Campaign Map from a small part

[Monkwarrior]

I've been working in this guide about how to cut a small part of the original campaign map and to create a new campaign from it. I hope it will be useful.

Sections:
- General remarks
- Cutting the maps (1)
- Cutting the maps (2)
- Enlarging the maps
- Text files
- Modification of descr_strat

Myrdraal: please, correct all the mistakes you found in this guide. Thx

[Monkwarrior]

GENERAL REMARKS

Prepare the new folder
Data\world\maps\campaign\small_map

It must contain:
- text files: descr_disasters, descr_events, descr_mercenaries, descr_regions, descr_regions_and_settlement_name_lookup, descr_strat, descr_terrain, description, unlocked,
- tga files: disasters (255x156), leader_pic_factionname (as many as factions), map_factionname (as many as factions), map_climates (511x313), map_FE, map_features (255x156), map_ground_types (511x313), map_heights (511x313), map_regions (255x156), map_roughness (510x312), map_trade_routes (255x156), radar_map1 (255x156), radar_map2 (510x312), water_surface (256x256)

Copy in the new folder these files from Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign or Data\world\maps\base
It is not necessary to cut those files without indication of size for the campaign to work; only for good look.
The map_factionname files are only for the faction selection menu; in case there is not map for that faction the game uses map_FE

Tools: Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady 7.0 (if you have other programs you should find the same tools)
As general advices:
- Cut only in one direction each time.
- Save the successful cut in another folder (as many versions as you do)
- Cut all the maps at the same time
- Change also the txt files at the same time.

As an example we are going to make a map of the greek peninsula, with most of Minor Asia and Cyprus.

[Monkwarrior]

CUTTING THE MAPS

CHAPTER 1. CUTTING THE EAST

Process 1. Open map_regions with both Photoshop and ImageReady.
Take slice tool in the tool menu of Photoshop (Figure 1).

Mark a slice (mouse click and drag from the upper left corner) of the total height (156 pixels) up to the east limit of your map.
Double click on the icon next the number 1 of the slice and we have the information of the slice: width 210 pixels (Figure 2), starting point (0,0).

In ImageReady we have the same division in two slices. Take the slice selection tool, click on the symbol of slice (Figure 3).

In the menu Select, option Create Selection from Slice.
In the menu Image, crop. The non-selected slice (number 2 in the example) is deleted and the map is now 210x156 size.
In Photoshop save the new map_regions as tga, 24 bits/pixel.

Process 2. Repeat the steps of process 1 with the files disasters, map_features, map_trade_routes and radar_map1.

Process 3. Repeat the steps of process 1 with map_roughness and radar_map2, but giving to the slice total height (312 pixels) and 420 pixels width.

Process 4. Repeat the steps of process 1 with map_climates, map_heights and map_ground_types, giving to the slice the total height (313 pixels) and 421 pixels width.

Process 5. Repeat the steps of process 1 with water_surface.
The slice size must be proportional to the cut in map_regions: width 256*210/255 = 210.
Once the new map has 210x256 size, it is necessary to resize it to 256x256.
In the menu Image of Photoshop, Image size (Figure 4).

Deselect the option constrain proportions. Set the new width (256) in pixels. Then in the resample image options select nearest neighbor (Figure 5). OK.

This is the method for resizing any tga map. The nearest neighbor option is necessary to keep the color palette.
Save as water_surface.tga.

Process 6. It is advisable to cut also one map_factionname at the same time.
These maps have 384x237 size. My advice is to cut one with the zone to be enlarged completely empty. For this zone I chose map_britons.
Repeat the steps of process 1, with the slice width proportional: 384*210/255 = 316.
With all these operations you have a full set of functional map files.

[Monkwarrior]

CUTTING THE MAPS (2)

CHAPTER 2. CUTTING THE NORTH

First of all, make a back-up of your small_map folder.

