Map and Scenario Editor
Secondary Sheet Specifications
Adding and Editing Terrain Parts
Moving Parts Around in the Parts Selection Palette
Adding A Terrain Part To The Map
Tutorial: Building a Simple Map
Tutorial: Building a Simple Scenario
This is the manual for the scenario and map editor of The Perfect General Internet Edition. With this editor, you can change and create maps scenarios and maps for the game.
You will also have the capability to add your own custom graphics to the game, as well as provide HTML-based briefings for the scenarios. The intent is to allow you to creatively generate excellent maps and challenging scenarios that you can share with your enemies, so you can crush them on your home turf.
This editor was used to edit and repair the scenarios that came with the game. All of the functionality of the scenarios from The Perfect General Internet Edition and more are possible with this editor.
The individual terrain parts on a map are capable of being defined in various ways, lending a lot of power to the map creator to invent new terrain. The capability to add your own icons is also available. Due to this capability, though there are some 'drawing tools' provided to make drawing of certain terrain types easier, the editor does not have capability of allowing you to simply "paint" an entire map.
Before you can work with the editor for The Perfect General Internet Edition, you must first understand what amps and scenarios are, and how hey are constructed.
Maps are independent of scenarios. Maps are the layout of the battle scene, and are comprised of the following components:
This is the map as it is to be first presented in the game, without the effects of artillery fire or engineering work. The map is represented by staggered squares representing hexes. The squares are laid out in rows. Each map has a defined Width and Height. Hexes on the map are defined by a terrain part. The map width and height are limited by the fact that the total number of hexes on a map cannot exceed 32,500.
The minimum size of the width or height is 2. So a map 2 x16250 is possible, though it may push the limits of the game engine and not produce desired results.
The terrain parts are the basic building blocks for a map. Each part can appear in many different locations on the initial map or not at all. Parts have the following attributes:
This is the picture of the terrain as it will appear on the map.
This is the string that will describe the terrain when it is viewed in the target cursor window of the game.
This is the part that the terrain can be changed into.
These are the sides of the hex where units may enjoy road bonuses while moving into the hex.
These are the various types of effects the part can place on movement. Movement Effects can be different for Infantry Units type (IN, BZ, EN) and Non-Infantry Units (AC, LT, MT, HT, MA)
These are:
Blocked
Infantry Units cannot enter.
Non-Infantry cannot enter.
Infantry Only
Infantry Units cost is 1.0
Non-Infantry cannot enter
One Hex Stop
Infantry Units cost is 1.0
Non-Infantry Units - half their full movement points for entering.
Fast Movement .5 movement cost to enter for all units.
Normal Movement 1.0 movement points to enter for all units.
Slow Movement
Infantry Units 1.0 to enter
Non-Infantry Units - 2.0 to enter
Normal Mud Effect
Infantry Units 1.0 to enter
Non-Infantry Units - If mud or rain, 2.0 to enter, otherwise 1.0 to enter.
Half Mud Effect
Infantry Units 1.0 to enter
Non-Infantry Units - If mud or rain, units will expend half their full movement points in entering the hex.
These are various other attributes of the part. They are:
Gives Def Advantage 20% subtracted from to-hit calculations
Blocks LOS blocks line of sight of a unit.
No Mines Allowed self-explanatory.
Engineer Can Change Part will change to alternate part if an Engineering unit uses the B command on the hex.
Arty Can Change - Part will change to alternate part if artillery fire lands in the hex.
Altitude The lowest possible altitude is 0, and it can be increased by a factor of 10
Mini Map Color This is the "RGB" color that is available in the mini map to represent this part.
A Map label is a name that is associated with a group of hexes on the map, regardless of what terrain part is currently in that hex. This name will override the Terrain Part Label when being displayed in the game. Map Labels have no other effect on the game.
Scenarios have no concept of a match. They only understand the two basic player roles, Attacker and Defender. Scenarios are comprised of the following components:
The game information describes the basic aspects of the scenario. These are:
Every scenario requires a map. Maps and their components are described in the previous section. The map for a scenario is chosen when the scenario is created. Once a map is chosen for a scenario, it cannot be changed.
Turns define the length of both the long and standard games.
The allowable builds define what units will be available to each side (Attacker and Defender) during the game.
The game description tells the player about the game.
This is the name given to the scenario.
This is the longer briefing for the scenario. This briefing should contain all the information the player needs to learn about the scenario before beginning.
Regions are simply defined areas on the map. All regions have a set of hexes which define them. Each Region is also classified by one of four types, depending on their intended use. These types are:
Reinforcement region where units can be placed on the map.
Neutral Country regions where the opponent will receive and place units if you enter. It has the additional attribute:
Points amount of buy points awarded to side that did not invade.
Victory Point region where points are awarded if controlled by a player at the end of a turn. It has the additional attribute:
Victory Points amount to be added to a controlling players score each turn.
Description Location hex where the point value will be displayed on the map.
