Impassable terrain in Battlemap editor

[Jimmytwohand]

Im taking my first tentative steps making maps and custom battles for RTW using the battlemap editor. Two questions though:

1) how do i create impassable terrain? My first attempt was a thermopylaesque map. Unfortunately, without being able to block out squares the troops meander everywhere and up sheer rock faces. This turns the models into some surreal dali-like figures. Not good.

2) Is there any way i can just create plain maps that can then be used in custom battles rather than historical battles. Id like to create a map that i can then slap different troops/factions into without using the editor again.

It only took me five years to get used to the STW and MTW editor.....guess you might be seeing a lot of me. Many thanks, James.

[Epistolary Richard]

Well, your welcome here.

1) For impassible terrain you have to rely on the objects that you can place, rather than just raising and lowering the terrain. This is a problem that modders who have tried to create the Thermopylae map have hit before. Thanks to dsyrow1's efforts in developing a different way to get objects onto battle maps, it's now possible to make impassible hills, but only if you have 3dsMax and the patience to learn.

2) I can't believe that this wouldn't be possible. I haven't read how to do it, though and I can't test it at present. Hopefully someone else will provide the answer.
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[Jimmytwohand]

Thanks for your swift reply,

Thats exactly what i wanted to know. The process does seem a little involved, however, and i think ill get used to the basic editing before i tackle that. It sounds like the sort of thing which i know from experience leads to computer shaped holes in plate glass windows.

Cheers, James

[Jimmytwohand]

Is this the best forum for queries of this type? Im slowly racking up a list such as how to rotate/delete terrain features once they are placed or whether there is an undo command like in the MTW editor (an absolute godsend that).........
I cant seem to find any resources for the editor except the v basic docs on the .com that someone directed me to.

[Epistolary Richard]

Yep, this is the best forum for questions about modding the game. I've used the editor a little, as I imagine others have, but there hasn't been much research about it (one is here, another here).

As you learn your way around the battle editor, you may find it useful to write a few tutorials as to anything you learn to do that the editor documents don't cover (we in the modding community are reliant on each other teaching us what they learn so we don't all have to reinvent the wheel). If you write a tutorial or a guide then you can post it in the Scriptorium.

If you want to make the impassable hills a reality, then I would suggest sending a PM to dsyrow1 and ask if there's any easy way he can help you do it (maybe by making the basic model you need, which you can then place in the battle editor). He's very busy putting the Eternal City together, but he may have time to help and I know a Thermopylae map would be of great interest within the community.
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[Jimmytwohand]

That first thread you gave looks great. I feel it will take a little time to get to grips with this thing. When i do, i may well ask for some help from the experienced modders here to get a good Thermo map going. Once more into the breach........

Thanks Richard.