Time Faq?

[edcope]

This seems like something that others have probably asked before, so I apologize that I could not find this information and have to start a new thread.

I've downloaded TIME, but cannot load an edited map into the game. It appears that there are no FAQS or documentation to explain to relative newbies how to modify the map, much less create our own from scratch.

Could anyone explain the proper way to load a map into the editor, and then make it work ingame starting with a clean install patched to 1.5?

Any information you could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Slaxx Hatmen]

T.I.M.E is a very out-dated editor Edcope. I myself have never gotten it to work with anything besides a clean vanilla RTW patched to 1.2. And it does not work with:RTR, BI(patchs 1.4 & 1.6 respectifly), SPQR, EB, Patchs 1.3 1.4 and 1.5.

Sorry to burst your bubble there man but you could learn how to edit the map yourself. There are plenty of tutorials here on TWC and even more detailed ones on the .Org: http://www.totalwar.org/ I hope that helps!

[Dr Fox]

yeh TIME ONLY works with 1.2 not 1.5 or any other mod once you start and read a few tutorials here in the tutorials section then it gets much easier

[edcope]

I appreciate your candor- it saved me a great deal of time and effort trying to learn how to use a program that won't work for me. I have found a tutorial that tells me how to add provinces to the game, but I was hoping there was a program out there that allowed me to make entirely new maps of something other than Europe If there is such a program or tutorial that would be appropriate for someone at only a moderate level of ability, I'd love to hear about it. If not, life goes on.

Thanks!

[edcope]

Oh, and I see that I require photo editing software. Is there any way to get around that, seeing as how I can't splash out the cash to buy something to help me modify a game with no guarantee I possess the smarts to do it right?

Thanks again!

[IceTorque]

Oh, and I see that I require photo editing software. Is there any way to get around that, seeing as how I can't splash out the cash to buy something to help me modify a game with no guarantee I possess the smarts to do it right?

Thanks again!

This is where I started and I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn
how to make their own map, and with free tools.

Duke Johns map template
http://www.3ddownloads.com/strategy-..._template.zip#

Map Making Tutorial The Scriptorium.
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=77

File comparer.
http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/

For simple skinning, making unit cards etc.
http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/

To edit map files, skins, unit cards etc.
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

To save the edited files back into tga's for the game.
http://www.irfanview.com/

[edcope]

Thanks! I'm now rocking and rolling, and have successfully added my first province into the game. I have just a few questions that I could not find elsewhere. If they've been covered somewhere else, I apologize for taking your time.

1. I made Corsica its own province with a settlement and port. I also eliminated the forest covering most of the northern part of the island to make room for a road between the settlement and port on either side of the island. The only problem is that soldiers cannot land on the island, presumably because the coast is too steep. What can I do?

2. Do I have to worry about trade routes? Will trading vessels come to my new port, or do I have to do something to make them come. Even if I don't, does the game act as though they do when I build a port and increase trade?

3. Eventually I want to get really advanced and design a map of my own that is not Europe. Is this a reasonable hope, or should I be happy with what you've shown me to do?

Thanks!

[IceTorque]

Map_heights, You need your coastal tiles to be 1, 1, 1, to avoid little triangles pokin out. Also if you have modded the vanilla map corsica has cliffs. These are on your map_features tga. They are yellow simply remove them. With the trade if it is close enough to another port trade should not be a problem. If it is try moving the port up or down a few pixels.

As for making a completely new map. good idea I too am thinking about such a map. When making a new make your map_heights.tga and map_regions.tga
These are the only two tga's needed to run the map to make sure it works. To avoid wasting time on all the tga's and to narrow down the errors if it don't work.

[edcope]

Ah, fascinating. Two more...

1. How might I establish a grid for placing resources. Is there some easy way everyone else has figured out?

2. If I'm designing a new map, how might I ensure that all my tga's (regions, heights, climates, etc) are all on the same page?

[IceTorque]

Ok, your x and y co-ordinates. If your using paint.net you need to flip your map upside down. for these to be correct for the game. Then in the bottom right corner you will see the x and y co-ordinates.

You need to overlay your tga's.
e.g. map_regions and map_features are the same size. So if you want to overlay your map_features over your map regions you need to press ctrl + A then ctrl + C on the features tga then bring up your map regions tga and press ctrl + shift + V. and you will now have the features on your regions. Then Adjust the transparency so you can see the underlying regions.