Victory Terrain Type region where points will be awarded per part within he region which is of a particular type. It has the additional attributes:
Terrain The terrain part type.
Attacker/Defender The player who will receive the award.
Victory Points Points awarded to the specified player if that part is in the region (on a per part contained basis).
End Game Only Flag Award will only be assessed once, at the end of the game.
Events are something that takes place during the scenario. Setting up events are probably the most complicated aspect of the game. It is recommended you study scenarios you are familiar with in the editor to see how certain types of events were created.
There are two types of events: Weather and Reinforcement.
All Events have the following common properties:
Start Turn The turn the event will start on.
Duration Number of turns event will last.
Turn Frequency How many turns before this event will repeat (0 = never)
Event Type One of two possible types of events:
Weather Event Type These are weather effects. They have the following properties:
Type
Mud Mud effects apply to terrain parts which have the Movement Effects Half Mud or Normal Mud.
Night Visibility is 500 meters, No direct Fire Phases, and units cannot move adjacent to known enemy positions.
Rain Visibility is 1000 meters. Mud effects apply to terrain parts which have the Movement Effects Half Mud or Normal Mud.
Storm Visibility reduced to 500 meters, Units reduced to .5 movement points.
Fog Visibility reduced to 1000 meters.
Percentage Chance of Occurrence
Percentage probability the event will occur. (0-100%)
Reinforcement Event Type This event deals with the distribution of forces within specified Reinforcement Regions. This type of event has the following additional properties:
Recipient Attacker, Defender or Both.
Movement Effects Effect on New Units movement for the first turn. These can be
Normal Movement unit can move as it normally would.
Half Movement - unit will only have half its movement available during its first turn on the map.
No Movement unit cannot move during its first turn on the map.
Points Award Points for the event. Awards can vary between the Standard and Long game types.
Placement This is the condition for placement of forces into a region. It can be:
If Friendly Units are in the region
If No Enemy units in the region
Always place, regardless of control
Expand Placement Area By One Hex - this increases the size of the placement region.
Point Generation This is what determines the award. Optional conditions are:
Points Always Generated
Points Summed (points awarded on a per region basis)
No Summing, All regions must be controlled
No Summing, One region must be controlled
Clear Accumulator Determines if points can be carried over to the next time this event occurs.
Regions These are the reinforcement regions that apply to the event.
# Pick Regions If not 0, this is the number of regions that must be selected for random distribution of forces.
There are two sets of instructions. One for the Attacker Computer player, one for the Defender. These are used to give the computer some hint as to how to behave in a scenario, and to add variety to the opponent every time a scenario is played.
The instructions are broken into four aspects:
Set of Initial Placement Strategy Tables
This is a set of one or more weighted probability tables which will determine how the AI player will distribute his forces at startup.
Set of Reinforcement Strategy Tables
This is a set of one or more weighted probability tables which will determine how the AI player will distribute his forces when receiving reinforcements. Only one table is chosen for the entire duration of a game.
Set of locations good for Mine Placement
This is the set of locations where the computer player will look to place mines.
Set of locations good for Engineering Work
This is the set of locations where the computer player will look to build/destroy.
If starting from scratch, the first things that must be determined about a map are the size and its name. To do this, select the menu option Map Editor ->New Map. The editor will then prompt you for the map size (width and height), and a map file name. A map file will be immediately created using that name. The clear square will be the only part on the map.
If loading a pre-existing map, select the menu option Map Editor->Choose A Map to make the choice.
Maps must be saved in the Map Directory, defined in the INI file. This is to insure scenarios where to look for the maps.
Secondary Sheet Specifications
When loading creating the map, the editor will look in the Map Directory for the Secondary Icon Sheet. This sheet will be specified with the same name as the map file (with the bmp extension).
The Secondary icon sheet must comply with the following specifications to load properly:
It must be a BMP bitmap file.
File name must be the same as the Map File Name.
It must reside in the Map Directory.
Icon width and height must be 36 pixels
File size must be 1800 pixels wide
File size must be 576 pixels deep
This will provide you with a sheet of up to 800 (50x16) additional icons
For the map.
Even if you only need to add one icon, you must follow the specifications defined above.
Once loaded or created, the map will be displayed, as it is in the game. To navigate around the map, hold down the [Middle Button] of the mouse, or hold down the [CTRL] key and the [Right Mouse] button, as you do in the game. You are now ready to add terrain parts to the map.
To view, add and edit parts on the map, you must work with the Terrain Parts Editor. Either select the menu option Map Editor->Edit Parts or hold down the [SHIFT] key and Right Click on the part you wish to edit. This will call up the Terrain Parts Editor.
All of the various attributes of a terrain part can be edited from this editor. Parts can also be added or deleted.
The Terrain Parts Editor is split into two halves, the Selected Part Attributes on the left side, and the Parts Selection Palette on right. The Parts Selection Palette displays all of the current parts in the map, and highlights the current selected part. To choose a part to examine, use the vertical scrollbar to scroll through the parts until you find the desired part, then click on that part to select it. The Selected Part Attributes section will now show the current information about the selected part.
