Custom Maps Installation
From RelicWiki
Company of Heroes Custom Maps Installation.
Contents |
Intro
The person that creates the custom map is a Map Designer, or Level Maker, or Custom World builder, or Creative Wargaming Strategy Analyst Landscaper whatever you want to call him, but for the purposes of this lesson, I will call him The Author.
The program that allows an author to make custom maps for Company of Heroes is called World builder, and it's location is in the games default installation folder if you have updated your game with patch 1.3 or later.
Also see Modding:Mod Studio Usage Guide
These instructions will presume that "YOU" as a computer user already know how to open your file folders on your hard drive, make or delete new folders in any place you wish, and that you have the game installed properly in the default location with the latest patches, then you will try to follow all these instructions literally step by step, but if you get confused, "YOU" will post a question in Company of Heroes Forums before doing anything that might bungle your hard drive.. OK?
Anytime you see a paragraph in italics, remember that this is an optional step as in the following example:
As an option, you might want to grab the nearest teenager who already has a grasp on these functions.
Folders
YOU must create a folder called "MP" at this location. The "MP" folder uses two simple letters, M & P, and both are capitalized :)
As an OPTION - you might want to create the folder called "loading" within the "MP" folder using lowercase letters.. Once you are comfortable installing custom Company of Heroes maps/levels, you might try to design/build one for yourself, and you might use the "loading" folder, which is where you place a custom loading screen. Some custom maps will come with a custom loading screen, which you place in the "loading" folder, if they are not already there when unzipped/extracted to the MP folder automatically. Do not be confused that there is a folder called "SCENARIOS" in two different locations.. this is normal, leave it alone.
Downloading maps
Download the custom map that you wish, and keep a copy of it someplace like "MY DOCUMENTS" folder.
OPTION: Each folder in "My Documents" you save a custom map in, should be named with the map name and the name of the author in order to help you find that person in the forums later if you need to ask questions.
Unzip/extract the custom map and look to see if it comes with its own folder called "MP". Whether it does or does not, you are already prepared to place all the files from the ("MP" folder/zipped file) you downloaded, into the "MP" folder which you created and placed correctly as in step #1. above.
Remember, when you download a custom map, the author of that map "should" have specified that his zipped file which he created for "you" is in one of two different modes.. it is either a combination of files that are described as "-dev" files (which stands for -development) or the file is a .sga file (.sga file is an archived file, the kind of archive which is created by the world builder program after designing the map, and choosing the option to "export package" which is something you will learn when you start to design your own maps).
See also Modding:Company of Heroes and the Forums Maps Bunker
So, remember - in this lesson, we are looking for custom maps that come from authors who designate their zip file download "link" to be the combination of files called -dev files, and these files are placed into the "MP" folder.
Shortcuts
Now look at the following photo. The Company of Heroes desktop shortcut should already be on your desktop. Make a copy of the shortcut, and change the name enough that you remember this copied shortcut is the special one for custom maps. The red arrow is pointing to my original shortcut, and the blue is pointing to the copy which we will call "custom" shortcut.
YOU need to right-click on the custom shortcut and choose the "properties" option at the bottom of the menu list.
Modifying shortcut properties
Now the window that opens as in the following photo, shows you the "command line" to run the game, and YOU only need to add one small addition to the very end of the command line indicated by the "captain obvious" big blue arrow.
Type a space and then type a hyphen, then type the three letters between quotes "dev" (abbreviation for development, with no period/full stop, no quotes, do not hit enter, do NOT hit the ANY key, or anything else. YOU need to click the button at the bottom of the window that says APPLY, and the click the button that says OK.
Almost forgot to mention, these instructions only come in English, so if you are using a foreign version of windows, make the appropriate assumptions and follow as best you can. Be nice and translate this post for me into the language of your choice so others can benefit too!
So it simply looks like this...not including the big black lines below Don't forget the space, and don't add anything else before or after -dev.
"C:\Program Files\THQ\Company of Heroes\RelicCOH.exe" -dev
Every time you click any game/program shortcut, this command line tells the computer where the target file to be executed or "run" is located. When you add modifications, you are giving the command line something called "parameters". Parameters are varied between one game and another, so don't try this on any of your other game shortcuts.
Always read the game company forums front to back, and then read every post in reverse at least twice to see who offers the best tips and tricks.. Better tips usually found at the back ends of forums where the newest or latest posts are located.. but sometimes found under the sticky threads titled something like "How To" blah blah.. or titled something like "The Most Misunderstood Installation for Custom Games Guide & FAQ"
Final Checkup
If YOU have done everything correctly, you should now see files in your MP folder that have various extensions. "Extensions" are the three digits that follow the file name and period/fullstop symbol, UNLESS you do not have your file extensions turned ON under your folder management view option. (Ask any teenager for help on the view options).
The following photo shows the number and different types of files contained in the average custom map. As an example, I am using two different custom maps, all located in the "MP" folder. My main map is called "foofighters", and another map I was working on called "test". The "test" is in the most basic stage with the least amount of files and extensions. The "foofighters" has all the basic file types, but also has a few extra files which handle the custom mini maps within the game and the selection map graphics, and a file called "pine-poplar.lua".
