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This guide has been formated to be 79 characters wide (you can count them).
Welcome to the apparent first guide showing how to use the map editor! I prefer
to use editors to modify the game as opposed to actually playing it. My only
reason for playing is to learn more about the game mechanics, but now that I
know those, I've decided to devote myself to editing, or playing through the
campaign with Guiler's guide in hand. But I want to help others edit too! So
I decided to do my first guide ever on an editor. Anyway, on to the guide.
WARNING!!! This guide was made with an unpatched version of the editor. I
cannot take responsiblity if these commands don't work in a patched version.
Table of contents
To find anything, use Ctrl+F to open find, then type in the number of the
section plus the period and parenthese.
0.) Version history
1.) The Basics
2.) Advanced Stuff
3.) Making a map walkthrough
4.) Turning our map into a campaign
5.) HELP!!!
6.) Legal Stuff
7.) Credits
8.) Contact info
0.) Version History
Version 1.0
8/?/2004
Campaign map 2 done, no updates until I get more info. As a side note, my
editor did a crash to desktop as opposed to a usual freeze and displayed:
"Exiting AoW 2Ed Saving map to temp" Hmmm, maybe I should do an update for the
AoW 2 folks who don't have the new game yet. Hmmmm.
I also went digging around in the Shadow Magic folder and found an executable
named ILEd.exe, short for Image Library Editor. This would be how to do the
custom Wizards and sprites. You could also possibly redraw some of the units,
I just have no idea how. If someone who knows about graphics editing can help
me on this, it would be greatly appreciated and I would give full credit and
ask your permission before letting anyone use this guide.
Version 0.75
8/9/2004
Finally finished the tutorial map. Now to do map number 2. This one could
take a while, because I did start the tutorial map before I started the guide,
so I didn't have as much to do there. Still, isn't summer break great?
Version 0.5
8/5/2004
Done up through the Advanced stuff. Need to finish the tutorial map before I
add it to the guide. Hopefully this helps.
1.) The Basics
The first thing you see when you open up the editor is... a blank screen. Let's
change that, shall we?
To start a new map, go File>New. Now you have a window that lets you input the
specifications for your map. In my opinion, the easiest map to learn on is
medium, because you won't be intimidated by the size of an Extra Large map, and
you can place more stuff than on a Small map. So I'm opening a medium map (not
that it makes any difference except for size that I can tell).
Next you have to decide how many players to put in. I usually go with 2
because you can change it later and I like to keep things simple.
Now for Map Levels. You can add Underground and Shadow World later, but if you
feel like adding them now, you can always take them out later if you decide you
don't want them.
Finally you have to decide if you want a blank map or a Random one. If you have
a favorite randomly made map from the generator, you can open it up and find
the seed under Options (I can't remember where) and put that in the seed slot
and then go edit the map to your heart's content, but I prefer to start with a
blank map. If you choose Blank Map, you have to decide a terain to fill the
map with, I usually choose grass, unless I know I want to do something
different.
Whew! Now that we've gotten through the first window, let's explain what
everything does. In this section I'll explain how to place stuff (for lack of
a better word) on the map, delete stuff you messed up on, and choose what
faction said stuff belongs to.
Now look at the bottom of your screen. You should see a bar displaying 3
things. First the location of the cursor. This is in the X:Y:L format, where
X is horizontal, Y is vertical, and L is the level of the map (surface is 0,
Underground is 1, Shadow World is 2). Second the terrain the cursor is
hovering over. Third, any structure on said terrain. If you don't, minimize
the program and then restore it to normal size. This also removes the desktop
from the top of the screen if you have the window maximized (which makes things
much easier).
First the bar of buttons at the top of the screen. The folder lets you open a
map you started before, or just want to go back and tweak. The floppy disk is
just a faster way to save (which you should do often). The checkmark lets you
find out if the map will run when you open it (it won't at this point, unless
you started putting stuff down already).
The 3 black circles determine brush size. The smallest is one hex, the size of
your average unit. The second is 7 hexes, the size of your average town. The
third is 19 hexes, the size of your average town with crop fields included.
The curved arrows let you move up and down terrain levels (surface, underground
and Shadow World) so you can edit them at your leisure.
The next 2 (I don't know how to describe them) raise and lower terrain
respectivly. The Eraser is, an eraser and removes stuff from the map. The
final one of those 4 is the Select Object button, and this one turns on if you
right click.
The final 2 sit alone, one is the Overwrite Terrain, which I don't see much
point to, because the editor does it by default.
The final button is the Preview Map button. It shows you to examine your map
in all it's glory (or lack thereof). You can use the arrow keys to scroll,
and Escape to go back to editing.
Speaking of arrow keys, you have 2 ways to move the screen. One is by using
the arrow keys. The other is by clicking and dragging the box on the mini-map.
I prefer the arrow keys, unless I have to move all the way across the map. You
can also just click on one spot on the mini-map and the box will jump, but I've
seen this not work ocassionally.
Now for the fun part: we get to put down stuff on the map! The first thing we
have to do is decide who gets it. We can do this through the Players menu at
the top of the screen. The easiest thing to do is put down Independents at the
moment if you have no clue as to who should get the stuff. The player can
always capture it later, right? Right.
You should save somewhere along here, so I would do it now. I named my map
The Basics, but you can name it whatever you want. Rule Number 1, Save Early,
Save Often. You can either click the disk or go File>Save. I generally use
the menu, but that's just me, either way works.
Once you open up the Players menu, you'll find the names of your Wizards
(there's another way, but I'll get to that later). I got Anon and Fangir. I
will still refer to them by player numbers, but if I goof, be patient.
