I'm having problem with doodad rock. Flying units are going through it. I tested no fly zone but that's not what I want. Why that air unit just doesn't increase flight height? It looks stupid if flyer starts go around that rock. I'm talking about "Rock formation large" texture.
This guide is writen mainly 14.8.2010 while I'm was using editor version 1.0.2 (16223)
I have spent almost whole weekend learning Starcraft II editor and now I want to share what I have learned. This guide may serve purpose of "by newbie for other newbies". I'm going to focus on things that I personally spent most of my time to read forums, watch tutorial videos and test things. I hope my guide saves someone's time on these things.
This guide focuses on doing very basic map with just terrain, resources, start locations and lighting other than default, how to make your map work and how to publish a map.
There are seven pictures at end of guide. Notice you can click them and get them bigger.
- - -
Ok. Let's begin to do a new map.
At first you need to decide size and texture set. Test few of them before doing your actual map and try get some basic idea for your map. 64x64 is ok for 2 players and 128x128 is ok for 4 players. On pictures at end of guide I'm working 4 player map size of 128x128 and using Mar Sara textures. You can change texture set later from Map - Map info - Textures. Edges of map are unplayable area. You can change size of edges from Map - Map bounds.
BASE HEIGHT is very important thing! You can change it afterwards easily from Data - Modify height field. I recommend using value of 10 at base height. Look at picture "Base height" at end of guide. On that picture base height is 0 and lighting looks weird - compare it to other pictures. On those pictures base height is 10.
Make sure you have Terrain tool selected by pressing T or clicking mountain picture. Try how different brushes work. Try also what happens when you press CTRL at the same time you use any brush.
Next you shoud do some CLIFFS to understand how water works on editor. Select cliff tool for it. Make few clicks to ground by "Raise cliff" tool. Then do few clicks with "Lower cliff" tool. Use "Lower cliff" tool near high cliffs so you can see that there are actually 3 height layers while making cliffs.
Before doing water let's take look at VIDEO OPTIONS. Click File - Preferences... Many effects such as shadows and water reflections are hidden if settings are too low.
Now let's do some WATER. It's very simple tool after you understand base height system. Select Water tool and select "Mar Sara" water for example. Put water on a hole you did with "Lower cliff tool". At first it you may not see any water (only green box) or it seems flow over the hole. But now we are going to put that water actually into hole. Make sure you have Mar Sara water selected and click "Edit water". There you find "Height" value - set value to 10, 9, 8... and now you see how water actually stays in a hole. Now you propably get the idea of height-system.
Look at picture "Water" at end of guide. On that picture base height is 10 and water height is 2 so if you lower terrain from base level you are going to do a hole which is 8 units deep. First height level on cliffs is +2 up from base level and second is +4 up from base level.
Try also what happens when you use "Height" tool on water areas. Notice that different water textures have unique height settings at default so you need to manually define height for each water type. For first map is easiest way to use only one water type so you can easily raise and low water later.
"DOODADS" are decorations for map. Click "Doodads" menu or press D. Check what sort of things you can find there and make good use for them. Turn doodads with CTRL. Double click doodad to get different variations, define height, size etc.
To add minerals and vespene to your map press zerling picture or press U. Those can be found from "RESOURCE" category. Click View - Show placement grid and select "Show Near Resources" and "Show Grid at least. This helps you to place start locations and minerals.
- - -
Now let's do some custom LIGHTING to your map. We are going to select one of premade lightings. Make sure that your editor shows lighting right way by clicking View - Show lighting - Game. Or press L few times. Click Window - Lighting. From Tilesets folder select some lighting to see how it would look like in game. We are going to use "Zhakul'Das" lighting to see difference well. Look at picture "Lighting" at end of guide.
Before lighting actually works in game you have to do a "TRIGGER" to use other than default lighting. Click "Triggers" or press F6. Click "New action" or press CTRL+R. From left menu choose "Envinronment" and from right menu select "Set lighting". OK. Click green "light" word on bottom of window and from Tilesets select the lighting you want to use. After doing these things "triggers" shoud look same as in picture "Triggers" at end of guide. On that picture I'm using Zhakul'Das lighting.
Test in game is your lighting working. Click "Test document" or press CTRL+F9.
- - -
To define AMOUNT OF PLAYERS for your map you have to do few things.
Click Map - Player properties.
Leave Player 0 to Neutral and Player 15 to Hostile. For "Color" and "Race" select (Any) for all players. If you are doing 4 player map for example select "User" for players 1-4 For "Control". For Start locations select "Random" for all players and for "Decal" select "Default" to all players. Look at picture "Player properties" at end of guide.
