This guide is an attempt to simplify map-making for people who want to try it. It is still being perfected so please add your input. I'm trying to avoid using the module system in this guide since it seems to be a big stumbling block for people who are intimidated by the coding involved. For the complete guide by Turanien which is excellent but involves the module system
Click Here. Hopefully this new system will avoid errors encountered by many due to the scripts.txt file being uneditable without the python files. Good luck and let me know if you have problems or successes! Note: This method is for
v1.143. If we get a newer version, bug me and I'll update.
Setup:Note: Though people frequently refer to the battlefield we play in multiplayer as a "Map", in warband it is called "Scene". This is to avoid confusion with the Single Player World Map, which can also be edited. For this reason you will see lots of talk about "scenes" instead of "maps" when you actually edit. Just to clear up any possible confusion.
1. Navigate to the Modules folder in your Warband game files. (Mine is at C:\Program Files\Mount&Blade Warband\Modules).
2. Make a copy of the "Native" folder here, and name it something you'll recognize (Mine's Kong_Mod). This is your new "mod" in which you'll create your maps.
3. In the Warband start-up menu (where you choose which module your playing), select "Configure", go to the "Advanced" tab, and make sure "Enable Edit Mode" is checked.
Adding the Scenes:Download this file:
Kong Ming's Easy Multiplayer ScenesUnzip it and move the enclosed files into your new module's folder, overwriting the old files. There, I just saved you a huge pain in the @$$.
With these files in your mod, you will now have 20 new essentially blank maps to edit as you please. Note that 1-15 are set up for Battle/Deathmatch/Duel, and 16-20 are reserved for Siege. If you need more (good god), simply create another new mod by starting from the beginning of this guide and copy the files again for 20 more scenes.
The Terrain Code and Scenes.txt:Warband has a nifty device that allows it to very quickly create a random terrain. It's called the terrain code and it's basically a loooong hexadecimal number that lives in the scenes.txt file and looks something like this:
scn_my_multi_1 my_multi_1 256 none none 0.000000 0.000000 100.000000 100.000000 -100.000000 0x00000001300389800003a4ea000058340000637a0000399b
0
0
outer_terrain_plain This long number in bold contains all the info the game needs about the physical terrain, the hills and valleys, the climate, the size, plants, rivers, etc. How do we make one for our map? Fire up your mod and get a single-player game started. Once you get to the world map you should see a new button in the lower left corner called "Terrain" (assuming you still have edit mode enabled). Clicking "Terrain" will bring you to the Terrain Generator. Play around with it. You'll see how the game does what I described.
IMPORTANT ADVICE REGARDING TERRAIN GENERATOR:
-Unless you just want to be quick and lazy, I recommend always having the "Foliage" slider at 0. Foliage added to the map with the terrain code CANNOT be edited, delete, moved, scaled, nothing. It's there forever, and usually not where you want it. You can add all the plants you want manually later as "models" and can then do all sorts of things to them.
-I've heard advice to avoid using the Place River, Deep Water, or Shade Occluder options. Use them at your own risk.Once you've created a terrain that looks close to what you want to start with for your scene, simply click copy to save the Terrain Code to your clipboard. Then in the scenes.txt file, do a search for "
my_scene_1". You should find the long list of scenes we've added, and each entry looks similar to the code excerpt shown above. Simply replace the terrain code on the scene entry of your choice by pasting in place of the old one found near the end of the line (the bold and underlined text in the excerpt above). Viola, you have a new terrain.
Also, while we're here, notice the fourth line in the code above that says "
outer_terrain_plain". This determines the scenic ring that surrounds the map you're playing on. By default I've set all the scenes to plains, which will look fairly crappy if you use a different terrain in the map. You can simply replace this chunk of code with any of the following for different looks.
outer_terrain_plain
outer_terrain_snow
outer_terrain_steppe
outer_terrain_town_thir_1
outer_terrain_castle_9
outer_terrain_desert
outer_terrain_desert_b
outer_terrain_beach
outer_terrain_plain_2
outer_terrain_snow_2
outer_terrain_steppe_2
sea_outer_terrain_1
sea_outer_terrain_2Now you have a starting terrain. Time to make it exactly how you want it.
The Scene Editor:Run your mod and set up a Multiplayer game (click host instead of join). Here there are lots of options, but all we really care about is the map. Choose one of the new maps from the list and run the game. Note that if you want to do a Siege map you'll have to set the game mode to Siege in order for maps 16-20 to show up on the list. If it all goes well, you should now see your basic map as it more or less appeared in the terrain generator. Now, press Alt-Enter to go into windowed mode. Then, press Ctrl-E to enter "Edit Mode" (again, assuming edit mode is still enabled). From this edit mode you can change just about everything. Note, if you aren't in windowed mode you won't be able to see the tool panel in Edit mode so make sure you do both. Elevation tool to change the hills, Texture tool to paint the ground, Object Tool to add tree, houses, rocks, walls,etc. The often overlooked "Help" button is very (get this) helpful. Lots of info about button combinations and so forth. There's no undo option so get in the habit of exiting and re-entering edit mode with Ctrl-E. This saves your work each time.
Strings.txt:If you ever want to change the name of your map in the selection menu, simply open your strings.txt file and do a search for "
my_scene_1". Here are all the added scenes. An entry looks like this:
str_my_scene_1 My_Scene_#1Change the part in bold to whatever name you want using underscores ( _ ) for spaces. Done and done.
I will continue to develop this guide as I have more time, and expand it to provide some helpful advice on the actual creation of your own scenes, but for now these should be the steps you need to at least get started.