Now let's place a city! I chose one for Player 1, and I put it at 14:28:0 on my
medium map. Feel free to place it where ever you like, for whichever player
you like. I chose my spot simply because it was Player 1 and on the left side
of the map. The city can be found under the Tiles tab, and then under places.
It's the thing in the top right.
Now to edit the city, because at the moment it's random, and we might have Anon
(for the sake of example) wind up with Undead as his race. Not good! To edit,
right click to bring up the Object Selection tool, left click on the city to
select it, and right click on the city. This opens a menu that lets you
Edit, Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete. Who needs Nomads when you can Cut and
Paste?
Once in the edit window, you see the town name, which at the moment is Noname.
I usually change that after I pick the race, but you can do it in any order you
want. For the player, you can choose Independents, Player 1, Player 2, and so
on until you run out of players. For the race, pick a race that suits the
Wizard you picked. PLEASE DON'T GIVE ANON UNDEAD (or any other unfair
combination).
Now we get to Size. This can range from Outpost to City. The next one down
lets you choose Maximum Size. Next to Defenders you can choose if the city is
Razed. A particularly nasty combination is a Razed Outpost with Max Size
Outpost, but I would never do that (I have no control over what you do, and if
you learn anything from this, it should be that you should be nice to the
players, because without them, who will play your map?). The Defenders box
lets you decide if there are any Randomly Generated Defenders in the city (I
will refer to all sizes as city, just because I don't feel like typing Outpost,
Village, Town, or City every time I refer to one of the above). This can be
good if you're in a hurry, but I prefer to place my defenders manually.
Down below all that, you'll see a list of city upgrades. Note that if you
click on Teleportation Gate, it will automatically fill in Wizard's Towers 1-3.
If you uncheck Wizard's Tower 1, it will uncheck everything dependent on it.
You don't have to give the city any upgrades, but I like to give the player's
starting city at least a Wooden Wall and a Barracks. This lets me put
them under siege from the start :) If I plan a particularly nasty siege, I
add a Wizard's Tower.
Now to add a garrison to the city. If you left Defenders off like me, the
city has no units in it. Since I have an Archon city, I'll add Archon units.
A general rule of thumb for a starting city is 2 archers, 2 level 1 infantry
(not the basic unit, Infantry for the Humans, or its equvilent). To add units,
click on the Units tab and click on the button for the type you want to add.
Then place the units you want. If you can't recognize them by type *waves hand
in air* then hover the cursor over one until the name pops up.
Now that we have a city with some people, let's add the Wizard (it is his/her
starting city after all). Click on the Wizards Tab to bring up the list of
Wizards for the map. This is the other way to check which Wizards are on the
map. Click on the top Wizard (Player 1 for those keeping track). No figure
will appear on the map until you click and then poof! You now have a Wizard. I
hope you placed him/her on his/her city. The status for Player 1 should change
to placed on map.
Now do the above for Players 2-whatever you picked, except pick a different
location for the other cities. It's okay. I'll wait.
If you feel like it, you can click on the tab corrosponding to your terrain
and add trees and the like, but I don't, so my map won't have any. They do
make your map look better, so add them if you wish.
Now that we have our cities, we need some nodes, income sites, heros, and
items. I mean, have you ever played a good map without a single income site on
it? What about nodes? Anyway, let's get down to business.
I'll start with mines because those appear first. We could give control of one
to each player, but I prefer to make them work for them. I placed my mine at
the top of Player 1's domain, and placed a Human Halberdier and Crossbowman on
top of it. I also did the same thing for Player 2, except I used an Undead
Zombie and Archer. Now we need to give the Players a way to capture the mines
without using their garrison. 2 Level 2 mounted units should sufice. Place
them one hex above the garrison, to make sure the player doesn't confuse them
with the garrison.
Do relativly the same for Windmills at the bottom, and add a Watchtower in the
corner closest to the other player. For a Watchtower you should take a cue
from the map generator and place 2 basic ranged units on it (archers, darters,
whatever).
Now let's add a node of the type of your choice to the domains. Be nice and
pick a type that conforms to the Wizard's sphere (or spheres as the case may
be, they forgot to take out the cosmos node). Under the units tab, pick
creatures and scroll down until you reach the summoned creatures (near the
bottom). Place one appropriate to each node on the nodes.
Heros. What would a map be without them? Boring. *yawns* Anyway, we can do
one of 3 things. 1) place a hero on the map and make sure they're available
for hire by the player. 2)place and inn with heros in it in the middle of
the map. 3) make a scripted event to make the hero appear, which I will cover
in the advanced section. For now, let's do 1) and 2).
To place a hero on the map, open the Heroes tab, click on the hero of your
choice, right click on them AFTER left clicking on them to find out more about
them, and click on the map like with the Wizards. Then set behavior to Auto
in order to make them not attack. Auto also makes them hireable by Wizards.
You could make them free by making behavior Refuge, but that defeats the point,
right?
Now for the inn. Go to Tiles>Places and scroll down until you find the inn.
Then place it near the center of the map. On a medium map, this is about
45:33:0. After you've placed it, go to edit it the same way you edited your
cities, and you now have a very big and confusing window. Have no fear, my
guide is here! Sorry, I've always wanted to say something like that. Now click
on the Heroes tab and you get the list of heroes you saw before. Add the
heroes you feel appropriate to your map and hit OK. Also make Random Units
None. 3 heroes is generally good. Place a few defensive units (I picked 3
random flyers) and save your map.
Now for the last part of the Basics section: Items! Items turn those weak
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