maps

If You are going to get into making maps, the first thing you should do is go to Check point delta click on file data base, then c4 and down load the following things. You can make maps with the med the game comes with but these utilitys will save you time and make it easier. Delta all so is the best place to post a question on map making. The guys that watch the forum know Just about everything you can run into on maps. If you have a problem that's where to find the answer.

1. Map Editor c4medc3 Novasheep's unlocked editor.

2. C4 BMS2MIS Converter
This tool will convert Binary (.bms) maps into ASCII (.mis) form so they can be opened using the map editor

3. C4 Map Editor Help
Revised map editor help file

4. C4 Terrain Viewer v1.1
This program is a self contained (it uses its own files & changes nothing on your drive), stand-alone terrain viewer that includes all the stock terrains for Comanche 4. It is useful for the mapper looking for the best terrain for their project.

5. Fog COLOR Picker

6. FwO Raven's Pff Utility v0.7
This program let's you view/edit NovaLogic's Pff Files in an explorer like interface. {Special note this is the program that extracts the stock nova maps from the pff file.}

# 3 Set the Mission overrides
Set water level in meters, it starts from the lowest point on the terrain. Changing this setting on a terrain with a default water level already there will change the level to what ever the water level shows. The default is 0 ie no water, On the ocean map the water would be gone.

Check the fog boxs, If you don't want fog, check it and set it to 2000. If you don't you will have a wierd looking horizen on your map. Map makers use fog to simulate the time of day or make night maps. The closer the distance, the darker the map will be. Use the Fog Color picker to find the numbers for the fog color.

Wind settings affect the way the helo fly's some what on the map. The wind settings have no sound. The sound as added with sound markers.

# 5 Setting the Enviroment file
These settings give a different type of sky ie Dawn 1. They will affect the terrain color some what. The night setting does not work. Night is made with fog, you all so use fog to simulate the time of day.
There is a bug in the editor so this setting needs to be fixed in the mis file with note pad before you export the map to bms.
To edit the file with note pad, edit the mis file like this: Save the mis file, then open it with note pad. scroll down to where the enviroment setting is. It should say DAYTIME 1 or one of the other settings.

DAYTIME 1 {take the space out so it looks like this } sunset DAYTIME1 do the same for other sky settings back space the space out and they should work.

Or you can down load a fixed med text file From the down loads here at the site down load link. To fix the med bug so you don't have to edit the mis file.
To fix the bug open the pff files and search for all med text files delete the ones you find. Then unzip the fixed med file from Comanche 4 Information down loads. Export the fixed med file in to the pff files and the bug should be fixed. The fixed med file is from Bane { Thanks Man}.

The weather and night box have no affect when you check them

# 4 set the Default Equipment
Set the weapons loadout for when players first log in to the game here. If you want to have only stingers when a player joins, so all they do is hit the enter key and play. This is where you make that setting. Players can still adjust there weapons after they log in. This sets the load out to what they start the game with.

You will be working with 3 terrain views . The C or color tab shows you the grassy and rocky areas, The H tab gives you the best terrain conture. It is the green terrain view. Use it to see mountains and low areas. The D tab is a black and grey view. It is best used to show level areas good for setting start markers and any thing you want sitting on flat ground.
To move the view around on the terrain use the number pad keys. - and + zoom in and out, 8 and 2 move the terrain up and down, 4 and 6 slide the terrain side ways.

In order for players to spawn to the game there must be start markers. The start marker is where players spawn. It's a good idea to lay a refuel decoration over the start marker, those are farps. Then lay a tile over the farp. farps can be marked in other ways besides tiles. You can use sand bag walls and other things also. Don't set the start marker on a cement dock in water, if you do there will be damage to players during respawn. Farps need to be marked in some way to see a place to land on the map, the farp will only show on the hudd.

The best terrain view to set start markes is the D tab terrain view or the H tab terrain view.
To set a start marker push the insert key on the key board, left click the mouse and a insert box will open. look down the list and click on markers choose the type of start marker for the map your making.

Death match and KOTH maps need a Death match Player Start marker.

Team death match 4X team death match and TKOTH use
Team blue start markers for blue team
Team Red Start Markers for red team
yellow start markers for yellow team
violet start markers for violet team.

You will see primary start markers also , the primary will have all players start at that same marker during spawn. Avoid using those.

click on the marker you want and then click on the map where you want to set it. After u set the marker watch that you don't click on other places on the map, where ever you do it will set another marker.

Set start markers on the most level area you can find. Placing them on hills or uneven terrain will cause damage to players when the spawn.

All other items are placed on the map the same way as the markers, with the exception of tiles.To lay a tile click on the tile tab scroll down the list for the tile you want. Click on the tile then move to the map where you want to lay it. click on the map and the tile will be set. To view the tiles the tile tab needs to be on for you to see them. Tiles always lay on the ground where u set them, they will not set on buildings or on top of water. You can't lay them on there sides, there just a picture.

To add a building or any other hard object. You set it just like the markers or decorations. But after you do your going to need to use the wire frame to make sure the items sit on the terrain and are not floating in the air. The wire frame gives you a 3d view of any thing you view with it. Use the wire frame to adjust any item so its sitting exactly how you want it.

To use the wire frame, make sure insert is off. Click on any item on the map. It can be a farp, marker,decoration or a building. The item will highlight, then click on the wire frame tab. To spin the view of the item use the insert and delete keys. To move the view of the item up or down use the number pad keys 8 and 2. To slide it side ways use 4 and 6. To zoom in and out use the - and + keys. When you want to raise or lower an item on the terrain hold the shift key and use the arrow keys. To move the item side ways hold the Ctrl key and use the arrow keys.

