Герои 5 редактор карт руководство

Map making suggestions for those brand new to the Editor.

The latest Fan Manual is a «must-read» Fan Manual

Link dedicated to this guide. Update

You also have available 2 other threads loaded with all sorts of info. Maps

http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3793&start=0

A Few Ideas about Starting

Find the HoMM storyline and retell or create your own story based on it. Create something from History.(sortof)I have used real-world maps of counties, states, regions etc. Of course you can create your own fictional world. One thing I took from HoMM 3 was making a map of a Dragon and going from there. They also did a Griffin for Griffin King map objective.
***Read my dedicated topic «Mindsprinkles about mapping» post in this thread just for fun, before beginning a map.

These are guidelines and not etched in stone. An assumption is made that a new map-maker has a PC that is ‘middle-of-the-road in Stats. It is also assumed that it will be a ‘single-player, single-mission map’ that can be modified for other gaming-modes later.

Map Size[]

Beginning your map

Map Editor {overview}[]

Note*** There is a glitch within the Map Editor that can make the 1st map you open…blur. To get around this, just open the may you want a «second» time. (not reloading) The second time, the map’s surface is always clear.
On the program’s screen, I always have the minimap window at upper right. and the Tool panel at lower right. I toggle back and forth with the Object list panel (left-side) depending on what I am doing at the moment. I only have the Object-List up if I am working on individual objects i.e. color or checking ownership etc.
At the top-right of the M.E. program are 5 tabs. I am only going to list and discuss what I use. ‘File’ Reload I use when I make lighting changes. Edit Rotate-object I use R on the keys. This makes the trigger-cell more or less accessable, depending on what is nearby. Level-Terrain under object I use this for all objects at times but Towns, mines and buildings always. This is good to do at the end of making a map so you ensure the trigger cell (green) can be triggered by a hero. View Show-gridThis is good aid to see the slope of the land surface when using the Smith-tool. Show Passability This reveals the used cells in red and also the ‘green’trigger cells. Masking is also shown in a dull orange color. Tools Center Camera Top Camera To see straight down. At angles in 3D, some things are hidden. All three View buttons are here. for the tool windows.
Note: Use the long toolbar with all of the icons, for any and all of these functions.
Warning: Whenever placing objects on the map, unless it IS for a certain player #, make sure you have not bumped ‘player-none’ to another player-number other than ‘None’. I share this because if you do not watch this constantly, when playing your map for the first time, you could have a team own many more things than they are supposed to start with.

Also when placing objects be warned; sometimes for whatever reason; «Two of that object can be placed». I think I had a crash for this reason. I beat the first monster and a second must have been it. I don’t know what causes it but an extra treasure chest is no big deal but an extra level 7 to fight early on to get an artifact, can be to ‘Balance’…even if your game does not crash.

Map Surface Set-up

Remember to zoom out to see the whole map surface to layout the map as explained in the manual. I like to use the terra-skin ‘weeds’ found under the filter ‘Dirt’ to mark where woods will be, the dormant-grass for hills, and a ‘Rock’ skin under ‘Grass’ or ‘Orcish’ for mountains. At starting out, I also like to mark where towns are going to be with a skin that is distinct so I can easily reference the town to gage distances between towns, portals etc. I like to use one of the ‘sand’ skins like ‘wetsand’ to mark where portals are going to be placed and spots to have a shipyard.(This helps you to easily see these places, you can change them to another skin when you’ve finished)
My first thoughts in making a map are about logistics. Having some balance in the distances that factions have to travel to get to similar places/purposes. Or, if I want a faction to have an advantage or disadvantage in distance, easily seeing the colors of skins on the map helps me quickly gage differences. Using the skins in whatever fashion you choose to associate with map objects, helps you to clearly see the ‘world you’re creating’.

Note: Several map-makers have told me; they like to make maps in Paint etc. to plan the map layout first.
Once I have my skins applied then I think ‘water’. now I know I’ve already said ‘shipyard’. Your order will vary to your preference, the point is do what keeps the ‘big picture’ clearest in your head. To the seasoned veteran map-maker this sort of thing is a no-brainer but I’ve found that I love to make the much larger maps so this fundamental stuff helps me keep things straight. I dislike it when I have a map that is beginning to create me instead of me creating it

Placing Towns

Just want to note a couple of things. You can place the towns first or build the land first but remember to «level terrain under object» when finished. For lighting I have found that 12-15 Z at 25-50 radius works well(you’ll see lighting further on down). Also under the Town’s object properties is a «Ship tile» this sets what tile will be used by heroes to board ships. This is easier then moving a town around near water and trying to find the green-access cell. Under the Town properties, you can dictate what the town will have already built; from nothing to fully built. You can also set what buildings in a town may not be enabled. i.e. If it is a random town out in the middle of nowhere on your map and you just want that town to be a spot to refresh magic and give some more money to the current owner. Also you can have a starting ‘Garrison Hero’ ready to rock, inside the town at the game’s start.

The Land[]

First notice any tile you click on; it has an XY location and H value = «Height» displayed at bottom right of the map window.
Roads are an important aspect of maps. On different maps, I have placed them in two ways. I recommend placing them «Before» bulking up a map with hills and mountains, so they can be used to guide where the land rises or falls. But it is also valid to make land and then make the roads follow the land , much like what happened for centuries on the earth: but starting out, this is the harder route. Once you are good with tools it does not matter.
You have three very good tools in ‘Bulk’, ‘Dig’ and’Smith’. Bulk and Dig do just what they suggest and Smith is the tool that smooths the land’s surface. Make a little ‘learning map’ to practice on and set the brush to size 7 and ‘Bulk-up’ a big area. How you move the mouse will impact how the land grows. And it grows very uneven. «Zoom-in», at times, to make sure you are seeing what you need to. If you have ‘holes’ that are more shallow, switch to a smaller brush size and build them up, then go back to the larger size. Once you have an area at the height you desire (H) than use the Smith-tool. This evens all the rough stuff. But you have to be careful, because if you want some jagged-edges around a precipice then this tool will knock it off if you go to the edge, so zoom-in to see where to stop ‘Smithing’. (Remember to use the «Grid») If you overshoot and knock off those fangs you wanted? switch to #1 or #3 brush and bulk it back up.
Raise and Lower
‘Raise’ raises the land a notch. You can do this as much as you want. ‘Lower’ just takes it back down again, say, in places you have made a mistake. Raise, I discuss further ‘in Bridges’ and ‘Lower’ I discuss further in the water section.
Note: Brush size can impact what you do. i.e. If you raise one Size 7 square, you will only raise the next smaller size inside it, with the #5 brush and so-on. Same thing going back down.
Note: I use these two functions mostly when making bridge-landings. But I have used them to make step pyramids. I do not use them much for the land because of the lines that appear that cannot be skinned.