If you are doing 3 player map you have to put three "START LOCATIONS" there and 5 start locations if you are doing 5 player map and so on. To add start location click "Points" or press P. Start location is second from left. Put these starting locations near minerals and vespene because these are places where players begin on Melee games.
Next we need to click Map - GAME VARIANTS. Click "Generate defaults" few times. There should be Melee 1v1 [Default] at least. OK. Look at picture "Game variants" at end of guide.
- - -
Now we are going to PUBLISH your map. All maps must be published to battle.net before you can play them. Publishing of anything requires that some things are ok for publishing. If you have done all steps above there should be no trouble.
Click Map - Map Info. Type something to Name, Author and both description fields. Look at picture "Map properties" at end of guide.
Save your map. Then File - Publish... Log in to battle.net using your Starcraft account. Select locked or unlocked. For "Revision" select "Major" and for release "Private". Click "Yes" for warning screen.
Now start Starcraft and select Multiplayer - Create game and select "My published" from dropdown menu.
Invite friends for testing and enjoy your very own map!
Thanks for tutorial but I still have something to ask.
Sometimes I can see my map on single player menu and sometimes not. Possible reason may be custom trigger about lighting or wrong default mode. Not sure.
Editor also has "Generate defaults button" which seems very useful in some situations.
Thanks alot s3rius! That simple line saved my day :)
This works on melee and custom settings.
Im pasting text from thread "Custom lighting on melee map(?)" Triggers should look something like this:
- - -
EVENTS:
Game - Map initialization
ACTIONS:
Environment - Set lighting to Terhonator, blending over 0.0 seconds
Melee - Set melee starting resources for all players
Melee - Create melee starting units for all players
Melee - Start the melee AI for all computer players
Melee - Set default melee options for all players
"Terhonator" is name of my custom lighting, this could be "Mar Sara" or anything else too. Just click red "light" word on bottom of window. Easiest way to find your custom lighting is select it from "None" category. I don't know do u need something special triggers for night/day cycle lightning but at least this works for my green test light.
Thanks for answers again but I figured out by myself what was the problem :)
I'm was playing my map at wrong game type. I have to use "Melee" setting not "Custom". (Sorry RileyStarcraft) Thats a bit confusing because map editor gives message like:
"Map type for 'E:/Pelit/StarCraft II/Maps/Terhonator/Terhonator's First.SC2Map' has changed to 'Custom' (see Map > Map Status for details)"
So seems like that when I press Test document from editor it uses all Melee settings, am I right?
I have just added one more action into triggers - other 4 are default settings for any map:
EVENTS:
Game - Map initialization
ACTIONS:
Environment - Set lighting to Terhonator, blending over 0.0 seconds
Melee - Set melee starting resources for all players
Melee - Create melee starting units for all players
Melee - Start the melee AI for all computer players
Melee - Set default melee options for all players
"Terhonator" is name of my custom lighting, this could be "Mar Sara" or anything else too. Just click red "light" word on bottom of window. Easiest way to find your custom lighting is select it from "None" category. I don't know do u need something special triggers for night/day cycle lightning but at least this works for my green test light.
I have tested my map as "Custom" and "Melee" and now it works on both settings.
Hope this helps people who got problem with lighting!
I just figured out that thing about you posted. So I agree that "melee" or "custom" type doesn't really matter.
My actual problem at the moment is that even if I test my map with "custom" settings lighting doesn't work.
Im testing my map with ugly green light so that I just see is my lightning working at all. Green light works when I test my map by clicking test button from map editor but when I test it in game lighting doesn't work. (And yes im using custom settings)
I don't propably get the idea of lighting and "tilesets". If I change lighting of "Mara Sara" for example does it overwrite original "Mara Sar" values? (I don't want to accidentaly overwrite any original values) At the moment im using custom tileset which is actually copy of "Mar Sara" but only except is that I have changed from Global-tab ambient color to green.
Can you also answer what actually happens when I press Data -> Generate Lighting Map? Is it necessary step while making custom lighting?
As you can see I'm newbie at all Starcraft2 mechanics. I figured out quickly how to do nice looking terrain for example because of Starcraft1 experince of map making.
I have watched and readed some tutorials about lighting but those haven't really answered to my questions. I propably miss some big basic things.
If you know some good tutorial that explains very basics of lighting it would be great.
Is there any way to change lighting of melee map? I know how to change lighting by using trigger but map doesn't meet melee requirements if I change lighting that way.
Basicly I just like to get my map brighter, default lighting seems too dark for it. Im using Mar Sara textures.
0
I'm having problem with doodad rock. Flying units are going through it. I tested no fly zone but that's not what I want. Why that air unit just doesn't increase flight height? It looks stupid if flyer starts go around that rock. I'm talking about "Rock formation large" texture.
