Making a new campaign map.

[Makanyane]

good point, I did find that if you over-use the dark sea on map_heights technique to bend coast, you can get areas that look legit on corrected_regions but where ports don't show up. That can also result in roads looking like they extend into sea as well

[Herennius Volsinius]

map_ground_types.tga

Beach - White (0, 0, 0)

That should be: Beach - White (255, 255, 255)

[Birdman2008]

hum... well read the stuff on the 1st post, and did them correctly, modded the map on adobe photoshop CS2... but when opening a new campaign this messge pops up:

"script error ( the folder ) could not create settlement"

my 1st attempts at creating settlements were in scandinavia and cerdeña.. ( 1 at a time, but i always got the same stuff of "invalid tile"... so i chose campus sarmatae, which is a huge plain, to make a big square ( not cutting campus sarmatae, dont worry... and well.. it wont work.. i ll make a screenshot


... hum... cant figure out how to browse an image and insert it.

well.. anyway... i need help.


Thanks, Birdman.

[Makanyane]

welcome Birdman2008

I think you've had some answers in the modding questions thread, could you respond there (not here) if you're still stuck, so people don't get confused as to where you've got to.

thanks
Mak.

[Emperor Basil]

Great tutorial. It's mainly going rather well which was unexpected.

Just a few small things are troubling me: (I'm modding M2TW btw)

1. Why is my game running uber slow? I know mods can make the game run slower but what I've done so far is very minor and I've only changed a few things not added anything. It seems the more I do the slower it gets. Mind you the whole computer seems to be running slow.....

2. Why are all the small letters (eruoas not tdfkl) cut off at the top? Not a problem really, just random and slightly annoying.

3. I've so far been making small changes to existing provinces in the Balkans and in order to check they're where I want them to be I've been adding provinces to the Byzantine Empire but for the life of me I can't find Durazzo in descr_strat to add to Byzantium's starting provinces. Has someone missed it off? I've looked all though the list of rebel settlements at the bottom and can't see it.

4. How do I put army units in settlements? Adding settlements to the Byzantine faction has worked fine so far but I don't start with any units in them.

That's all for now..........

[Charge]

3 - if you cant see certain province in descr_strat you need to add it there. copy any other prov and rename region to durazzo's region (is it Durazzo_province in vanilla?) and other stuff with buildings, owners etc..

4 -

character	Alessandro Selvo, named character, male, age 28, x 290, y 170 
traits LoyaltyStarter 1 , PoliticsSkill 2 , GoodAdministrator 2 , ReligionStarter 1 
army
unit		SE Bodyguard				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		Italian Spear Militia				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		Italian Spear Militia				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		Peasant Archers				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

basically like this, add general or family member, put him in city you need (coords), add army you need.. Be careful with names and spelling as always

2-no idea what you mean
1-same if you hadnt change any models textures or put forests everywhere, unless you opened photoshop and other programs and have 512 megs of ram

[Emperor Basil]

Thanks. I'll try 3 and 4 tomorrow.
I think the slowness was my computer being retarded again.





If you look at this image then you can see the tops of the smaller letters are missing. It's most clearly seen on 'Campaign'.

[Makanyane]

The text issue you won't be able to do anything about, the fonts themselves aren't changeable. You should really post question on that separately in M2TW forum.

Only things you can do about it are change the text and shadow colours in descr_colour_ui_db . Or switch to a different font in the menu.lnt file - there are only 2/3 possibly font types and sizes though.

[Neekeri]

Well I'm new to both this forum and to modding in general, and I could use a bit of help.

What I ultimately want to do is make a completely new map, but for now I'd simply like to get my head around how to edit existing regions. For some reason (probably nothing too complicated, I'm just dumb) my edits don't show up on the campaign map.

