cRPG

cRPG => Scene Editing => Topic started by: DANK on June 08, 2011, 04:52:43 pm

Title: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: DANK on June 08, 2011, 04:52:43 pm
Hello Everyone,

Last week I decided to create my first map... Although I had some troubles in the process I figured it all out, and have successfully created (I think there good) maps. So I thought I would share the process broken simply down.

To get started you need.
   Notepad ++ http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download (http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download) - You want to download and install the Current Version (If you have more questions about how to install this stop now turn off your computer and walk away.)
   And um... A computer with M&B:Warband and cRPG installed

Alright now that we got that out of the way
  1. Start up Mount & Blade: Warband
  2. Click configure - On the first screen that pops up
  3. Click the Video Tab and Select "Start Windowed"
  4. Now click the Advanced Tab and Select "Enable Edit Mode"
  5. Click OK
Now
  6. Click Play Mount & Blade: Warband
  7. Click the Scene Editor
  8. You start with an array of editable maps select one
  9. Once you have selected a map it will load
  10. Press Ctl+E to open the Edit Mode Toolbox (Pressing Ctl+E again will ask if you want to save and give you a person to run around with)
  11. Pressing the Help button will display the following
     
(click to show/hide)
  If are having issues with objects not working as intended, or invisible/deleted items getting in your way try saving and reloading the map. (This will fix 95% of the problems you encounter when creating your maps.)

You may test your map by hosting a server yourself and changing it to the map you were editing (Blank 87, Multi Scene 1, etc...)

Spawn Points

To add spawns you have to place entrypoints.
After you have have added them you can change their "number"
We defnitly need a full list of Entry points.

Here is a small list :

Battle:
0 faction 1
32 faction 2

Master of the Field: 67, 68, 69 (Be sure to place these in your battle maps)

Siege:
Defenders: 0 - 31
Attackers: 32-63
Flag: 66
Siege engine 1: 110 - 119
Siege engine 2: 120 - 129
Siege engine 3: 130 - 139
Ladders: 100-109


DTV:
80: Players (Defenders)
81-84: NPCs

How to test the Spawnpoints:
Host the map and add 63 bots, splited to the teams.
So you can see if your spawnpoints work correct.



Things to keep in mind when creating DTV maps:

1. Avoid small places with only 1 entrance (you can have positions like that, but they shouldn't be the default "camping spots"
2. Avoid places bots can't (or not easy) reach (only vor dtv)
3. Add the AI meshes when you finished your scene/"map" (ONLY for dtv, never for siege or battle, causes a MUCH bigger filesize)
4. Take care of the terrain code(don't make a desert map with a forrest terrain code)
5. Remove the grasses created by the Terraincode (in the terrain edit-mode at start)
6. Make Backups when you want change "huge" things

Get your map on a server
You need to find 2 files on your computer.
   1. The first will be in your cRPG folder under SceneObj... Mine is located at the following location C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\mountblade warband\Modules\cRPG\SceneObj.
       Find the name of the file you were editing. (Such as Black 87 = scn_blank_87, Multi Scene 1 = scn_multi_scene_1, etc...)
   2. The second file you need is a snippit of the scenes.txt file located in the cRPG folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\mountblade warband\Modules\cRPG
       Right click the Scenes.txt file and scroll down to Open With Notepad++ (as you downloaded previously)
       Find the map you were working on in the file. (Pressing ctl+f will bring up a search box type the name of the scn_file you found in your SceneObj folder and search.)
       Copy these 4 lines of codes that correspond to your map and save them in regular notepad. You may see an example below
(click to show/hide)



Once you have these 2 files you (scn_file, and scenes.txt file for you map which you saved in notepad.)
You may send them to an admin to be uploaded to our/a server.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: Tears of Destiny on June 08, 2011, 11:14:06 pm
Could someone sticky this? This is a rather nice addition for new map makers, like the crahs course on keys and such.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: Cohen on June 09, 2011, 10:13:29 am
in general a good idea.

but :)  :
"CTRL + Any movement key: Speeds up the camera
movements, slows down the object movements."

this doesn't work, you can delete that.


i think it's really important to add the content of this post here. without that information you can't finish a proper map. (i've edited some things)

To add spawns you have to place entrypoints.
After you have have added them you can change their "number"
We defnitly need a full list of Entrypoints.
Here is a small list :

Battle:
0 faction 1
32 faction 2

Siege:
Defenders: 0 - 31
Attackers: 32-63
Flag: 66
Siege engine 1: 110 - 119
Siege engine 2: 120 - 129
Siege engine 3: 130 - 139
Ladders: 100-109


DTV:
80: Players (Defenders)
81-84: NPCs

How to test the Spawnpoints:
Host the map and add 63 bots, splited to the teams.
So you can see if your spawnpoints work correct.



