Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Terrain Editor => Topic started by: mrmidi on January 17, 2010, 02:14:20 PM
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I figured I'd try and help some of the newer folks with building a quick and dirty terrain to fly offline.
This tutorial is in no way the definitive or official guide to the terrain editor.
It's just a simple how to for making a 1 airfield, no elevation change, no strat terrain, that you can load offline and fly.
The pdf file is here Quick and dirty (http://www.mrmidi.net/dloads/AH/AHEDTUT.pdf)
:salute
midi
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Nicely done Midi. Someone had to bring something "current" to the surface. :aok
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I figured I'd try and help some of the newer folks with building a quick and dirty terrain to fly offline.
This tutorial is in no way the definitive or official guide to the terrain editor.
It's just a simple how to for making a 1 airfield, no elevation change, no strat terrain, that you can load offline and fly.
The pdf file is here Quick and dirty (http://www.mrmidi.net/dloads/AH/AHEDTUT.pdf)
:salute
midi
Thank you....
Not actually interested in building terrains...
I have ulterior motives...
:aok
Oneway
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Thanks Denholm. I'm hoping someone with no editor experience will follow this little tutorial and post feedback here of the results.
:salute
midi
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As soon as I get the reader I will follow it to see what I can do. (be advised I am
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Thanks Denholm. I'm hoping someone with no editor experience will follow this little tutorial and post feedback here of the results.
:salute
midi
mrmidi I fillowed your directions to the "T" awesome tutorial....but....
when i build map for minimap it just shows the airfield and the HQ... no prob i thought .. finished the terrain then went to try it off line... NO clipboard map ... I saved it as 256 bit BMP with the paint but I dont know what I did wrong. Some help would be appreciated. Thanks
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mrmidi I fillowed your directions to the "T" awesome tutorial....but....
when i build map for minimap it just shows the airfield and the HQ... no prob i thought .. finished the terrain then went to try it off line... NO clipboard map ... I saved it as 256 bit BMP with the paint but I dont know what I did wrong. Some help would be appreciated. Thanks
Ok just a couple questions...
Before the "make map" did you make sure you had the grid lines turned on in the editor.
And did you put your CBM in the "texsrc" folder and did it have the same name as your terrain..."yourterrainname.bmp"
I know it sounds ridiculous to ask these questions but even experienced terrain builders miss the simplest of things. (myself included :lol )
:salute
midi
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Ok mrmidi. Awesome help. I realized where I went wrong. I did the ultimate in newb mistakes, LOL I forgot to save it so I deleted it, redid the terrain and saved---saved---saved and saved again. Tried it out offline and BOOOM I had a clipboard map. Thanx again and as soon as I get home I will upload to the site. Btw :salute
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nice easy way to learn, a step by step process.
DHawk
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Good deal ebfd11 :aok glad it was something simple.
Thanks DHawk...
Perhaps if you guy's save the source files for these test terrains your building, I'll do a volume 2 and get a little deeper into building a terrain.
Maybe adding the other 2 countries on separate Islands with Vehicle bases, Ports and Task Groups.
:salute
midi
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Would love to do that. But right now I am experimenting on making a custom map for the ah racing league. Don't know how its gonna go but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And again :salute
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I've noticed the wiki needs updated badly for terrain making.
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I have a quick question mrmidi or ranger who ever can answer it. I am attempting to use a real world map and i was wondering how to convert it to the game. Any help would be appreciated
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Love the tutorial worked perfectly...
Any help greatly appreciated...
Oneway
I have few questions:
The center of the map is 0,0 and uses a vector (1,0) for X and (0,1) for Y positive
What are the extents of the coordinate system? What is max and min for X and Y ?
Does it change based on the size of the terrain in terms of miles? In other words are the extents greater on a 512 map vs a 256 map?
Edit: I think I get the coordinate system...pretty simple if I am right...