Process 1. Open map_regions with both Photoshop and ImageReady.
With the slice tool mark a slice (mouse click and drag from the bottom left corner) of the total width (210 pixels) up to the north limit of your map.
Double click on the icon next the number 1 of the slice and we have the information of the slice: height 90 pixels, starting point (0,66).
In ImageReady select the slice and Create Selection from Slice.
In the menu Image, crop. The map is now 210x90 size.
In Photoshop save the new map_regions as tga.

Process 2. Repeat the steps of process 1 with the files disasters, map_features, map_trade_routes and radar_map1.

Process 3. Repeat the steps of process 1 with map_roughness and radar_map2, but giving to the slice total width (420 pixels) and 180 pixels height, starting point (0,132).

Process 4. Repeat the steps of process 1 with map_climates, map_heights and map_ground_types, giving to the slice the total width (421 pixels) and 181 pixels height, starting point (0,132).

Process 5. Repeat the steps of process 1 with water_surface.
The slice size must be proportional to the cut in map_regions: height 256*90/156 = 148. Starting position (0,108), width 256, height 148.
Once the new map has 256x148 size, it is necessary to resize it to 256x256, with the nearest neighbor option.
Save as water_surface.tga.

Process 6. The map_britons has 316x237 size.
Repeat the steps of process 1, with the slice height proportional: 237*90/156 = 137. Starting position (0,100), width 316, height 137.


CHAPTER 3. CUTTING THE SOUTH

As every time, make a back-up of your small_map folder.
Now the operations are exactly the same as in Chapter 2, but the slice must be started in the upper left corner of the maps. That means that the starting point will be (0,0).
The dimensions of the slices for the different maps are collected below.

Files: map_regions, disasters, map_features, map_trade_routes and radar_map1.
Dimensions: 210x59.

Files: map_roughness and radar_map2.
Dimensions: 420x118.

Files: map_climates, map_heights and map_ground_types.
Dimensions: 421x119.

File: water_surface.
Dimensions of the slice: 256x170.
Resize to 256x256.

File: map_britons.
Dimensions: 316x90.

CHAPTER 4. CUTTING THE WEST

I will repeat again, make a back-up of your small_map folder.
Now the operations are exactly the same as in Chapter 1, but we will always select slice number 2.
The dimensions and starting points of the slices number 2 for the different maps are collected below.

Files: map_regions, disasters, map_features, map_trade_routes and radar_map1.
Starting point: (110,0)
Dimensions: 100x59.
The results can be seen in Figure 6.

The map_regions map has some portions of eliminated regions (see Figure 6) that must be erased to prevent the existence of non-coded zones.
The easiest way: eyedropper tool (Figure 7), click on the color of the neighbor region, pencil tool (Figure 7) and painting those parts as corresponding to that region.

The result is shown in Figure 7. It remains also one region without settlement (upper left corner). We put a single black pixel indicated by the red spot in Figure 7.

Files: map_roughness and radar_map2.
Starting point: (220,0)
Dimensions: 200x118.

Files: map_climates, map_heights and map_ground_types.
Starting point: (220,0)
Dimensions: 201x119.

File: water_surface.
Starting point: (134,0)
Dimensions of the slice: 122x256.
Resize to 256x256.

File: map_britons.
Starting point: (166,0)
Dimensions: 150x90.

At this point we should have a fully functional set of maps. The only issue is that this map has the same size of the original small part of the global map.
We can enlarge the map in order to have room for more provinces and factions.

[Monkwarrior]

ENLARGING THE MAPS

It is logical that a provincial map is designed to have more details than the original one.
Thus it will be important to enlarge it. My advice is to enlarge up to the original size at most, either in width or in height.

Process 1. Open map_regions with both Photoshop.
In the menu Image, choose Image Size. Click option Constrain Proportions (see Figure 4) and nearest neighbor.
Put width 255 and height will change automatically to 150. These dimensions are equal or lower than those of the original map.
The pixels representing settlements and ports are now converted into rectangles of several pixels. It is necessary to reduce them to only one pixel.
Use eyedropper and pencil tools to paint the excess of pixels with the color of the region.