If you want to overlay your ground_types tga onto the regions you will need to first resize the ground types to that of the regions, resize using nearest neighbor. Make sure you delete overlayed tga.s before you save your changes. and back up your files often.

[edcope]

Thanks! So far, with your help, I've been able to change ground types, heights, and province borders. Doing so has allowed me to add new provinces and change the look of the map.

The new problem concerns changing the geography itself. As an experiment, I tried removing the island of Corsica from the map, but any changes I make seem to be ignored by the game. I filled in the island with the water color on the region map, the heights map, and the ground types map, and I deleted the cliffs in the features map. The only change the game registers is an unexpected border now running through the island. I then tried to add landmass next to Corsica modifying the files I listed above. The new square island does not appear. Unless I can add or remove landmass, I will be unable to create new maps outside of the vanilla RTW map of Europe. What do I do?

[IceTorque]

Try deleting the map.rwm file. Make sure the tga's have the correct name and in the correct location.

[edcope]

Wow- fast reply! I did delete the rwm file. I noticed that I could move the files from the base folder into the campaign folder, thus limiting the changes I make to just the provincial campaign and keeping the imperial campaign intact. It has worked so far; is there a reason why I might not add or subtract landmass while the files are in the campaign folder?

[IceTorque]

I'm not sure. I just adjust the provincial campaign only, with all files in the base folder and campaign folder in the one provincial campaign/ my_mod folder. I leave the base folder and Imperial campaign folder untouched.

[edcope]

I do not understand why the game would be putting an island in an area where there is nothing but water in the regions, heights, features, and ground types maps. It would be a great help if you could describe how you would go about adding or subtracting the island of corsica (as an easy experiment). This is where I'm starting from...

Step 1: Copy the barbarian invasion folder in the campaign folder and rename it "experiment."
Step 2: Copy all files from the maps/base folder and paste them in the "experiment" folder.
Step 3: Delete the map.rwm file.
Here's where I'm clearly going wrong...
Step 4: Open the map_regions.tga file and fill in Corsica with the water color.
Step 5: Repeat Step 4 with the map_heights.tga and ground_types.tga files.
Step 6: Remove cliffs from Corsica in the map_features.tga file.
Step 7: Run the game.

At this point, Corsica still shows up in the game, with the northern half belonging to Northern Italy and the Southern half considered part of Sardinia!

EDIT: Through experimentation, I've concluded that regardless of what I do to it, the game seems to ignore my heights tga. I assume that even if I put water in on the ground types file, the game defaults to grassland when there is height above water, since I can put any groundtype I want on the island except for water. I have tried flattening and raising the island, but with no effect. Why might the game accept my regions and ground type files, but not the heights file?

[IceTorque]

Ok, When changing the landmass here is how I do it.
1. I adjust map heights, add or remove land mass.
2. Overlay the map_heights onto the map_ground_types and then edit to be the same.
3. Resize map_heights to the same size as map_regions and then edit the map_regions to be the same.
4. Save all edited files as bmp.
5. Convert the files to tga's
6. Drag and drop the edited tga's into the correct folder. Note* I use a blank map.rwm file to automatically overwrite any existing one.
7. Install the edited mod to the game.

If you are sure you are doing the above steps correctly, perhaps this tutorial might help.
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=50437

[edcope]

I'm doing everything you suggest save one step- I'm saving the files as tga's rather than bmp's.
1. Why save them as bmp's when paint.net can save them as tga's?
2. How would I convert them?

By the way, thanks for all your help!

[IceTorque]

I am using paint.NET v2.1 it cannot save as tga. I tried the latest version of paint but when I overlayed my pixel perfect tga's I was horrified to find that the tga's did'nt match. I double checked with the vanilla tga's and with paint v2.1 they match, but not with the latest version. I made a post at paint.NET forums and was informed that the resizing in the two versions was the same. But my eyes tell me differently.
So I simply save as tga with Irfanview.

[edcope]

That did it! I have successfully deleted Corsica and added a small, square island between Corsica and the Italian mainland- though with a funny looking border running across it. In any case, I am now prepared to start making entire maps- thanks for all your help!

[IceTorque]

Your welcome, looks like there's no stopping you now. I look forward to your creations.