The unit of measure is feet for X and Y...the red grid cells are 1 mile squares, the center of any map is always grid 10.24, 10.24....objects on the map are sited in feet from the center of 10.24,10.24...thus, in the case of your test terrain the max/min extents of for x and y are (128/2) * 5280 = 337920 +/-.....
Note: In your tutorial you say that the 64, 128, 256 and 512 are the Square Miles of the terrain...not exactly...that is the dimension of the terrain...thus our 128 map is actually 16384 square miles...
From this typical oba file line, help me flesh out the description list / correct me if I am wrong:
F01GMS000, safld0, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 0.0000, 3328, 0, 36, -1.00, -1.0, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
- 1) Country-Class-ID
- 2) Object Type
- 3) X Coordinate
- 4) Z Coordinate
- 5) Y Coordinate
- 6)
- 7)
- 8) Rotation
- 9)
- 10)
- 11)
- 12) Hardness
- 13) Down Time
- 14) Point Value
- 15)
- 16)
- 17)
- 18) Zone (deprecated)
- 19)
Edit: I would assume Rotation is actually Rotation about Y, and the two preceding items are rotation about X and Z?
...
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I built the terrain worked good, loaded up in ah using offline and terrain selection ,
loaded okay was in tower, selected hanger white screen and crash
, what is the next step to be able to fly over my terrain, ( terrain is the complete
Hawaii island set) I feel that something needs to be added at the field for flight to
be available.
DHawk
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I am now able to fly on my map, I added a map room to the air base /town , now I can get any aircraft i want.
DHawk
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Awesome write up, helped me with figure out what I've been doing wrong putting airfields down & how to make the clipboard maps.
I'd really like to see more in the terrain builder for dumbies series, it's a great idea
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You're a hot commodity Midi! If I didn't have college on my hands I'd probably team up with you again.
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Thanks for the kind words guy's.
Been a little busy the past 2 weeks, I'll get volume 2 started soon.
Hey if you do get some free time Denholm let me know.
:salute
midi
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Sure will. However, I'm guessing free time will be consumed with either keeping current or studying for the next essay test (instructors don't believe in multiple choice, which is good).
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I've got some more goodies on the way to you guy's real soon.
Since the possibilities are endless with the new TE I have decided not to just make one large tutorial.
Instead I'll do it in segments getting a little deeper into the ins and outs as we go along, as well as some do's and don'ts.
As I stated in my original post "This tutorial is in no way the definitive or official guide to the terrain editor."
Look for something new around Saturday at the latest.
:salute
midi
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mrmidi,
As someone just starting to play around with the terrain editor, the tips and tricks and do's & don'ts from the guys that have used it for years are just what I'm looking for. Most other the objects can be figured out with placing one on a test map and seeeing what it does.
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Mrmidi the only question I have is how do I import a real terrain to the terrain editor???
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To somewhat answer your question ebfd11 yes you can, but probablly not the type of map you are thinking.
You would need a elevation bitmap, or DEM file something simular to this one.
(http://www.mrmidi.net/images/AH/new_TE/rocky1.jpg)
I will be getting into that aspect of the editor a little later in the series.
Right now I'm mainly focusing on getting the basic building blocks down for people to learn.
:salute
midi
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OK I have completed section 2.
The tutorial is located here... Section 2 adding more land and additional countries (http://www.mrmidi.net/dloads/AH/AHedit_section2.pdf)
You will need to complete the first tutorial in order to follow along with this one.
Section 3 will be completed soon.
:salute
midi
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I have put the text version of the first 2 tutorials on the AHWiki under the Terrain Editor section of the Content Creation category titled "mrmidi's TE Tutorials"
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Nice job mrmidi..
:salute
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midi is da man. :cheers:
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Section 3 part 1 is now on the AHWiki "Vbases Ports and Ships Oh My!!! Part 1"
:salute
midi
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Nice job midi. :aok
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Thanks, Midi, It takes time to write all of this out, I have played with terrain editor for a number of years, but wAs never able to get anywhere where I could fly on a terrain I have built, You simple instruction have help a lot.
