This tutorial introduces you to the basics of setting up a mission and its associated SCAR files. While the mission will be fairly rough, it will provide you with a good overall idea as to how maps are created.
In the previous tutorial we created a campaign file that outlines the campaign the player can play through. However while we have created a campaign file, we can't do much with it, as we're missing the map files necessary that actually make up our campaign.
The first thing that we need to do is design our mission. While we won't be designing a full blown mission, we will design one that is complicated enough to show off many of the scripting elements used in the creation of a SP campaign. Our first mission, therefore, will consist of a small skirmish with the elder assaulting a fortified Space Marine position, in an attempt to capture a Relic. The Space Marines become aware of the presence as soon as the Eldar cross over a certain boundary.
That boundary, will be a river. A single bridge will lead to the space marine side of the map, and if any units cross that bridge, the space marines will become aware of the Eldar and attack.
To make the mission a bit more interesting, we'll be fortifying the marine position with gun turrets and other defenses.
Now to actually get to work.
This section will outline a map creation process that can be used to develop single player and multiplayer mps.
When creating a map the first thing you should probably do is lay down your ideas on paper, make sure you're happy with them, and then start on creating the mission. It's certainly possible that the mission will end up changing mid way through, or you find that you are unable to do something that you wanted to do, but having the mission down on paper in the first place means that you have a distinct goal and will generally not wander around.
Once you have the map down on paper, you should fire up the ME and export a marked height map, then open this height map up in an image editing package, such as Photoshop®, and proceed to layout the level out in a rough form. Why not just use the mission editor, you may be asking. Well, the main reason is that while the Mission Editor provides a good visual reference of what the map will look in game, you have a lot finer control over what the map looks like and how it’s laid out in a package like Photoshop®.
Once you have the general map laid out in Photoshop, you can import the heightmap into the ME (using the File-.>import->Import Height maps and throw in two starting positions, as well as some units that you can use and explore the map a bit, make sure you are happy with the general layout, the terrain setup, and so forth. Note that two starting positions is the minimum for starting a map.
After having done this, proceed to add the trigger and effects that will make up the gameplay. This includes placing units/buildings, creating triggers, writing the scripts for NISes and basic Scar scripts.
The final step of the map creation process involves the beautification of the map. At this point you have your map pretty much laid out, and your mission scripting in working order. This last bit, add the little extra touches, like decals, miscellaneous objects that add to the feel of the world, and so on.
Remember, height map you're working on is not considered all “playable” area, it's a good idea to keep in mind/have a layer dedicated to the playable area of the game so that's you're sure you know what's going on (overlay) (See attached PSD)
Now that you know what goes into the map creation process let's proceed with actually using it. While, as mentioned before, we won't be creating a complete mission, we will be going through the same steps, just not to completion.
This tutorial assumes that you are using image editing software like Photoshop, if you are not, do not worry, you can still follow along with the tutorial as all the images necessary for the map are included along this word document.
So, first thing you do is to fire up the Mission Editor and create a new 256x256 map. Having done that you should be looking at the ground of a new map. Hit CTRL-F and CTRL -K, to turn off both sky and fog rendering (you won't need them for now, and in general you'll want these turned off when editing your map, as they just tend to get in the way. Note that both fog rendering and sky rendering can also be turned off by going through the Edit->Options menu). Having done that click on the “Terrain Type Editor” button. You should now see something like the following:
Notice the red area, that is the playable area (where units and the in-game camera can move freely), beyond that is the non-playable area. The non-playable area is used to give the player a sense of a much larger world, as well as for aesthetic reasons (it would, after all, look slightly strange if world ended in a big black pit of nothingness). When editing the map (and especially when first laying it out), you should be aware of the playable area. Any map you create (say a 256x256 map) actually has a playable area of half that size (that is the playable area is 128x128 for a 256x256 map). There are two neat tricks that may help you in better determining the playable area.
