Making A Map - Step By Step Tutorial

We would like to thank Magnum1973 for making this step by step tutorial and letting us use it on our site

You can download this tutorial in .pdf format (must have Adobe Acrobat reader to view) to your PC here:  Download Tutorial 

Part 1: Getting started

Open the editor and click on new. It will bring up a box that says new level data.

Fill in the information. Do not change the height field or square size. The world height can be changed to set how high you want your mountains. I set this at 500.

Hit create and you will get this screen:

Now lets create the terrain. You can create your terrain manually or by using a bit map. For the purpose of this tutorial we will let the editor create it.

Click terrain surface edit.

Scroll down and click the fractal edit.You will see the following.

Now where it says random click that and then apply until you get the terrain that you would like. After you get familiar with creating a map you can change the noise and fractal. For this we will leave the seed at 41.

Now hit apply. You may find yourself under the map at this time. Hit your space bar to go to navigation mode and use the A,W,S,D button to get on top of the map. Now you have your terrain created. At this time click file and click save as and save it in the map folder you created.

Lets add some texture. Click the terrain texturing button.

Now its time to add your bottom layer. Where it says bottom layer change the name to whatever you want.

Where it says first texture click the ... box to bring up your textures. Click on each texture and a picture of it will come up in the box to the right. I chose data\world\ground textures\dirt(det) bf.stx    When you find the texture you want click ok.

Now do the same for the second texture. There are (det) and (mac) for each texture. chose the texture with the same name as your first but with (mac) in the title. You can mix the textures however you like. If you are going to be making a mountainous map I would suggest making your bottom layer with the rock textures. I chose data\world\ground textures\dirt(mac) bf .stx. Now click the green button to apply your texture.

Now you will have something that looks like the following:

At this time save your map.

Part 2: Adding objects

Lets add an object to the map. First lets lets level the ground.Click terrain surface icon and click on surface edit.

Now select flatten height. Then under edit mode click both. You can change the size and strength but we will leave it at the default setting. You will see a red circle. Move it over the area you want to flatten and click and hold the left mouse button and move the circle around until you have a flattened area.

Click on the objects tab

You will see this:

Scroll down and click the add new button.

Now scroll back up and you will see the name "unnamed" under object types. click where it says name and change the name to house or whatever you want to call it.Then click edit file names.

The following box will pop up click load file.

Scroll down to data\world\models\buildings\farmhouse - ga\farmhouse(3dm)_ga.j3d

Select the model and then hit close on the box that pops up. Note: At this time do not select any dynamic or ambient objects.

Check align to ground normal and uncheck align using grounding box. Now hit the green button next to edit filenames.

Now scroll down to object instances. You will see the name of your object. Click the add button.

Now go to your flat area and right click where you want your house.Your house will now appear. Make sure you hit the select key so that you dont accidentally add more houses.

HOW TO MOVE YOUR OBJECT : Make sure the object you want to move is selected. Right click and you will see a green box. sometimes you will only see the xyz on the screen. Now hold your left mouse button and you can move the house around. By clicking on rotate you can turn the house around.

Note: If you are unhappy with the object you can right click on it and the hit the delete selection key.

Save your map at this time.

Part 3: Adding trees and painting ground under them

Click on your Object types button and click add new and change the name to trees.

Make sure align to ground and align using all bounding box is unchechecked. Then click edit file names.

The box will pop up in the left hand corner. Click load file and select your first type of tree. Click ok. For my first tree I selected data\world\models\vegetation\ponderosa(3dm)_15m.j3d

Now click load file again

Pick another tree. Try to keep the same species of trees together. This will make it easier if you have to edit any. I chose data\world\models\vegetation\ponderosa(3dm)_20m.j3d

Now do this one more time. Note: I chose to add 3 file types of this tree. You can put in however many you want. I chose data\world\models\vegetation\ponderosa(3dm)_35m.j3d for my third selection. Now you will have a box that looks like this.

Click close file.

Change the random scale to (1 to 1.2) to make the trees look different.Change the y positon to ( -0.05 to 0). This will randomly sink the trees. Click the green button.

I would suggest saving at this time.

Now click on object radius check. You will see your list of trees. Select the first tree and change the radius to 20. Now selecth the second one and change to 30 and then change the fourth one to 40. This will set the distance between each tree. These values are in dcm, so 10 will be 1 meter.

Now open the object creator tab and select the trees.

Hit the green button to add a child object.

Scroll down to where it say objects. For the purpose of the purpose of this tutorial we will change it to1500 trees. You can also change the altitude and slope constraints to where the trees will be placed. For this tutorialwe will leave at the default settings. Click apply.

A small box will appear in the center of your screen. Click ok. Now we have trees on the map.

Now lets add some texture under the trees.Click on terrain texturing. Select the next one labeled undefined. See part 1 for reference to adding texture.

I changed the name to under pine and used data\world\groundtextures\underpines(det)_bf.stx for my first texture. I used data\world\groundtextures\underpines(mac)_bf.stx for my second texture. Click the green button and save again.

Now click objects button again and scroll down to object ground paint.Click the green button.

Click where it say obj:(none)->layer(none) so that it is highlighted. Change object type to trees and layer to underpine or whatever you chose to name them earlier.

Click apply.

You can mess around changing the radius factor, opacity, and sharp/fuzzy until you get the effect you want. Just remember to apply after every time you change it.

Save the map.

