Warcraft 3 Map Editor

A Beginner's Guide to Map Making

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A Beginner's Guide to Map Making

For Windows: images captured in Windows XP with Paint Shop Pro 8.


Tools Needed

Warcraft III - The Frozen Throne


Introduction

This tutorial will teach a beginning map maker how to create a simple
melee map from scratch. You will learn how to form terrain, place
neutral units and doodads, and make a description of your map to make a
high quality melee map.


The Process

You begin by opening the Warcraft III
World Editor, located in the Warcraft III directory on your computer
(C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\). If this is your first time opening
the World Editor, or you have never changed the preferences of the
editor, a new map will be created on startup. Close this map by
clicking File->Close Map or by pressing Ctrl+W.


The next step is to create a new map. Do this by clicking File->New Map..., pressing Ctrl+N, or by clicking the button on the toolbar.

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There are a few options you must understand to make a new map. First look under Map Size:.
The width and height are defined by the amount of grid boxes
horizontally and vertically. So, if it's 64x64 there are 64 grid boxes
across and 64 grid boxes down. Leave the size to 64x64 for this map.
The next thing you will see is Playable Area:. This tells you
how much area of the map the player can 'play with' and how much area
you have to edit. It's the same thing for Size Description:. This just tells you relatively what size you or the player can expect. Next, look at the Tileset:
part. This gives you a list of available tilesets to choose from. What
a tileset is, is a type of area with it's own unique ground textures,
lighting, and sounds. So, for example, the Lordaeron Summer tileset has
the dirt, rough dirt, grassy dirt, rock, grass, and dark grass ground
textures, a brighter lighting to it, and a summer sound set. Leave the
tileset as Lordaeron Summer for this map. If you look under the tileset
box, you can see Initial Tile: setting. Choose grass for this part. Now look to the right. You should see the Initial Cliff Level: box. This chooses what level of elevation your map will be at. Leave it at 2 for this map. Next you will see Initial Water Level:.
This is asking you if you want your map to have no water at all, be
filled with shallow water, or be completely covered with water. Leave
it at no water. Finally, you will see the Random height field check box. This is asking you if your map should be bumpy or not. Leave it unchecked for this map.

Now your settings should be like this:

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Click OK.


Congratulations! You have just created your first map, and are on your way to becoming a great map maker!

Now you'll want to begin by molding that terrain to create mountains
and valleys. Open the Terrain Palette by clicking Window->New
Palette->Terrain or by pressing T.

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Now we'll create a dirt path. Click the Apply Texture:
check box and select the dirt tile. Move your mouse over the main
window and click to make a path going from the bottom left corner of
the screen to the top right corner of the screen.

• TIP: You can close the Terrain Palette if it's blocking your view, and just reopen it after.
  TIP: You can change your brush size and shape on the bottom of the Terrain Palette.
  

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Once you are finished experimenting by changing the tiles, we'll make a
cliff in the middle of the road. Open the Terrain Palette if it's not
already open, and click the check box Apply Cliff:
and click the Increase One option, and select the Dirt Cliff option.
Now, move your mouse over the road and click until you feel that the
cliff is the right size.

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Now we'll make a small river run along the road. Select the Deep Water option in the Apply Cliff: box. Once again, run your mouse on the side of the road and get clicking.

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Finally, let's make a hill on the other side of the road. Select Raise in the Apply Height: box and click and hold on the side of the road until you like the height.

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Experiment with all these tools to get the feeling for forming terrain.


Now that you are used to the Terrain
Editor, it's time to begin applying doodads to your map. A doodad is an
object used for decoration on your map to make it look more
interesting. You can open the Doodad Palette by clicking Window->New
Palette->Doodads or by pressing D.

• TIP:
  You can always switch palettes by clicking the box on the top of your
  current palette and selecting the palette you want from the pull-down
  menu.
  

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If you look at the top of the Doodad
Palette, you will see that you have access to a number of different
categories in a number of different tilesets. So if you can't find the
doodad you want, chances are that it is listed under a different
category or an entirely different tileset.

For now, let's try placing trees next to the river. Make sure you are
under the Trees/Destructibles category and select Summer Tree Wall.
Move your mouse over the map and start clicking.

• TIP: You can click and hold while moving your mouse to continue on in a continuous line.
  

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If you want, you can change the properties of the doodad by clicking the button on the toolbar and double-clicking the doodad, or clicking the doodad and pressing Enter.

• TIP: You can select more than one doodad by clicking anywhere and dragging the box to surround the doodads you want selected.
  

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Now try placing a barren in the middle of the road by yourself.

