GRAW Map Making for Dummies - Page 3

Fishmonger · #1 03-25-2008, 09:31 AM

ok - got something else to add that is important only for those who make custom maps or modify objects on existing maps that force rendering new light maps. There's a RAM limitation I have run into before with Dinner_Out and other maps, which was the original reason for figuring out how to recycle existing maps using the bundler tool. However, right now I am working on a big custom landscape and here's what I found out this week that may affect one of your bigger projects:

what I did to render The_Last_Castle map:

I prepared the world file for minimal RAM load - absolutely nothing but static layer, props (small-static), electrical (no wiring), and sky environment. I have not tried to remove the sound but I doubt that that is a lot of RAM saved. (you do that all in a text editor - copy a backup file somewhere, then go in and delete all but the stuff you must have in there to get light maps to render - saves RAM!)

then I started the editor in 800x600, low qual, trilinear filtering, low off off - whatever the lowest settings are, in windowed mode. I then QUIT the editor to restart it with those settings before even loading the map (Again, all this saves RAM). Restarted the editor, loaded the map and went to export lightmaps - kablammo - out of Memory!

Now that's usually where you throw in your towel and go to lower quality lightmaps. However, I am stubborn. Started up the editor, tabbed out to get the task manager up and check the process list to see RAM use, max ram use and VM use (gotta add those columns to the display). Tabbed back into the editor, loaded the map while looking at the taskmanager counting up and up towards the infamous 1GB barrier. So the second time around, it loads the map and I am at about 500MB RAM used and 500MB in virtual memory. That's when I went to the export and tried it one more time with medium settings... and wouldn't you know it - this time it went to about 975MB RAM used, about 990MB virtual memory and it started to render (you know you're good to go when you see 0% done....)

So the second time around when I had to change something on the map last night, I did the same procedure, because yet again, it crashed on the first render attempt, even though the map was SMALLER than the one that worked the night before. I had removed about 25 props, added 2 instead, both real small. Everything else the same, so I knew that the computer could render it. I went back to restarted it just like the day before, had my task manager up and again, second try, it did begin to render the map!

Moral of the story - don't give up after your first render attempt - do it twice. WHY that is, I do not know, as each time I am completely restarting the editor. Perhaps Windows needs to dump stuff from the virutal memory and the second time by it has done so and things work. Whatever it is, keep that in mind for rendering lightmaps on bigger maps.

Fishmonger · #2 03-25-2008, 09:44 AM

Some new things I learned/discovered when working on The_Last_Castle and that make things much easier in the editor.

The thumb button on the mouse is worth its weight in gold! placed props and don't like where they are? Don't worry - just click that button on the mouse and drag that pice to where you want it (depending on grid settings obviously). I must confess I never used that button before and each object alsways had to be placed perfectly. Now it's a breeze to make sure things sit where I want them.

Also - the AI graph is one of those things where you want the nodes as far apart as possible but still connected with those green arms ('cause that saves RAM and the AI doesn't need extra nodes, just those that allow them to move around). Especially doing AI graphs up and down stairs was a pain before. Now I can drag those nodes around until those green connectors pop up to give me the ideal location. Endless hours of time saved! Actually, in the past I never put them on buildings unless I really needed that. Now, on the new map, AI goes anywhere you can go - up stairs, on roofs, etc

Need a building that doesn't exist? That's where I took a lesson from the Hocaga Beach map, where the map maker built all kinds of stairs and walls out of concrete blocks (the "ind_fence_base" and "-ind_fence_base_long" pieces used for the base of those bridge fences you see at the spawn of Cheeseburger Hill for example). Those are pretty darn nice "Lego blocks" to put together concrete walls. I put a few fortifications together using these things.

Need a staircase where there is none? "ind_small_stairs" is a nice little ramp that can be used to build narrow custom staircase. I used this to get AI and ghosts up and down from some large fortress walls, wrapping this staircase in some walls so you can't see that they are actually floating in mid-air and don't have supports all the way to the floor. Works fine once you get good at placing things in 3D space without the planar function.