Part 4: Adding background and the sun

If you click on your space bar to enter navigation mode, look up and you will see that the sun is square.

Hit space bar to go back to edition. Now click your objects tab and click add new. Change the name to sun. Mode to linked. Unselect align to groun and align using all bounding box.

Now click edit file names and click load file in the box that pops up.

Change file type to rfx

Now pick the one you want. I chose data\world\commonfx\render\utah_level.rfx

Click ok and then click close. Now click the green button next to edit filename. An error message may pop up. Click ok. There is nothing wrong. Now select object instances. Highlight sun. Then click add.

Now select anywhere on the map and right click to add object. Make sure you only do this once.

Save at this time.

Now lets add the background. Click on objects tab. Click add new. Change the name to background. Change mode to link and uncheck align to ground and align using all bounding box.

Now click edit file name, click load file, and change the file type to*.bgr

Now chose your background. I chose data\world\commonfx\background\georgia.bgr Hit ok and then hit close and press the green button by edit filenames.

Now select object instances. Highlight background. click add. Right click on map to add background.

Save your map at this time.

Part 5: Adding dynamic objects

Click dynamic objects button

Right click add new. Right click on the new dynamic object and select edit index and change to whatever name you want. I chose grass.

Now left double click on dynamic objects and you will see the following

Now doubleclick on the box next to filename to bring up list. Choose the one you want under dynamic objects. I chose data\worldmodels\dynamicobjects\flowerwhite(dyn)_bf.j3d Click ok

Now double click the box next to bendfile name. Choose the same file name but with (hlp) instead of where it said (dyn) I chose data\worldmodels\dynamicobject\flowerswhite(hlp)_bf.j3d

Click ok and now you will see your two file names listed. Note: The filenames need to be the same name except for having (dyn) and (hlp), or they will disappear when you walk up to them.

Now right click on layer and select add new

Now right click on the new layer and select edit index. This will put the dynamics on the layer you want. You must choose one of the names that you created under terrain texturing. I chose "bottom". Make sure you spell it the same as it is under terrain texturing.

Now if you go click space bar and go into navigation mode you will see that the flowers have appeared. You can change the density, creation radius and full opacity to get the desired effect

Part 6: Running lights

This part of map making can take up to 12 hours but I am going to show you a trick that I learned at dadfish.com to calculate the lights faster.

Click on aspen engine settings symbol. Set frustum maximum distance to 100. uncheck render reflections.

Now if you had water on the map(which I will explain in another tutorial) you will want to click on waterand uncheck reflection.

Now click on the light icon. Scroll down and make sure activate sky color is unchecked.

Now scroll back up and uncheck calculate all frames. Change the frame range to 0 to 2. Change the number of rays to 8. Click process precalcutate illumination. You will see a blue bar showing the progress of the lighting. When this is done save the map. Then change the frame range to 5 to 7 and repeat. Save. Then once again change the frame range to 10 to 12.

When this is all done go back and check anything that you had unchecked before running lights and change the frustum back to what it was. Your lights are now done.

Part 7: Creating gamemap,game minimap,screenshot, creating level profile and creating spkfile

Open your map and move the red cursor until it is off the screen. Hit prt/scrn on your keyboard.

Now save the map and open up your paint program. Hit control V and you will see a picture of your map. Select the cut out tool and cut out the map in the top left hand corner. After you select the box you need to right click and select cut.

You should now have something on your screen that looks like this

Now select new under file. Then under image change attributes to 256 x 256. Now right click on the white box and select paste. You will now see the image that you cut out earlier. Click on the lower right corner and resize it until it fills up the white box.

Now under file click save as, change the save type to png. Save it to your map folder as GameMiniMap. A box will pop up saying that it all ready exist and do you want to proceed. Click yes. This will be the map you see in the GPS

Now repeat the steps above but this time change the attributes to 512x512 and save it in your map file as GameMap. This will be the map you see when you first spawn into the game.

Your loading screen shot can be of whatever you want it to be. I usually take a screenshot from the game and then put the name of the map on it. Resize the pic so that is 1024x768. Save it as a png and save it under the name loadinbg.

Next is the screenshot. This is the pic you see on the left in the game when you are chosing a map to play. Once again you can chose whatever you want for a pic. Make sure the attributes are 256x256 and you save it as a png under Scrshot.

You now have all the pics for the map. Let's apply the profile and create an spk so that everyone can play.

Click on the utilities icon. Now give the level a name. Next add comments about the level. Click the ... button under ambient sound and chose the sound that comes up in the box. this will be the background noise.

Now change the world gap. This is the area which you will be able to hunt. 100 being the largest and 500 the smallest. Change the view from 1 to 3 depending on how far you want to be able to see. 3 being the maximum viewing.

Now under feed layers click each item under the available column then hit the green button so that they are all under the column that says selected.

Now select a layer and the sound you want for that layer. Hit the green button. Every layer must have a sound assigned to it.

Now choose the animal you want to hunt. Choose the prey animals you want on the map. Choose the seasons you want to hunt. For the purpose of this tutorial select all of the seasons.

Sroll back up and hit apply profile. A small box will pop up that says Level Profile created! click ok and save.

We are almost done now. click the deer hunter icon. Click where it says create level pack.

A box will pop up. Just click OK. After a few moments another box will pop up saying that your spk was created

The End!!! Hope this tutorial was helpfull in learning how to create a map.