Thanks again DHawk
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:salute MrMidi,
With the help you gave I think I might be able to do a half way decent terrain. When it gets done I will post it here for you to check out.
Once again, :salute
BTW skuzzy plz sticky this thread.
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Thanks for the compliments guy's :salute
Just trying to give back to the community. I'll have more to come.
:salute
midi
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Edited the tutorials on the AHWiki a bit.
Cleaned them up a bit, fixed some spelling errors and added a TOC (Table of Contents) to each one.
:salute
midi
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Still working on "Section 3 part 2" haven't forgot you guys just RL in the way.
:salute
midi
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no problem, real life, we all most face, would like to sent you what I have done to date
Dhawk.
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sure thing Darkhawk I'll take a look at it.
:salute
midi
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I nominate Dr Midi for Terrain Guy / CM Staffer in the Terrain Editor Department for "Most Helpful Terrain Editor Post of the Year Award..."
This post seems to have done more, for so many, who needed so much...myself included...
:aok
Here here!!!!
Oneway
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Thanks for the kind words oneway :salute
OK finally I have finished the final tutorial for this section of the series.
Vehicles, Ports, and Ships Oh My!!! section 3 part 2.
I have placed it on the AHWiki under the "Content Creation, Terrain Editor" section with the rest of the series.
If you have been following along with this series of tutorials you should now be able to create
a terrain with 3 separate Islands consisting of an air field, a vehicle field, HQ, Port, vehicle spawns, and
a CV Task Group with way points that you can build and fly offline.
I may in the future write a series of tutorials on using "Digital Elevation Maps" and the associated
programs to create elevation bit maps and import them into your terrains for a more realistic look.
If there is enough interest in that, that is.
If you have any questions or suggestions about the above series of tutorials or terrain building
in general feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help you out.
:salute
mrmidi
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Anyone finish the tutorial and the test terrain yet?
Lets see some of your work.
:salute
midi
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I may in the future write a series of tutorials on using "Digital Elevation Maps" and the associated
programs to create elevation bit maps and import them into your terrains for a more realistic look.
mrmidi,
I'm very interested in this
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Glad to hear you have an interest RamPytho , I am currently working on a new series of tutorials of obtaining
the elevation data and using it in the TE. check in here evry now and again as I'll be posting an update when it's on the AHWiki.
:salute
midi
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I'm having a problem with pg. 3, paragraph 6:
"Now move your cursor into the editor window where the water and red grid squares are. You Cursor should
turn to an eraser."
Ive tried this step three different times, but my cursor does not change into an eraser. All I have on the map is water with the grid squares over them. I am unable to erase any of the water to form land. Thanks
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shotgun, stupid question but I will ask anyway. Did you click the "Erase Water" box as well as move the slilders as the tutorial states?
My biggest lesson so far with the TE is to save after every step. This simple thing is not just to make sure you don't lose what you have done but it is also necessary for your new terrain to work. I was getting lots of errors in my first attempts where I was skipping some of the saves that the tutorial reccommends . The only thing I changed on my successful attempts was I hit save every time I changed something.
Stupid me for trying to find shortcuts. :o
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I'm having a problem with pg. 3, paragraph 6:
"Now move your cursor into the editor window where the water and red grid squares are. You Cursor should
turn to an eraser."
Ive tried this step three different times, but my cursor does not change into an eraser. All I have on the map is water with the grid squares over them. I am unable to erase any of the water to form land. Thanks
shotgun it sounds to me like you may have missed the step dkff49 is refering to "Did you click the "Erase Water" box as well as move the slilders as the tutorial states?"
double check that you are doing that and let me know..
:salute
midi
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Yes, Ive repeated all of the steps three times but I get stuck on erasing water. Ive set the depth slider to land, the button on "erase water", and the brush slider to the right.