Process 2. Resize map_features and map_trade_routes in the same way. The final maps present rivers and trade routes as 2-3 pixels thick lines. With eyedropper select the black color of the background and with the pencil tool paint (eliminate) the thickness of those lines, taking into account the connectivity between the pixels.

Process 3. Resize disasters and radar_map1 in the same way.
The final result will be this:


Process 4. Resize map_roughness and radar_map2. In this case the constrain image option leads to a map size of 510x301. Thus, deselect the constrain image option and change it to the correct size 510x300.

Process 5. Resize map_heights, map_ground_types and map_climates to 511x301 (without constrain image option).

Process 6. Resize map_britons to 372 pixels width. Copy, paste and rename it as many times as playable factions are intended to be included in the mod.
In this case, as an example, I put map_seleucid, map_illyria (greek_cities), map_macedon and map_thrace.

[Monkwarrior]

TEXT FILES

It's time to decide the name of our new campaign. As I have the game in Spanish I will put the name in that language: Grecia (Greece).

We will edit the following files in the folder of our new campaign (Data\world\maps\campaign\Grecia):
- descr_disasters
- descr_events
- descr_mercenaries
- descr_regions
- descr_regions_and_settlement_names_lookup
- descr_strat
- descr_terrain
- description

We will edit or create other files in different folders:
- lookup_campaign_descriptions (in Data)
- campaign_descriptions (in Data\text)
- Grecia_regions_and_settlement_names (to be created in Data\text)

As we all are expert modders , we will try to edit the text files with this rather complex map_regions.

STEPS

1) descr_terrain: it is easy but very important. It is necessary to put the correct dimensions of map_regions at the beginning of the file:

dimensions
{
	width  255
	height  150
}

2) descr_regions: if I aren't wrong, the map has 28 regions, with the original colors. Thus we must look for the correct names of the regions and delete all the other regions from the file.

3) descr_regions_and_settlement_names_lookup: the same in this file, taking into account that here both the regions and settlement must appear. This is the result:

Illyria
Thrace
Dalmatia
Pontus
Paionia
Macedonia
Propontis
Bithynia
Galatia
Cappadocia
Epirus
Apulia
Phrygia
Cilicia
Thessalia
Ionia
Syria
Aetolia
Attica
Peloponnesus
Lycia
Cyprus
Phoenicia
Laconia
Coele_Syria
Rhodos
Crete
Judaea
Segestica
Tylis
Salona
Sinope
Bylazora
Thessalonica
Byzantium
Nicomedia
Ancyra
Mazaka
Apollonia
Tarentum
Pergamum
Tarsus
Larissa
Sardis
Antioch
Thermon
Athens
Corinth
Halicarnasus
Salamis
Sidon
Sparta
Damascus
Rhodes
Kydonia
Jerusalem

4) Grecia_regions_and_settlement_names: we must create this file in Data\text by copying the similar imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names. In this file we must have the same names as in descr_regions_and_settlement_names_lookup

5) descr_events: just to simplify we will delete all the events associated to a position in the map. They can be added afterwards if necessary.

6) descr_mercenaries: again it is necessary to delete all the regions that are not present in our map. This is the result:

pool Armenia
	regions Pontus Cappadocia			
	unit merc sarmatian cavalry,			exp 0 cost 1200 replenish 0.08 - 0.15 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc horse archers,			exp 0 cost 800 replenish 0.1 - 0.18 max ` initial 0
	unit merc eastern infantry,			exp 0 cost 650 replenish 0.15 - 0.25 max 3 initial 1

pool Illyria
	regions Illyria Dalmatia			
	unit merc illyrian,			exp 1 cost 650 replenish 0.125 - 0.37 max 3 initial 1

