed 574 times

[Aragorn2002]

That's a good looking map, Benpark. Which area is this? Looking forward to more maps.

[benpark]

This covers from west of Muncheberg, to the east of Seelow.

[Aragorn2002]

Interesting choice!

[nikolas93TS]

do I smell some WW2 mod here?

[Aragorn2002]

Perhaps the maps of Flashpoint Campaigns Germany could be inspiration for smaller historical maps, like the one in WG3 The Witch's Cauldron ( Hessisch Oldendorf/Rinteln)
(

[benpark]

Still plugging away at the map. I have learned a few things I'd do differently next time. I'll write 'em down for anyone else along a similar path.

-Use tree-lined roads as the default, rather than the dirt roads for minor roads. This breaks up the LoS between fields, which are everywhere in the areas/era that is depicted. Man, I'm tired of drawing in fields. At least there's a "Fill" tool and a "Line" in this editor. These are appreciated, and speed things up a lot.

-Use the streams with the trees, rather than the just-stream version by default. LoS breaks, as above.

-I work from a a document with a separate layer for every color coded terrain type (roads, forests, streams, etc). Make a layer for any road that uses mainly 45/90/180 degree angles traced out and matched best as possible. I use the Line tool, hold SHIFT and click at desired angle in Photoshop, and follow the same-color/troad type that I exported from that equivalent QGIS layer. This avoids "saw-toothed roads" effect as much as possible which can impact the way the game plays. Watching tanks move in "s" movements (exposing different sides of vehicles, potentially) rather than a straight avenue seems worse than a few meters off where people wouldn't notice in my mind, so I prefer to do it this way. It's pretty easy to get this close to original networks with practice. This layered will become the map BMP when flattened.

-Don't inadvertently flatten parts of the above file, then decide to just fix it in the 3D editor. That's where I'm at now. Too much deleting of Morse Code-looking roads in 3D with the default QGIS image made for any road type, so maybe my settings need adjusting there. They would still need to be traced, however to fix the roads to the angles I prefer. I suppose it would be best to go back, draw every layer properly and they would be done in the 3D view.

-I'd spend less time in QGIS for the game map information. It's great for the height-maps, roads (all types), rivers/streams, forests. It may be useful for building placement with some more settings tweaks, but I found it made a nonsensical jumble compared to Google Earth or other maps in QGIS. It's more interesting to look at an overlay and get into model railroad detail in the 3D view. The QGIS blocks most things out well, but it comes down to getting things like forest edges down with some looking at the actual thing/pictures of it, experimenting with what tools are on offer, and old-fashioned-arthritis-forming-work.

-I think the editor is pretty adaptable and straightforward to use so far. More building variety, would be my current and past wish-lister.

-QGIS can help make great looking things like fields and city-clusters for the Preview image. I found those images also depended completely on the road network for the game map and the overlay guiding what was there, so things like fields would best to be done in the in-game editor (following the overlay/roads/other impacting terrain). That would take into account the map BMP layers I make for each road network type, rivers/water, and forests. I use the overlay for other 3D elements like tree types and building placements (which remain very general due to game LoS and available building types).

[MGK4167]

Ok team, I'm stuck. I would appreciate some help

I am using QGIS 3.42.
I have managed to make a gray raster cut of the area I need, with heights -6 to 709. So far so good.
I colour it red, which works fine, up to 255m. It works fine in Armor Bde and Armor Bde II, but only gives me contours to 255m. Above that, the terrain is a plateau.
I have tried to use Styles in the new QGIS, but cannot seem to load the file that was in the previous map making tutorial.

So, long ramble to question: using QGIS 3.42 how do I convert a gray image to the red image needed by (both) games?

Thanks in advance. I would really appreciate a step by step walk through. Do not underestimate my unfamiliarity with QGIS!

Michael

[Veitikka]

I have tried to use Styles in the new QGIS, but cannot seem to load the file that was in the previous map making tutorial.

If you have a link broken/missing in the .pdf version, it should work in the forum thread version.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 0&t=331973

[MGK4167]

Thank you Veitikka for your quick reply,

I did not express myself well. I have been able to download the file from your excellent map-making tutorial, but I cannot understand how to use it in QGIS. In the old version of QGIS you could Load a style, as shown in your tutorial. But a Load option is not in the version of QGIS I have: QGIS 3.42. There is no Load option that I can find.

So, has anyone been able to Load the style file into QGIS 3.42 and how did you do it please?

Alternatively, how did you add elevation to a map using any other method.

Thanks in advance.

Michael

[benpark]

https://docs.qgis.org/3.40/en/docs/user ... nager.html

There are also older versions of QGIS that you can find on their website.

I'm still working slowly away at this map. The buildings are slightly sparser than the "modern" maps, as the goal is to be able to put some 1945-era forces on it. It looks like others will beat me to adding those (some nice examples on the Discord), as I'm focusing on getting the map done first. The infantry are fairly simply animated. I may do a few of those, if I ever get a free few minutes together to focus on it. I tend to forget 48.5% of my Blender knowledge as soon as I spend a day away from it.