Getting Started with a Navmesh

This is for all the gamers out there that want to add sp/coop to their BF2 or BF2142 map.

## **Setup:**

Changing any files in your default Battlefield 2 mod directory will cause 'modified content' errors and you will not be able to join ranked servers. Even if you don't care about multiplayer, still follow these step to keep your original install clean in case of mishaps during your modding:

**Make a complete backup of your BF2 directory.**  Go to mods/bf2 and copy and paste it. When
that's finished you should have 'Copy of bf2' there. This is going to be your
untouched multiplayer and backup version if you completely screw up your files
playing around in the editor. This is your emergency backup, so you don't have to do a complete re-install when you screw up something and can't figure out why BF2 doesn't work any more. If you do this long enough, eventually it will happen.

**Set up a work area for adding AI.**  This is the area that you will use to set up a
mod for developing the AI Support. This gives you a sandbox that you can mess
around in without screwing up the game. Create a modding folder called
mods\edit\_bf2 or something similar like mods\navmesh\_bf2. It just needs to have a different name from any mods that you actually play. This is where you will
set up or use a MOD for testing the AI. Never make any changes directly in the mods\bf2 folder. Always make your changes and do your testing in your own mod. You can use existing mod, such as BF2\_all64 as a base for your mod. Just make a copy of it and rename it. Just edit the mod.desc file with notepad or another
text editor and change the title to yours. Then copy the map over into your
modding area.

## **STEP 1 - Preparing the level folder for the editor**

The screenshot below shows that Server.zip and
Client.zip have been unzipped into the
an example level directory.

There is a new folder that you create called
'Editor'. This fodler what the editor uses to do most of it's updates.

1.) Unzip 'client.zip' and 'server.zip' into
the level's folder.

overwrite files. All these files are currently 'read only.' so select all the files -> right click and choose properties -> uncheck the "read
only" box and then apply, and then apply to all subfolders.

2.) Make a new folder called 'editor'. Now
browse to -> gamemodes\gpm\_cq\64\ and copy gameplayobjects.con. Paste it into the editor folder you just created. This is Dice's original 64 sized
multiplayer layout and we are going to customize it for Single Player. You can
grab the 32 player one if thats your intention.

3.) Open gameplayobjects.con with notepad. The combat area is defined by all the coordinates at the bottom of the gameplayobjects.con file. We are going to delete the original combat area for the purpose of
demonstrating how to create your own. Delete all the text below the line 'end
if.' Save and close.

FYI - The gamemodes for SP are a little
diferent to gpm\_cq and gpm\_coop. This is because Dice originally released BF2 with only coop. SP mode was added in a patch.

**The 16 size is located in Gamemodes/SP1/16
The 32 size is located in Gamemodes/SP2/32
The 64 size is located in Gamemodes/SP3/64**

Dice fixed the SP mode properly in BF2142, so the sp game modes are gpm\_sp: 16, 32, 42 and 64.

**The 16 size is located in Gamemodes/gpm\_sp/16
The 32 size is located in Gamemodes/gpm\_sp/32
The 48 size is located in Gamemodes/gpm\_sp/48
The 64 size is located in Gamemodes/gpm\_sp/64**

Note: A map can only have one navmesh, so the
navmesh has to be made to work with all sp/coop gamemodes. This is why the
smaller gamemode combat areas are nested inside the larger game modes.

Combat areas at the bottom GamePlayObjects.con. Delete the text that involves the combat area as in the example. Save and close.

**CombatAreaManager.use 1
CombatAreaManager.timeAllowedOutside 10.000000
CombatArea.create CombatArea\_0\_Default
CombatArea.min 0.000000/0.000000
CombatArea.max 0.000000/0.000000
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -49.508636/309.521057
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -106.653534/302.942810
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -298.430908/215.904358
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -383.601013/252.437683
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -418.348206/229.250977
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -447.901398/-49.729950
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -256.824768/-180.013153
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -134.451721/-145.417114
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -71.780426/-50.112396
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -20.388397/78.607422
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -54.802582/121.588379
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -56.012451/247.228943
CombatArea.addAreaPoint -19.933960/275.608276
CombatArea.team 0
CombatArea.vehicles 4
CombatArea.layer 1
CombatArea.usedByPathFinding 1**

## **STEP 2 - The editor**

1.) Start up the bf2 editor. Choose 'BF2'. When that has finished loading, change to the "Level Editor" in the
drop down box at the top near the menus.

2) Go to File -> Load and select the map you just prepared (still using Songhua Stalemate as an example)

3) Once that has loaded you will see the map in all its 3d glory. Now for some preliminary steps to make your level editor experience easier on the eye.

- Select the 'Render' Menu and uncheck 'Toggle
Draw Fog'

- If the map already has AI, you can select
the 'Render' Menu

- 'AI' - and select "Toggle Draw AI" (this will
enable you to see the strategic areas and neighboring when you start putting
them in later)