Help! Editing a map

[Delirium]

I'm looking to edit a map by adding clouds at certain altitudes, but I'm having difficulty opening up the map.

I see 4 different names for the same map; .fla .res .fld .pln

I've tried opening them up individually but without success. Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance! 

[choppit]

There's a cloud editor write up in the Wiki, it might point you in the right direction.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/wiki/index.php/Cloud_Editor

[Delirium]

It says the same thing the help file does, open the .bmp, but there is no bmp.

Do I have to rename one of the files I named above to a .bmp to get started?

[Easyscor]

This will work for offline practice and mission practice, but not online since you don't have access to the htc server.

Weather can be built for any terrain, but the instructions are for people who own the source files for the terrain.

The purpose of the .bmp file is only to act as a guide in laying down your weather. It's not needed, which is a good thing because you clearly don't own the original source files for the terrain you're interested in. You can create the weather using no bitmap, or using only a sector grid bitmap, but I'll assume you want to see a picture of the terrain in the editor.

- Create a 1024x1024 bitmap of the terrain you want the weather for, using your favorite drawing program. It can be as simple as a one line drawing or a series of screen shots of the CBM stitched together and resized to 1024. Make sure it 256 colors.
- Launch the cloud editor and open your bitmap: File/Open Terrain/<browse to and open the bitmap>. The bitmap will be displayed in the window. Set the terrain size using the menu. You will need to watch closely if you want to notice the change.
- Follow the rest of the instructions for the cloud editor. It should explain where to put the weather files to see them in-game when you're done.

And remember, it can take 30 minutes for clouds to fill in and you won't get it right the first few times you try so the first time, just put something together to see that you have it working.

[Denholm]

It says the same thing the help file does, open the .bmp, but there is no bmp.

Do I have to rename one of the files I named above to a .bmp to get started?

If you made the terrain, open it in the TE. Go to: File>Make Map
Use the default settings and press OK. Now exit the TE and open: C:\Program Files\HTC\ah2editor\ahiiterr\MyMapName\

In this folder you will see a file named map.bmp. Open this file, go to: File>Save As
Now save this file as your terrain's name (Example: ndisles.bmp) and make sure the Save as Type: is set to: 256 color bitmap. After saving the file you have your clipboard map, this same bitmap can be loaded by the Cloud Editor to edit clouds for your terrain.

If you want the newly formed bitmap to load as your clipboard map on the terrain, make a new folder in the directory of your terrain named texsrc. For example, if your map name is ndisles, make the new folder here: C:\Program Files\HTC\ah2editor\ndisles\

Now place the newly saved bitmap in the texsrc folder. Upon loading the TE, the newly formed bitmap will load as the clipboard map.


Hopefully this answers some of your questions.