Quick, varied Plateaus:[]

I like to use the #3 or #5 brush size and bulk-up a few different spots to various H-heights/values, in a region that I am elevating. Then I switch to #1 and use 2 or 3 spots on the same mound. One dead center and another midway and the last near the edge. In each case, creating a small block,»with the plateau button and #1 brush» (once you have the three elevations you can switch to larger brush sizes to spread them out) at those different elevations. Since I have put a few of the bulk spots around the region I am working on with an overall picture of the layout in my mind, this approach really makes it easy to get extremely varied landscape elevations… quickly. i.e. I started in the North with snowy elevations at 30-40 H, and stepped down gradually or rapidly in places, taking the land ‘down’ to the southern coast.
Note: Use the ‘smith ‘ button to level off the rough edges. Be careful with this, the different brushes (1-7) sizes work accordingly.

Mountains[]

Under the object list of «Grass» there are three mountains and two hills. You can put these directly on your mountain range line in random fashion, along where you have targeted the surface with your rock-skin. Place them by remembering to change ‘position’ as they are placed by using the «R» key to rotate into one of four angles. Overlap them at times to make denser areas of the range. Once your mountain range is filled then you can go to the tile-brush again and select from 1-7 size depending how wide the range is and use the «bulk button» to build up each mountains or hills «height». At any time just use the «dig» button to take a little of the top Changing brush size also adds good visual variation. Note: Since there are very few «pre-given mountain objects to place, I tend to use these much later in the process. In other words. I use the ‘plateau method’ above to make my mountains and just ‘cap-off’ here and there with the gimmes. The different ‘rock-skins’ look like mountain-surfaces to me anyway, Even when starting with the gimmes I always came back through and matched connecting terrain to them by using the ‘rock skin’. You can use different rock-skins for different surface textures. The ‘sandrock’ makes great hills and mountains on sand. By the way. There should be a good mixture of grass and dirt hills.
Tip about mountain ranges: Once you have your ranges and have made them create long roadways between Towns, you can, at given points, use the ‘zero’ brush to create a’ tight canyon’. Be warned (save first) it takes your work down to «ground-level» and if you have built very high elevations, zero is a long way down. Guard this passage-way with a Lv7-monster or greater that can only be defeated much later in your game. You can do the same with «dig» but it’s a lot more work.

Water and Bridges.[]

Adding water to your map can be done in two ways on the surface level. You can select the brush choice ‘lower’ and the brush size 1-7 and remove the land. Water with waves remains to create your rivers and seas. You can also select in the ‘tool-panel’,the tile-brush filter «Rivers», then pick ‘water’,’lava’ or ‘bog’. Using any of these on a land surface (terrain and underground) «lowers the land with the chosen liquid» If you want an area of a «bog» to have a few passable spots then you will need to use the passability check to see where the river or bog is «solid». You may have to ‘erase’ here and there, leaving a few spaces only lightly touched but not enough to make the red-line solid and that leaves places for an adventurer to cross. If you want the river, bog or lava to be a solid barrier, then you have to make sure that the entire thing is two spots of red…wide or use ‘Mask’.
When using the ‘lower’ method, the river/sea bottom will be whatever skin the land was that you lowered. Depending on the lighting of your map you can change the skin of the river bottom to good visual effect. I like to use one of the ‘conquest skins’, they look very good in the sun. If you are going to make the terrain map lighting dark, don’t bother with this. You cannot change the look of water made with the ‘Water’ tool, nor the ‘Lava’. But ‘Bog’ IS impacted some to good effect with the ‘roots’ «skin spotted in here and there under nearby trees» or by changing to lighter or darker ‘dirt’.
Note: If you use both methods on the map, they will not match when they join.
Underground you only have the Water/Lava/Bog tool to use for rivers and sea etc. Remember; The ‘Lower’ tool + #3-size brush is used to lower the land when first starting out underground. ***It is the only one that will do this
Bridges are a little tricky at first. The parts to a bridge are found in ‘Grass Objects’ in two parts, the middle section and end section. There are two different color of bridges to use. Place them directly on land. Use however many middle sections to span (using R) and end cap them. Then at each end, set the brush to size #7 and use the tool ‘raise’ once, at each end of the bridge. I make the white-box showing the brush-cursor, end at the first pylon/statue, outward «away from where the water will be». If you tilt the map with your mouse, you will see the bridge end is still hanging in the air. Switch to brush size#5 and ‘bulk’ up the land under the bridge end several times and then switch to size #3, center and bulk till you see the ground start to overlap the bridge end, Switch the brush to ‘dig’ and click once to lower the land for a clean bridge end. You will need to use the ‘ramp’ tool to ramp the land squares you made so the bridge can be accessed at each end, unless you raise more land on the map. After you’ve done this to both ends, run your river water under all of the middle-bridge-supports.