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Let's say you want to make it that when the player breaks the barrel,
he gets an item. Open the Barrel's properties and click the Items Dropped tab.

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Under Items Dropped On Death Select Use Custom Item Table. Then click New Set and click New Item.

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Select the Specific radio button and choose the item you want from the
list. Click OK and then OK. Your barrel should now have a white thing
floating over it. That shows that the barrel drops an item upon 'death'.


Now we'll learn how to set a player's starting point and how to place neutral units.

Open the Unit palette by clicking Window->New Palette->Units or by pressing U.

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Select Start Location and place it on the side of the road.

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You'll also want to make a gold mine, so click Neutral Passive (which
means units that are on no one's team), select Gold Mine, and place it
on the map. Make sure that it's not too close to the start location or
the town hall wont be built.

Now to place Neutral Hostile units. Select Neutral Hostile at the top
and select Red Dragon Whelp and place it on the other side of the
river. Make sure you don't place it too close or the player will be
killed before he has a chance to defend himself.

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Now for the final step. Click Scenario->Map Description. You can fill in these fields however you like.

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You may want to test your map. Do this by clicking File->Test Map, by clicking the button on the toolbar or by clicking Ctrl+F9.


End Note

Congratulations! You now have the ability to create a high quality
melee map. Don't be afraid to experiment with all the different
controls until you are used to them!

A simple way to greatly reduce Object Editor lag!

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How to greatly reduce Object Editor lag!

The Problem
So I've heard from a number of people that they've been having a
problem with the World Editor: Quite simply, when you try to do things
like "delete a custom unit from the object editor," it takes an
unreasonably long amount of time, even for people with stellar
computers. Well, the good news is, it's not your computer's fault! With
one simple action, you can remove this lag.

The Cause
The issue is, almost certainly, the Brush List.
What is the Brush List, you ask? Well it's that little thing under the
model previewer that shows all your object editor data. Most people
don't even touch this thing, but it causes a significant amount of lag
when editing units in the object editor, because the World Editor has
to update the brush list.

The Solution
The solution is simple, and takes merely seconds. Simply go into your world editor, select the Window dropdown, and see where Brush List is checked. Uncheck it. You're done! Easy, huh? Now you can create or delete 60 new units in the object editor without delay!



^---This is what you're looking for.

More Speed
If the world editor still runs slow, you might want to make sure your
computer meets the recommended system requirements. Still, for those of
you who use the editor on a slow laptop or something, you can increase
speed further (at the expense of multitasking effectively with other
programs) if you're using a newer version of Windows (XP, Vista, etc)
by setting a higher priority in the task manager. To do this, first
make sure your World Editor is on and running. Next, go to the task
manager (Just hit CTRL+ALT+DEL). Now, either click on the Processes tab
and scroll down until you see "worldedit.exe" OR you go to the
applications tab, right click on World Editor, and select "Go to
process" from the dropdown menu. Now, right click on the process, and
select a higher priority from the dropdown menu.


^---this is what you're looking for.

Be careful when you're doing this, however, because changing the
priority can potentially unbalance your system. At the very least,
increasing the priority of a program will hog resources for that program, and slow down any program that isn't
that program until you return priorities to normal. I recommend
increasing the priority gradually (one step at a time) until you find
the point that works best for you.

Anyways, that's it. If you like this, please comment, etc. :)

Adding Custom Animation When Using Channel Ability

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So I have always wanted to this kind of thing. I did once accidentally
but failed to replicate it. But because of a good friend, Adiktuz, I
finally made it work.


As all of us map makers know, the channel ability is so useful, because
of all it's given features. Of practically being any ability you'd ever
want it to be. But then I had this problem as I ventured into this
ability.


Basically as channel is too good to be true(nah!) I found out that you
can't put a custom tiggered animation with channel. For example when
you cast channel, then trigger an animation it will have a small
transition with the basic anim and triggered anim.

Also even if you put follow through time zero there is still the small transition in which is very ugly.

Well I don't know if people know about this already but for the
sake of those who don't, I shall show you how to "Add Custom Animation
When Using Channel Ability"


1. Setting Up Channel

First, you need to set these values on the channel ability:

1.Data - Art Duration - 0.00 (Dunno what it does but meh better safe than sorry)
2.Data - Disable Other Abilities - false(You won't want to do this :D)
3.Data - Follow Through Time - 0.00(Well basically but it doesn't matter really just better set it to 0)
4.Data - Options - Visible(Makes the ability show up in the command card)
5.Data - Target Type - [insert what you want here] (It doesn't matter
what you put, the triggered animation will run perfectly whether target
unit, target point, no target)

Guide Image


2. Setting Up The Units

Second you need to set this to any unit that might use channel:

1. Art - Animation - Cast Point - 0.00

Remember to do this to any and all units that might use channel. This
is basically the thing that let's the triggered animation run smoothly.