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Yes, Ive repeated all of the steps three times but I get stuck on erasing water. Ive set the depth slider to land, the button on "erase water", and the brush slider to the right.
When you did this, did your cursor turn into an eraser instead of a brush? It should have. If it's an arrow, click the "Terrain" tab, then click back to the "Water" tab and see what the cursor looks like.
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no luck, the cursor is still in the form of the normal pointer/arrow. I turned on the Grid, Cell Overlay On, and Snap buttons. Next I went to the "water" tab and moved the depth slider to land, checked the "erase water" button, and moved the brush slider to the right. My mouse is not changing at all when I move it across the editor window, I don't know what could be wrong.
Its also not saving. I opened the ahiiterr/test/test.oba file and got just a large map of water like i was supposed to. But when I try to save and re-open it just brings up the original body of water with none of the changes I have made leading up to my problem.
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Anyone finish the tutorial and the test terrain yet?
Lets see some of your work.
:salute
midi
I have to say mrmidi I spent several hours before trying to figure out the terrain editor before and had zero luck with it and with this tutorial I am starting to feel pretty confident in my abilities. I know there is still alot to learn but after reading through your tutuorial and the practice from following it I think I have the basics down well enough to tackle learning to use some of the other aspects.
I haven't gotten through the CV section of the last section of your tutorial but here is my test terrain up to that point.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/iznmmmiogic/test.res (http://www.mediafire.com/file/iznmmmiogic/test.res)
For all those that have thought of using the TE but got scared off right after downloading, you need to take the tutorial from here and follow through it step by step and it will most likely become pretty clear and less scary.
Thanks so much mrmidi
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excellent job dkff49 :aok
I went thru and checked all your spawn points, and country settings, are all correct.
Get your CV's and way points in there and you are well on your way to getting a handle on the TE.
The more you work with the very basic concepts of it the easier it becomes to do all the
other things we create on the Terrain Team. Glad I was able to help you get beyond the initial
shock most people go through when first looking at the TE. Keep up the good work. :salute
shotgunneeley I haven't forgotten you...I just can't seem to duplicate the problem you are having.
Can you post a screen shot of your editor and the settings you have selected when you are at the water tab?
:salute
midi
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Thanks mrmidi.
:salute
One other question though.
Am I the only one who's computer gives the "Terrain Editor has caused an error and has to shut down" message sometimes while trying to build the terrain?
This does not happen all the time but when I build a terrain for the first time (testing) and occasionally after that. I haven't found any rhyme or reason to it.
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No your not alone in that. It happens to me some times to, especially after working with Photo Shop and the Terrain Editor a lot at one time.
:salute
midi
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that makes feel a little better then. the nice thing is it still builds the terrain into the .res file it just shuts down right after.
thanks again midi
:salute
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I've found that whenever I save, and then build the terrain, it crashes the TE.
To prevent it, just reopen the oba file first. :old:
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For some reason the "attach files" feature in the "additional options" has been disabled. I cant figure out how to enable it. :headscratch: As soon as I do Ill post a screen pic of the terrain editor.
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Is there a way to remove a terrain type after putting on?
I was trying to layout a terrain to get the basic shape of it and after saving it so that I could make the clipboard map that I had something pretty far out of place. I really don't want to have to redo the whole thing for a line that is only about a sector in length but I don't think I can leave it where it is either.
Thanks for all your help guys.
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Not sure I understand what you asking.
Do you mean you have some land some where and you want to remove it?
Or you have a terrain type of grass, or farm or something and you want to change it to some thing else.
If you want to remove some land you have placed in the terrain, you can just draw water over
it in the water tab. Instead of selecting the erase water select draw water, and the depth to deep.
If it's a tile type like grass and you want it to be farm, then under the terrain tab select the type you want and paint over
the one you want to replace.
