Advice on creating scenarios

[rocketman]

I have started to have a look at the map maker and am considering a long term project to recreate the British sector of the D-day landings. So a few questions and advice:

1. Can I import terrain features someone else has created (bocage)? Right now I can only use the terrain features of the module I have (Highway to the Reich).
2. What is a recommended workflow of creating a scenario and the map in particular? I have figured out how to create a map underlay.
3. What is the best way of creating strongpoints (WN-nests etc.)?
4. Can you have stationary units or will the AI always try to move them?
5. Is there a way to simulate mine fields?

 

[Kurt]

Answers ;
1. Yes . Open their map ( in "mapmaker" ) then open your map and click " IMPORT MAP DATA FROM MAP " , click on the source map in the dialogue box , your map will now have the same terrain features as the source map .
2. I build the map first . Next I decide what estab I will use for this scenario , with the map and estab chosen I start to create the scenario . You can clone an existing estab and modify it if you so desire . Before I start creating forces etc I use the " Tools > " best path for motorized units " to check that all the roads and bridges are working as they should ( if roads are drawn too close to water features they can be blocked at that point ) If necessary go back into " mapmaker " and redraw / adjust roads , rivers , etc . Once you are happy that your map is functioning correctly you can move on to force creation etc .
3. At the top of the map features column , just under " Text " it says " Fortifications " . If you double click on this a dialogue box will appear , you can adjust the data as you wish . I use this feature to draw " Maginot Line " forts .
4. The AI will move anything that is not a " static " unit . BFTB estab contains some " static " units in the Heer list for example .
5. Not yet .

 

[rocketman]

Thanks Kurt. That should get me going. When creating a map, is there a preferred order to work with the layers to save time and avoid problems later on in the process?

 

[Kurt]

I have found that this order works best for me ; Contours , water features , roads and bridges , urban areas , woods . Pay particular attention to keeping your roads at least 100 meters away from water features , also your bridges are critical , longer bridges take longer to build in-game . Save your work frequently and occasionally click " calculate terrain tables " then save again . Click " show motorised movement table " , on the small abstract mini-map that pops up , move the cursor over it to check passable areas .

 

[rocketman]

What does the "calculate terrain tables" function do and why is it important to do from time to time? Also, does it result in anything visible in any way? What does the "generate map draw cache" do?

 

[Kurt]

I am not a programmer , here is my understanding of its function ; Calculate terrain tables allows the computer to store the map as an abstract digital matrix ( similar to a "sat-nav" ) , it can therefore calculate routes from any given point to same . Its not essential to do it from time to time but it allows you to make adjustments on your map as you go along . You can just do it once your map is complete and make adjustments then if needed . There is no visual effect . The map-cache is a type of compiler I think , it just speeds up loading of the map at start of a scenario ..

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

The Calc function simply ensures that all the terrain data (spot heights, visibility and move costs) is calculated and stored so this doesn't have to be done on loading the map into the game or scenmaker. If you don't do it, it may take a significant amount of time on loading in the game. It's a good idea to call this before saving your map. We used to do it automatically on Save but then the map files , as they got bigger, took more and more time to calc and sometimes this would frustrate the developers who were trying to shut down their machines. So in the end we opted for the manual calc process and a check on loading in the game.

 

[john connor]

I put minefields in my maps, as did the makers of the African maps for the Cauldron pack. You can't do it properly, but good enough. You can't damage or kill vehicles or men, but you can slow them, basically, and make them much more vulnerable. Pick a terrain feature you're not using, rename it 'Minefield' and then edit its data so as to make it movement 1 for all types. You can also edit the blast damage to make arty more effective in a minefield, for example, to simulate getting stuck there and blasted. You could even edit visibilty in the minefield to virtually nil, to simulate having to crawl along carefully. Etc etc. Any of the above. So it's possible to get round the fact that there are no real minefields, I think.

Peter

 

[john connor]

If you're still doing D-Day, Rocketman, then you might want to use the nice bocage custom graphics that (I think) Ubiquitous did for his D-Day airborne scenario. I think I put it up in the resources section. The graphics are in there. You would just need to import his graphics, as explained above, and then also, I believe, copy his custom graphics into the relevant folder.

Peter

 

[rocketman]

I'm still doing the project, but progress is slow due to RL issues. I'm going to rework the ground graphics as I can't get used to darker colors for higher elevations. It will be a gentle green scale from dark (low elevation) to lighter (high elevation). After reading Mark Zuehlke's excellent Juno trilogy I came to the impression that there wasn't much bocage in the Canadian sector. Though a lot of roads were narrow with hedges lining them. So this can be simulated. Good idea for mines - I'll look into it when I get to that point. The main features of the map elevation and towns/roads are in place, so now comes terrain. I'll post screenshots when I have something to show.

 

[john connor]

Sounds great. Good luck with it. A good, detailed, accurate map is a must for me. Look at the beautiful map for the Screaming Eagles over Hell's Highway. It's phenomenal.

 

[共工熙雲]

Can the map editor be imported using satellite map? How to import? Is there a tutorial on the map editor?

 

[jimcarravallah]

Can the map editor be imported using satellite map? How to import? Is there a tutorial on the map editor?

At this point, the map editor uses bitmap underlays as a guide.

It's described starting on Page 32 of the manual.

A tool for importing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) files is in the works.

Satellite imagery such as Google Earth isn't effective because you have no information on the heights of objects it portrays.

They're good for placement of flat geographic objects, but CO2 has a rather robust method of determining line of sight, firing range, and movement speed that depends on the map including a stratification of the relative heights of objects ranging from a standard for "trees" that affect line to the visual range, sighting distances from the top of a hill, to speed of transit along paths that traverse slopes.

You generally only gets that kind of information from images of topographical maps or GIS that record satellite measures of terrain.