Keep in mind:

1. Avoid small places with only 1 entrance (you can have positions like that, but they shouldn't be the default "camping spots"
2. Avoid places bots can't (or not easy) reach (only vor dtv)
3. Add the AI meshes when you finished your scene/"map" (ONLY for dtv, never for siege or battle, causes a MUCH bigger filesize)
4. Take care of the terrain code(don't make a desert map with a forrest terrain code)
5. Remove the grasses created by the Terraincode (in the terrain edit-mode at start)
6. Make Backups when you want change "huge" things

Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: Tears of Destiny on June 09, 2011, 05:10:05 pm
And add a reminder to always place a master of the field, or players will despise your map for it poofing in weird places.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: Blaint on June 09, 2011, 07:54:21 pm
a good guide for starting scene editing :)

some things you could add (to get a full mapping guide) :

- basic AI meshes
- change the formation of the text
- look for Typos


good luck
Blaint
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: Peasant_Woman on June 09, 2011, 08:18:22 pm
Great guide, another thing you could perhaps touch on briefly is that you can flip an object along any of the three axis x,y,z by clicking 'invert' next to the xyz of the object or by simply entering a negative number. This information aided me greatly in map making, I felt so stupid for overlooking that...
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: DANK on June 10, 2011, 01:12:38 am
Updated
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: Tears of Destiny on June 10, 2011, 01:20:32 am
Updated

Fantastic! You deserve a cookie.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies
Post by: DANK on June 15, 2011, 01:54:41 am
Could someone sticky this? This is a rather nice addition for new map makers, like the crahs course on keys and such.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: DANK on June 29, 2011, 10:01:01 pm
Bumpity Bump
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Voodoox on June 29, 2011, 11:17:45 pm
Ladders  (place a ladder with _move after it) how you want it in final position then put an entry point 100-109 on the ground where u want it to lay

GATES


Put the porticlus down where it is in closed then add a Winch nearby should autolink if it doesn't make sure port is touching gatehouse chains and that the winch is on the mount should work then if still doesn't restart map (must be in host server not editor to see things work)
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Cohen on June 30, 2011, 11:03:47 am
GATES


Put the porticlus down where it is in closed then add a Winch nearby should autolink if it doesn't make sure port is touching gatehouse chains and that the winch is on the mount should work then if still doesn't restart map (must be in host server not editor to see things work)

that's not entirely true.
you don't need to place a portcullis in a gatehouse at all. same with the winch. you only have to place them near enough together, so they work.
 be sure to use winch_b otherwise it doesn't work.

you can see what i'm talking about in this 2 screens.
i build the case of the winch with a box-item i think:

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: DANK on July 05, 2011, 07:55:55 pm
Please let me know what type of information you would like added to this guide.

Also I am a server admin on cRPG_OotL_NA, and we are always looking for cool/unique Battle maps. If you have made a map, and would like to get it up on an Active Battle server feel free to PM me.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: lerty37 on January 12, 2012, 05:53:00 am
so how would i get the map i made to be added to my maps to play MP on?
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Mustikki on February 29, 2012, 12:06:40 pm
Posting these little tips in here:

So your map is ready? Don't forget to check these things before releasing your map.

#1 Check the Spawns.
- Make sure there is enough room for a full line to spawn (test with bots).
- Make sure there is enough room for the amount of people to spawn, what you have though this map could be for (test with bots).
- Test siege spawn points multiple times with bots, so attacking team won't spawn inside etc.
- Getting stuck in spawn is really really annoying, check the possibilities.

#2 Check the Man of the Field Flags
- Entry points 67,68 & 69. Place them to prevent draw.
- Try to make them for fair places for both teams and every class.