You can organize the parts in the Parts Selection Palette by holding down the [SHIFT] key and Left Clicking on the part position you would like to change the current Selected Part to. This will in no way affect the attributes of either part moved.
To add a terrain part, scroll the Parts Selection Palette down to where there is a blank space with no part icon. Double Left Click on any blank space and the Icon Palette will appear.
The Icon Palette displays the available icons to choose from. On the right is a filtering mechanism to help filter out the number of icons displayed in the Icon Palette.
To select an icon for the new part, Left Click on the desired icon. A new part will be created with the default attributes for that part.
To cancel the creation of a part, select the close button at the upper right corner of the Icon Palette.
The icons sheets distributed with The Perfect General Internet Edition contain 3000 icons. With the additional 800 icons per map allowed in a user's sheet, this makes for quite a bit of icons to sort through. A filter mechanism based on defaults and classification of some of the icons has been provided to help find the particular icon you are searching for. Below is a picture of the filter mechanism:
The filter check boxes function as follows:
Each filter criteria has a check box in front of it, and if the box is checked, that filter is applied for icon selection. The subjects "Road Directions" and "Ovl (Overlay) directions have a check box which says Don't Use. If the Don't Use box is checked, that criteria is ignored.
Some of the filers, namely Terrain Dir To/From and Primary/Secondary Terrain might appear ambiguous in describing a particular icon. If an icon you are looking for does not come up using a particular filter criteria, it might appear if you reverse the criteria (changing the To to the From, etc.). Also be aware of which filters are active, for you could be blocking out the display of an appropriate icon because your filters are too narrow. It is recommended you play with the filters to get used to how the icons are filtered and presented.
Apply Active Filters - when checked, the editor will use the filter criteria to determine what icons should be displayed.
Primary Terrain - with this selection, only icons whose primary terrain is the type selected will be displayed. Possible values are:
"None"
"Clear"
"Desert"
"Swamp"
"Level 1"
"Level 2"
"Level 3"
"Level 4"
"Depression"
"Town"
"Rubble"
"Forest"
"Sea"
"Other"
Secondary Terrain - with this selection, only icons considered to have the listed value as a secondary terrain will be displayed. This useful for finding terrain icons that have more than one terrain type within them, such as the ridges displayed above. Values are the same as with Primary Terrain.
Terrain Dir From - with this selection, only the icons that are considered to have terrain entering the hex from hat direction will be displayed. This does not apply to "overlays" like rivers or roads, but to ridges, beaches, forests and such. Possible values are:
"North",
"Northeast",
"Southeast"
"South"
"Southwest"
"Northwest"
"None"
Terrain Dir To - with this selection, only the icons that are considered to have terrain exiting the hex from hat direction will be displayed. This does not apply to "overlays" like rivers or roads, but to ridges, beaches, forests and such.
Overlay Type - with this selection, you wil be able to classify some icons by the type of overlay used. Possible values are:
"None"
"Road"
"River"
"Border"
"Train"
"Other"
Road Directions - This filter will assist you in finding the road icon you desire.
Ovl Directions - This filter will help classify the overlay icon directions used.
Altitude - With this selection, icons can be sorted by default altitude.
Extra Descriptor - This is an extra character associated with the icons. The current set of characters are:
C - (default) Clear - basically anything that does not have any other descriptor
R - dirt Road on Green
r - dirt road on desert.
W - dirt road on level 1
w - dirt road on level 2
X - dirt road on level 3
x - dirt road on depression terrain
Y - dirt road on swamp
A - river on green
a - river on desert
F - forest on green
f - forest on desert
1 - ridge from green to level 1
O - ridge from desert to level 1
S - coast from sea to green
s - coast from sea to desert
T - coast from sea to level 1
2 - ridge from level 1 to level 2
3 - ridge from level 2 to level 3
4 - ridge from level 3 to level 4
P - paved roads on green
p - paved roads on desert
B - road bridge icons
b - blown road bridge icons
H - beach icons
t - train icons on level 1
L - rail icons on green
l - rail icons on desert
Z - extra icon sheet icons
To remove a part from the map, select the part in the Parts Selection Palette. Then click on the Remove Selected Part Button. Only parts not on the map may be removed.
If other parts had the removed part as their alternate part, the part in question will change the alternate part to point to itself.
Instructions for editing each attribute of the selected part are as follows:
Part Label to change the label, simply choose the desired label from the selection available.
If you wish to add a label, click on the ADD Label button. You will then be prompted for the label name.
If you wish to remove a label, click on the DEL Label button. Then select the label you wish to delete.
Selected Part Icon The icon representing the current selected part is prominently displayed. To change this icon, Left Click on the Terrain Image or Double Left Click on the Selected Part in the Parts Selection Palette. This will open the Icon Palette. To select an icon for the part, Left Click on the desired icon. To cancel, select the close button at the upper right corner of the Icon Palette.
