Some things i need to know....

[ken124578]

Alright, i need some help of a map maker, i already knew how to make maps but i could never save them since i hadn't had emperor installed (i have now)

1. Is there something like atreides_rock_grass_tall?

2. How do i make bridges?

3. How do i make a smokey landscape like in the highliner missions?

4. Can i import textures?

[ken124578]

Isn't there a decent map-maker around here? :-

[IxianMace]

1. I haven't been able to find 'Atreides_Rock_Grass_Tall'. The closest resemblance would be the 'atmancliffgrass' zone variations.

2. To create bridges, you have to select them from the 'objects' tab. Then you have to place them manually where you want them. Examples of some bridge 'objects' would be:

atbridgesea.xaf

atbridgesea3.xaf

GeidiBridge12Sq.xaf

GeidiBridge24Sq.xaf

GeidiBridge8Sq.xaf

GeidiSuspensionBridge.xaf

There are more, but I won't list them all. Bridge objects will usually have the word 'bridge' in them somewhere, so they should be pretty obvious.

3. The smokey landscape is created from SFX buildings. Click on the buildings tab. If the editor asks you to build the map first, then I recommend you do so to update the tile data. Buildings can be set to either the player's side, the first AI player's side (in the case of maps that allow for more than 2 players), and as neutral. I usually place buildings as neutral buildings, unless I want to create isolated outposts that the player is supposed to destroy, lose, or protect.

The relevant buildings you should use are:

GPSFXLavasmoke

GPSFXLavasmokeNL

GPSFXGreensmoke

GPSFXGreensmokeNL

I do not know how the effects that have 'NL' on them are different from the normal SFX effects. I thought it meant 'No Light' or something like that, but there doesn't appear to be any difference. If someone knows what difference there is, it would be good if they could post here. Once you have selected the relevant effect you want, place it somewhere like a normal building, and it will generate the effect in the game, although you won't see it in the map editor preview.

4. It is possible to import textures. I'd recommend copying a texture file that is originally in the editor, recolouring it (or whatever you want to do with it), then saving it in the same format as the original. You can then try to use it on some terrain in the map editor. I haven't tried this out myself, but I think it should work in theory.

[rigel6669]

2. How do i make bridges?

After you have added a bridge in your map, you will need to tile the bridge as "ramp" so the units will be able to cross the bridge from 1 rock to the other rock.

Also put "cliff" tile at the edges of the bridge so the units can not just walk/jump over from the edges.

The screenshots illustrates it better [attachment archived by Gobalopper]