Connecting the two levels[]

1. On your map, place Subterra-gates from Object Filter «All terrain objects» wherever you want to go down to the underground.
2.Click on «view underground» on toolbar or under the «view tab». Wherever you have a Gate entrance above, click ‘view underground’and using brush #3 AND ‘lower’ Lower the area under the gate above. Switch to terrain skins and choose ‘subterr’ and change the surface skin of the new area. Now you can see it on your mini-map. Go around and repeat for all gates on the upper level to have a corresponding lower level area. Once you’ve finished you can see where all of the ‘exits’ now need to be for placing the object ‘Subterra gate exits’ Also found in the Filter «All Terrain objects»
3,Now place an exit in each of the new areas.Then make sure you have passability-on. I like to have the upper and lower parts of a gate match at XY. Placing your cursor on the green trigger of an object shows you the location in XY coord. at lower right of your map screen. I make them match by moving my ‘exit’ where it needs to be and also make it face the same direction using the ‘r’ key. This is optional. They will work regardless.
4.Now you have entrances and exits all over the place but they are all by default numbered 0. This means they are not separated into ‘sets’. You have an object properties tab on the toolbar. If you click on it after selecting one of the gates, the value 0 is what will be shown. Keep this simple. If I have two gates, both have a top and bottom (entrance and exit) The first one is in player one’s area. So, I change 0 to 1 for both parts of that gate and change 0 to 2 for the other gate. Rule for me I never use the default 0 because whenever you save your map after working on it, errors are listed. If a gate with a zero comes up on that list, than I know I have a double gate situation and look at the listed XY of the problem gate and I know where to go to delete the extra gate.
5.Strategies of placement are all up to you but I advise you coming up with an easy way for you to keep your gate numbers clear in your mind. Since lots of gates are not usually preferred I will use player numbers to help me keep things straight as I just explained. Lets say I have 4 players on the map and each has 3 gates in their area. Then I label those gates in this fashion 1.11.111, and so on. If the map had 8 factions…same thing. 1,11,111 to 8,88,888. I would have 24 gates all separately identified.

Portals

Portals are different than gates in that they can be on the same level on the map. Also you have ‘two-way’ and ‘one way’. With a two-way you use ‘2’ objects called «Two-way-portal» and for the «One-way portal» you have two parts like a gate does, with an entrance and an exit. The same rules apply in identifying gates. They will be default 0 when first placed. You have to give them a unique number. Make a list of ‘used numbers’ if you need to to refer back to as you go along, whatever to help keep things clear. This can get pretty difficult to track, if you don’t plan well and you have lots of Gates and Portals on your map for different purposes.
Note about Portals. You can have 1 ‘One-way’ entrance and 2 ‘One-way’ exits. or Three ‘Two-ways’ to link 3 spots on the map and much more if you choose. However, in each case you have to identify each by the same number in that group, and use new numbers than all other previously placed groupings.

Underground

I chose this order because if you did the last section you have portals and can now design where they lead. The order is not important. I have also made my entire-underground with all objects and the last thing I did was place ‘gates and portals’. Whatever is easiest for you.
ONLY «#3 brush’ and ‘lower’ will clear away areas. When on the upper map using ‘lower’ will take you down to water. It will not do this in the underground. To have rivers, you have to use the water brush. Lava and Bog are also selections. ‘Crags’ is the 6th Brush Tool at far right of the Tool-panel. You can change the wall texture of the underground in places or all over with one or all of these eight choices. To try it, pick one of the Dwarven 4-8 and move your cursor along the walls and they are changed to that selection.
Note: Some of the Dwarven have spaces that you can put various fire objects inside.(Remember this when you come to the lighting-section)
Underground usage. I have lowered and used almost all of it on some maps while others I will just do small areas for specific purposes. For another Town. Level-up areas. Artifacts or short-cut-passages. Additional resources. Some combination of all of that. It’s up to you how much or how little and for what purpose but remember to place mostly ‘fixed objects’ for better gameplay. Remember also about the Editor having a check-map issue with more than 8 towns on map. I can only assume this is an A.I. issue. But if you have an awesome PC, and want to try having twice that number or even more. Go for it. You can always remove some later if need be.

About Objects

The lower right of the Editor should be the «Tool» panel. If it is not open click ‘View’ and it is 3rd from the bottom. I am only going to say a few things about Objects since you can cursor over all of them and read descriptions. I’ll just make a few points that may be helpful
Objects that have Random boxes for placement are Dwellings for town-creatures, levels 1-3 can be picked but 4-7 are random in last faction-specific dwelling. Towns, Monsters lvs.1-7 and Artifacts 4- Any, Minor, Major, Relic and also «The Tear of Asha» If you place this on your map you will need to place a lot of Obelisks from the ‘All terrain’ list, around the map to slowly reveal the Tear’s location.
Dirt has Swamp Haze, Sand has Pyramid, Grass has Bridge-Parts, Subterra has crystals and torches good for point-lights. Taiga trees look good in Necromancer lands. Treasures has all resources and Chests. I only point this one out because depending on how much you place will affect how your game starts. If you want things to get rolling fast then spread the wealth but if you want a slow build-up then place very little. Another thing that mappers do in lieu of freebies, they will place some like resource at each mine type right by the creature guarding. i.e. at a crystal mine; 1 crystal and a chest or 2 crystals. A chest and a random treasure etc.
The All Terrain Objects is where most of the things you need for your map will be, but explore all of the sections. I.E. the Arena Objects is good place for quite a few things to give variety. (be sure and mask them and check them for passabilty so they will not be Swiss-cheese.)

Note: Many objects can be «resized», If you have the object list panel open and you highlight a tree, you will see “Scale” 100 %. You can change that to 200% and double the tree’s size or go the other way.
Also when looking here notice the line Shared that text is a file description of that particular tree. If you left click on that line and then click that little left box you will see a whole file structure come up with lots of things to choose. Pick the big tree from on down the list a bit in the listing and then click back on the map surface and on the tree again it should change to your latest pick, the big tree.
Thanks again to Gibblets for contributing these two tips.
Warning: There are many things in these files that are not listed normally in the Editor. So I advise saving and then duplicating your map with another name to explore the files. There are all sorts of things here like “glows” “effects” and «Bats».