Alternate Terrain Part To change the Alternate Terrain Part for the selected part, scroll the Parts Selection Palette to where the Terrain Part you wish to select as the alternate is visible, then Right Click on that part.
Road Directions To set the road directions attribute of a part, simple select or deselect the check boxes in the road directions section. A direction check means the part will provide the road bonus if entered from that direction.
Movement Effects To set the desired movement effect for the selected Terrain Part, select from the choices in the Movement Effects Section. The current movement effect for the Selected Part will be displayed.
Altitude To adjust the altitude of the part, click on the plus or minus button to increment or decrement the altitude by 10 m.
Mini Map Color To set the mini map color, simply make the choice from the Mini Map Color selection box.
In order to place the selected part on the map, Left Click on the position on the map where you would like the part to be placed. If you wish to undo this action, press [Ctrl + Z].
To add a map label, select the menu option Map Editor->Map Labels. The Map Labels Dialog will be displayed.
The Map Labels Dialog has two sections, one a list of the labels themselves, and the other for the locations associated with that label. To view information about a particular label, select that label from the label list.
To Add a Label, click on the New Label button. You will then be prompted for the label name. Once you have a new label you must specify the hex where the map label will be displayed, and the hexes which will be associated with the label.
To specify the hex where the label will be displayed, make sure the Label Display Location button is depressed, then click on the desired location on the map. When finished selecting a location for the label, make sure the Label Display Location button is no longer pushed in.
To add hex locations to be associated with the label, click on the Add/Delete Locations button. Then Left Click on the desired hex.
To remove the association of a location with the selected map label, Right Click on the desired hex.
To Edit the Label Name, select the label desired, then click on Edit Selected. You will be prompted to change the label.
To Remove the Label from the map, first select the label desired, then click on the Remove Selected button.
Saving The Map To save the map, select the menu choice Map Editor->Save Map As.
Using The Drawing Tools:
The drawing tools will allow you a rough way to free hand draw certain terrain types, like coast lines, rivers, roads, forests and different mountain levels.
Using the tools when editing an existing map can give you varied results, because the tools are dependent on certain defaults for the terrain parts, while the values of the actual parts can be different on the map (previously changed).
To get the best usage out of the drawing tools, use them to lay down the rough draft of the map, then use the parts editor to beautify and finish up the map.
To begin drawing, select Drawing Tools->Start Drawing .
You will be prompted to choose a terrain theme. Upon choosing this theme, all of the terrain on the map that meets the default requirements for that theme will have a purple box drawn on top of the hex.
To lay down more terrain of that theme, simply left click on the hexes (or hold the left mouse button and paint) the areas you wish to have the terrain theme applied to. To clear a hex, right click on the desired hex.
When you have finished drawing the intended terrain layout, select Drawing Tools->End and the new terrain will be generated. Be aware that all squares which had a purple box at the time may be changed, those that do not have the box on them, will no be changed, regardless of the part or icon associated with that hex.
If making a scenario from scratch, select the menu option Scenario Editor->New Scenario. You will then be shown a list of map files. Select the map file you wish to be used for this scenario. Once a map is chosen, the scenario choice cannot be changed. The map however, can still be edited at a later date if so desired.
If selecting a pre-existing scenario, select the menu option Scenario Editor->Choose A Scenario and you will see the list of scenarios that can be selected. Scenarios do not have to be saved or loaded from the default Scenario Directory.
Once the scenario has been selected or created, the map associated with that scenario will be displayed in the editor window.
Once loaded or created, the map associated with that scenario will be displayed, as it is in the game. To navigate around the map, hold down the [Middle Button] of the mouse, or hold down the [CTRL] key and the [Right Mouse] button, as you do in the game.
To edit the name and description of the scenario, select the menu option Scenario Editor->Description. You may then edit the name of the scenario in the title box, and edit the long description in the long description box.
When finished editing the title and description, close the description dialog with the windows close button in the upper right corner of the dialog.
If you are preparing an HTML briefing for the scenario, the root HTML document must be saved as <scenario file name>.htm. So, for example, the HTML briefing for First Battle, whose file name is FirstBattle.scn, would be FirstBattle.htm.
This editor does not support the editing or viewing of HTML briefings. You must do that externally.
To edit the game information, select the menu option Scenario Editor->Game Info. The Game information dialog will appear.
You may then enter the Standard Game Turns and the Long Game Turns, as well as select or deselect the units available in the scenario for both the attacker and defender.
When finished editing the game info, close the game info dialog with the windows close button in the upper right corner of the dialog.
To Add, Edit, and Remove regions from the scenario, first select the menu option Scenario Editor->Regions. The existing regions will be displayed in the Region Ids List and the current selected region will have its attributes displayed.
To add a region, click on the Add Region button. You will be prompted to choose the type of region you desire. Once you make the choice, the region will be created, placed on the Regions Ids List, but will have no hexes associated with it. The ID number assigned to the region is arbitrary.