The following is what I've done so far:

- Made a duplicate of the imperial campaign, got it to work just fine.
- Deleted map.rwm and map_heights.hgt.
- Edited the map_heights.tga, added a small strip of land to the eastern shore of britannia.
- Edited the map_regions.tga, added some land to the same part of britannia as in map_heights.tga, with some overflow into the sea.

The land I've added doesn't show up ingame. As I'm rather terrible at these things I haven't been able to solve the problem myself despite trying for roughly a week now. I'm hoping one of you could assist me. I read, re-read and re-re-read the guide and did it all over again about 5-6 times, but there's clearly something I'm missing.

[Makanyane]

welcome to the forum Neekeri


check that you haven't still got a map_heights.hgt in the 'base' folder, if the map in the campaign folder is the same size as the original one it will still read that file from the base folder....

when you checked your copied campaign was working, game will have made a new map.rwm, you will need to keep deleting that file each time you make a change - have you done that?


EDIT: other thought - when you added 'land' did you make it RGB value 1,1,1 or lighter? RGB 0,0,0 (pure black) will appear as sea...!

[Neekeri]

I got it to work by using RGB values 1, 1, 1, thanks alot :D Now I'll start experimenting.

[Red Spot]

Just read the tutorial very carefully, possibly a few times ..

Once you get going it may all be a bit much at once, but once you get the hang of it map-making isnt really very hard ... just very time-intensive ..
(also look at my tut, about map_heights .. it can help you a lot as while you mold you can actually see whats happening)


G

[Neekeri]

I started a brand new test campaign map and seem to have overcome some of the errors I've made in the past. Now it seems I've run into a brand new error and I have absolutely no clue what file(s) need editing for it to work.

The campaign fails to load and I'm kicked back to the menu, when I exit I get the following message:
The character in question is the faction leader of the first listed faction in descr_strat.txt, and as far as I can tell (from map_heights.tga and map_regions.tga) he stands on solid flat ground, map.rwm is deleted, files resized to the required dimensions, RGB values correct in descr_regions.txt etc..

After several hours of research and testing I haven't been able to find a solution, some assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[Emperor Basil]

Hi,
I want to make a map of the Balkans and Asia Minor. Is it possible to cut out the area I want out of the vanilla map and expand it or will I just have to create a map basically from scratch?

[Aradan]

Read here: Campaign Map from a Small part

[Emperor Basil]

Thanks.

[Flying Pig]

Am I the only one that does this in Fireworks MX? If not can someone give me the complete n00b's guide to making maps in FWKS, thanks

[illustrius]

Ave all, I'm new to this place, but I'm a very ancient total warrior. I've played many mods and modified a few things too in my time. I'm truly amazed at the work you guys have put in to discover this fine game.

Lately I've been pondering the idea of making my own completely new campaign map (based on RTWs map) and Ive been reading up on here this last few days.

However I've a quick question before I decide whether to continue, after realising just how intricate this process could be for me as a fringe modder.

Q1. What is the maximum size (in pixels) that any map could ever be?

Thanks in advance.

[Makanyane]

Q1. What is the maximum size (in pixels) that any map could ever be?

Thanks in advance.

map_regions.tga size 510 x 510 pixels
which equals
map_heights.tga size 1021 x 1021 pixels

is hard coded max for RTW

beware though also the bigger the map you have the less percentage of sea you can use (big seas crash the game before it builds the map.rwm for the new map)

[Calminion]

Hey guys need a little help if you can,

First Id like to thank all of those who have taken the time to discover a way to do these mods. Im a long time player but a noob to modding. Im a 3D student and artist and thought that modding this game would be a great challenge for me. I am currently modding Medieval TW 2 but I am have a problem "surprise surprise" heh heh. My last working test campain I managed to get down to 7 factions with 7 Provinces based on the current campaign map. I managed to strip the map down to a flat surface and one ground type and no resourses and no rivers or features of any kind. I also managed to move the few armies I left in the game, to the center of the map lined up in columns. I stripped the txt files as much as I could...leaving only a few lines that looked important (Im no coder so I left things I had no clue about)