How do you place things in space where they don't snap on to something already there? Turn off the planar snap (N key) and then select an object of known elevation. Then use page up/down to move your insertion sphere thingie to the height you want. Then place it, make sure your horizontal grid is where you need to (I usually only use 25 or 1) so you can then use the right mouse button to drag it to where you need it, and don't forget the mouse wheel clicking to rotate 90 degrees each click, arrow keys left/right to rotate freely.

I will post some screens of some custom structures once the map is released (don't want to spoil the fun before that first mission...)

AmEyeBlind · #3 03-25-2008, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishmonger

I will post some screens of some custom structures once the map is released (don't want to spoil the fun before that first mission...)

hehehe i hear ya! i think we are going kind of the same way in our static layout in the moment.
a lot from the his_sockel and his_slope stuff is usefull for that to.
iron pipes between buildings are nice as well.
you basicly can use all kind of probs to build a ramp or staircase, just need to rotate them right.

Fishmonger · #4 04-25-2008, 09:00 AM

ok, so now that we all have at least heard about the sewers on Last Castle, here's how I did it:

since there are no ramps in sewers, I had to create several levels to drop the route low enough to stay below ground when finally heading west from the Castle Hill towards the exit. To do do that, I stacked the sewer entrance object to feed itself 5 times (I think that drops it 50 meters from the top). The parts obviously aren't meant to mesh up with the door on the sewer level, but it was close enough, and I only needed to use some wall pieces to close the holes. This matters a lot on this map as there is no black basement below the horizon, but a bright yellowish light that would shine through any opening. This sky is the one that turns above-surface objects into a much more natural color, but it isn't dark below ground level.

The bunker at the end of the map (yeah, one day we'll get there...) is completely custom. The interior of it comes from the editor, but it was designed to mesh with the landscape of "Left_Behind" which you cannot use selectively - either all of it or nothing. That left me with a bunker you could look inside of like you can see inside of the buildings above in the picture of the sewers above. To close all those lids, I had to use concrete blocks meant for bridge railings and other pieces of the editor. Those things work almost like lego blocks and can get stuff built that you don't usually see on maps. The staircase in the mini fortress just west of the spawn location is a similar structure, built out of pieces meant for totally different things.

Doing these things only became possible for me once I realized how to toggle between planar and non-planar mode in placing and moving objects. When you know how to get something to a particular altitude in 3D space with the planar snap, you can then toggle it off and use the mouse thumb button to move it and place it exactly where it needs to go. Using grid for horizontal alignment gets all these things nicely stacked. But realize that the time it takes to build a structure like my bunker is around 2 hours, while a normal building can be placed on the map in about 5 seconds, because it's already all done...

CptHogue · #5 07-09-2008, 07:02 PM

I've posted a text file entitled

CptHogue's GR:AW Mapmaking "Don't Worry, It's Not As Hard As You Think" Summary
To Accompany Fishmonger's Tutorial

It gives a bit of a top-level orientation to a lot of the details in an effort to make it less daunting. I'm absolutely certain that more folks can be making maps than just me and Fishmonger, so this is my little offering toward that end.

http://teamoverboard.home.comcast.ne...tutorial .txt

(I recommend that you RIGHT-CLICK > SAVE TARGET AS, because browser formatting will not be quite right compared to Notepad or another text file reader.)

enjoy,
CptHogue

DeathMerc_39 · #6 07-30-2008, 01:36 PM

Thanks Fish Monger and Capt,

The both of you have taken allot of the confusion out of making map mods for me...especially the XML coding....to think... I almost bought a book on XML...

I have a couple of questions;
Have you run across any maps, original or customized with a shipyard or industrial dock in it ....(Like GR1's Docks map or the Sub Yard map) I want to create a scenario iinvolving a submarine or ship

Also, have you built any custom maps from the blanks provided by GRIN Wolfsong and if so, which ones are they (I know you've done quite a bit... They are all wicked by the way).

One last question, if you are looking for a scenario or two let me know... you guys could probably get it on a map before I can.

Cheers

keep up the good work.

