Map Making Guide & Tips N Tricks - Updated Constantly [TL]

Part 1: Basics

Doodads:

1. Doodads that cover the ground like a texture, such as tarmac and decals, can be made more transparent by lowering their height. To do so, double click the doodad and set the height to for example -3.0. The lower it is, the more it fades out. This is useful whenever you want your doodad to draw less attention and blend in with the ground textures.


2. I struggled a lot with cliff doodads before I realized that the method of lowering their height is probably what is intended. You just simply place them near the cliff, at their right angle, and then lower their height in the same manner as above, until they are placed where you want.

Terrain:

1. You can exchange specific textures in your selected Tileset with textures from another Tileset. This can create unique terrain effects, as long as you don't mash textures that look terrible together... The way to do this is open Map Textures (I think) from the menu bar, and click edit textures. Then in the data fields you can select what textures to swap.


2. Some times it is really hard to edit textures with the normal camera view. The camera point of view can be changed using the menu bar, but I have always found that to be quite clunky. Instead, I usually go to Points, select/create a starting location and right click it - select View Point. Then you get a completely 90* view of your map, and you can go back to Terrain editing easier. You can change back to normal camera view from the menu bar. There may be a faster way to change camera that I do not know of, though I have had no problems with my method.

3. I think most people know this, but: When adding water, you need to change the height of your water for it to function as intended. The way to do that is click 'Edit Water' (I think) when you are in the water tab while Terrain editing and have your specific type of water selected. Then you lower the Height field until you found your desired effect (test document to see). If I remember correctly, I think you generally want it to be lower than 1.0, otherwise it will just flood above regular cliff heights.

Triggers:

1. If you have a map with loads of triggers, and get any kind of error when you test it in-game, and you have no idea what trigger caused the error, the process of elimination can be very helpful. Right click a trigger and disable it, test document to see if it still produces the error, then go on to the next trigger, etc. When you find that suddenly the game does not produce an error, check the trigger you last disabled. Obviously, this does not work in all circumstances.


2. When it comes to entering values, see what type of value is being 'asked for'. For example, text messages may be displayed to Player Groups. A player group is not the same as a single player. That means you probably need to create a player group for that player. Similarly, another important thing to keep in mind is the distinction between integers and reals. Specific players come in the form of integers 0-15. I have many times been confused, not finding the options I wanted, then realized that the trigger required a different form of value input.

Data:

1. If you are not sure of what you are doing, be a little careful with messing up too much in the data editor if you have spent a lot of time on your current map. While it is very powerful, it can also be somewhat user unfriendly. However, there is a way to reset specific objects in the Data editor, so that it goes back to the original form. To do so, right click an item and select 'Reset to parent' (if I remember correctly, it is something like that at least).

Texturing:

When starting a new map always choose the best looking texture of the set as the default texture. For example on Bel'Shir I would pick Bel'Shir Brush the greenest grass instead of Dirt light.


Start to paint before symmetrizing the part of the map so you won't have to do the work again.

When starting texturing you should switch to the low graphics settings (File/Preferences/Video). Low Shaders help differentiate textures, there'll be more saturation and contrast between them. Low terrain will remove foliage and will help with the frame-rate which will help having a smooth stroke.

The speed of the airbrush should be Very Fast and the increment set to something low. I use 16 as increment but you can have it higher if you want to paint faster. This way you will have a smooth stroke instead of a series of dots. A size of 6 is fine in my opinion but you may want to have it bigger when far away from details and smaller when you have sharp turns in a cliff for example.

Start painting where there's detail first to reinforce it and where there are intersections like cliffs and water. Paint the side of the coast with dirt and paint faster a bit further to fade the texture away. Don't paint all the coast line with dirt so you'll give it some detail. Paint the bottom of cliffs with a dark texture like Grass Dark and as you go further from the cliff make the opacity go lower by painting faster. Then have a different texture of the same kind like Grass Light and start where the first one faded. Make it fade as you paint away from the cliff. Of course have your textures overlap.

Do a small area then paint another small area. Paint a small area by starting with a dark texture then switching to a lighter one. For example on a zone with several cliffs, paint the corners with 2 or 3 textures then change area.

When you're painting empty areas think of your textures as a palette of different colors and not in terms of what textures look like. Sometimes textures can also represent variations of the same color, lighter or darker. Use darker textures to fake occlusion in corners, and lighter textures to give emphasis on edges and make them look rounder.

Don't have the same stroke painting over the top and bottom of the same cliff. Try to have 2 different textures at the top and bottom.

Try not to have only one texture in some areas. And try not to have full opacity on your textures on big areas either. Fill your empty zones with the Noise brush or the Fractal one. Have it very large and adjust the variability so you can see the detail of the noise when you paint. Those brushes will be slower so you'll have to paint slower to make the stroke smooth.

Beware of textures with one big detail that repeats like Bel'Shir Small Tiles. Your ground will look tiled when the texture is repeated too much. Try to avoid that bit of detail when you paint the texture on big areas so your ground doesn't look tiled. Don't paint with the texture where you know the detail will be revealed. Just paint around it or hide it with a different texture instead.

Reinforce doodads and important objects. Paint the bottom of trees and sight blockers with dark grass. Draw the outline of minerals and gas and fade the texture. Paint in the bottom of the water too. You don't need as much detail but at least put dirt at the bottom of underwater cliffs.

Differentiate each expansion with a different style of textures and different doodads too. In the game it will help knowing where you are without looking at the minimap. For example the 3rd expansion can have more rocks. If you play the game and you see rocks on the ground you know you're in the 3rd expansion.

Give indications about important areas with textures. Never have only grass in the ramp, it's very important to locate it easily. Put a bit of dirt in it and rocks or bricks at the bottom. Put some dirt on important cliffs like where the reapers will come first.

Give hints of the orientation of the base with your textures. Paint them as close to the base as possible. Indicate with dirt in which direction the ramp is and cliffs for reapers. This will help the player know where he spawned and know where to go without moving the camera around.

Remember you're painting to have your map look nice but also to help players and spectators of the game. Painting has to help knowing where they are and what they can do when playing.