The map works fine like this so the only thing I had left to do was to start changing the actual continents how I want them. So I did a very basic map, to start, made of squares that sort of resemble the modding campaign template that mydrall once recommended. I followed the intructions of the first post directly and Ive checked and rechecked my tga's colors and size. It all seems fine. I put the tga's in from my working campain, it works. I put my custom tga's in, it doesnt. It just reverts back to the Custom Campaign selection screen. So I then assume I must be missing something in my tga's

I checked the original sizes of MTW2 tga's and found only one difference from the posted intructions. disasters.tga is 255 by 156 in the original, which is not the size of the map_regions.tga which are 295 by 189 as the posted instructions said it sould be. So I tried it at that size. Still doesnt work, again it just goes back to the Custom campain selection screen

So Im currently at a loss. and since -show err doesnt work with MTW2 I have no way to find out whats wrong.

So i must rely on the advice and skill of you fellow modders.

Im about ready to give up on actual map making and make my factions and hope that they are good enough someone will make my map for me...so any help keeping me making my map with be much appreciated

Thanks guys
Calmenion

[Calminion]

If any of you could be kind enough to look into my problem I would appreciate it. I have my files zipped and linked for anyone willing

or someone may know my problem by glancing
or I may have missed something
I swear Ive read those instructions 20 times though and checked and rechecked my colors and sizes.

My test campain with custom tga's link
http://www.megafileupload.com/en/fil...mymod-zip.html

Last working test campaign tga's
http://www.megafileupload.com/en/fil...mpaign-zip.htm

Folder I worked out of with my custom tga's
http://www.megafileupload.com/en/fil...-M2tw-zip.html

Folder with MTW2 disasters.tga at 255 by 156
http://www.megafileupload.com/en/fil...Instr-zip.html

Thanks
Calminion

[Squid]

You might want to post in the M2TW modding forums, as you're likely to get more accurate help there.

[Makanyane]

^ what Squid said, plus in the M2TW forums look up how to use the log file, it actually does about the same and sometimes a bit more than -show_err did.


I had very quick look - in the test campaign one you have ports on the map_regions but the land shape on the heights map doesn't tie up with the coastline shape so you've probably got 'inland' ports. That will stop it loading.

Try just getting rid of any ports in strat file and regions map for now.

[Calminion]

Thanks for the advice guys will do

Calminion

[Danzifuge]

defenses (notice that CA can’t spell defences)

no i'm pretty sure they spelled it right

[Monkwarrior]

I had very quick look - in the test campaign one you have ports on the map_regions but the land shape on the heights map doesn't tie up with the coastline shape so you've probably got 'inland' ports. That will stop it loading.

This problem can be solved by using the corrected_regions.tga map, if I'm not wrong.

[Makanyane]

This problem can be solved by using the corrected_regions.tga map, if I'm not wrong.

you would be right for RTW - but the guy posting the problem files was actually in wrong forum (doing map for M2TW) which doesn't have a corrected regions file......... so he's stuck with resizing and trying to get coasts to match using layer / selection method. But otherwise yep.

[Monkwarrior]

you would be right for RTW - but the guy posting the problem files was actually in wrong forum (doing map for M2TW) which doesn't have a corrected regions file......... so he's stuck with resizing and trying to get coasts to match using layer / selection method. But otherwise yep.

Sorry I didn't remark you were speaking on M2TW.
In any case, it is crazy that one RTW feature interesting for modders has been eliminated in the following game of the saga.

[garrett4390]

I hi am new and one question. What program do i need to open and edit .tgas?

[Makanyane]

welcome to the forums garrett4390

If you already have a good image editing program like PaintShopPro or PhotoShop or Photoshop Elements they will open .tga's. The cost money though so if you don't already have one try GIMP which is free. I also saw someone else recommend paint.net recently (also free) but haven't tried that myself.