Note: There are a few objects that are only for show until they are scripted for a purpose. “The King’s Mausoleum, “Tieru’s Dwelling” and a few of the towns listed are “ruins”
One more Object: In the ‘All Terrian’ list are two items that work together just like gates and portals, they are «Hut of the Magi» and the «Eye of the Magi». Most know what these do but they can be used exactly like portals and gates in their assignments. i.e. I put a ‘Hut’ near my starting town and place a few ‘eyes’ around some things/places that I want the player to see quickly. I give that «one hut and all of the eyes the same number». Then, much further out I can do the same thing again; place another ‘hut’ and more ‘eyes’ that reveal things deeper in the game and then I give that whole group a new unique number.

General Map Set-Up[]

View/ then Map Properties

Under this section you have several tabs.
Artifacts. You can “select All” so all have a chance to appear on the map when placing the ‘Map-Objects’ called “random artifacts”. However if there are no Necromancer towns in your game then those artifacts, i.e “The Amulet” should be unchecked. If there is no water on your map then the “Sextant of the Sea Elves” should not be selected since it is for water use. Another thing to consider is do you want to place an artifact on the map and not leave it up to a random chance? i.e. You put the “Tome of Light Magic” on the map, then you might not want it to be checked here, because you may get more than one. This is no big deal unless your Map’s objective is to go through a series of quests to acquire the “Tome”, then you will not want it showing up in a random fashion. Another thing to consider is how many artifacts will you have on your map and to what purpose? I tend to place all artifacts and leave this section “unchecked” , so I can set-up the factions and their needs in the flow of the map. If you don’t want to sort this out then “check-all” and leave it all to luck and your random map-object artifact boxes. Those boxes represent the four classes of artifacts. Any,Minor, Major and Relic. Relic being the best, as in the Tome example. The «Any» is truly random, since any artifact could appear.
Note: Like all else, in the artifact list, holding the cursor over each one tells you what it does, so make notes to refer back to later.
Spells: I do the ‘check all’ and uncheck “instant travel”. That is my preference because I want heroes traveling roads and not bopping over mountains. You have the same thing here, there could be spells that you don’t want available but that is something you can get to later when designing a map with serious quests etc.
Heroes I click ‘reset’ and that makes only normal faction heroes available to hire. If you check “all” then whatever faction campaign Heroes you have available to your Map Editor Mod files will be selectable too.
Teams U-Pick
Note: Since I make maps initially for ‘single player’ I have found it is a good idea to use the File/SaveAs function to also make a team map out of it as well. When making this second map you may want to make some changes to the map with having allies in mind.
Hero Restriction. I set mine at 35 to give them room to max out but this function does not appear to matter really unless you are intending to follow a campaign and want to limit a hero to progress further on the next map in your series.
Ambient light for upper and lower levels. By switching these and going to File then Reload you can see the light change on the map surface to find one you like. The file-names are not user friendly, so you will need to write them down and try to remember where they are on the list. Some are very dark and you will need to do the point-lights, described further down to get the benefit of very dark settings. There is also fog and settings that favor terrains of different types. You have to experiment.
Rumors You can make some up and save and assign them here.
Note: Underground while I am building a map I will set the ambient underground lighting to ‘Sand’ (at the bottom of the list) that makes everything easy to see while making the surface etc. and then once I start getting close then it’s time to reload my darker settings and see my light-work.
Player Properties. Here you select the player number (1-8) if you want the player to have a main Town, be Human, PC or both (both is good to test with later) and also if you want to generate hero in town.(Yes) unless you have made a «garrison hero»
Map Name Whatever you call it, also add Heroes version to it i.e. (ToE) (HoF)
Note: You can give color to the map-name-text like this; <Color=red>yourmapname. For some reason «text-case» impacts color.
Map Description. Tell players what your map is about, or lie.
Note: The description box is a good place to give players a heads-up if you’ve made a spell N/A so they won’t be looking for it. You can also do the colored text in this area as well. Remember this text is on the screen at the same time as a PWL picture.

Point-lights/Colors[]

