[Help] Need Mapping Help/Instructions

[Zoddom]

Hi, since the bfeditor.org thread isnt up to date, I wanted to ask any Mapper if they have some sort of Tutorial either online or ready for upload, because the Tutorial I found on Google once, wasnt that helpful, because it wasnt really a complete tutorial ( I still have no idea how to do surrounding terrain, good weather / light / fog settings. And I never got any map of me to run ingame (Vanilla maps, tried in 1.41 and 1.5), is there anything I need to know to be able to get a map working?
And Im not sure if I should start with a simple vanilla map or a small PR map, because i think Vanilla maps are easier for the beginning, or would you recommend to start with a PR map, because we have good sources of information here.

would be thankful for helpful answers / tips,

have a nice day.

[Rudd]

BF2 Heightmap Generator Download, Battlefield 1943 Tools

secondary heightmaps, click the generate shortcut once you put these files in ur map folder you can control the resolution of those heightmaps by editing the shortcut

light settings

click light - light preset and then select another map's lighting as a base - this is the best thing to do at the start, you can personalise it later as needed
if you are using a new sky texture, or don't like the lighting that the other maps use then you open the skytexture in photoshop/whatever and then get 3 coloursettings from it - the colour of the bottom (fog colour) the colour of a bit of sky and the colour of the sun (if it has one, otherwise use another cue like cloud reflection colour)

getting a map working for the first time can be a real ******, or it can go real smooth

use the build script thats included in the PR_edit download in the setting up tutorial found in this list
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... rs-up.html

it'll automatically pack the map correctly

however RUN YOUR BF2 IN WINDOWED MODE so that you get error messages to work though, the chances of a map working straight away are nearly 0% imo. You'll need to work through the error messages to get it working

e.g. it might go "cannot find lightmapatlas.tai" in that case, compile, generate lightmap atlases (even if you got no lightmaps, pack that and tadaa, thats one error down and X to go.

And Im not sure if I should start with a simple vanilla map or a small PR map, because i think Vanilla maps are easier for the beginning, or would you recommend to start with a PR map, because we have good sources of information here.

pick whatever motivates you, a location you feel strongly about, or a gameplay dynamic you really like

Just think about how your going to go about it, theres alot of tools that save you time and effort and most of them are in the tut list I posted above

Gl, I'll make sure that secondary heightmap thing is put in the list

[Zoddom]

thanks for the answer, i will read through your tips and try them.

[J.F.Leusch69]

moved to community modding section, see requirements to post in the mapping area.

you could also ask amokandy for some guidience, he might have time.