To remove a region, select the region from the Region IDs List, and click on the Delete Regions button. You cannot delete a region that is still being used by an event.
Region Type Cannot Be Changed
Region Locations To add a hex location to the region, depress the Add Locs button and then Left Click on the desired hex location on the map. To remove a hex location from a region, depress the Delete Locs button, then Left Click on the desired hex location on the map.
Victory or Buy Points for regions that have victory or buy points, enter the award for those points in the edit box labeled Victory or Buy Points.
Set Description Location For victory point regions, you can set the location where the amount label will be displayed by depressing the Set Description Label button and Left Clicking on the desired location on the map.
Setting the Terrain Part To set the terrain part associated with a victory Terrain Type region, Left Click on the displayed icon. The Terrain Part Chooser will be displayed. Scroll to find the terrain part desired, then Left Click on it.
The radio buttons labeled Att and Def will specify which player will receive the award.
Selecting the End of Game Only checkbox will specify that the score is only to b counted at the end of the game.
To add, edit, or remove an event in the scenario, select the menu option Scenario Editor->Events. The events will be displayed in the Event List, and the current selected Event will have its attributes displayed.
To Add An Event Click on the Add Reinforcement button to add a reinforcement event, or click on the Add Weather button to add a weather event.
To Remove An Event - select the event in the Even List, and press the Delete Selected button.
Start On Turn This value will be the starting turn for the event.
Duration This value will be the length of the event.
Frequency This value will be the frequency of the event.
Editing Weather Events Details
Select the weather type form the combo box, and set the percentage chance of occurrence in the game.
Editing Reinforcement Event Details
Recipient will specify the events recipient.
Movement Effects will specify the events movement effects.
Points will set the values for the standard and long game awards.
Placement will specify how placement is to occur.
Expand Area By One Hex if selected, the reinforcement area will be extended by one hex in size.
Point Generation this will specify the point generation plan for this event.
Clear Accumulator if checked, this option will prevent surplus points from being carried over between turns.
Regions here the regions involved with the event can be selected. Selected regions will appear on the map.
# Pick Reg If this value is non-zero, it will specify how many regions out of the set the player is able to choose.
The Perfect General Internet Edition come with a limited way to affect the AIs behavior in the scenario. To edit the Attacker AI Instructions, select the menu options Scenario Editor ->Comp. Attacker. To edit the Defender AI Instructions, select the menu options Scenario Editor ->Comp. Defender.
The Computer Player AI Dialog will appear. The dialog is basically separated into four sections
Initial Placement/ Reinforcement Table Weights here you can set the weights of the table itself, and the weighted values for the units inside the table. For either Initial Placement or Reinforcement. You can also add or remove tables of each type.
To select a particular table, choose the table number from the Initial Placement or Reinforcement combo box. The values for that table will then be displayed.
The weight of a table or unit is essentially the possibility that that table or unit will be used in a particular game. So, for example, if there are two Initial Placement tables for the attacker, and table #1 has a weight of 6 and table #2 has a weight of 2, (the sum of the weights of the two tables is 8), the odds that table #1 will be chosen in a scenario are 6 of 8 or 75%.
An example with units within a particular table would be if Armored Cars has a weight of 9 out of the total weight of 90, then there is a 9 out of 90 chance (10%) than the AI will try to buy an Armored Car as his next selection.
The values are explained below:
Table Wt. Total This is the total weight value the table itself will have. This will affect its being chosen versus the other tables of that type defined in the game. The value in parenthesis next to this value is the sum of all the weights of the tables of that type.
Unit Weights - AC, LT, MT, HT, MA, IN, EN, BZ, LA, HA, and MN. These are the weights for the individual units in the table.
Total This is the combined weight of all the units in the table.
To add a new table, click on the ADD button. To remove the current table, click on the DEL button. You must always have at least one table for initial placement and one table for reinforcement.
Mine Placement here you will find the list of locations where mines are recommended to be placed. To add a location, click on the Add Mine Location button and then Left Click on the desired map location. To delete a location from the list, select the location from the list and click on the Delete Mine Location button.
Engineer Locations here you will find the list of locations where it is recommended that Engineer Units perform the Build Command. To add a location, click on the Add Eng Location button and then Left Click on the desired map location. To delete a location from the list, select the location from the list and click on the Delete Eng Location button.
Saving The Scenario To save the scenario, select the menu choice Scenario Editor->Save Scenario As.
This tutorial will show you how to quickly build a simple map. Obviously, to make a map that will provide endless hours of strategic play, one must carefully plan how to construct it.
For this example, I will create a small map with a shore and beach on both the North and South edge of the map, with some ridges that will need to be crossed on each side and a valley with a river in the middle. I will also add some bridges and forest for fun, as well as add a couple of unique icons.
New Map
First, I want to construct a map of size 30x20. To do this, I start up the editor, and select the following menu option
New Map Menu Option
And I create the map size with a width of 30 and height of 20
Selecting the Map Size
I am immediately prompted to save the new map.