Reminder…What ever «ambient-lighting» you pick for your map (in map properties), it will impact how your work below will appear. You can use some very dark ambient settings or Fog and Night settings, if you introduce your own effective lighting scheme.
Any ‘object’ that you place on the map can be a light source. Open the map properties tab and expand its window to the right about a third of the way across the screen. This enables you to see all cood.-lines-XYZ for entering values. When this view is first opened it displays all map properties but when you click on a single object on the map the list gets very short. In that short list for an object, is a line called «pointlights», Right click and «Add» and you will see «location and color» settings treed in X, Y and Z values. In the first subgroup (Pos.) what value you enter determines the height of the light’s origin. If there is no value in this line not much happens even with color entered below. To give you an idea, I enter 5 at Z for ‘crystals’ in passage-ways in the undergound. I like the way the light shines up but you can choose what ever value you prefer for any object. I use ‘1’ for warrior tombs because they are right on the ground. I use 2or3 at Z for mines and sawmills. I find that 12 is very good for ‘Towns’ as in the Dungeon’s Lady. You just have to zoom in a see how your lighting parameters look on the buildings etc. Chanign the upper values above Z turns the light.
Now I pick my color. I have seen where very long decimal values are given, as (in the RMG) .501961 at «Y» with zero at X & Z and is a Dark Green. But I will just enter .6 and the color is the same. If I enter .8 or 1 then the green becomes brighter. The higher the value the brighter the color. I.E. i like to use ‘white light’ for neutral buildings such as stables or war machine factories. I place the light height at «2 or 3 in the upper Z» and «.7 to 1 values at each X,Y and Z.» The brightest being X=1,Y=1,Z=1. If you use .7 at each, then the light will be a softer white…more gray. The last line under ‘color’ is ‘Radius’ and this determines how many tiles the light will project outward. A normal value is 20-25, say for a crystal but you could use only one and put this value at 100. However I tend to use 15 for mines around towns and for a small object like a sign or or Idol of Fortune a yellow color looks good at a radius of only 5. That makes the object have it’s own color but not affect the objects around it. Unless of course you want that.
Note: For simplicity I tend to just use «1» as an entered value at «color = X-Y-Z». Since we have 8 factions here are my quick colors. Red (X=1,Y=0,Z=0) Blue (X=0,Y=0,Z=1) Green (X=0, Y=1,Z=0) Teal (X=0,Y=1,Z=1) Purple (X=1,Y=0,Z=1) Orange(X=1, Y=.6,Z=0) Yellow(X=1,Y=1,Z=0) and Brown(X=.6,Y=0,Z=0) Changing values changes the light and it is fun to experiment.
Tip from Mike80d: Also in the Map Properties list are the ‘players’. Here, you can set the ‘faction color’. This is indeed splitting hairs but I like to do this regardless. A Wizard has a mostly ‘Teal’ vapor-trail that follows him/her as they level-up. Why not make that faction ‘Teal’ what ever player number it is on my map? Player 6 is Teal by default so if a faction has to be Teal?, then this makes sense to me. Player 1 is Red but I prefer the Inferno to be Red instead.
It is not important ‘what’ you choose to light-up, what matters is the purpose you desire. I will select «Rocks’ from ‘Water Objects’ and use those to light-up dark areas of the high seas. I also like to use the buoys , ships, mermaids or sirens for effect.
Another PL Note: The point-light function can be more than one color and one light source. At the ‘point-light’ line, click «add» (once or twice) and you can try for multiple light-effects coming from the same source. I.E. Orange at -5Z and red at +12 will light the same Fortress Town in 2-staged colors, with the first going down into the ground and the other up high.
Thanks to Gibblets for this addition to lighting.

Masking.[]

You have a brush-selection called masks. The purpose of this is to make a tile inaccessible. So, if you want to insure that a monster cannot be got past without fighting it or a border guard cannot be side-stepped then mask to the edge of them. Another purpose of masking is making a hero use the winding roads you’ve made. The A.I. will find the shortest route to get where you are telling your hero to go and if that means cutting off through the sparse woods etc. and bypassing the road it will. As I explained about balance in gameplay…distances matter, so «making heroes use your roads» enforces your map layout. Another thing that masking does is keeping heroes from walking up mountain-sides. Unless you want that to be part of the fun, you won’t want it normally. Again, the A.I. will find the shortest route and it does not know those tiles are a mountain.
A very important reason that I mask alot now, has to do with the map’s performance. I have nothing to prove the following theory except for some large maps that seem to play better now, than my older large maps. If the A.I. as I think it does «see’s all playable tiles», then masking in a sense makes tiles «not seen» they are not accessible, so they don’t get counted in the possibilities of movement. Much of a map surface is just divisions like, woods, water mountains etc., obstacles that have to be gone around. So I am guessing that when you mask all of those areas, in a real sense you are making the map smaller. If PC performance is not an issue, a good thing that I’ve learned to do is choose a larger map size so «distance of travel» can be greater to prolong the build-up of Heroes before battle (my desire)and therefore masking a lot more un-needed surface. Whenever you check for «passability» you will see red. When doing this and you have masked you will see the masking In dull-orange too and both combine to show you what can be reached and what cannot. I will mask a «blocking region» first, without an object placed yet. When I use the passability check I can see where the masking is and then I can select grass objects or sand objects etc. and pick some things to go into that masked region to «fill-in-some». I don’t want to use lots of moving objects like grass-trees and bushes since they affect gameplay but I use some and also use lots of non-moving objects. Dirt trees are dead and don’t move. Rocks, bulked up hills, craters, lots of single trees with a few tree-groups here and there, seems to work fine and the result looks acceptable. You have to be careful whenever masking near places to visit. And always take a good look around the map when you’re nearing the end of making it . You don’t want to have artifacts or buildings have masked over trigger-tiles(green). You also want to remember this if you move things for some reason. One other thought. You may have previously masked an entire wood or mountain. You can always go in and unmask a line to a small square and put some goodies there,in an out-of-the-way-place.

Various Issues[]

