4Deck and anyone else, ive had this for awhile got it off the internet, I think its the cover , but anyway this will really help you, I've used it and im working on a few maps myself, and Please take no offense to the title
and the front cover is considered page 1
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So you want to make your own terrain to fly Aces High offline. Well I will attempt to help you do just that.
First and foremost you must understand that this tutorial is just to give you some very basic knowledge on
building an Aces High terrain that you can fly offline.
It will not teach you how to make a terrain that will be accepted by Hitech Creations for use in their arenas.
That may come after a little more practice and further instruction.
This tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of how to install a program, and how to navigate thru
the folder structure
of your hard drive. If not that is outside the scope of this tutorial.
Although it is advised to have a good graphics program (photo editing software) such as Photo Shop©,
Print Shop© and the likes,
it is not required. There are plenty of free programs that will accomplish the same thing.
Ok first there are a few common abbreviations you need to be familiar with.
HTC = Hitech Creations©
AH = Aces High©
TE = Aces High Terrain Editor©
OE = Aces High Object Editor©
CBM = Clip Board Map
DEM = Digital Elevation Map
Ok the only two things that are really required to make your own offline terrain are the AH Terrain editor
which can be downloaded
from the Aces High main web site. (
http://www.hitechcreations.com/frindex.html),
and Microsoft Paint, which comes with your Windows Operating System
The editor is located here (
http://downloads1.hitechcreations.com/AHEDIT2172.EXE)
This download will install the content editors ( Terrain Editor, Object Editor, and Cloud Editor)
Install these in the default location, we will only focus on the Terrain Editor for this tutorial.
Ok let’s get started.
First off start up the TE. If it didn't create a desktop icon navigate to
where you installed the editors and click on the "ahedit.exe" program icon.
Now when the editor first starts up there is no terrain to edit so we need to make a new one.
On the upper left corner click on the "File Tab" then under the drop down list click "New".
This is where we will name our terrain.
For the sake of simplicity let’s just call it "test".
Now for a little important info, use only lowercase letters or numbers, and no more than 8 characters.
Ok now it will ask you for the terrain size "64, 128, 256, or 512" this is the size of your terrain in square
miles.
Actually it's the "Clipboard Map" Size but we'll get to that later, let's just make this one 128.
Ok Very important info here. Under the file tab "Upper Left Corner again" click "Save".
It will take a few seconds for the terrain to save, your cursor should turn to an hour glass letting you know
it's busy, depending on your operation system.
Ok once that is done I know this next step may sound asinine but it's very important.
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Now that we have created our new terrain, click on file in the upper left corner and then exit to close down
the editor.
Before we go any further lets add something to the directory structure that I will explain why later in this
tutorial.
Navigate to the folder where you installed the terrain editor and find the folder "(your editor install
directory)\ahiiterr\test" inside this folder create a new folder called "texsrc".
So it should look like "(your editor install directory)\ahiiterr\test\texsrc"
Again I will explain why we added this folder later.
Now let’s start up the TE again and start working on our new terrain.
Once the editor starts up it will look like your ready to go but in fact we are not.
Under file select open, then navigate to your terrain which should be in a folder called "test" click on the
folder name,
then open the file called "test.oba".
This will open your terrain in the editor.
Now you will see nothing but water and you should, that’s all there is we haven't painted any land in the
terrain yet.
Ok first things first, in the lower left corner of the window, under "Terrain Window Options",
you will see a couple boxes labeled "Grid, Cell Overlay On, and Snap" make sure there is a check mark in
all three.
You should now see the red grid squares in you editors main window.
Ok we need to make some land so we can put an airfield to fly from so here we go.
First in the upper right corner of the window select the "Water" tab we are only going to work with
the "Depth Slider", "Erase Water", and "Brush Size Slider".
Move the Depth Slider all the way to the top where it says "Land".
Then click on the "Erase Water" (it should put the black dot in its circle), and slide the "Brush Size Slider"
all the way to the right.
Now move your cursor into the editor window where the water and red grid squares are. You Cursor should
turn to an eraser.
Now right click and hold down the mouse button and erase the water in about 9 of the red square's and
make an Island.
All the water should disappear and turn to a grayish sand.
Walla we have created some land!
Ok now go up to the upper left corner of the editor and select file and then save. Yep you will be doing this
quite often.
Ok now since we don't want our Island to be ugly gray sand lets go plant some grass.
In the upper right corner click on the "Terrain" tab.
Here you will paint the grass texture over that ugly gray sand.
Put a check mark in the "Grass" box and set the "Brush Size Slider" all the way to the right.
Now move your cursor to the main window and it should turn into a paint brush and a big red circle.
Right click and hold the mouse button down and paint all the gray sand, it will now turn into green grass.
Ok once again let’s save what we got "hopefully you remember how to do that by now".
Ok Ok I know your getting antsy we are almost there.
Let's first create our CBM (Clip Board Map).
In the upper left corner under file select "Make Map", this will bring up another window.
Leave every thing at the defaults ( should have "Show Grid Lines, 1024 x 1024, and the 3 other boxes
should have 80, 128, and 4 in them)
Now click OK.