pool Thrace
	regions Thrace Propontis Bithynia			
	unit merc peltast,			exp 1 cost 550 replenish 0.125 - 0.25 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc thracian,			exp 1 cost 800 replenish 0.125 - 0.25 max 3 initial 1
	unit merc bastarnae,			exp 0 cost 1700 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc greek hoplites,			exp 0 cost 850 replenish 0.03 - 0.07 max 1 initial 0

pool Northern_Greece
	regions Paionia Macedonia Thessalia			
	unit merc peltast,			exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc illyrian,			exp 0 cost 650 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc thracian,			exp 0 cost 800 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 1
	unit merc greek hoplites,			exp 0 cost 850 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0

pool Galatia
	regions Galatia			
	unit merc barbarian infantry,			exp 2 cost 800 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
	unit merc barbarian cavalry,			exp 0 cost 800 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0

pool Greece
	regions Epirus Aetolia Attica Peloponnesus		
	unit merc peltast,			exp 1 cost 600 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
	unit merc cretan archers,			exp 0 cost 750 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc greek hoplites,			exp 1 cost 850 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1

pool Southern_Italy
	regions Apulia		
	unit merc samnite,			exp 1 cost 750 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
	unit merc greek hoplites,			exp 0 cost 850 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0

pool Syria
	regions Syria Coele_Syria Phoenicia Judaea							
	unit merc peltast,			exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc eastern infantry,			exp 0 cost 650 replenish 0.125 - 0.25 max 3 initial 1
	unit merc arab cavalry,			exp 0 cost 750 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc bedouin,			exp 0 cost 700 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 1
	unit merc bedouin archers,			exp 0 cost 750 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc elephants,				exp 0 cost 4000 replenish 0.005 - 0.015 max 1 initial 0

pool Cilicia
	regions Cilicia Cyprus			
	unit merc cilician pirate,			exp 0 cost 620 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 1

pool Sparta
	regions Laconia		
	unit merc peltast,			exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc greek hoplites,			exp 3 cost 950 replenish 0.02 - 0.03 max 1 initial 0

pool Aegean
	regions Rhodos Crete Lycia Phrygia Ionia			
	unit merc peltast,			exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.06 - 0.125 max 2 initial 1
	unit merc thracian,			exp 0 cost 800 replenish 0.05 - 0.1 max 1 initial 0
	unit merc rhodian slingers,			exp 1 cost 750 replenish 0.06 - 0.125 max 2 initial 1
	unit merc cretan archers,			exp 1 cost 750 replenish 0.07 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
	unit merc greek hoplites,			exp 0 cost 850 replenish 0.08 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1

7) lookup_campaign_descriptions: this file is in Data root directory. It is just to indicate the campaigns that will appear in the menu. Put these two lines at the end:

GRECIA_TITLE
GRECIA_DESCR

8) campaign_descriptions: now you must "translate" the campaign to make it appear in the menu. At the end of the file you must write the following:

{GRECIA_TITLE}Campaña en Grecia
{GRECIA_DESCR}The description doesn't appear in the menu. 

{GRECIA_MACEDON_TITLE}Macedonia
{GRECIA_MACEDON_DESCR}Insert here the faction description.

The two last lines must be repeated for all the playable factions in the campaign. I select six: Macedon, Egypt, Pontus, Seleucid, Greek cities and Thrace.
This is the way this file appears in the user interface:

You can see the title (Campaña en Grecia = Campaign in Greece) and the position where the faction description will appear.
We have copied and renamed the cut of map_britons as many times as factions we have: map_illyria, map_macedon, map_seleucid, map_thrace, map_egypt and map_pontus.
The arrow shows how those maps have to be modified to show the starting position of each faction.

The next chapter will deal with the modification of the most difficult and important file: descr_strat.