Guide Image


NOTE: By doing this other abilities that this unit uses, besides channel, will be affected.

3. Triggering The Animation

Now all the last part to be done is to trigger the animation. Well
before you go rushing to the close button on your tab, there's a little
trick so that the animation will work.

When you animate, you need to do these actions in sequence:

When Spell Is Cast >> PAUSE UNIT >> PLAY ANIM >> UNPAUSE UNIT

GUI EXAMPLE

Animation
Events
Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability

Conditions
(Ability being cast) Equal to Channel

Actions
Unit - Pause (Triggering unit)
Animation - Play (Triggering unit)'s attack animation
Unit - Unpause (Triggering unit)





NOTE: You need to do this in order for the animation to work.

3. Enjoyment and Other Notes

Once that is done enjoy all the possibilities. Although remember that
since the Cast Point set to 0, all abilities that your unit will be
using will be affected. I don't know what'll happen though, I will test
later. Also Channeling won't work as you have seen in the trigger, it
will pause the unit, basically cancelling the ability. But none the
less , use it in your discretion.

Special thanks to Adiktuz for giving me an answer that lead me to the answer.

Thanks For Reading

Difficulty - You'll need to be familiar with making triggers.

I had this idea while playing Time Crisis at an arcade, it's the same
on House of the Dead on the Nintendo Wii. It came out quite well and I
figured I'd share it with the community. I'm looking for feedback.

Never Played an Arcade Shooter?
For
those who have never played an arcade game like Time Crisis, House of
the Dead or even one of the old Resident Evils, download the attachment
and play it then see if you want to spend your precious time doing this.




Stage 1: Camera

The camera is probably the most important thing for making an
arcade-style shooter; it's the fact its fixed that does it. Basically,
the camera is in a first-person style, but without the gun showing up.
When playing, the player will be in certain areas which, I refer to as
Combat Zones (CZ), and in each one of these is a locked camera. Set all
of these up first. You'll want them to be behind cover like a real
person would be in real life. For example, behind some barrels.
Picture
You
can see a camera behind those barrels. When locked, it will look like
your player is standing/crouching behind them for cover.
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A combination of these creates a lot of different Combat Zones (CZ)
which, when strung together by triggers and with some added waves of
hostiles, creates an arcade level. Try to keep the camera at the same height and use gradual movements to make it feel first-person.
I really have to stress that, as it looks pathetic if the camera goes
really fast over some building to the next CZ and instantly ruins the
First-Person Arcade Shooter effect.
Tip
If you want to add an extra effect, you can add camera shaking, Magnitude 1, while the camera moves to the next CZ.




I personally use time triggers for my CZ's. That way, my player stays
shooting at enemies for around 20 seconds before cinematically running
to the next CZ.
Extract
Here's a small bit of a trigger that works for the cameras.
Events -
Time - Elapsed game time is 58.00 seconds
Conditions -
Actions -
Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
Camera - Shake the camera for Player 1 (Red) with magnitude 1.00
Camera - Apply Camera 008 for Player 1 (Red) over 2.00 seconds
Wait 1.99 seconds
Camera - Stop swaying/shaking the camera for Player 1 (Red)
Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode Off for (All players)


That usually has lots of trigger on and trigger off actions for spawns but I take it you get the idea.




Stage 2: Units

I used zombies, but feel free to use any type of melee unit. You'll
want to make them slow moving so the player can have time to react,
especially if your hostiles come from around the corners. It's the
trigger work that's tedious here. You'll need to make a category for
this and have comments separating the different CZ's in order to fix
any bugs in the scripting easier. Your first trigger will be the
initial spawn. Try not putting too many in (Unless the intention is to
make the player feel overwhelmed) 3 is a good number or 5 if it's a
hard group that will come at the player from a long distance. From
then, you'll want to have a separate trigger which will respawn the
hostiles. You'll need the spawn/respawn region to be out of the
player's sight (Only while they're in that CZ).
Extract

Combat Zone 1 (Category)
- CZ1 Spawn1 (Trigger)
Events
Time - Every 0.10 seconds of game time

Conditions
Actions
Unit - Create 3 Zombie for Player 12 (Brown) at (Center of CZ1 Spawn1 ) facing 90.00 degrees
Unit - Create 3 Zombie for Player 11 (Dark Green) at (Center of CZ1 Spawn2 ) facing 90.00 degrees
Trigger - Turn off (This trigger)