Saving The New Map
At this point the map is displayed with the clear icon. If I did not want the clear icon as the default, I would simple edit the part to change to the default I desire.
However, it is the clear I want, so I will not change it here. Now I am ready to start making the map. I will begin by painting the shoreline on the north and south sides. To do this, I will use the Drawing Tools.
Drawing Tools Menu Option
The following Dialog might be different, depending on the version you have, for additional tools may be added after this tutorial. However, here are my options at this time.
Drawing Tool Options
I want to draw sea to green for a coastline. I select this option, hit OK, and then I am ready to paint. I will fill the bottom and top with sea squares and draw the coast line. By Left Clicking on the hex a purple box appears. Right Clicking would remove the box. This hex will be changed into a sea or coastal square. Here is my Northern Shore in purple squares:
And here is the shore when I select the menu option Drawing Tools->End
Now I want to add some level 1 mountains. I go back to the drawing tools, and select the "Green To Level 1" option, and start painting again. Before I select Drawing Tools->End, my map looks like this
And the result is this:
I now add some rivers and forests, also using the drawing tool Now the map looks like this:
Now I want to add a road coming from the shores and heading to the middle. Unfortunately, the drawing tool is not sophisticated enough to draw bridges or mountain roads, so some of this will be done by hand. But First, I will draw the parts I can, using the Drawing Tool option "Clear Road".
You can see here I have drawn over the mountains and the river to make the road, here is the result:
Like I said, the tool is not capable of detecting what terrain you want to change. So it has just over written what was previously placed. I plan to go in an individually add the mountain roads and bridges.
I will start with the bridges. It looks like I need two types of bridges:
River runs NE-SW, Road runs SE-NW
River runs NW-SE, Road runs SW-NE
To Do this, I have to call up the Terrain Parts Editor and add the bridges and their destroyed counter-parts. To do this, I select any part by SHIFT-Right Clicking on it to get the Terrain Parts Editor.
Now I do not want to replace the image for any of the current parts, but instead add some new ones. So I double click on a blank square, and choose a new part:
I know that the bridges I'm looking for have road directions, so I click on "Apply Active Filters", unclick "Don't Use" in the road directions section, then click on NW and SE to look at all NW-SE roads. I see the icon I desire first in the second row. I click on it and it is added to the parts.
Currently, we can see there is no destroyed counterpart for it. I will get that after I add the second bridge. Again, I double click on a blank square, and this time I just change the road directions filter to NE and SW:
Looks like second to last on the first row.
Now I need the destroyed bridge counterparts, so that I can set them up as the Alternate Terrain. To do this, double click on a blank square, and with the filter active, move the scroll bar at the bottom till the bridge icon I had chosen before is the first icon visible, as shown
Then I de-select the "Apply Active Filters" checkbox, and the destroyed icon appears next to it.
You see, with out active filters we are looking at the icons as they appear on the three icon sheets. I happen to know that the bridge and destroyed bridge icons are next to each other on the sheet, so removing the filters reveals the destroyed bridge. I had to move the bridge icon to the first slot to make sure it was first to be displayed when the filter was removed. There may have been many icons hidden while the filters were on that would of pushed back the position of the bridge icon.
Always keep in mind that these icons are really just pictures (3000 of them) and not terrain types, and the filters are using some default attributes that help sort the pictures. They do not become terrain types until you turn them into parts, then edit and place the parts on the map.
Now, I do the same for the other destroyed bridge, and now I can set the Alternate Icons for the bridge parts. To do this, I first select the part whose Alternate Terrain I wish to change, in this case the NW-SE bridge:
Then I right click on the Part I wish to make the Alternate Part. This will change the Alternate Terrain displayed in the window.
Alternate Terrain Changed
Now I want to set the other bridge up, and I want to make the corresponding bridges the alternate terrain for the blown bridges in case the player gets the opportunity to repair them.
Now I have noticed while doing this that I have accidentally set the "Other Attributes" setting "Arty Can Change". This would not be good, for this would allow artillery to change the destroyed bridge into a repaired bridge. So I need to remove that option, but leave the "Engineer Can Change" so that Engineers can repair the bridges.
Herein is one of the more powerful aspects of the terrain parts. You do not have to change one part back into the part it was before. The parts can actually be chained together in a series, if you wanted to draw a building, then turn it into a burning building, then turn it into a burned out building, all of this is possible with the editor.
Now I need to add my bridges to my map. The terrain parts editor can stay open, or it can be hidden by using the [W] key while you paint. I first select the NW-SE bridge and then click on the appropriate hex. If I make a mistake, I can undo any paint activity with [Ctrl + Z].
..........