[Clovis I]

[QUOTE=Monkwarrior]CUTTING THE MAPS

CHAPTER 1. CUTTING THE EAST

Process 1. Open map_regions with both Photoshop and ImageReady.
Take slice tool in the tool menu of Photoshop (Figure 1).



I try to open map_regions but than this comes with my adobe photoshop CS3 Extended ' Could not complete your request because the file-format module cannot parse the file'



Thanx

[Clovis I]

That question is not nessecary anymore

ImageReady where can I find that?

[Squid]

If memory servers, ImageReady no longer exists in Adobe CS3, all functionality was bundled into Photoshop.

[Monkwarrior]

THE MODIFICATION OF descr_strat

This is probably the most difficult file, as it contains a lot of information. We are going to modify it to keep all the information about families, but to simplify at maximum all the other information.

a) Selection of factions: at the beginning of the file we must select the playable factions just below the name of the campaig. This is the result:

campaign		Grecia
playable
	egypt
	seleucid
	greek_cities
	macedon
	pontus
	thrace
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
	romans_senate
	slave
end


start_date	-270 summer
end_date	14 summer


win_conditions
end_win_conditions

The victory conditions do not seem to be used.

b) landmarks and resources: in an initial step we eliminate all those data just to keep the file as simply as possible.

c) Disappeared factions:
After that it is necessary to remove completely all the information about the disappeared factions: spain, gauls, germans, britons, scythia, dacia, armenia, parthia, numidia, carthage, romans_julii, romans_scipii and romans_brutii. The only exception is the brutii, as Apulia region remains in the new map, so we keep the information about this region.

d) romans_senate: this faction is in the map only to make it run. So we will reduce to the maximum and it will disappear just at the beginning of the campaign. It is necessary to eliminate its region and all the family of the leader. This leader will have only its bodyguards unit.
This is the result:

 faction	romans_senate, comfortable napoleon
denari	5000

character	Decius Maxentius, named character, leader, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 60, , x 95, y 71 
traits GoodCommander 1, PoliticsSkill 2, GoodAdministrator 2, Austere 1
ancillaries doctor
army
unit		roman generals guard cavalry early				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

e) Disappeared regions: in the remaining factions (including the slave) it is necessary to leave only the regions that are present in the map. The final result must be:
Macedon: Macedonia, Paionia, Thessalia and Peloponnesus
Egypt: Cyprus, Judaea and Phoenicia
Seleucid: Syria, Coele_Syria, Cilicia and Ionia
Pontus: Pontus and Cappadocia
Greek cities: Laconia, Rhodos, Prhygia and Aetolia
Thrace: Thrace
Slave: Illyria, Propontis, Attica, Lycia, Epirus, Crete, Bithynia, Dalmatia, Galatia and Apulia. For Apulia we move the whole settlement below the slave faction. As this region is not important, we can even reduce the population and the number of buildings in this way:

 faction	slave, balanced smith
denari	10000
settlement
{
	level town
	region Apulia

	year_founded 0
	population 1500
	settlement_tax 51
	plan_set default_set
	faction_creator romans_julii
	building
	{
		type core_building governors_house
	}

}

f) Correction of map_regions: this is the moment to generate the final map_regions.tga file by correcting our initial map. We try to play our campaign, we get the screen of faction selection as shown in a post above and when we try to start the campaign the game returns to the campaign selection menu. If you are running the game with the -show_err option you will get a message about the incorrect position of the leader of romans_senate, as it is the first position indicated in descr_strat.
But the most important thing is that a file named corrected_regions.tga is created in the Rome - Total War root directory. We open this file and our map_regions.tga file at the same time in Photoshop and we compare them:

The coast is much better in corrected_regions, more detailed and, probably, fitting better with the other maps. But you can see (marked in red) that some ports (white pixels) have disappeared and other are far from the coast. Thus we paint them in the correct position, taking care of painting the incorrect ones with the color of the region.
We rename the corrected file as map_regions and move it to the folder of the campaign, substituting the original map.

g) Setting the positions to the characters:
With this final map_regions file, we must notate the position of all the settlement, to put the armies in them. How to do? Open map_regions in Photoshop and open Window>Info (marked in red in the menu of the figure below).

