How To: Battle Editor for Custom Tiles

[Squid]

Sorry Cherry, I know you asked for this a couple of days ago, but I started writing it, then befroe I finished I had to shut my browser down, so I lost it, and then forgot to redo it. Here are the basic instructions:

Setup:

1. Download the attached rar file, inside there are 3 files
2. Place map_composite.tga in the RS1.5/data/menu folder for RS1.5 (I'll need to make another version of this image for RS2)
3. Place the two text files in RS1.5/data
4. Add -enable_editor to your RS1.5 shortcut

Startup:

1. Start RS1.5 as per normal
2. Click on options
3. Click on the new option Battle Editor
4. You will now see map_composite.tga displayed, use the map to select the location you want to create a battle for (the bottom area shows climate and other area information for the chosen tile)

Using the Battle Editor:

1. Once it loads you will see the battle map for the tile you chose as well as a bunch of other stuff (see the attached image)
   
   
2. For custom battle tiles 5 of the buttons are important I'll go through what they do one at a time
   1. Allows you to modify the height of the terrain
   2. Allows you to modify the ground type of the terrain
   3. This will allow you to place structures on battle map, you will see a green outline if you are placing the structure legally
   4. This is the road editor, it allows you to place roads (I haven't actually used this yet)
   5. Any time you use 1, 2 or 4 you must then use 5 to see the changes you've made take effect (it also plays a little with the trees)
3. Once your done modifying the map, save the map, you will get a lot of errors but we don't actually care
4. If you now go to data/world/maps/battle/custom/my save name/ you will see a bunch of files, copy map.wfc to data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/custom_tiles/ and rename to something appropriate (I've been using town_X_Y.wfc for the towns)
   Note: You will need to create this folder
5. In data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/ add a line to the file custom_tiles_db.txt: map_name<tab>X<tab>Y<tab>map_file.wfc
   E.G. town_274_64<tab>274<tab>64<tab>town_274_64.wfc
   Note: You will need to create this file
6. Exit the Battle Editor, go back to Step 2 of Start Up to create another tile

Finishing Up:

1. Once you've finished adding all custum tiles, delete map.rwm (from both the base and imperial_camapaign folders
2. To test a battle map in a custom battle, edit custom_locations.txt and add the location for the tile you want to test (e.g. I'd add a custom location for 274, 64 to test the town_274_64.wfc battle map)

Notes:

• <tab> is the tab character (i.e. press the tab key)
• A similar process is used to create historical battles
• Was thinking of using this map, to create updated faction start locations, since as Worm pointed out in his mini-map mod thread all of our are inaccurate due to the map change in 1.5, his map is unfortunately too small, but feedback on the image would be appreciated

[cherryfunk]

This is very cool, I'll trying doing my first one tonight.

How much of an impact on game speed will this have? If we create hundreds of these custom tiles (which we'll need to if we're doing them for all the villages plus other interesting locations) will it slow the mod down? Or are they only referenced when a battle is actually engaged on that tile?

[Squid]

I'm going to have to update the first post, once you're done making any custom tiles, you need to remake map.rwm (which will incorporate them), once that happens there should be no slow down at all. I haven't tested in campaign, only is custom battles, but there was no noticable slow down either with loading or the battle, admitedly they were small battles though.

[dvk901]

They should have no effect on the game speed.

[rory o'kane]

ah wicked! does this mean (with the custom deployment zones etc) that we can have a defender deploy IN a village, with the attacker able to deploy around the village?

[Squid]

As far as I can tell, from looking at other historical battles, custom deployment zones are only if you're turning the map into a historical battle.

EDIT: In campaign, I think the deployment zones are determined by the type of battle your fighting (i.e. ambush, normal, etc), the unit located on the village should have the village in their deployment zone if the village is in the center of the map, but the village and be place anywhere.

[cherryfunk]

Very interesting... if it doesn't impact game speed, we might really do something with this. There are certain parts of the map that see a great deal of combat -- choke-points, specific river crossings, areas near important cities. Besides adding in villages and modifying the terrain, we might add in other structures, like shrines, farms, etc. So the area right around Rome, for example, might have lots of farms (assuming we can get the wheat textures looking halfway decent...)

There's a lot that could be done with this... can't wait to get started!

[gennosuke43]

I've been messing with map editor before what I figured out is that the only way to implement these battlemaps are to utilize them with the custom_tile.txt in the campaign folder and delete the wonders from the campaign map in descr_strat.txt. Thats what I know anyways. Squid is right for the campaign map the txt has to be within the middle of the square of the targeted army. Ways to add around it is to add the same battlemap tile around it but thats just a waste of campain map.

[Squid]

As I mentioned in the 1.5 thread, you basically need to do a unique battle map for every location you want to customize, you can't really cheat, and use the same map multiple places, because if the climate/ground type/map height/who knows what else isn't the same you're probably going to end up with something looking funny.

@gennosuke - Step 4-6 of using the battle editor talk about how to turn your battle map into a custom location, including adding the required line to custom_locations_db.txt

[cherryfunk]

Squid, I get this error when I launch the game:

Script Error in data/descr_settlement_plan.txt at line 10741, column 9

Expected culture name or 'default', found nomad

[Squid]

Arg!! My bad, I put in a version of descr_settlement_plan.txt that is compatible with 1.5b, but not 1.5a. I've reuploaded the .rar file with the correct version of the file. It should now work with no errors.

[dvk901]

From what I gather, the Cutom Battles with twc files are a little weird....for example, when looking for where I could see a farm to fix the straw texture, I used the 'Rome' custom battle. But I noticed that the climate it was in was 'semi-arid'...not the default. So apparently you can specify a climate...and yes, it would look weird if it was the wrong one.

But this offers a ton of neat possibilities, and something tells me that if you're army was IN one of the villages...as in standing right on it, you would be located inside it. True? If it is in fact a configured settlement, then that should work.

[cherryfunk]

No problem Squid, I'll try again later today with the new file.

But this offers a ton of neat possibilities, and something tells me that if you're army was IN one of the villages...as in standing right on it, you would be located inside it. True? If it is in fact a configured settlement, then that should work.

I've had maps come up where a farm was located within the deployment area, and I could put some units within the farm structures, so yes, it would work. The tricky bit is figuring out where to put the village on the map so that it will be located within the defender's deployment area. Since you deploy along one edge of the map, not the center, and since the edge seems to depend on the direction that the enemy is coming from, we may not really be able to get the defender actually inside the village with any certitude.

Still, even just having a big village on the map would be extremely cool.

[dvk901]

If the Custom Tile is exactly the same co-ordinates as the village, I'm pretty sure one or the other army will be in the village. I created a custom battle by just using the co-ordinates of Rome, and the defender was in the city.

[Squid]

I think actual settlements are treated differently than other tiles on the map.

[cherryfunk]

I think I installed it right, but I get another error:

Script Error in data/descr_settlement_plan.txt at line 10994, column 1

Expected plan, found }}

[Squid]

There are two close squigly brackets on the last line, delete one of them and then it should be ok. I'm going to upload again with a fixed file.

EDIT: Uploaded new rar file with second squigly bracket removed, this now verifiably loads on RS1.5a - Note to self stop checking the development version!!

[cherryfunk]

Okay I got the editor working, but my imperial_campaign folder doesn't have a custom_tiles folder -- the sons_of_mars campaign does though, is that the one I should be adding the map to?

[Squid]

No, you'll need to create both the folder custom_tiles and the file custom_tiles_db.txt.

[cherryfunk]

And in the text file, can you print exactly how you input the map? For example do you use a ; or not at the start of the line?