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general:contributors:scenes:technical

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Creating a Map

This Guide will contain all of the information you could need to start mapping!

Getting Started

Mapping Module

If you make a new module dedicated to scene work, you are less likely to accidentally overwrite your hard work.

  1. Browse to your Mount&Blade Warband directory and go to the Modules folder.
  2. Make a copy of the NordInvasion folder and name it something like “NordInvasion - 1.4.1”

When you launch Warband, you will see your new copy of NordInvasion in the module menu.

Launcher Options

  1. Launch Warband and click Configure.
  2. On the Advanced tab, tick the box next to “Enable Edit Mode”.
  3. On the Video tab, consider ticking the box next to “Start Windowed”.

Accessing Edit Mode

  1. On the Warband main menu, select “Play NordInvasion”.
  2. Click above the “Join Game” button where the Host Game button would be. (It is still there, just hidden.)
  3. Set the Game type to “Normal Invasion”, Team 1 faction to “Swadian Army”, and Team 2 faction to “Nordic Army”.
  4. If you did not set your game to start in window mode, you can press Alt + Enter to toggle from fullscreen to window mode.
  5. Press Ctrl + E to turn on edit mode.

Reference

Special Scene Props

These Scene Props need to be in your map:

  • tbfc_box4 / tbfc_ammo_chest
  • tbfc_box5 / tbfc_healing_barrel / tbfc_medstation
  • tbfc_shrine / tbfc_shrine_new
  • smithy_anvil
  • Healing_Trough (Cav)

Entry Points

  • Team 1 (player): 0 & 1
  • Team 2 (nords): 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 & 37

Weather

Add one of these props and edit var values if you want to have different time, fog, rain or snow in your map.

Save and restart map to see changes.

ni_new_time_fog

  1. 0-24 time of day (0 = night, 6 = morning, 12 = day)
  2. 0-127 fog distance

ni_new_type_strenght_of_rain

  1. 1/2 rain/snow
  2. 0-127 strength of rain

Tips

  • Remember to save often. You will lose everything if your game crashes and you haven't.
  • Your map is located in the SceneObj folder of your NordInvasion module.
  • The Help dialog on the tools window lists all the shortcuts.
  • If you edit the ground gets dark areas, save your work and restart the server. It is just a visual glitch.
  • Remember to place barriers even on high objects so players can't glitch on them with platforms and barricades. (Do not use ai_limiters for this.)
  • When you are making the AI mesh, you can use Ctrl to select multiple sections. This is useful when you are welding them together.
  • Avoid having the AI mesh go through walls. The AI will think they can walk through the wall.
  • When you create New Face and want to weld the AI mesh, first select already placed AI mesh, then new one and weld them. (By doing it in this order, the new AI Mesh will automatically go to right place.)
  • When you place an entry point, be sure that there is enough room for spawning. Keep in mind the spawn points “wander” after a number of tome uses. This “wandering” wraps at a point and moves back to the start.
  • When you are texturing, elevating, or colouring the ground, you can make it smoother by lowering Weight and Hardness.
  • If you get “mirror” textures, use the texture tool and set it to smooth and carefully paint on it.
  • Sometimes placing light Ground Colour to near objects can make some places look a bit nicer.
  • Use plants, rocks, trees and other decoration props to make your scene to be more alive.
  • If you have “hard corner” in your scene, I suggest to use plants and objects to cover it.
  • Placing box and sphere barriers will prevent bots spawning there which is useful to prevent assassins from spawning in areas where they can't be reached.
  • Cav maps will be larger than regular maps. This means Lag. Try and use fewer and simpler props then a regular map to avoid people crashing.
  • When you hit Esc while creating a map, you will see multiple new commands such as “Spawn With Horsie” and “Block the Botspawning”.
  • You can use “Spawn with horsie” to travel quickly.
  • The Swadian entry points mark the upper-left corner of their spawn location. The spawn shifts right ten times and then wraps back to just behind the starting point (eleven spawns in the first row). How many rows are possible is currently undocumented.

Testing Your Map

When you want to test your map, the easiest thing will be to create your own local server.

Start with this guide: Setting Up a Dedicated Server

Copy your map to the SceneObj folder used by the dedicated server.

Note: Module compatibility is checked by comparing the server's module folder name to the client's. In other words, if you made a copy of the NordInvasion folder as suggested earlier, either join the dedicated server with your “live” module or rename the server's module folder to match your client's name (“NordInvasion - 1.4.1” for instance).

More Resources