If we pass any tool (I prefer eyedropper just to prevent any accident )by the map the position will be shown in the info window. We are looking for the position of Sparta, settlement in Laconia (shown by a red arrow). From Info we see that the position is x 72, y 110. However, Photoshop considers zero height the upper part of the document, whereas the game considers zero height the bottom part. As our map is 150 pixels height, and the first pixel is y 0, we must calculate the correct position as 149-y. For Sparta this position will be x 72, y 39 (149-110=39). This must be done for all the settlements in the map.
As we want romans_senate to disappear, we will put its army out of any settlement, in a point of Apulia. From Photoshop the point will be x 12, y 62. In game we must use x 12, y 87. Compare the new entry with the original one above.

 faction	romans_senate, comfortable napoleon
denari	5000

character	Decius Maxentius, named character, leader, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 60, , x 12, y 87 
traits GoodCommander 1, PoliticsSkill 2, GoodAdministrator 2, Austere 1
ancillaries doctor
army
unit		roman generals guard cavalry early				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

Now if we try again the campaign we get the same return to the campaign selection menu, but the error message refers to a macedon character, which means that the position of Decius Maxentius is correct.

We leave in descr_strat only the named characters (we eliminate the non-named generals), spies, diplomats and admirals. We put the coordinates for the settlements as the positions for the armies and extra points in the correct regions for the other characters.
In theory this modified descr_strat would work, but if we try the campaign we get again the return to the campaign selection menu. -show_err tells us that one position is invalid, in my case the position of Kiya (egypt) was x 231, y 32, that means x 231, y 117 in Photoshop.

h) Correction of errors: this type of error comes from the ground type where the character is placed. Look at the figure below:

The corresponding position in map_ground_types will be around double, x 462, y 234. If we look at that position we see that there are mountains there. We must look for a "green" point near there, marked with a red x in the figure. The coordinates are x 456, y 234, corresponding to x 228, y 117 in map_regions and x 228, y 32 in descr_strat. If we put these values for the position of Kiya -show_err declares a new error, but now Kiya is in a valid position.
It is necessary to solve these problems one by one.

[Monkwarrior]

I had to solve 5 more errors:
- Positions of 2 thracian armies (in descr_strat)
- Positions of 2 settlements (Crete and Illyria, in map_regions) and the corresponding rebel armies (in descr_strat)
- Th illyrian port (in map_regions) because I forgot to paint one pixel with the region color.

After solving all these errors, the campaign starts and here you can see some screenshots:

This is the first event, the elimination of romas_senate as a faction.

The movement radius of a macedon army.

The strange effect in HOLY LAND )

An image of Rhodes.

The snow in the mountains of Epirus after the first turn.

The egyptians attack the seleucid empire.

Some turns later the campaign still works.

From this set of working maps, it is possible to improve the campaign:

- Addition of new regions (I think there is a tutorial somewhere)
- Addition of landmarks (wonders) and resources in descr_strat. I recommend copy that part from the original descr_strat and modify the coordinates.
- Addition of new factions (modified or not). In that case it is advisable to use also the original descr_strat to copy and paste the family trees of the new factions, just to be sure the names and the units in the armies are correct.

I hope this tutorial will be useful.
If not I

[SirNateofWessex]

Thank you, I have created a quick map using this guide:



I will post a tutorial later, but you mainly follow this tutorial and you omit the senate references and stuff. My only problems were port locations by doing this applying the default RTW BI map.

[IrishArmenian]

Your links at the top seem to be invalid.

[IrishArmenian]

Also, what if we want to use a faction that does not have a map_FACTIONNAME.tga file? I am using, you guessed it, Armenia, and would like to know how to incorporate said faction.