BF42 Mapping Tips

MAPPING TIPS

This is a sticky post for fellow mappers to post tips on using Battlecraft & Editor 42.

Please post questions in another thread in the forums.

First of all be aware Battlecraft and ED42 do not support COOP or single player.

Battlecraft actually adds create problems after coop or single player is added. In the conquest.con file, it adds a command to run AI - this should be removed. Finish with your map in Battlecraft before adding single player or coop. You will need to extract your map, add singleplayer/coop, and then repack.

Battlecraft uses .cfg and .lst files to handle mods. Check with the mods mapping forums for latests versions.

ED42 everything has to be extracted from the RFA files before you can work on any maps, and then you have to repack it when you are done.

ED42 has problems handling mods where other than the standard objectspawn templates are used. If they are created in ED42, they work just fine, but if you try to load a map from a mod that has custom objectspawn templates, the map will CTD when you try to save the map. I usually just remove the objectspawn files from the conquest folder before starting it up in ED42.You can use Battlecraft to pack your map better, if you ever had to extract it for any reason like adding singleplayer or manual editing. Just packing with WinRFA just packs the files but doesn't actually compress it much(if any). Start creating your map with a genric name, even the default one will do. After packing your map with WinRFA and making finishing touches, use the 'Copy Level To...' and enter your real mapname. I did this with a couple custom maps that I had Botinated and still saved 53MB
BCV:

As is displayed in the tips of the day, the CTRL key is used in a variety of ways.
Alas, it doesn't say *which* ways...

One of them is using it in conjuntion with placing objects.
Simply place an object in the general location you want, select it, unlock it.
Then, hold down the CTRL key and use the nudge tool (shortcut: m) to gently move it in the position you want.

CTRL also works when rotating objects in the X and Y axes...Q. I just packed my map and added it to my levels folder and now I can't even start the mod.

A. A mispacked map will cause the game to CTD when trying to load the mod (even before you have a chance to load the map). The game scans the levels folder and does some checking of the maps as its loading the mod. Try repacking the map, and make sure that the base folder is BF1942 or BFVietnam. If its still having the same problem, you can open your map in Winrfa and look at the file structure, then open another map to compare it with. If the file structures are not the same (except for the mapname) then you mispacked.

Check out this tutorial by Cajun Wolf for help:
http://www.cajunwolf.com/WinRFAtut.html

Q: I added an object to my custom map, and its all blue - What is the deal?

A: It will go away when you have the pallete.pal file in the ObjectLightmaps folder. You can get the pallete.pal file from any default map's ObjectLighmaps folder and just place it in your own. With that, problem solved. - Audiogod

Q: I tried adding a map to a mod and I get a weird error about sun and sky textures or some other really strange error message?

A: Since BF 1.4 patch, you can't just drop maps into mods anymore. Maps now have to be set for that mod. In the [mapname]\menu\init.con file you need this line set to your mod:

game.SetMapId "mapname"

for BF1942 - game.SetMapId "BF1942"
for RTR - game.SetMapId "XPack1"
for SW - game.SetMapId "Xpack2"
for DC - game.SetMapId "DesertCombat"
for EOD - game.SetMapID "EOD"
for GC - game.setMapId "GCMOD"
etc ...

(Note that this setting is currently not required for BFVietnam.

Q: When playing the game, I am now getting a strange black message box on my screen that won't go away.

A: Your installation of the BF1942/Vietnam or the mod you are playing is messed up. Try to isolate the problem by trying the standard game and other mods. Does it only happen in one mod or in BF1942? If you understand the BF1942 file structure you can look through it for a file or folder that is not in the right place. Otherwise reinstall the mod or BF1942 depending on where the problem is.

Q: I am having problems with adding single player/coop with Battlecraft to my map.

A: Battlecraft or any other map editors don't currently support single player or coop game modes. That has to be added by manually or with the help of the Botinator

Q. I am trying to add single player to a map with non-standard vehicles and the map keeps crashing when it loads up.

A. Non-standard vehicles may not be AI supported, which can cause the game to crash. Try replacing the non-standard vehicles with standard or vehicles that you know have good AI support to determine the problem.

Q: How do I setup/use a custom loading screen for my map?

A: (Audiogod) First, you need to create an image to use. The image must be 800x600 in size, 24-bit TGA format. Also, make sure when saving that you are not saving it as compressed.

When you have created your image, I recommend you save it to your map's "Menu" folder.

With the image in your Menu folder, then open up the Init.con file in that Menu folder.

Look for a line that states the following:

game.setLoadPicture

You will need to add to that the location of your file in the proper way. Here's an example:

game.setLoadPicture ../../bf1942/levels/MapName/Menu/Filename.tga

You will replace the MapName with the name of your specific map, and the Filename with the name you saved your loading picture to be.

When you've done everything above, your new image will be shown the next time you pack your RFA and try it out ingame.

Q: How to edit DDS (graphic format used by BF1942 for textures, icons, Thumbnail, and other in-game graphics) files?

A: Photoshop 7 can be used with the DDS plugin to edit DDS files. Also, the command line nvDXT tool will convert DDS files to TGA and back. Any decent graphic editor should read TGA format.

Don't have Photoshop? The DDS plugin should also work with Paintshop. But you can get a free DDS converter program that will convert to other popular formats: http://ef.filefront.com/file.info?ID=17503

This Nvidia page has the nvDXT tool and DDS photoshop plugin:
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv\_text...ture\_tools.html

Thanks to Pitmatic, Xacto, and CajonWolf2 for providing the information.

Q: Customizing maps (icons, thumbnails, briefings, loadscreen etc)?

To create the icon next to a custom map name in the map list look for the (mapname)\menu\serverInfo.dds file. Edit that file and rename if you want. In the (mapname)\menu\init.con file add/edit the following line:

game.setserverinfoincon ../../bf1942/levels/(mapname)/menu/(iconname).dds

To change the thumbnail, look for the (mapname)\menu\thumbnail.dds file. Edit this file, but leave it the same name.

To change briefings & debriefings, In the (mapname)\menu\init.con file you can change replace the text in all caps with your message in quotes. EX:

game.setMultiplayerBriefingObjectives "This is a battle over the center control points. Owner of both center control points will cause the other side to lose tickets."

To make the custom maps display together in the maplist for a mod, each map should be named beginning with similar letters to indicate that it belongs to the mod. So DC maps would start with DC\_, Galactic Conquest with GC\_. BG42 puts a number in front of the mapames like 4104\_Karst (BTW -4104 is the date of the battle). This makes all the maps appear together and at the top of the map list.

Now to create a custom icon for the mod that will show up in the custom game list, edit the serverInfo.dds file in the mods\(modname) folder. The same folder where the init.con file is located. Just use the same serverinfo.dds file you were using in your map.

Note - BFVietnam has some differences, needs someone who has worked with it more then me to add some customizing tips.