Click here to get a copy of the Map Editor for Windows. You can view the Autoire St Martin map and see how that map was built, and create your own maps (see below for instructions).
Creating a new map
When the Map Editor first starts it will prompt you to either open an existing map, or create new one. To create a new map, enter a 4 digit code. It's best to use capital letters and numbers only, and it's best not to use codes like AAAA or 1234 (as other people may have used common codes like that). It's best to invent a 4 digit code that summarizes what your map's name will be, e.g. ASTM for a map called Autoire-Saint-Martin
When you create a new map it will create a folder in the app's folder using your 4 digit code. Within that folder folders called Buildings, Trees and Objects will be created, where you can store your custom items for use in your map. A plain green background PNG will be created for you as a starting point.
The background image
The first thing to do with your map is create your own background PNG as a replacement for the default plain green one that gets created for you. On this PNG add only things that are flat, like field textures, roads, rivers, swamps etc... Don't add any shading for hills, as this will get created for you later when you add hill contours.
Modes
There are 8 different modes for adding things to your map: Contours, Buildings, Trees, Objects, Barriers, Scenarios and Animals. You can select a mode from the Mode menu, and select items to show or hide using the View menu.
Mode | Contours
There are 3 options within the contour mode: Hills, Banks and Ditches.
To create a hill, first select a hill height of zero and trace a loop around where you want the base of your hill to be. Then select say 10ft and draw a loop within that first loop, and so on. To delete a loop, click on it so it starts flashing and then press the Delete key.
To create a bank or a ditch, choose a height (typically about 2ft) and draw a line (rather than a loop)
Mode | Terrain
To tell the game what terrain each grid is select a grid type and then trace over things like roads, rivers, tracks, swamps etc... if you hold the CTRL key then clicking the mouse will do a fill of whatever grid type you have selected. Hold the space bar to draw a line. There is a Brush Size option for quickly drawing over things like roads and rivers.
Mode | Trees, Buildings and Objects
Select a tree/building/object from the list and then click on the map to create a new one. To delete an existing item, click on it so it flashes and then press the Delete key. Hold the Shift key down while pressing the Delete key to delete all instances of the selected item. For trees and objects you can hold down the Shift key while smearing over the map and this will create a group of items with a similar name (eg Forest trees, Bushes etc...). This is useful for making a forest quickly, or an area full of bushes.
Mode | Barriers
Barriers can be hedges, stone walls, wooden fences or barbed wire. They are made of vectors and you can quickly create a hedge line or stone wall by clicking along the map. They will try and snap to existing points. Press the Shift key to make barriers snap to horizontal and vertical. Press the Delete key to delete the currently selected barrier.
Mode | Animals
You can select where flocks of sheep will be generated
Mode | Scenarios
This is optional. For each map you can have 8 scenarios and a Tutorial scenario. Currently they must be WW2 scenarios.
Custom Buildings, Trees and Objects
You can create your own items for use in your map if you want to use items other than the built-in ones. They can be any size, and don't need to be square, but make the width and heights of each frame a multiple of 4. This is because the game use a grid system, and each grid is 4x4 pixels. The scale for the map is 8 pixels is 1 metre. (NB for vehicles, infantry and AT guns etc... in the Data Editor the scale is 16 pixels is 1 metre, to give them extra resolution)
For buildings: create a PNG with 2x2 frames. The frames are for an image of your un-destroyed building, an image with the roof removed so the player can see men inside the building, an image of your building damaged, and an image of it destroyed. Buildings also need a shadow image, which has 2 frames, the first image for a shadow of the building when it isn't destroyed and an image for when it is. The frame size for the shadow PNG can be larger than the frame size of the building PNG, as the shadow will extend to the right and below, but the centre of the building frame and the shadow frame will be drawn at the same point.
For trees: create a PNG with 3 frames. The frames are for un-destroyed, destroyed and uncovered. There is also a shadow PNG with 2 frames: un-destroyed and destroyed.
For objects: create a PNG with 3 frames. The frames are for un-destroyed damaged and destroyed. There is also a shadow PNG with 2 frames: un-destroyed and destroyed.
Once you have created your PNGs add them to the relevant folder (Buildings, Trees or Objects) within the map's folder. Go to the relevant mode and double click on your item to create a default data file profile for your item.
For buildings there are 4 modes:
- Floor level: Floor level tells the game how high up soldiers will be in that building, so Ground Level for say barns, and 1st or maybe 2nd floor for typical houses.
- Items: On the item mode you select which grids are walls, which are windows, and which are entrances. You can also specify which grids have 3ft high hard objects (so bullets won't go through), eg a kitchen counter, and soft (so vision is obscured, but bullets pass through), eg a sofa. Hold the CTRL to fill, and the ALT key to draw a line
- Ceilings: theses will normally be +1 above the top floor, but some buildings like churches and barns may have ceilings two floors above.
- Rooftops: The rooftop mode is for describing the shape of the roof. Add 'edges' around the edge of the building and select 'top's where the roof peaks. Flat roofs will have no peaks and will be all 'roof' within the 'edges'
For trees simply select a tree shape and height.
For objects select the grids that obscure vision (eg bushes) and grids that would stop a bullet. Also select how high.
NB you cannot alter the profiles of built-in items
Building your map for in-game usage
Use options from the File menu to build everything that is needed for your map to be used in a game. Clicking on one of these options will create a folder called Output in your map's folder and write things you need there.