The pine-poplar.lua file is something I was using in the world builder program to store a series of pine trees and poplar trees in a row, so I could quickly place many rows of trees in many places in my map. This file is custom to my map, and you probably wont see any other author choose the same name or include any files similar to mine.. so don't be surprised if you get odd numbers of extra files from different map designers/authors.
At this point, you should be ready to close all other programs and windows and go click on your custom shortcut on your desktop from step #3.. Good luck, and don't be afraid to ask questions.
Spit polish and shine those boots, Johnson!
The image above shows some files that not all custom map zipped file packs will contain.
Not all authors will include the proper mini-maps, selection maps, or replay map images that show up in various places. This is one of the finer touches that some authors placed into their custom creation that separates them from the lesser quality authors. Or the lazy ones, whatever you choose to believe, but the necessary info and "how-to" is available to all authors and some just didnt do it.
A good map will have files similar to my example above, and will most likely have the best appearance. "foofighters' is the name of the map for this example, but you are looking for files with the following extensions which were either added to the filename AUTOMATICALLY by the world builder program when building a map, or were created by the author of the custom map:
(files created and named by world builder)
- foofighters_mm.tga
(files created and named by the author)
- foofighters_map_base.tga
- foofighters_map_slots.tga
- foofighters_ss.tga
These files are targa files, indicated by the .tga extension. Targa files are simply one of the many kinds of possible graphics files which can be opened with free photo management software like gimp, but I use the professional photoshop6.0.
The mini-map
The part of the filename called "_mm" indicates that this is a graphic which will load into the bottom left corner of the game playing screen HUD (heads up display) AND it is used for the large strategic map you can open up while playing..
This is one of the files that are created automatically by the world builder program, and this file is the MOST USEFUL in the authors image editing software, since the author can modify it with symbols and create several of these other user created files which are necessary as explained in this lesson.
This next image shows the normal "_mm.tga" file before any modifications.
PLEASE NOTE - any changes the author of a custom map makes to this file needs to be saved under different names, DO NOT actually change this file, it needs to remain in its basic form for the game. (Not shown actual size..)
Remember to backup and save files before playing modification maniac with them!
The part of the filename called "_map_slots" indicates that this is a graphic which will load when the players are deciding which map to play on, using the selection menu shown below, called the "Game Setup" screen.
A "slot" is the players position both when they enter the chat room to see others ready to play, and it is also the NUMBER of the players position on the map, which the custom map author should indicate on the "_map_slots" image file using clean readable text font in color which stands out from the background so players know which part of the geography they will begin the game in. (The custom map author will designate each headquaters HQ building to be player 1 thru 8 using the World builder program ahead of time.)
When an author creates the _map_slots.tga file, they can just take the image of the mini-map, and then add symbols and numbers to indicate starting locations, and victory point locations using the image software like Adobe Photoshop, saving it under the appropriate name from the list above.
The part of the filename called "_ss" indicates that this is a graphic which will load in the top right corner when a player is looking at the Saved Games selection screen (or the Recorded Games selection screen), as shown below..
There is an overview map image at top right corner of the screen, and then there is the map image for the currently selected saved game in the bottom right corner which we will talk about in a moment.
The image in top right corner "_ss.tga", must be made into a rectangular shape during the time an author is finished designing the map.
The reason is, if you try to use a square image for the top right screenshot in the saved games selection screen.. it becomes distorted, so if you make it less of a square, and more rectangular, it helps to relieve some of the distortion. More info needed from Relic on exact image pixel dimensions when possible. (credit for this info to madcatchicken).
The next image below shows that I have added large black areas to the left and right sides of my map file, making more of a rectangular shape, and then I saved it using the "_ss.tga" portion of the filename as in examples above.
The part of the filename called "_map_base" indicates that this is a graphic which will load in the bottom right corner of the saved games selection screen.
The "_map_base" file is simply something the author needs to place symbols on indicating the various player starting positions. Once again, this is the "_mm.tga" file duplicated, renamed and used for a different purpose.
Notice that I did not add the three little green and white star symbols to indicate the victory point locations. This is a graphic that goes along with a saved game file list, and the player is basically deciding if they want to re-load this as a saved game, or load it as a replay.. so the victory point locations aren't required, but should have been added for eye-candy.
An author can save time by using an image software program that allows them to store different symbols on different "layers", which then allows them to save different images with different layers turned on or off.. This helps to stay organized and customize what the author wants to show on each of these screens.. using just one image for multiple files which the author needs to create anyway!
The next set of files shown below are ADDITIONAL FILES created AUTOMATICALLY by WORLDBUILDER.
An author only needs to make sure these files are uploaded with the final file pack/zip, if they plan to send a map they created to anyone else. Do not change anything in these following image files shown here.
This next screenshot is a combination of several other files that I squeezed down in size using Adobe Photoshop to simplify this demo.. these files are actually seperate images, I just included them this way to give you something to look at.. images shown not actual size..and you do not want to make changes to these files in your own game folders.
foofighters_tml.tga which shows various objects and textures/locations used in the map. (I believe it has something to do with lighting and diffuse/reflections etc.) foofighters_tty.tga which shows "territory" sectors.. tty is abbreviation for territory.
