Tutorial created by AZZ. Mirrored here for archival purposes.
- So You Want To Make Maps? -
Making maps isn't hard. In fact it's easy! All it takes is a lot of patience and an eye for detail, and of course imagination.
To get started you're going to need a map editor. There are two currently available, both are free and everyone has a preference. Mine is Junction 25. It can be used on any computer, where as M1 really requires a 3D card to render the city. Also I find J25 to be more immediate and to hand than M1. However as you don't get to view the sides of each block you must be very methodical in your approach.
You can get them by clicking on the links below.
This page is going to help you with use of J25. If you prefer to use M1 you can find help here...M1 Tutorial
Problems
As I said J25 is very intuitive and simple to use. So rather than posting a step by step tutorial I'll run through what were my main problems, that way everyone who knows how to edit and is having a problem can solve it, and those who are starting out know what to avoid.
Block System
Junction 25 works on a block system the opposite direction to the mission ini. A map is made of 5 blocks. In the mission ini block 5 is the lowest, block 1 the top level. In J25 block 1 is the lowest. If you've edit missions before using maps then this will seem strange, as it did to me. If you haven't got round to missions yet, remember this!
Another thing is to remeber that if you're editing a blocks specification, you edit the top of a block for the values. So if you want block one to be pavement, set block two to pavement. Water and solid are different. For those set the actual block!
Slopes
The bane of my life were slopes! However they're so simple if you know what to do. Firstly ensure that you don't click in the top level box. This will crash J25 for some reason. I'm sure it will be sorted in the next release. If you want to slope from level 1 to level 2 so that a car can drive up it this is what you do.
Select a set of 8 blocks that you want to be the slope. Any less and the slop will be too steep for cars, any more and the slope won't reach the top of the next block.
Click the slope button. Now choose which side you want to be top, ensure it's the thin end of your eight blocks otherwise you'll get an eight wide slope at a 45 degree angle.
Set the bottom height to 2. Remember you work to the top of the block below!
Grab the slide bar and move it until the top height box reads 3.
If you want a side texture to the slope you can choose it now, or you can choose it later. If your slope is more than one block wide I suggest you do it after. Doing it now will lead to extra textures, the two facing sides of two adjacent block having textures. This will lead to nasty black lines in the game. Try to avoid this!
Select the shading levels and hit ok.
Easy enough. Just remember where you put the slope, in J25 you can't see them, so I always shade one side darker so I know where the slope is.
Transparent/Flat feature
One of the handiest functions, but a bugger to remember. If you want to have the top of a box transparent then use this. It does mean that the two sides will be flattened to the left side of the block and the top and bottom flattened to the top.
If you want a wire fence running horizontally across your map then do this.
Select the blocks one below the edge of where you want your map. So if you're having a fence north of a road, select the top tiles of the road.
Edit the boxes and set the north and south sides to the same fence texture you require.
Hit transparent/flat and ok it.
If you want a fence running north to south select the blocks to the right of the fence.
Emergency Services!
After a whole year of editing these things still bug me. I suggest the easiest thing to do is to open up one of the premade maps, find a hospital then copy and paste into your map. Then edit the block. It saves editing and arsing around with anything else.
Police are easier. Once you cut and paste a police station grab a copy of the Cops program. You can find it at Gouranga. Then read the readme and add the police routes. That's the only part of Cops I could get to work so you should have no problems with it. Just remember to save it before you exit!
I edited my map and it went freaky when I played it!
This happens every so often. You'll know what I mean if it happens, the textures will screw up and the floor will fall away from you. It's times like this you need a copy of M1. Just open up your map in M1, save it, exit and all will be fine. Weird but true.
Anything Else?
If there's anything I missed just email me and I'll quite happily add it on to this page.