DeathMerc_39 (a.k.a DCypher_39)

WadCutter45 · #7 05-19-2008, 01:04 PM

I wanted to thank you for posting this tutorial. GRAW is my FPS of choice these days, and I play Coop in VMTR's server (VMTFR.com) devoutly. I have been using the GRAW Editor since April 2008 and hopefully will finish my first "playable" Coop map this month. Your tutorial has been invaluable to me in my endeavor. So far, I have successfully used the Randomizer option to create a wide variety of enemies in my test maps.

I wanted to add a few observations (hints) about using the Editor. Hopefully this hasn't been mentioned before, as I skipped a few pages to post this.

1. When using the Mission or MP maps as a basis, removing any unneeded AI Graph nodes will save alot of export time and memory. Just look at the "world_xx.xml" file and you will notice the first section is <ai_graph name="main"> ... This section, along with <ai_graph name="vehicle">, are where those nodes are located on your bare map made by GRIN. Removing any of these that arent in your new, playable area will save time and memory while bundling and loading to play the map.

2. I have removed all unneeded "static" items from the areas that can't be seen or accessed by players. Another time and memory saver. I also am guessing that it saves time while exporting too, as the engine won't have to build lighmaps for those items not in the map... ?? On my current project, the map from Mission 02, I am only utilizing 2/3 of the existing map, so I have removed all topical itmes ( <small_static name="first"> ) from my map. I will let you know if this turns out to not be the case.

3. This might be covered in the (F1) "Help" of the Editor. When placing AI (Human layer), the default order of "Guard" in the settings brings up a small blue circle (guard area of the AI) with a single directional blue line. I assume the blue directional line points the AI in the direction he is to guard.... To set this to a desired direction and radius, just hover the cursor on an area of the greatest distance he will look, and "click" the mouse wheel. To check this you can momentarily change the Order to "Sniper" where a large yellow cone and focus point shows up. Also, later if you decide to change an AI, going form "Sniper" to "Guard", or "Guard" to "Sniper" is just a click away. ;)

4. To allow your level's small Browser map (the Browser that shows before game start or upon death in-game) to show the nice "Base" and "Zulu" areas, just check the "always visible" box in the Multiplayer layer before you export your map. And don't leave any other layer's "always visible" box checked, as those items/lines will show in you mini-map. I usually export while in the "Player" layer.

5. CLOSE YOUR TAGS. If you manually edit your .xml files, always look at these ending lines before you close your document. It's so easy to "copy and paste" a mistake and leave off some vital portion of the code. empty spaces between lines seem to have no effect on the engine, but improper lines will crash the editor/game.

6. While editing the world_xx.xml file, items in some sections can be shuffled or changed in order, while other sections have a definite "unit_id" number assigned to them. What this means is, sections <areas name="first"> and <human name="first"> (Areas and Human layers) can be grouped together to add or remove them from your map to save frame rates while placing items in the Editor. The "Area layer" does not drag down frame rates like the "Human layer", but areas can be removed if you want to focus on a new section of map after finishing a previous one. Just save a backup copy of the world file, remove the unwanted Area and Human layers, and open the editor to start on the next section with much better frame rates.

7. When using the above method, I copy my Human layers into custom files, naming them HumanArea01.xml, HumanArea02.xml, and so on. This saves disc space, if that is an issue, and makes it easy to do a custom, play-testing map, using only the areas you want to build and test-play. Just realize you must edit the mission.xml file before you export this.

8. If disc (hard drive) space is an issue, here is one I tripped on. To make way-points for the AI (Human layer) with "Patrol" orders, you press the "Insert" key to enable this action, left-mouse clicking to make a point, right-click to remove any points, and press "Insert" again to disable. By default, the in-game Screen shot key is the "Insert" key..... and it stores those pics as .tga format in the "...\Ubisoft\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\Settings\profiles\graw_profile_yourname " folder. And that folder gets HUGE if you place alot of waypoints for AI in the Editor as the "Insert" works there just as it does in-game. I deleted 1.5 GBs of screen shots taken every time I used that key in the Editor... Doh! Start GRAW game, and change that default key in the Options. Mine is the "P" key now.

All in all, it's been an incredible learning experience for me. Hopefully, all my efforts will result in a decent Coop map that others will want to play more than once.

Fishmonger · #8 05-19-2008, 04:12 PM

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