Once you have the ME fired up, export a height map from it by going to File->Export->Export Height Map. Save this TGA in the SP folder, and then open it up in Photoshop. You'll see a uniform colour and won't know where the playable area begins and where it ends. The trick is to add a bunch of points on the map to allow you to determine the playable area size. Go back to the ME and select the Heightmap Editor mode,
Set the brush to Set Value, set the feather to 0, toggle on the terrain type overlay, and set the preset level to 6. Now, at each corner of the map click once, creating a “spike” in that area. Once you have all corners, export the height map. You should get something like this when you now export the height map:
The 4 points now delimit your playable area. You may wish to create an layer in Photoshop with say 30% transparency that you can turn off/on to determine the playable area.
Another, and much easier way, to accomplish the same effect is to create a targa file that is half the size of the map. So, for a 256x256 map, you create a image that is 128x128 in photoshop, then you edit the canvas size to 256x256 once you're done working on your map layout. Either option works fine.
Now, once you know the boundaries of your map, it may be a good idea to start laying it out. Included with this tutorial is a psd file called General_hm. Which is basically representative of all the different preset levels, and is set out like a pallet on which you can use the eye dropped and then pain in areas of the map. If you can't open a PSD file up, here are some RGB values and their associated preset level:
Very Deep Water: 0,0,0
Deep Water: 4, 4, 4
Over-the-head water: 8, 8, 8
Chest Height Water: 12, 12, 12
Water Surface: 16,16,16
Above Water Surface: 20,20,20
Level 1: 40, 40, 40
Level 2: 80,80, 80
Level 3: 120, 120, 120
Level 4: 160, 160, 160
Level 5: 200, 200, 200
Level 6: 240, 240, 240
While it's possible to create maps completely in the mission editor, one of the advantages of using an application such as Photoshop is that it provides much finer control over the height map and terrain detail. For instance, it's not an easy task to create a perfect ramp in the mission editor. Doing so in Photoshop is quite easy when one uses the gradient tool. Other tasks are also easier in Photoshop than in the mission editor. For instance creating squad shapes on terrain or terrain with rising edges, such as seen in this tutorial, and mission 1 is a lot easier to do in Photoshop than in the mission editor. As mentioned before, Photoshop is a good tool to use to layout the level, minor touchups can then be done in the mission editor.
As can be seen, this is a really basic map. We have a temple of sorts where our objective is going to be placed along with a well-fortified SM position that we must conquer. For now, we won’t worry about filling out the areas outside the playable area. You could probably copy + paste the above heightmap into your favorite editor and save it as a TGA file.
Note that in this case, we have omitted to do anything special with the non-playable area. Typically you would modify the non-playable area on such a way so that it provides a sense of continuity of terrain to the player. Also note that while we have created a height map, the mission editor has taken care of some aspects of terrain by making certain aspects of the terrain Impassible.
We’re now going to deal with troop placement. First, select the object placement icon, as indicated below:
The first thing that we’ll want to do on any map is to place down starting locations, without this data, the map won’t load. Starting locations can be found in the environment->gameplay object tree. Make sure that starting location is associated with a different player. Also, starting position cannot be placed outside the playable area or imasible terrain. They are used by the engine to place the starting location of bases in MP maps and by the AI to calculate pathfinding
Once we’ve placed down the starting location, the next thing we'll have to do is place down some forces.. However, before doing this we need to ensure that the objects that we place down will belong to the proper player. Under the Object Placement menu, select Player 2 from the drop down. Then we place down a force commander, and a squad of space marines on the lower platform, and a land raider on the upper platform. Group the squad and force commander together and call them sg_SpaceMarineSquad1 (using CTRL-U, to quickly group squads).
You may also want to place a HQ structure, and barracks for the Space Marines to use, as in a SP game the default starting structures will not be placed for you.
As an aside, note that the object tree is separated into two major categories, races and environment. The objects in the environment tree, with a few exceptions (such as starting_position) are those that you will want to typically assign to the world player, while the races objects will typically be controlled by players.
Once you’re done placing these items, we’ll be moving on to the third tutorial.
So, now we have a general layout of the map and we have a mission and the campaign file setup properly. But we still can't play. In the next tutorial we provide an overview of how to setup a mission with basic markers and scar to make it work in game.
ME Tutorials
Mission Editor
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