1. ‘Creature Stacking’ is easy to do. Have open the object list panel and the window of the panel stretched to the right past «creatures» in that list. Click on the creature you want to make a ‘army’ instead of a single creature. You see the ‘Additonal creatures line’ and then right-click on the line to «Add» to it… a subfolder appears with the creature selection box,..pick the creature you want to add to the first stack. Repeat for more creatures in the one army. Note:Creature names will be different.
Note: You can also edit creature properties. ‘Mood’, ‘Amount’ and ‘amount is fixed or grows’
2. Copying To save time, you can ‘copy objects’. In the case above, if you want balance in «neutrals defending like objects» then copy and paste more of the ‘neutral creature army’ you made. i.e guarding neutral towns or time-saving portals. Be patient, my copy function is fickle so stay with it, like clicking on different spots on the map to ‘reset the paste-function’.
3. Random creature dwellings with random towns. I am still testing to see what will work here.
4. Regions are used for scripting and triggers. I will post the links below.
5. The random map generator is a good time-saver if you want a new map to play quickly. But I advise spending some time on it by tweeking the map. Unless you want your players all having great morale and luck, remove all or most of those ‘bonus objects’ from the RG map. One other issue with me is what I call «rushing». Every map I’ve generated seems to have another built-in condition. Portals between factions are always too close for my tastes. You will need to make a portal map and re-assign them. Unless of course you want things over fast.
6.Using the mouse in making a map is a serious pain. When placing objects on the map; I have to switch back and forth between the objects button and the terrain button. That’s how I reset it to pick something else from the list or to switch to modify an already placed object after…placing objects.
7. Most objects have the «owner box» available in «editable properties». I am not sure why this is with some of them i.e. a fountain or well? I can only guess it may have to do with «scripting» but I always ensure all neutral objects are set to ‘player none’ if only for A.I. reasons/guesses.
8. Level Terrain Function is under Edit or also on toolbar. If you have made a map that has a pretty «sloping surface» in a spot where you want to place an object, you can use this to make it look better on the ground.
9. I tend to make valuble Objects like «Cartographer», «Memory Mentor» or the Spell Merchant well defended but that’s a choice. Making everything on a map free…could be interesting.
10. Spell Shrines I have recently discoverd that these can be set. But just like the Heroes names can be called something eslein the Editor, so can the spells. I will make a list of those and post them if I cannot find an already existing list.
11. When placing objects, to get them to sit closer together on the map surface, enter half numbers on either/both the X or Y axis. i.e X47.5. This makes your eyecandy work look much better.
12. When wanting a specific Hero like «Arantir». Place a «Campaign-Hero» on the map. Open the «Object properties» window. Click on the Hero figure then go to the line «Shared». Click on the inner text and you will see a «New-tab» and a little box to the left of it. Click on that little box and all available heroes are listed for each faction to choose.
13. Reminder…Save-Your-Work-frequently and also keep updating a back-up copy.
14. My default monster strengths for guarding mines etc.
Wood/Ore LvL=1,Resources=LvL 2, Windmill and Bonuses=LvL 3, Abandoned Mines and 1-ups=LvL 4. 1st gold mine LvL5 all others LvL 6 or LvL7. Minor-Artifact=5, Major-Art=6 and Relic-Art=7.
15. Embedding Objects. On land some «arena-objects» need to to be buried a little, so you’ll need to use a <-# at Z >. In the water, you can place an object on land and then «water-tile» the land away. You can do the «reverse» with the sea/ocean rocks and bring land up to them for variety.
16. Tear of Asha When making a map in the Random Map Editor (RMG) «Team victory» will not be possible. What this means in the normal created map, I don’t know for sure but it appears that placing the ‘ToA’ on the map, may override any intended team play/team victory. To this point I had placed it believing that one team member could acquire it and the team victory objective would remain intact. I doubt this now after experiencing the RMG default of the ToA becoming the main objective, just by calling for its placement on a randome map.
Testing ideas. You can test your map by playing a «Hotseat’ game and playing all factions at once. If you have some factions that are A.I. controlled then I recommend placing temporary unguarded cartographers near player-1. Each one visited only reveals all of the land on that map-level. So, I will also make a tempoarary two way portal right next upper «cartographer» and place another «cart.» underground. Doing this makes it possible to see the whole map (except water) first turn. If the map has lots of water than you can do the very same thing with the water cartographers but remember to set their cost to 100 gold in their properties settings.(default is 4000)and provide a free ship.
Heads-up. I’ve seen reviews written at map-sharing-sites like Maps4Heroes and too often they are <IMO> far-too-arrogant. So have a «thick-skin» when sharing a map, dismiss obvious preference’s but seek the ‘constructive negative-feedback’ that will improve you as a map-maker.

Map Pictures[]

Two picture types are available for the map. ‘PWL’ is the picture on the monitor that is viewed during map-load and ‘thumbnails’ are the small ones that are seen when looking at the map’s description from the custom map selection screen.
El-Chita has provided this link to «The Heroes Round Table site» and the provided guide.Ch Site

Fuir’s guide
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes5/modding_wiki/mapmaking:add_pwl_and_thumbnails

Modding[]

«All topics»
VokialBG’s thread, «Modding- «Table of Contents»http://www.heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=25065

Modding FAQ

Modding Tools

Basic Scripting
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes5/modding_wiki/scripting_tutorial:basic

Lucky_Dwarfs Eye-Candy Thread
http://www.heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=30743

Other Material

Curio’s guide
http://www.heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=18589

EDIT= Testing ideas, Another Point-Light note 12/19/10, Added — ‘A Few Ideas about Starting’, Added Eye-Candy link, added ‘General Map Set-Up’…’About Objects’…’Placing Towns’ sections, Added #9 and #10 to ‘Various Issues’ and a little more clarification in several places.
1/29/11 «Changed the info concerning the ‘glitch-blur’ in map-loading», Added <11-15> under various issues. Added «Beginning your map» section concerning multiplayer. 2/6/11, Added comment #16 about Tear of Asha in Various issues 2/10/11

function **** (heroname) — Функция (heroname если есть имя героя)
sulfur = GetPlayerResource (1, 4); — surful заменяет get…
if heroname == «Christian» — если имя героя Christian
HasArtefact («имя героя», ID_Артефакта) — условие
then — Если да
ChangeHeroStat («heroname», STAT_EXPERIENCE, 12000) — Дать опыта
elseif GetHeroStat («heroname», STAT_EXPERIENCE) >=20600 — Если нет но есть другое
then MessageBox («/maps/SingleMissions/2cc/ein.txt») — Если да
else MessageBox («/maps/SingleMissions/2cc/ein.txt») — Если нет
end;
end;

SetObjectPosition (objectName, x, y, floor = -1); — переместить обьект
StartCombat (heroname, nil, кол воинов, ID, кол, nil); — начать битву
AddHeroCreatures( heroname, CREATURE_ARCHANGEL, 1 ); — дать войско (архангелы)
SetRegionBlocked(regionName, status, playerID = -1); — Запретить АИ заходить в регион
SetAIPlayerAttractor(objectName, playerID, priority); — заставить АИ идти к обьекту
sleep (5); — задержка
SetObjectEnabled( ‘green’, false ); — назначить обьект неработающим
MoveCamera( 122, 60, 0, 40, 1, 1.145, 0, 0); — Двигать камеру
OpenCircleFog( 122, 58, 0, 20, 1 ); — Открыть карту
LevelUpHero («heroname»); — Поднять уровень
ReamoveArtefact (heroName,artefactID); — Забрать арт
SetPlayerResours (1, 4, GetPlayerResource (1, 4)-10) — забрать рисурсов
ChangeHeroStat («heroname», STAT_EXPERIENCE, 12000); — Дать опыт
StartCombat (heroname, nil, 5, 74, 6, nil); — Начать битву
MessageBox («/maps/SingleMissions/2cc/ein.txt»); — Окно Сообщения
QuestionBox («/maps/SingleMissions/2cc/ein.txt», «**»,»no»); — Окно Сообщения да или нет
ShowFlyingSign («/maps/SingleMissions/2cc/ein.txt»); — Всплывающий текст
Trigger (REGION_ENTER_AND_STOP_TRIGGER, “****”, nil); — Обнулить тригер
SetPlayerStartResources (); — начальное кол-во ресурсов
SetObjectEnabled(“kamilla”, false); — назначить обьект неработающим