0
Can I see pathing and doodads at the same time? Pressing H hides doodads and pressing D hides pathing.
0
This guide is writen mainly 14.8.2010 while I'm was using editor version 1.0.2 (16223)
I have spent almost whole weekend learning Starcraft II editor and now I want to share what I have learned. This guide may serve purpose of "by newbie for other newbies". I'm going to focus on things that I personally spent most of my time to read forums, watch tutorial videos and test things. I hope my guide saves someone's time on these things.
This guide focuses on doing very basic map with just terrain, resources, start locations and lighting other than default, how to make your map work and how to publish a map.
There are seven pictures at end of guide. Notice you can click them and get them bigger.
- - -
Ok. Let's begin to do a new map.
At first you need to decide size and texture set. Test few of them before doing your actual map and try get some basic idea for your map. 64x64 is ok for 2 players and 128x128 is ok for 4 players. On pictures at end of guide I'm working 4 player map size of 128x128 and using Mar Sara textures. You can change texture set later from Map - Map info - Textures. Edges of map are unplayable area. You can change size of edges from Map - Map bounds.
BASE HEIGHT is very important thing! You can change it afterwards easily from Data - Modify height field. I recommend using value of 10 at base height. Look at picture "Base height" at end of guide. On that picture base height is 0 and lighting looks weird - compare it to other pictures. On those pictures base height is 10.
Make sure you have Terrain tool selected by pressing T or clicking mountain picture. Try how different brushes work. Try also what happens when you press CTRL at the same time you use any brush.
Next you shoud do some CLIFFS to understand how water works on editor. Select cliff tool for it. Make few clicks to ground by "Raise cliff" tool. Then do few clicks with "Lower cliff" tool. Use "Lower cliff" tool near high cliffs so you can see that there are actually 3 height layers while making cliffs.
Before doing water let's take look at VIDEO OPTIONS. Click File - Preferences... Many effects such as shadows and water reflections are hidden if settings are too low.
Now let's do some WATER. It's very simple tool after you understand base height system. Select Water tool and select "Mar Sara" water for example. Put water on a hole you did with "Lower cliff tool". At first it you may not see any water (only green box) or it seems flow over the hole. But now we are going to put that water actually into hole. Make sure you have Mar Sara water selected and click "Edit water". There you find "Height" value - set value to 10, 9, 8... and now you see how water actually stays in a hole. Now you propably get the idea of height-system.
Look at picture "Water" at end of guide. On that picture base height is 10 and water height is 2 so if you lower terrain from base level you are going to do a hole which is 8 units deep. First height level on cliffs is +2 up from base level and second is +4 up from base level.
Try also what happens when you use "Height" tool on water areas. Notice that different water textures have unique height settings at default so you need to manually define height for each water type. For first map is easiest way to use only one water type so you can easily raise and low water later.
"DOODADS" are decorations for map. Click "Doodads" menu or press D. Check what sort of things you can find there and make good use for them. Turn doodads with CTRL. Double click doodad to get different variations, define height, size etc.
To add minerals and vespene to your map press zerling picture or press U. Those can be found from "RESOURCE" category. Click View - Show placement grid and select "Show Near Resources" and "Show Grid at least. This helps you to place start locations and minerals.
- - -
Now let's do some custom LIGHTING to your map. We are going to select one of premade lightings. Make sure that your editor shows lighting right way by clicking View - Show lighting - Game. Or press L few times. Click Window - Lighting. From Tilesets folder select some lighting to see how it would look like in game. We are going to use "Zhakul'Das" lighting to see difference well. Look at picture "Lighting" at end of guide.
Before lighting actually works in game you have to do a "TRIGGER" to use other than default lighting. Click "Triggers" or press F6. Click "New action" or press CTRL+R. From left menu choose "Envinronment" and from right menu select "Set lighting". OK. Click green "light" word on bottom of window and from Tilesets select the lighting you want to use. After doing these things "triggers" shoud look same as in picture "Triggers" at end of guide. On that picture I'm using Zhakul'Das lighting.
Test in game is your lighting working. Click "Test document" or press CTRL+F9.
- - -
To define AMOUNT OF PLAYERS for your map you have to do few things.
Click Map - Player properties.
Leave Player 0 to Neutral and Player 15 to Hostile. For "Color" and "Race" select (Any) for all players. If you are doing 4 player map for example select "User" for players 1-4 For "Control". For Start locations select "Random" for all players and for "Decal" select "Default" to all players. Look at picture "Player properties" at end of guide.