:salute
midi
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I was actually searching for the first, try to remove land after I put it on. I did exactly what you said and it still shows as land on my clipboard map. I guess I will have to wait until I can build the terrain to see if it is actually still there or not.
Thanks again Midi
:salute
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dkff49, you well need to rebuild your clip board map to remove the
erase land, only way to do that.
DarkHawk
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I did that too and it is still there.
I actually just threw some bases on there to see what was out there and found that the land is under the water but it still shows on the clipboard map.
Thanks for trying Darkhawk
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If it helps at all here is the res file
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ojfrmjt2gzo/lake2.res (http://www.mediafire.com/file/ojfrmjt2gzo/lake2.res)
and here is the clipboard map. This is going to be land around the outside and a single island in the middle.
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/lake2.jpg)
Note the double and triple sets of lines. One in the northeast, one west of the island, and a triple east of the island. All those are supposed to be set at the outer most lines away from the island. The inner lines I have taken and drawn water over top of the land but the "terrain" that I put down (snow/coral) is still there under the water (even when I fly it offline).
If I have to redraw it and start over, I will but I would prefer not to if there is another way.
Thanks for all your help.
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Go to the "Terrain" tab (where you paint grass, coral,snow and such) and select "Deep Ocean" and paint over the areas that you want to not show up and save that.
Then open your terrains .oba file again.
Then create a new clip board map and every thing should be good to go.
Home for lunch, but that should solve your problem.
:salute
midi
Edit: Also before anyone jumps in and suggests editing the gndtype.bmp file, all tho it can be done that way.
I am putting that as well as editing the waterd.bmp files in another tutorial.
so for now stick with the above instructions first and you should be safe from breaking anything..LOL
:salute
midi
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...
Edit: Also before anyone jumps in and suggests editing the gndtype.bmp file, all tho it can be done that way.
I am putting that as well as editing the waterd.bmp files in another tutorial.
so for now stick with the above instructions first and you should be safe from breaking anything..LOL
Ahhh.... :lol
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So... Mrmidi how about that DEM section of the tutorial. I'm having no luck figuring it out myself.
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Go to the "Terrain" tab (where you paint grass, coral,snow and such) and select "Deep Ocean" and paint over the areas that you want to not show up and save that.
Then open your terrains .oba file again.
Then create a new clip board map and every thing should be good to go.
This did it Mrmidi.
Thanks you saved me alot of work there. I was starting to think I was going to have to rebuild everything I had done.
:salute
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:aok dkff49 but I just pointed you in the direction of what you already learned from the tutorials.
RamPytho I"m still working on that one...in the mean time you can look in to a program called "3Dem" and dem files from the USGS.
Those are two of the tools that will be used in the tutorial, the other that I will reference will be "Photoshop".
Not every one has Photoshop but I've heard several people say you can do most things it does with a program called "Gimp",
and Gimp is free..
:salute
midi
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GIMP is a great program. I use it for all my photo editing needs.
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I wanted to thank you mrmidi. I just tried your original, basic instructions, and had fun going through all the steps, but wanted to let someone know that it won't build the map. I'm guessing it is due to the latest patch. I know the mission editor and film viewer also have issues. I'm sure the tech guys are on it and they're awesome. I just want to let them know that I for one really appreciate what they do.
<S> techs
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Nap are you referring to it won't make the clip board map when you select "Make Map" under file, or
are you referring to it not building the terrain when you select build?
:salute
midi
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It doesn't "Build" the .res file at the end of your quick learn instructions, maybe I didn't read enough of the posts in the thread. I get target fixation at all levels. If I missed something then I apologize for any inconvenience.
<S>
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Ok lets see what we can come up with here then and get you fixed up.
If you would can you run down the few steps you took to make it build the terrain, and we'll start from there.
Also the first post in this thread contains a .pdf file. Further on down in the thread
I decided to put the tutorials on the AHWiki located here ---> http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/wiki/index.php/Mrmidi%27s_TE_Tutorials
which expands on making a terrain and doing a lot more.
