Questions re Map editor

[76mm]

hi, I've just picked up this game and have to say I'm pretty impressed.

I'd like to start creating some maps but have encountered a few issues with the map editor, so have some questions:

1) Numerous places in the manual refer to "batlocs" or battle locations, but I don't see anywhere that provides a clue about which batlocs are associated with which locations??

2) In the manual it says that I can create a winter map and then use the map generator to convert it into a summer map with the same terrain, but I can't seem to do this, because all of the randomizing factors are different from when I created the map, so I can create a summer map alright, but the terrain is totally different.

3) Is it possible to save a map after the completion of a scenario so that building damage, destroyed vehicles, etc., remain on the map for the next battle?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

[scorpio_rocks]

Hiya - and welcome aboard

1. There is a text file (BatLocs.txt) which gives a list of the numbers associated with each location. it can be found at ...\shrapnel games\the camo workshop\winspww2\game data\design.

2. Create and save your map as normal in the editor then start a new scenario load in the saved map but have it set to summer/winter etc.

3. dont believe so (open to correction)

hope fully this has helped a little till someone with a little more experience pops along with better/fuller explanations

[76mm]

Originally Posted by scorpio_rocks

Hiya - and welcome aboard
1. There is a text file (BatLocs.txt) which gives a list of the numbers associated with each location. it can be found at ...\shrapnel games\the camo workshop\winspww2\game data\design.

Got it, thanks.

Originally Posted by scorpio_rocks

2. Create and save your map as normal in the editor then start a new scenario load in the saved map but have it set to summer/winter etc.

I just can't get this to work, the maps created with summer stay green even if I load them as "Winter" (this is in Russia, so...). When I do this, in the scenario editor I load a Custom map--should I be doing something else?

Originally Posted by scorpio_rocks

3. dont believe so (open to correction)

hmmm, bummer.

[DRG]

1/ All Batlocs are listed in HELP / Editor Help

2/ Where in the manual are you reading this ? Once you place terrain it doesn't automagically switch to another "season" but YOU CAN build a map with winter features, switch to summer for example, then edit in summer features ( lets say you want some green swamp and trees ) then switch back to winter and the game will treat it like a winter map ( if you don't do the final save as winter it will not know that clear terrain is supposed to be snow.....because you told it to be summer )

3/ you have to manually rename the save game to a scenario then you can edit with the editor ( so SpSv000.dat needs to be changed to spscn000.dat.....along with the CMT file and then copy that to the scenario file........making sure you don't overwrite an existing scenario... then you can use the editor to save the map........HOWEVER... the conversion doesn't always go as planned


Don

[76mm]

Originally Posted by DRG

2/ Where in the manual are you reading this ?
Once you place terrain it doesn't automagically switch to another "season" but...the game will treat it like a winter map ( if you don't do the final save as winter it will not know that clear terrain is supposed to be snow.....because you told it to be summer )

I must be reading something wrong, because even in your response I read "the game will treat it as a winter map" to mean that clear terrain should be snow? But in the HTML manual I read a few things that made me think this, including:
***************
A BIG note to map designers is that the map will be one of these types only, Summer, Jungle, Winter or Desert, depending on what mode it was last edited in.

Why say this?, well some map designers go in and use say a green summer map, then come out to the main screen, flip to winter, and then go in and place a few white tiles for what they think will be a few patches of 'snow' on a green map for extra 'colour'. Nope, if they last edited the map in 'winter' mode, as far as the game is concerned the map is now entirely a winter map! The colour of the basic clear terrain tiles has no in-game effect, the season of the map is a global variable which affects the entire map. Only the special 'feature' tiles (such as snow drifts or soft sand) have inbuilt special effects. 'Clear' terrain tiles do not. Any tile that gives out 'clear' when you hover the mouse over it is a 'basic' terrain tile, of the type of terrain you last edited the map in, so if you say started with a summer map, exit and changed to desert and laid some 'yellow' clear tiles, then exited again, changed to winter and laid some 'white' clear tiles, this is now a winter map, and all the yellow, green and white 'clear' tiles will be basic snow (winter) terrain, because the last map edit mode was winter.
************
In the part re the map generator it says that the Season switch "allows you to change any map to Desert(0) or Summer(1) or Winter(2) terrain."
*************

It sounds like I'm misinterpreting these sections?

Originally Posted by DRG

3/ you have to manually rename the save game to a scenario then you can edit with the editor ( so SpSv000.dat needs to be changed to spscn000.dat.....along with the CMT file and then copy that to the scenario file........making sure you don't overwrite an existing scenario... then you can use the editor to save the map........HOWEVER... the conversion doesn't always go as planned

Got, it thanks, will play around with it.

[DRG]

Changing the season WILL NOT cause the terrain tills to change to that new season. They will always stay as you placed them but THE GAME only knows what the map represents by the last season it was saved as and it will apply terrain effects to movement based on that

For example, clear terrain in a summer map is basic grass but in a winter map it's snow and there are snow movement penalties applied to clear terrain in winter BECAUSE CLEAR TERRAIN ON A WINTER MAP IS ASSUMED TO SNOW.

So.............. lets say you build a winter map then want to edit in green swamp for cosmetic reasons. You would change the season to summer and edit it in but if you save the map as summer you are telling the game that clear terrain is grass.....all the game knows about what else you have done to the map is code for specific terrain tiles and it doesn't care what they are it just knows the map is " summer" or "Desert" or "Winter" so if you want a winter map to behave like a winter map you have to SAVE it as a winter map after you are done editing any non winter terrain features.

Another way to think of it is ......what do you want the game to think clear terrain is ??? Sand , grass or snow......... and that's what the final save has to be


Don

[76mm]

Thanks, alles klar.

[vonbraun]

I didn't read the entire thread, but I have posted the Game Guide, which really helped me figure out not just the entire game, but creating better maps and scenarios specifically. If you already have this sorry for the redundancy...

[Imp]

The only way to have winter & summer tiles on the same map is to use the map generator.
On occasions this will produce a winter map with patches of clear terrain which are summer hexes for MP purposes.

[76mm]

Hi, thought I'd revive this thread after a couple years...

Back to the summer/winter issue: what I want to do is be able to use the same map in summer and winter conditions (as part of a campaign).

I understand that I create a map with summer conditions and save it as a winter map, and the game will treat it as a winter map, but it will still look like a summer map.

So the next question is whether I can use JSGME or similar to swap the summer and winter terrain graphics, so that I can make winter maps created in the summer look like winter maps?

I'm embarrassed to admit that I actually can't find the terrain graphics files, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Also, maybe I didn't notice it before, but now it seems like there is a "Save as Scenario" button after games, so that I can save a map with battlefield damage after the battle? If so, that's great!