Mission Editor/Tutorials
From Relic Mod Wiki
Mission Editior
The mission editor can be used to create your own maps for a Dawn of War game. Maps can be created for your own use only, or to be uploaded onto a mod site(i.e. [1].) You can also create single player maps (these require basic knowledge of using SCAR.)
How to Begin
The first step to creating a map is to get the right root folder set up. This is where many beginners get confused as the file must be in the right folder or else ME will not recognise it. The rooth folder is; C:\Program Files\THQ\Dawn of War - Dark Crusade\DXP2\Data\scenarios\mp\your map name (you do not need to create a folder of your map name, but it is wise to do so because there will be multiple files created when you first save the map; these will be explained further later on.)
With the folders created you can now begin the map. Open ME and click on the button to create a new map. A window will show up called 'new scenario.' Select what size of map you want, and then the mod it is for (unless you have a specific mod in mind you should use with whatever game you have; i.e. Dawn of War: Dark Crusade) and click OK.
The next screen to show up will be your map with nothing on it and the default ground. There will also be fog to begin with. To get rid of the fog and the sky to make working on your map easier just hit ctrl+f and ctrl+k. This renders the sky and fog off and can be brought back using the same keys.
Next you should set up the playing area since not every space given to you can be played on. To do this go to Overlay in the menu and click on Terrain Type. This will show, in a large red box, the playable area. Next click on the Detail Map Editor button. On the right will be a selection of detail textures. Choose one based on what kind of map you want and create a border with it inside the red box and fill in the inside of it. Next choose a different texture (this can be anything) and make a border around the outside of the play area. This will be where you put objects in the space that can be seen ingame by tilting the camera, but cannot be played in. I suggest waiting until you finnish putting objects inside the box to keep things organized.
Basic tools
The tools listed here can be found right below the menu on the top of the window.
Select Objects: This is the first tool listed to the right of the undo/redo buttons.
This tool is used only for selecting objects you have placed. In the box to the right will be the selection information of the objects you have selected. the filter allows you to filter out all but certain objects.
Note: this tool cannot be used for moving or deleting objects.
Object Placement: This tool is the primary tool for making a map. It can be used to place, move, and delete objects.
The top part of the window to the right there are a few selections for placing objects. To make placing objects easier make sure that under 'height' you have 'relative to terrain' selected, and uder that box you have 'snap to grid' and 'use randome rotation' unselected.
Below that is the list of objects. There are two groups here: environment- contains scenery objects; and races- contains buildings and troops of each army (all objects from the 'races' group can only be placed inside the playable area as they are used primarily for single player maps.)
To place an object just select one from the lists in either group and click on the map. When it's there you can move it around by clicking and dragging it to a different location. To rotate the object just click and hold the right mouse button on the object and move it to a different position. (you can only rotate an object 90, 180, or 270 degrees. You canchange the hight of it by holding shift+right mouse button and moving it up or down.
Decal Placement: In addition to the texture of the ground you selected in the beginning; decals are used to add texure to the ground, but in a more diverse way. Note: depending on your computer it may take a few seconds for ME to load the decals upon clicking the decal button. Just wait until it is finnished. After the first time it will not take time to load decals unless close ME and open it again.
Just like with the object placement, there are some cheack boxes at the top of the box. 'Use randome rotation' can be used best for placeing grass, dirt, rubble, etc. Use 'Specify size' to change the size of the decal upon placement (sometimes 100% is too large for certain decals.)
Under that are some groups of decals, each containing different types of decals for different map types; however, you will most likely need to use decals in each group, not just one, to make an impressive looking map. Good maps are created using a variety of decals and adding detail to certain areas.
Markers: Markers are used when you want to add SCAR to you map. They interact with scripting that you make for the map. If you choose to do this the SCAR file should have the same name as your map and should be in the same folder.
I will add a link to a good tutorial for making these kinds of files when I find one. I am no good at scripting. Same with the NISLet Path Placement.
HightMap Editor: This tool allows you create hills, cliffs, water, and even raised platforms. There are a few selections in the box to make using this tool very easy:
- Mode: In this drop menu are a few selections: additive- raises the terrain as long as you hold down the left mouse button; subtractive- opposite of additive; set value- sets the selected area to a certain hight defined by 'Hight'; smoothing- smooths rough edges.
- The size of the circle around the mouse is defined by the brush size. Below that, feater, determins whether the raised area is rounded or flat. (These presets can also be used with 'set value.')
- 'Hight' and 'Presets' are used with the 'Set Value' mode speccifically. Use 'Height' to manually select a sertain height for your terrain (10 is the default height.) Use 'Prestes' to select a preset height. They have intervals of 10 based on the 'Height' scale, 1 being equal to 10.
- Strenghth determines how fast the terrain height is changed when you hold down the mouse button. It also effects smoothing.
Texture Stamping:
Detail Map Editor: This tool changes the base texture for the ground of your map. There are different types of textures for urban, jungle, necron, tau, and snow maps.
Terrain Type Editor: This tool and the next one are used when you are done with your map and have all objects and decals placed. There are two categories for this tool: footfall and cover.
Footfall determines what king of terrain you have in certain areas so in-game models will kick up a certain amount of dust, snow, or water when they walk over that section of terrain. First, select the type of ground you want (grass is actually snow in-game) and then what size brush you want. Then just click on the ground you want to change and that portion of ground will change from red (unkown) to a different color based on what ground type you selected.
Cover determines how much cover units get in cetain areas. The default cover is light. There are six types of cover:
- None: same as light
- Light: units take damage as normal
- Heavy: units take less damage than normal
- Negative: units take more damage than normal
- Blocking: buildings cannot be built here
- Stealth: Unknown
The Mass change allows you to make a change to a large area of footfall/cover. Just select the type of ground or caver you want to change in the first box and in the next box select the type you want to change it to. Then click 'do mass change.'
Note: When using this tool the undo/redo buttons have no effect.
Impass Map Editor: When you place objects units dont go around them in-game, they will go right through them. Use this tool to determine where units can and cannot go.
Flat ground is automatically passable, but if you make hills too steep then they will be impassable. There are three tools to bypass this and to make other areas impassable:
- Generated: reverts changes back to the preset passibilty for that section
- Passable: changes area to passable
- Impassable: changes area to impassable; use this to make objects impassable
Note: When using this tool the undo/redo buttons have no effect.