Once I have added the bridges, I will need to add the mountain roads to the map. I do this in the same way as I did with the bridges, but I can use other filters as well as the road filter to narrow my search, for mountain ridges can be confusing. As an example, I will fix the following map section:
Without Grid
With Grid
This is the ridge in the North-West Section of the map.I need three mountain road hexes here, all have the roads running North to south, with Level 1 mountain characteristics:
Now, the ridges are defined in the filter by the "lower" lever terrain opening in a clockwise fashion. So for the most northern piece I need to place, this would be defined as a ridge running from NW to NE. So I double click on a blank square in the Terrain parts editor, and apply the filters as show:
You will note I set the Road Direction filter, as well as the Primary Terrain (Clear), Secondary Terrain (Level 1) and the "Terrain Dir From" to NW. If I were to set the "Terrain Dir To" to NE, I would filter out the second icon.
The 'middle' part of this mountain road needs to be filtered with "Level 1" as the "Primary Terrain", and the 'bottom' hex as above except the "Terrain Dir From" should be NE and "Terrain Dir To" should be SW.
Then I can place the icons down. This will make the map look like so:
Now I may want to set these with Alternate Terrain that will make the roads either appear to disappear or in the middle case, have craters. The corresponding ridge parts already exist in the set of parts I have in the editor, and I can add the part for the cratered level 1 icon to represent a destroyed road.
I will also need to add other parts for the other mountain roads. In the end, my map should look like this
The next icons I want to add are some beach hexes. I add them in the same way as I did the other terrain, using the filters with Primary Terrain as sea, secondary as clear, and the directions as I see fit. (Making sure the road filters are turned off).
The rivers may need to have Engineered Bridges added as alternate terrain as well, if you wish to allow that on the map. I added some Level 1 Forest to the ridge. i could of used the drawing tool, but just did it by hand.
Then I will need to add some crater and destroyed forest icons. I can do his with the filter setting the "Secondary Terrain" to rubble. After I have selected the rubble icons, any icon I want changed to a crater or destroyed forest I will need to set in the parts editor as well.
You will notice that several road icons and forest icons are now in the collection of terrain parts. This can be a hassle trying to scroll select a part, then scroll and right select the alternate. Fortunately, you can "move" the parts around in the parts editor by selecting the part you wish to move, then scrolling till the position you want it to change places with is visible, and then [SHIFT]-Left Clicking on that position. That way, you can move the rubble icon close to the group of forest or road icons to quickly assign them the alternate terrain.
My map now looks like this:
Before I am done with the map, I want to add two more things. My special icons (for example's sake), and some map labels.
To add special icons, they must first be drawn. Each icon should be 36x36 pixels in size, and placed on a new icons sheet as a BMP file. You can use Microsoft's Paint utility to do this, or something better if you have it. I will add two icons, one representing a gas sation, the other a destroyed gas station. My artistic talents aren't very good, but here are the two icons:
These two icons are placed in a BMP image file called EditorTutorial.bmp, and placed in the map directory. Position is important, and they are placed in the first two positions of a 50x16 grid of 36 pixels square icons in a 1800x576 bitmap. It is important that the BMP file have the same filename as the map, minus the extension.
Once this icon sheet is saved, the map needs to be saved and then reloaded for the new icons to be loaded as well. Then you can add them as you would normally add other terrain parts. You will need to turn on filters and set the "Extra Descriptor" value to 'Z'. The new icons will appear. You can also not have the filter active and scroll to the end of the icon set.
Once added, you will note their default attributes are not really set, and you must adjust them for each part added.
I also need to set the label. I will add a label by clicking on the "Add Label" Button.
And then the label can be set for the part in the parts editor.
Once the attributes for the two parts are set, the Gas Station can be placed on the map. I will place two of them in the middle.
Now, all that's needed are Map Labels.
To add labels, select the menu option Map Editor->Map Labels
Map Labels are easy enough to add, just set the name, assign the hexes to hold the label, then set the label display location.
To Set the name, press the "New Label" Button and enter the label name.
Now with the label selected, press "Add Locations" and click on the hexes on the map you want to have this label.
Note-since this shot was taken, the Add and Delete buttons have been merged
To set the location, press the button under "Label Display Location" and Left Click on the map where you want the label to be displayed.
My Final Map looks like this:
At the time this tutorial was written, the proper defaults for the mini map colors had not been set, so I need to go and change them. they are set for each individual part, by opening the Terrain Parts Editor, selecting the desired part, then pressing the Change Color button.
This allows me to set the RGB (Red Green Blue) settings for this terrain part in the mini map. Once I have set the values for all the parts, I can see what the mini map will look like by selecting the menu option Map Editor->View Minimap.
This option gives you a dialog with the mini map draw on it.
You can also save a BMP file of your map. Select the zoom you wish to take the picture at, then select the option Map Editor->Make Map Picture. You will be prompted to save a BMP file. Beware, large maps at lower zooms make huge bitmaps.
Obviously, there is a learning curve for some of the techniques of building a map. But the editor is extremely powerful, and will allow a creative map creator to build all sorts of interesting and exciting maps. I can't wait to build a scenario off this one!
This tutorial will show you how to quickly build a simple scenario. Not a lot of thought went into this scenario, but hopefully it will be interesting to try.