Условия
HasArtefact («heroname», ID_Артефакта) — Имеет артефакт
GetHeroStat («heroname», STAT_EXPERIENCE) >=20600 — Уровень(очки опыта)
GetDate (DAY) == — определённый день
GetPlayerResource (player, resourceKind); — кол-во ресурсов
GetDifficulty(), (Рекрут = 0 Герой = 3). — Сложность

Тригеры

Trigger (REGION_ENTER_AND_STOP_TRIGGER, “ein”, “einF” );- войти в зону и остановится
Trigger (OBJECT_TOUCH_TRIGGER, “ein”, “einF” ); — подойти к обьекту
Trigger (NEW_DAY_TRIGGER) — начало дня

FloorID — ID этажа (0 — надземный, обычный уровень; 1 —
подземный)

вот мож кому пригодится

Пройдя Heroes of Might and Magic 5 , поклонники сериала забеспокоились: « А где же редактор? Как нам делать собственные карты и кампании? » Некоторое время разработчики тянули (в первых двух патчах — 1.1 и 1.2 — никаких утилит не было), но затем выпустили третью «заплатку», в которую был встроен полноценный редактор карт для пятых «Героев». Пока программа доступна только на английском языке (подробный мануал — на нем же), но в самом ближайшем будущем Nival собирается выпустить русскую версию редактора и полностью перевести руководство. Мы же спешим рассказать вам об основах картостроения под HoMM 5 раньше всех, поэтому не удивляйтесь, что в статье описывается работа в английской версии редактора (на момент написания материала русский редактор еще не вышел).

Интерфейс

Пропатчите игру до версии 1.3 (патч устанавливается только на версию игры 1.2), зайдите в директорию \ Bin и запустите файл H5_MapEditor. exe. Перед вами появится небольшое окно, в котором необходимо задать базовые параметры карты: название ( Name ), его тип — одиночная или многопользовательская карта, и размер территории. Кликните на кнопку Ok — программа сформирует заготовку уровня.

По умолчанию большая область редактора представлена окном 3D-вида, в котором происходит формирование карты. Справа от него располагается панель с модификаторами для формирования ландшафта, инструментами для расстановки и редактирования объектов. В верхней области редактора находится несколько командных меню и панели быстрого доступа. Остальные компоненты (мини-карта, панель объектов) изначально отключены.

Вернемся к окну 3D-вида. Для изменения положения камеры на карте переместите мышь с зажатой средней кнопкой, масштабирование картинки производится с помощью колесика мышки. Для изменения угла наклона камеры достаточно передвинуть мышь на новое место с зажатой правой кнопкой.

Дизайн ландшафта

Переходим к формированию ландшафта — вариантов всего два. Первый — создать так называемый скетч или набросок: обозначить на карте реки, тропинки, дороги, покрыть текстурами области, где планируется воздвигнуть горы и вырыть овраги, и лишь затем приподнять или, наоборот, опустить вниз определенные участки местности. Второе возможное решение — сначала сформировать ландшафт и только затем нанести текстуры. Мы пойдем по второму, наиболее универсальному, на наш взгляд, пути.

Для придания рельефа плоской заготовке мы воспользуемся модификаторами с вкладки Tiles на панели инструментов (не путать с панелями быстрого доступа, находящимися под шапкой главного меню).

Чтобы сформировать на определенном участке карты какую-либо возвышенность, выберите модификатор Bulk , перейдите в окно перспективы, щелкните левой кнопкой мышки по определенному участку и, не отпуская ее, измените высоту. При необходимости в панели инструментов на вкладке Tiles можно настроить ряд параметров инструмента: например, настройки Draw Tool Size определяют радиус охвата кисти, а Strength — силу выдавливания.

Работа с остальными терраформерами осуществляется аналогичным образом, поэтому мы просто расскажем вам о предназначении каждого из них. Инструмент Dig служит для уменьшения высоты гор. Модификатор Rnd позволяет создавать на уровне случайным образом чередующиеся мелкие возвышенности и углубления (зашумление). Smth очень похож на Dig , он делает плавные переходы между остроконечными горами. Следующий весьма интересный инструмент — Plato , этот модификатор позволяет «запомнить» высоту зоны под курсором (для этого нужно кликнуть по карте левой кнопкой мышки), а затем сформировать местность с теми же параметрами (для этого достаточно двигать мышку, не отпуская левую кнопку).

Если вам нужно убрать все неровности с участка местности, воспользуйтесь инструментом Zero. С помощью модификатора Raise можно поднять любую неровность на одну ячейку вверх (автоматически формируется скальный выступ) — игрок не может пройти через данную область (удаляются выступы модификатором Lower ). Модификатор Water выравнивает поверхность, опускает ее на одну клетку вниз и заполняет водой. Инструмент Ramp позволяет создавать наклонные плоскости, для чего достаточно установить курсор приблизительно посередине между равнинным участком и пригорком, а затем плавно перетащить мышь с зажатой левой кнопкой от гористой области к низменности (на плоской поверхности модификатор не работает).