---RESPAWN---
CZ1 Spawn2
Events
Unit - A unit owned by Player 12 (Brown) Dies

Conditions
(Unit-type of (Dying unit)) Equal to Zombie

Actions
Wait 1.00 seconds
Unit - Create 1 Zombie for Player 12 (Brown) at (Center of CZ1 Spawn1 ) facing 0.00 degrees








It is as simple as that. Once you're done with that CZ, turn those
triggers off. Turn your CZ Transition (camera) trigger on, and then
your next CZ. It's simple yet fun.

Stage 3: Shooting

It wouldn't be a shooter without it and to me this part is why I'm
proud of my map. You can have multiple weapons, as in the attached
demo, if you really want to. But if you're just keeping it simple and
sharing this map with your mates, then you might as well just keep it
to the pistol.
Depending on your choice, you may want to make your weapon
Instant-Kill, but I prefer to have it damaged based so I can include
bosses. The trigger is remarkably simple.
Extract

ShootPistol
Events
Player - Player 1 (Red) Selects a unit

Conditions
((Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to Zombie) or ((Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to BOSS (cinematic))

Actions
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
If - Conditions
(Player 1 (Red) Current gold) Equal to 0

Then - Actions
Game - Display to (All players) the text: Press The - Down Ar...

Else - Actions
Trigger - Turn off (This trigger)
Selection - Clear selection for Player 1 (Red)
Sound - Stop Shoot Immediately
Sound - Play Shoot
Wait 0.20 seconds
Unit - Cause (Triggering unit) to damage (Triggering unit), dealing 50.00 damage of attack type Normal and damage type Normal
Player - Add -1 to Player 1 (Red) Current gold
Wait 0.35 seconds
Trigger - Turn on (This trigger)











This is an extract from the demo level and therefore mentions gold and
lumber. That is what I use for ammo. I will explain that later.
I use 50 damage for the gun. This trigger is for the pistol. The
Assault Rifle does 100 damage, adding variety to my level. Note it
plays a sound. It's a little bit of a pain to do as I'd forgotten to
make the sound NOT 3D
at the time. But by increasing the pitch of the rifleman's attack I
made the sound seem like a pistol. You can download free sound effects
for your guns and add reload noises if you want, but I stuck to
Blizzards as this is a demo level. There's a Unit-Type condition
because I'd planned on adding civilians for effect but never bothered...

Ammo

The ammo makes the game feel even more arcade-like.
I used gold as Bullets-per-round as gold and Lumber as magazines.
Variables manage these. I used 2 scripts for security and to eliminate
cheating. The pistol holds 12 rounds and you start with 6 extra
Magazines. When your rounds hit 0, you have to reload. I used the Down
Arrow Key for this. And when your Magazines hit 0, you're out of ammo.
If you have an exceptionally long level, you might want to implement
something such as every 10 kills rewarding a magazine or something
where you can click floating magazines to receive some, but it is up to
you. My demo level was short, however, and combined with the Assault
Rifle, you had enough ammo to last.
Extract
Here are the two scripts for reloading:
ReloadPistol1
Events
Player - Player 1 (Red) Presses the Down Arrow key

Conditions
Actions
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
If - Conditions
W_PistolClips Not equal to 0

Then - Actions
Trigger - Turn on ReloadPistol2

Else - Actions
Game - Display to (All players) the text: You're out of Magaz...






AND
ReloadPistol2
Events
Player - Player 1 (Red) Releases the Down Arrow key

Conditions
Actions
Game - Display to (All players) the text: Reloading!
Wait 1.00 seconds
Player - Set Player 1 (Red) Current gold to 12
Player - Add -1 to Player 1 (Red) Current lumber
Set W_PistolClips = (Player 1 (Red) Current lumber)
Trigger - Turn off (This trigger)








That's the reload scripts done.

----- By this time you should have made your CZs, your cameras, your
hostiles (and their spawn points and respawns), and your shooting and
ammo scripts. Now for the finishing touches.

Stage 4: Miscellaneous

This is minor, yet VITAL for this to be an arcade shooter!
Go to your game interface and change your cursor to the Target model
I've attached. It will give you a cross-hair as your cursor, adding
just a little bit more Arcade Style to the map. It wouldn't look
complete without it.
Suggestion
If
you want to get serious you could use text messages as a kind of "Heads
up Display" for displaying your ammo and your Magazines.




----- !Good Luck! -----
















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