#3 Check the textures.
- There is countless maps where textures are placed in the air! Don't make one of those maps. Always double check textures you have placed from close.

#4 Smooth the corners of the hills.
- Not everything needs to be smoothed, but the pointing corners and too straight walls might need editing.

#5 Paint the map.
- Roads are in mud, fields are in mud, don't forget to paint a bit of your map.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Mlekce on March 08, 2012, 01:26:46 am
i have some questions. how do i remove that background hills that are so ugly and dont fit my map?
i have a lot of trees in my map so i was thinking will that affect size of my map?
Do i need to make inacesable houses to ppl or it is done automaticly?
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Mustikki on March 08, 2012, 01:58:45 pm
i have some questions. how do i remove that background hills that are so ugly and dont fit my map?

You can change your maps surroundings.
Read Kong Ming's map guide.

outer_terrain_plain
outer_terrain_plain_2
outer_terrain_snow
outer_terrain_snow_2
outer_terrain_steppe
outer_terrain_steppe_2
outer_terrain_town_thir_1
outer_terrain_castle_9
outer_terrain_desert
outer_terrain_desert_b
outer_terrain_beach
sea_outer_terrain_1
sea_outer_terrain_2

i have a lot of trees in my map so i was thinking will that affect size of my map?
Do i need to make inacesable houses to ppl or it is done automaticly?

Every prop you add in your scene will affect the size of the map.
Also every texture affects, how well the map runs in your pc

Some houses are accessible and some not.
Some accessible houses produce camping at the map and some doesn't. But mostly i try to block the accessible houses to prevent annoying camping.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Niemand on March 26, 2012, 05:16:15 pm
Is there a button to doublify a placed item?
I need a lot of oversized bushes but placing them all and then rescaling everyone of them really sucks.
Or: How to place prescaled items? I cant use the scaling-function (using the fields in the editor-window) when the item is not set.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Jacko on March 26, 2012, 05:28:44 pm
Before placing the prop, scale them up/down with the B button, then place them. The prop will stay scaled until you make any changes (you'll usually end of with lots of floaty stuff tho).
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Niemand on March 26, 2012, 06:11:40 pm
Yah. floating-stuff is not really a problem, I guess. Not with my map-concept. :D

Thanks.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Jacko on March 26, 2012, 06:22:27 pm
That also work with height.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Lobster on April 11, 2012, 11:39:29 am
I will sound a bit dumb here.

I have enabled the editing in config but i dont see the scene editor when in the option menu ingame ?
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Jacko on April 11, 2012, 12:02:16 pm
Press ctrl-e ingame (after choosing a scene in the Scene Editor), and the tools will show up.

Read the first post again and follow the intructions..  :D
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: obitus on April 11, 2012, 12:05:12 pm
Ctrl-E ingame, but make sure to go to windowed mode (ALT-ENTER) so you can see the toolbar, as it doesn't appear in fullscreen.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Tomas_of_Miles on April 11, 2012, 04:13:54 pm
I'm testing my battle map (before I've added any objects) and I've placed two entry points. The second one works fine, but me and my team keep spawning in the middle of the map. Also I get a lot of crashes. Is there anything else I need to add to make the battle map work on a basic level? The first entry point I placed always says entry point 1 in the list, but I change the first variable to 0. Can anyone help?
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Jacko on April 11, 2012, 04:23:15 pm
As it says on the first page, for battle you need to enter two entry points, 0 and 32 (team 1 and team 2). Place Master of the Field entry points (MOTF) in the middle of the map, entry points 67-68-69. That is all you need for a basic battle map.

What module do you use when editing? Not sure why you'd crash, seems like something is hogging your memory. Try a editing in a copy of native if cRPG is to taxing.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Tomas_of_Miles on April 11, 2012, 06:04:57 pm
As it says on the first page, for battle you need to enter two entry points, 0 and 32 (team 1 and team 2). Place Master of the Field entry points (MOTF) in the middle of the map, entry points 67-68-69. That is all you need for a basic battle map.

What module do you use when editing? Not sure why you'd crash, seems like something is hogging your memory. Try a editing in a copy of native if cRPG is to taxing.
Yeah I sorted the entry points out, I was just having trouble changing the entry point from 1 to 0 lol. Running Firefox alongside m&b at the moment (laptop). Might explain the crashes.

