How to design dustbowls in mapeditor

[gasteren]

Hi,

Title says it all. I'm trying to create a dustbowl that look ssimilar to those in the official maps and the campaign. Actually it seems I'm having trouble with drawing sand in general.

So if some of you guys would want to share some general sand drawing tips and tricks or dustbowls in particular, I'd be forever grateful. Well, maybe not forever, but still quite a while. Or just a while maybe. Could be even pretty short I guess. Or not.

But I can't imagine I'd hate it. 8)

Greetz, Eric

[guusr5644]

yo how many questions do ya have? :- i see your

questions i feel im about to blow ;D

[gasteren]

Hi,

I hope it's only a startup effect. I'm trying to create my first map. Until now I have come quite far without any help. I don't expect many more, so please bear with me. I'll try to make it up by uploading my map when it's finished. I hope you'll like it then.

By the way, can you answer some of them?

Greetz, Eric

[guusr5644]

create a caladan maps i like that maps 8) anyway

i dont understand anything in map editor

[Gobalopper]

Try searching for some messages by ^SnIpeR^, I believe he posted about this long ago.

[IxianMace]

Eric, here is how you create dustbowls on Arrakis maps:

First major step:

1. On the sidepanel, click on the tab 'zones'

2. Scroll down in the profiles list until you see 'Dustbowls'

3. Double click on 'Dustbowls' (the name should appear under the part where it says 'Show Bounding Polys'

4. Click on the button 'Add' (this is just above the LOD box with the number in it)

5. Now click on the map and use points to draw the perimeter of the dustbowl. Every point you click will create a line from the previous point to the one you've just created, so if you want to make a smooth dustbowl with rounded edges, you'll need lots of points. However, if you want a sharp, straight dustbowl, you'll want to put less points in, or space them apart more.

6. Once you're satisfied with the shape of the dustbowl, right click to stop adding points. The last point you created will join a line with the first point you created, which completes the perimeter of the dustbowl. Your dustbowl outline is now complete.

Even though you've drawn your dustbowl, it is not finished yet. You must perform two more steps to finish it. Here is the second major step:

1. Click on the 'Move' button (you can find it close to the 'Add' button along with all the other buttons)

2. Click once, INSIDE the outline of the dustbowl, DO NOT click on a point.

3. Press T on the keyboard.

4. A dialog box comes up. Go in to the directory where you installed the Map Editor. When you see two folders "Data" and "Thumbnail", go into the "Data" folder.

5. Now go into the "Textures" folder.

6. Search for the file named: dustbowl

7. Click the Open button in the dialog box.

8. You should now see 'dustbowl.tga' in the outline of the dustbowl that you drew the outline of. The dustbowl will now look like a dustbowl in the map.

The dustbowl will not behave like one unless you 'tile' the area of the dustbowl with 'dustbowl tiles'. Here's how you do it:

1. On the sidepanel, click on the 'Tiles' tab.

2. You should now see a list of tile types and their colour codes in the boxes. Click on dustbowl (it should be the one with the red box next to it)

3. Now click on the squares inside the outline of the dustbowl to paint them red. This will not affect how the dustbowl looks in the map, it will only affect how units treat the dustbowl.

4. When you're satisfied that the dustbowl has been completely and properly tiled, right click. Now you're finished with your dustbowl.

Additional notes:

If you want to move the outline of the dustbowl at any stage, just click on the 'zones' tab and click on the 'move' button. Now click and drag a point of the dustbowl to a new location. If you want to move the entire dustbowl, then click and drag inside the dustbowl to move the entire outline of it elsewhere. You'll need to retile the dustbowl if you've already tiled it however, and erase the dustbowl tiles of the old location by selecting ANY tile preference under the 'tiles' menu, and then clicking and dragging while holding down the shift key to reset the dustbowl tiled squares.

There's a lot of additional stuff I've omitted here, if you have any further questions, just ask. ;)