Малярные работы

Когда заготовка уровня создана, необходимо нанести на поверхность текстуры, расставить объекты и персонажей. Убедитесь, что на панели инструментов активирована вкладке Tiles. Чтобы нанести текстуру на участок местности, выберите категорию Terra Skin , а затем кликните на необходимый материал, например, Dirt\ DirtRoad. После этого перейдите в окно 3D-вида и переместите мышь с зажатой левой кнопкой по тому сектору уровня, который собираетесь затекстурировать. Если вы ошиблись и, скажем, нарисовали дорогу там, где должна протекать река, ошибку всегда можно исправить при помощи инструмента Eraser в поле Terra Skin.

Рассматривать все группы текстур мы не будем (за что отвечает та или иная группа, практически всегда ясно из названия), отметим лишь одну необычную категорию — Rivers. Все представленные в ней элементы являются своеобразными модификаторами — терраформерами, позволяющими создавать на игровой карте реки, болота, а также потоки лавы.

После того как вы закончите с текстурированием, можно приступать к расстановке объектов: героев, монстров, растительности, архитектурных сооружений. Рассмотрим базовые принципы работы с моделями. Перейдите на закладку Objects на панели инструментов. Чтобы добавить новый элемент на карту, выберите интересующую вас группу из списка Filter , а затем произвольную модель и щелкните по карте. При необходимости несложно указать принадлежность создаваемой модели к определенному игроку (при расстановке героев и городов это сделать необходимо). Для этого нужно изменить значение поля Player , находящегося над меткой Filter.

Когда вы добавите на карту достаточное число одинаковых объектов, нажмите клавишу Esc для отмены текущего инструмента. Если вы поставили объект не туда, куда хотели, то щелкните по нему левой кнопкой мышки (объект выделится) и, не отпуская ее, передвиньте манипулятор. Чтобы повернуть какую-либо конструкцию или персонажа на определенный угол, выделите необходимый элемент в окне 3D-вида и нажмите клавишу R на клавиатуре (объект будет повернут на 90 градусов).

Для редактирования параметров объекта выделите его и щелкните по кнопке Object Properties (следующая за биноклем) на панели быстрого доступа, либо воспользуйтесь горячей клавишей — пробелом. Перед вами появится окно, в котором необходимо настроить различные атрибуты. Здесь вы можете установить принадлежность данного элемента определенному игроку, подправить базовые характеристики, а также задать новые или отредактировать уже существующие скрипты. Далеко не у всех объектов есть какие-либо атрибуты, например, у растительности и некоторых строений они отсутствуют. При необходимости вы можете удалить созданную модель, кликнув на нее левой кнопкой мыши и нажав клавишу Delete. Для выделения группы объектов кликните левой кнопкой мышки по произвольному месту карты и измените положение манипулятора таким образом, чтобы все необходимые модели попали в зону красного прямоугольника.

Более детально рассмотрим базовые категории объектов из списка Filter. Большой блок Environment состоит из групп Dirt Objects , Grass Objects и еще нескольких менее важных. В них находится растительность, магма, формы для украшения подземных царств, а также различные конструкции, которые могут быть помещены лишь на водную поверхность вашей карты ( Water Objects ). Следующий и самый важный раздел в списке — Objects , категория All- Terrain Objects содержит архитектурные сооружения: небольшие арены, таверны, лагеря, палатки, костры, флаги и оружия. В Artifacts расположены артефакты — кольца скорости, ангельские крылышки, амулеты некромантии, золотые подковы, башмаки левитации. В группе Heroes спрятались герои, которыми может управлять игрок. При добавлении на карту моделей из этой категории задайте в поле Player порядковый номер игрока, который сможет выбрать героя из списка. В блоке Monsters притаились различные твари: их можно расставлять на карте (но не добавлять в замки). Из группы Treasure на уровень можно добавить золото, кристаллы, штабеля древесины, колбы с ртутью, самоцветы и прочие ценности. Обратите внимание на категорию Towns , в ней находятся различные города.

Закончив размещение различных объектов на карте, сохраните ее нажатием комбинации клавиш Ctrl+ S. Для тестирования запустите игру и в главном меню выберите пункт: Одиночная игра\Сценарии\Имя вашей карты\Начать игру.

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Полученных из статьи знаний хватит, чтобы сделать простейшую локацию без заданий и скриптовых сцен. То есть герой сможет только перемещаться по карте и воевать с монстрами. В одном из ближайших номеров «Игромании» мы вернемся к теме редактирования HoMM 5 и расскажем о том, как задать цели и условия выполнения заданий (возможно, в рамках статьи, а возможно, что и в форме видеоурока).

И не стесняйтесь присылать свои карты нам; самые качественные попадут на наш DVD в раздел « Работы читателей ».

Редактор карт игры Heroes of Might and Magic V позволяет пользователям создавать собственные игровые карты. Если вы не хотите тратить время на разработку детального плана карты, вы можете создать случайную карту. Вот 5 простых шагов, чтобы создать случайную карту в редакторе Героев 5.

Шаг 1: Откройте редактор карт

Запустите игру Heroes of Might and Magic V и выберите «Редактор карт» из главного меню.

Шаг 2: Создайте новую карту

Щелкните на кнопку «Создать новую карту» и выберите размер новой карты, используя соответствующие настройки.

Шаг 3: Настройте параметры карты

Настройте параметры карты в соответствии с вашими желаниями. Если вы хотите создать случайную карту, вы можете оставить настройки по умолчанию.

Шаг 4: Отредактируйте случайный ландшафт

Перейдите на вкладку «Карта» и щелкните на кнопку «Случайный ландшафт». Это создаст случайный ландшафт на вашей карте.

Шаг 5: Продолжайте редактирование карты

Если вы не удовлетворены случайным ландшафтом, вы можете продолжить редактирование карты, добавляя или удаляя объекты, меняя текстуры и т.д.

Вот и все! Теперь вы знаете 5 простых шагов, чтобы создать случайную карту в редакторе Героев 5. Наслаждайтесь игрой!