If you are doing 3 player map you have to put three "START LOCATIONS" there and 5 start locations if you are doing 5 player map and so on. To add start location click "Points" or press P. Start location is second from left. Put these starting locations near minerals and vespene because these are places where players begin on Melee games.
Next we need to click Map - GAME VARIANTS. Click "Generate defaults" few times. There should be Melee 1v1 [Default] at least. OK. Look at picture "Game variants" at end of guide.
- - -
Now we are going to PUBLISH your map. All maps must be published to battle.net before you can play them. Publishing of anything requires that some things are ok for publishing. If you have done all steps above there should be no trouble.
Click Map - Map Info. Type something to Name, Author and both description fields. Look at picture "Map properties" at end of guide.
Save your map. Then File - Publish... Log in to battle.net using your Starcraft account. Select locked or unlocked. For "Revision" select "Major" and for release "Private". Click "Yes" for warning screen.
Now start Starcraft and select Multiplayer - Create game and select "My published" from dropdown menu.
Invite friends for testing and enjoy your very own map!
0
Hi otoduran im fighting with exactly same problem as you do.
I'm beginning to be very sure that map appear on single player if map's "Game Variants" are ok for it. I don't exactly know what are right values. This thread http://forums.sc2mapster.com/development/tutorials/5486-lobby-game-modes-the-complete-guide-reference/ might help when you are working with Game Variants.
Does map publicity affect on it do you see it in single player mode? I have tried public and private and sometimes it works and sometimes not.
0
Thanks for tutorial but I still have something to ask.
Sometimes I can see my map on single player menu and sometimes not. Possible reason may be custom trigger about lighting or wrong default mode. Not sure.
Editor also has "Generate defaults button" which seems very useful in some situations.
0
Thanks alot s3rius! That simple line saved my day :)
This works on melee and custom settings.
Im pasting text from thread "Custom lighting on melee map(?)" Triggers should look something like this:
- - -
"Terhonator" is name of my custom lighting, this could be "Mar Sara" or anything else too. Just click red "light" word on bottom of window. Easiest way to find your custom lighting is select it from "None" category. I don't know do u need something special triggers for night/day cycle lightning but at least this works for my green test light.
0
My post above is a bit confusing while I'm was testing and writing at the same time. Anyway that trigger part of text is working on my map at least.
I'm not sure what was wrong earlier when lighting didn't worked on custom settings. Now it just works :) On melee, custom, published etc.
0
Thanks for answers again but I figured out by myself what was the problem :)
I'm was playing my map at wrong game type. I have to use "Melee" setting not "Custom". (Sorry RileyStarcraft) Thats a bit confusing because map editor gives message like:
"Map type for 'E:/Pelit/StarCraft II/Maps/Terhonator/Terhonator's First.SC2Map' has changed to 'Custom' (see Map > Map Status for details)"
So seems like that when I press Test document from editor it uses all Melee settings, am I right?
I have just added one more action into triggers - other 4 are default settings for any map:
"Terhonator" is name of my custom lighting, this could be "Mar Sara" or anything else too. Just click red "light" word on bottom of window. Easiest way to find your custom lighting is select it from "None" category. I don't know do u need something special triggers for night/day cycle lightning but at least this works for my green test light.
I have tested my map as "Custom" and "Melee" and now it works on both settings.
Hope this helps people who got problem with lighting!
0
Ok... thank you.
I just figured out that thing about you posted. So I agree that "melee" or "custom" type doesn't really matter.
My actual problem at the moment is that even if I test my map with "custom" settings lighting doesn't work.
Im testing my map with ugly green light so that I just see is my lightning working at all. Green light works when I test my map by clicking test button from map editor but when I test it in game lighting doesn't work. (And yes im using custom settings)
I don't propably get the idea of lighting and "tilesets". If I change lighting of "Mara Sara" for example does it overwrite original "Mara Sar" values? (I don't want to accidentaly overwrite any original values) At the moment im using custom tileset which is actually copy of "Mar Sara" but only except is that I have changed from Global-tab ambient color to green.
Can you also answer what actually happens when I press Data -> Generate Lighting Map? Is it necessary step while making custom lighting?
As you can see I'm newbie at all Starcraft2 mechanics. I figured out quickly how to do nice looking terrain for example because of Starcraft1 experince of map making.
I have watched and readed some tutorials about lighting but those haven't really answered to my questions. I propably miss some big basic things.
If you know some good tutorial that explains very basics of lighting it would be great.
0
Hey.
Is there any way to change lighting of melee map? I know how to change lighting by using trigger but map doesn't meet melee requirements if I change lighting that way.
Basicly I just like to get my map brighter, default lighting seems too dark for it. Im using Mar Sara textures.