:salute
midi
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Ok, I followed all of the instructions up to the "build" section. I saved all the work at the suggested times, exited and reopened TE, reopened the test.oba in texsrc. I have grid, cell overlay, and snap with check-marks and show field numbers on in CBM. When I first pressed build, it started the hourglass then TE quit working as when ME stops during inter patch times. Today I tried again and hourglass stops quickly,TE stays functioning, but when I go to look for the .res file its not there.
BTW thanks for such a quick response.
:aok
Nap
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Ok sounds like you are doing thing right so far..lets make sure you are looking in the right place for the .res file
and we'll go from there.
The file will be located at "C:\...\HTC\AHedit\ahiiterr"
It won't be in the terrains source folder "C:\...\HTC\AHedit\ahiiterr\test" or it's texsrc folder.
Bellow is an image of my directory where the .res files are placed once the TE builds it.
(http://www.mrmidi.net/images/AH/new_TE/location.jpg)
If this is not the problem we'll look a little further and see whats happening.
As far as the update goes, it won't affect the TE in a sence of building a terrain you can still run one of the older terrain editors.
:salute
midi
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mrmidi, I just took off, flew, and landed on my very own test terrain map. AWESOME!!!!! :banana:
one more question before I go to next lesson in the series.
When building missions pressing build places the file right where it needs to go in the game. Is there a way to do that with TE, or only the process of dragging the file to the ahiiterr folder as you just showed me? Just wondering if there's a way to save a step.
BTW I am hooked on building terrains even at this beginner level. I have a background in ACAD so it should be fun once I learn the tools.
Thanks mrmidi
<S> :salute
Nap
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Mr Midi
I have one question and it might be an easy one I hope.
Is there a current list as to what each object stands for in the editor?? Such as ctb17 is and a brief description of what it is.
the reason I am asking is because I am looking for the Shore battery to put up on near my port and around a custom Vehicle war Zone.
your help would be appreciated
also here is my terrain so far im taking a stab at it and for some reason all my VB's belong to 1 country...
http://www.mediafire.com/?nvlwmkzllzl
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Exellent Nap :aok
Glad I could help, if you have any further questions feel free to post and I'll try to help out.
ebfd11 as far as a list I have a partial one somewhere I'll try to dig up.
In the mean time the "Shore Battery" object is called "battery" in your objects list.
It's properties should be set as follows:
Property: Hard Gun Bat.
Also the shapes available in the TE are in a file called "shpfilter.txt" in your ....HTC\AHedit\ahiiterr folder.
It filters out some of the shapes that are not comminly used in the editor.
If you rename the file to "shpfilter.bak" then all available shapes will appear in your objects list.
However doing this will also increase your list quite a bit with things such as drop tanks, bullets, wakes from boats and so on and so on...
:salute
midi
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Keep up the great work Midi. It looks like it's helping many people get into the TE biz. :aok
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USRanger, you also helped me with mission editor. Your 1v1 mission template is fun to play with. I used it with the Trinity map and set launch at 14,000 ft. It works well with pony and fw's. Now if I can build on these first steps I can create an entire mission and that will be fun to both build and play. Thanks to both of you. :aok
:salute
Nap
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Question, is it possible to open any of the larger game terrains (ndisles, trinity, etc...) in TE to have a look at how they were made? I think much could be learned. Where would it be placed in TE or is it even possible?
:salute
Nap
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Such a thing requires the original source files, which are normally only available to the original builder.
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That makes sense. Thanks for the reply.
Nap
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I downloaded your tutorial and gave it a try this morning. I have to say, it ran perfectly. Not a single hiccup from start to finish. Thanks for the time and effort mrmidi. :salute :salute
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Just replied in your other thread..LOL. glad my tutorial was able to help you get started.
:salute
midi