For this example, I will use the Editor Tutorial Map create earlier. I will set it up so that both the attacker will land on the beaches, and have to drive in to destroy the gas stations. The Attacker will get Victory Points and Reinforcements for each beach he maintains control of, and the Defender will get victory points for holding the gas stations, and reinforcements send in via the rivers every night (every 3 turns) as long as they are controlled.
The attacker will try to destroy the gas stations, the defender will try to preserve them.
Sounds like a challenge. But in the editor its quite simple.
New Scenario
First, I create a new scenario by selecting the option Scenario Editor->New Scenario. I will be prompted to select the map for the scenario. Once I select the map, it cannot be changed.
The first thing I will do is write a Description. Later on I can work on the HTM version, which will be done with my own personal HTML editor program, not in this editor. If I do make an HTM presentation, I need to make sure it has the same name as the scenario, and has the .htm extension.
After typing in my first draft of the description (might be wise to first do it in a a spell checker editor, then paste it in), I can close the description window and the data will still be there. I can go back and change it at anytime.
The next thing I need to do is set the Game Info. I do this by selecting the menu option Scenario Editor->Game Info.
Here, I want to remove the ability of the attacker to build LA and HA, to make it harder to destroy the gas station. I also set the number of turns in this dialog.
Now it is time to set the regions. I do this by selecting the menu option Scenario Editor->Regions. I will need regions for each beach, for the defender reinforcement, and for the Gas Stations. To make a new region, I first press the Add Region Button.
This gives me the choice of what type of region I want. I will start with the beaches, and they will serve as both reinforcement and victory regions, so I select Victory Points. Reinforcement regions are good only for assigning reinforcement events to, but Victory Point regions can double as reinforcement and supply victory points.
To add locations to the region, I press the "Add Locs" button, then left click on the map. To Delete Locations, I press the "Delete Locs" button, then Left Click on the locations I want removed.
To set the amount of victory points, I enter the value in the "Victory or Buy Points" box (Buy Points are for a Neutral Country Region). Then, I place the victory point label by first pressing "Set Description Location", and then clicking on the desired location on the map.
I set up the two gas stations in the middle as a "Terrain Part" region. This means points are awarded for each hex in the region that is of a certain terrain part. Here I am awarding 100 points to the Defender for each hex that has a gas station in it. (A separate region is made for the attacker with destroyed stations in it).
To change the terrain part to be used, just click on the terrain and that calls up a Terrain Part Chooser. Then click on the terrain part to be used.
Now that my regions are set up, its time to add events. There are two types of events, weather and reinforcements. I will start with weather.
I will have "Night on every Third turn". This event is a weather event, and the first thing I do is press the "Add Weather" button. Weather events are very simple, and only the common event attributes and the weather event details need to be set. Since happens every third turn, I set the start turn to turn 3, and the frequency to 3. The duration will be for only one turn. The probability of Night occurring in this scenario is 100%.
To play with the probabilities, I will add a fog event every third turn (morning) starting on turn 4 with a 20% chance of occurrence.
Now to add the reinforcement events. I need a turn one reinforcement for both players, and the night reinforcements for the defenders, and the conditional beach reinforcements for the attackers.
For attacker turn one, I first press "Add Reinforcement", change the recipient to "Attacker", give them "Half Movement" for a beach landing, assign the game points, and select the four beach regions I defined earlier. I also check "Place Always" and "Always Generated" for points, since this is a turn one placement.
For the defender, I do roughly the same thing, but with different settings (different recipient, points, etc.).
For the Attacker reinforcements, I will start on turn two, add frequency of every turn, set Recipient to Attacker, give them Half Movement (just because), set the points at 5, select the four beach regions, Allow placement only if it is not contested, and select "Points Summed", meaning points will be awarded on a per region controlled basis. I will also allow them to accumulate between turns if not used.
I do the other reinforcement and weather events in a similar fashion. It takes practice to learn the effects of these settings and how they should be combined. As I have said before, look at the current scenarios for ideas on how to do events.
I'm actually almost done with the scenario, the only thing left is to set up the AI.
I will start with the attacker. I select the menu option Scenario Editor->Comp. Attacker.
This will allow me to set various Initial Placement Probability Tables and Reinforcement Probability Tables. During the game, one table of each type will be chosen for the computer player to use. First thing I need to do is remove any values in the LA or HA entries for these tables. It is up to me to make sure the computer does not build any of these units, in accordance with the Game Info I set up earlier.
For the attacker, I will give him equal weights for everything.
For the defender, I will set additional Mine placement areas by loading the Defender AI tables, then pressing the "Add Mine Location" button, and Left Clicking on the desired location on the map. Labels will appear where the AI is instructed to try and mine.
Once I have finished all these steps, the scenario is ready for testing. This one was quickly put together, and I am sure the force ratios are not correct for this engagement. I would probably iteratively play it and rework it until I got it balanced and made it a challenge.
The scenario and map have been included for your study. Enjoy!