*edit*
Crashes still occur when I try to change entry 1 to another number sometimes.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: TheLasse2201 on April 12, 2012, 03:55:40 pm
Can someone help me with this glitch/bug? In the editor i can stand on the stones but on our server we're falling inside them.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Kafein on May 16, 2012, 01:26:52 am
Having problems with the cRPG scene chooser... I edited a blank map and it works fine in the editor, saved it multiple times (restarted warband, opened it in the editor again and my changes were there), but when I try to host a server using that map the game shows me the original blank map, without modified terrain and scene props.

Also, the .sco file in cRPG\SceneObj\ is added and modified correctly but the cRPG\scenes.txt terrain code isn't changed even though I changed the terrain using the editor.

It acts as if the cRPG scene editor didn't really look at the same files as the main engine.

Any idea ?
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Mustikki on May 17, 2012, 01:24:31 am
Feels like the server doesn't have the modified files.
Triple check that you have added the correct scene object file and modified the scene & strings txt files to the server mod & to the mod you start the game.
Happened for me too.

so: .sco file, scene.txt & strings.txt in to BOTH, server mod and your game mod.
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Kafein on May 17, 2012, 03:05:58 am
Thank you, do I need to create another cRPG module to host a game ? I just want to host a game on my desktop to test the portcullis, ladders and spawns.

Anyway I moved the sco file and the snippets to ye old fashioned native copy module and I can host the map properly with that one. I need to paint the ground, put some plants and clutter but the structure is finished now :)
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Elindor on June 15, 2012, 10:54:08 pm
Should put this in the first post :

LADDERS  (place a ladder with _move after it) how you want it in final position then put an entry point 100-109 on the ground where u want it to lay

GATES

Put the porticlus down where it is in closed then add a Winch nearby should autolink if it doesn't make sure port is touching gatehouse chains and that the winch is on the mount should work then if still doesn't restart map (must be in host server not editor to see things work).  Someone suggested using winch_b

---

And actually, anyone know how to assign door opening rights to either teams?  Right now both teams can open destructable doors. 
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: Elindor on June 15, 2012, 11:05:52 pm
Here is a little more comprehensive one from taleworlds forums:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,112806.0.html

Quote
Siege has a few differences to other game modes.

Entry points:

Defenders: 0 - 31
Attackers: 32-63
Flag: 66
Siege engine 1: 110 - 119
Siege engine 2: 120 - 129
Siege engine 3: 130 - 139 (edit:noticed this in the code yesterday)
Ladders: 100-109

Placing Players

Place entry points 0-31 to place defender spawn points and 32-63 for attackers.

Placing Ladders

Place the ladder against the wall, how it would look if it was raised.  Use the props with "move" on the end.  Place an entry point at the base of the ladder facing in the direction you would like it to lie on the floor.

Placing siege towers

Siege towers can be tricky!  As with the ladders create them as how they would look on the wall they are attacking. (make sure and place the wheels facing the right way, else they'll spin backwards)
Place entry points 110-119 down for your first tower in the path you want it to follow.
Place entry points 120-129 down if you have a second tower and it will follow that path.
Place entry points 130-139 for a 3rd tower.

Siege towers and ladders will not move properly until you test the map in a playable environment!

Placing the gate

Use the portcullis prop as the gate and use winch_b as the winch.  There is a (rather rubbish) script which handles linking the 2 together, it will simply open the closest gate to it.

Placing the flag

Simply create an entry point with an id of 66 and your flag will appear there for the defenders.

Testing the map

Exit the editor and save the changes.  (The changes will be applied to the map you edited.  You may need to go and rename the file or copy, paste, rename in your module folder.)
You need to then edit, module_scenes,module_scripts and module_strings and add your map in.  If you do a search for multi_scene you'll find the relevant area for your code.  Looking at other maps should make it self explanatory.  You may need to copy in the height map code of the map you edited.  This is the 0x09808088 number that appears in module_scenes.

After you've done that, voila, start up a server, choose siege and load up your map!
Title: Re: Map Making for Dummies [Guide]
Post by: meta on August 31, 2012, 02:21:35 pm
Shown tutorial for ppl who struggle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHYX6-p_vKg