In the wire frame view the item high lighted in yellow can be moved. You can place more than 1 item at a time in wire frame. The green area is the terrain. A blue dotted area is water. The red area on the item shows if its in contact with the terrain. The blue line comming off the item is where the item should sit on the terrain. On some items a good trick to find the open end of a hanger or the side of an item you want face a certain way is to place another item on the map next to the item you want to postion. by spinning the the view you can see if the side u want facing it is the rite one. then you can delete the item you don't want on the map.

The file the editor has been building on is a mis file. To play the map it needs to be exported to the c4 open folder as a bms file. With a tile file if there are tiles on the map.

To do this click on file then export binary mission. Point the files to the open c4 folder and the editor will export them there. make sure you save the bms, til and the mis file. close the editor.

Then go to host the game. choose the type of game the map will play and scroll down to the bottom of the list the map should now show up. If it doesn't click on another map then exit out of the host settings with out starting the game. Go back in and scroll through again. Most times the map will show now if it didn't before.

way points are how players find their way around the map.

Death match way points
Go to markers and choose alfa for the center action point , the Alpha marker will show as wp1 place it where you want to direct all the players to

Team death match, 4X team death match markers

If you want one marker to direct all team to the center of the map set an Alpha marker where you want the action to take place. Alpha will always default as wpt 1.

The other markers you can use are Red Base. will show as wpt 1 with out the alpha marker on the map. Or as wpt 2 if there is a Alpha marker. Blue Base marker will show up as wpt 2 with out the Alpha or wpt 3 with alpha.

If you set the base marker on top of the spawn area in the bases. Players don't need to hunt for them. they will show as wpt 1 and wpt 2 on top of the bases. It's a good idea to set them off a away from the base to keep spawn killing down. Until players learn the map.

#1 set the Mission name, Mission designer, Mission terrain and Mission tiles
Type your name, and what you want the map name to be.
Choosing the terrain: Use the terrain viewer from CPD to choose the terrain you want to use. Some times choosing a terrain is the hardest part of map making. What you see on the terrain viewer may not be what you think it will look like. One of the fastest ways to view a terrain is to start the map. Set the map type, set a start marker, export the map. Then go fly it.

Choose a set of tiles: You use tiles to mark farps and add things like roads. Tiles lay flat on the terrain, Tiles always lay flat on the ground where you set them, they will not set on buildings, on top of water or other objects.. You can't lay them on there sides, they are just a picture. If you lay them in water you wont see them.

Koth and team koth way points
Koth and team koth way points will work best if you set the alphs marker at the koth zone.
To set the koth zone set a koth marker where you want the zone to be. On team koth maps the timer will go to 0 when players leave the zone. In order to have the game play better use multi koth markers set so they over lap. 5 or 6 is not to many.

Server problems after adding a custom map.

A few things map makers and servers that use custom maps should now. If the server crashes or players text dump repeatedly on the same map, It may because there are to many items on the map, i.e. trees and or buildings. For multi player maps try to keep the number of items added to the map under 300 and it will help keep the map less laggy and give players better frames rates.

Server crashes when the maps cycle from custom made maps to Novas stock maps.
The Nova stock maps are located in the pff files. Some times the server will receive an error message that the server cant locate the next map because the server wont look where it needs to. The solve this issue, You need to use FwO Raven's Pff Utility. There are 2 ways to fix this.

#1 You can export all custom bms and tile files in to the pff file where the stock maps are located.

#2 If you have a lot of custom maps or only want to host custom maps. You can export copys of Novas stock bms and tile files out of the pff files then delete the original bms and tile files that will remain in the pff. With no bms and tile files in the pff The server will only look where the first map is located.

Then you can choose to place the stock bms and tile files in the c4 root folder where the map editor places the maps you make. This will let you host both custom and stock maps. Or leave the stock bms and tile files out of the c4 folder to just host custom maps on the server.

To add a building made of different levels. Place the lobby on the terrain use the wire frame to set the lobby where it should sit on the ground. Add the middle piece next to the lobby side by side. Click on the lobby and high light it then click on the middle piece and high light that. Then open wire frame. The last object you high light will move. so now hold shift and use the up and down arrows keys on the key board to raise the middle up to the top of the lobby. Leave wire frame now. go to the middle piece copy and paste a second 1 next to the first middle piece. Then click on the first middle piece to high light it. Do the same for the second piece you just pasted. Go back to wire frame again and move the second middle price to the top of the first middle piece like you did with the lobby. You will build the scraper like that. Add pieces the same way until it's where you want it. Then add the top piece the same way. After your done with that part you can line the pieces up over each other the same way you move them around the terrain.

Novas stock maps have some items that you may want to copy and paste onto your maps such as the crane, The one in the med will not collapse if it is damaged in game while the one on novas stock maps will. If you have exported the stock bms files from the pff files. You can then use the C4 BMS2MIS Converter to convert those in to mis files, open and get any item you wish to use. To do that open the stock mis file as the second map in the editor. Find the item you want copy and paste it on to the map your making. After it has been pasted open the wire frame and adjust where it needs to sit on the terrain. The converted mis file will not show any tiles by the way.

To view and pick a tile click the tile tab. Click on the tile with your mouse then move to the terrain where you want to lay it. click on the map and the tile will be set. Tiles always lay on the ground where u set them, they will not set on buildings or on top of water. You can't lay them on there sides, there just a picture.