Part 3)MapMaking - The basics of WorldCreation
The third part of this tutorial, MapMaking, will tell you how
to edit the landscape in UO, the MAP0.MUL file.
As I said earlier, the MAP0.MUL file does not contain any items,
only landscape tiles. One way of figuring out if a tile in UO is in the
STATICS0.MUL/STAIDX0.MUL files or in the MAP0.MUL files it to simply
single click that tile ingame. If it gives you a name when you single click it,
it's an item, and if it doesn't, it's a landscape tile(*Note* It may be an item
with no name as well, but that is rare).
-
When you edit the MAP0.MUL file through WorldForge's MapEditor, there
are a few things you should keep in mind:
--Always shut down both the UO Client and the UOX3 Server before
starting the MapEditor or you will only encounter errors.
--Always backup your MAP0.MUL file before starting the MapEditor, all changes
you do are instantly saved, and there is no UNDO button.
--Always shut down WorldForge before starting the UO client again.
Now that those "formalities" are overwith, let's move on to the actual
MapMaking part..
After starting WorldForge, click the MapEdit button, no need to mess around with
the GetStatic- buttons now.
Now, enter the paths in the two red text boxes at the bottom of the new window
that pops up, so they turn green.
The path to MAP0.MUL requires the filename to be included, while the other one
only needs the general path of Ultima Online.
Each time you start the MapEditor it will start at the
coordinates 0,0 which is the top left corner of the map.
To get somewhere, either scroll using the scrollbars next to the map window
or enter some coordinates to go to in the X and Y text fields,
and click the Jump Now! button.
To edit the map, choose a tile to draw from the tilemenu on the far right side
of the window, then choose an altitude to draw that tile at,
before painting away as if you were editing a picture of the UO map in a
graphics program, zoomed in so each pixel was as big as a tile on the map here. :P
You can also use the various "brushes" that are available, like changing only the
altitude of tiles, plus a lot of "random draws" where you can draw random tiles
of a specific type, like grass, or water, or mountain etc.
When choosing which altitude to draw a tile at, you can either use
Set to Z which will draw the tile at the Z you have specified, or you can
use Add Z or Subtract Z which will either add or subtract the Z value
you have specified to the tiles you draw.
That means that if you already have some grass tiles at Z 5, and some at Z 10
in the same area, and you want to raise ALL tiles by 5, you can choose Add Z
to raise all the tiles by 5 without needing to change the Z value for each area.
[Additional info for users of CustomWorldForge 6x:]
If you are using the version of WorldForge called "CustomWorldForge" you'll have some
additional properties in the MapEdit-window:
- Show/Hide Gridlines - Use this to show or hide the thin lines that outline each tile on the map.
- Show/Hide Altitude - Use this to show or hide the altitude numbers on the maptiles.
- Zoom Buttons - Use the plus and minus buttons to zoom in or out of the map.
Note that the more you zoom out the more memory WorldForge will consume.
- "Advanced" Button - To display the MapCopying properties.
The MapCopying feature can be used to copy a specified location of the map and paste
it into a different location in the same MAP0.MUL file, or into different
MAP0.MUL alltogether.
Just specify the paths of the source & destination files, enter the coordinates for the square area
you wish to copy as well as the coordinates for the location you wish to paste them into. Note that source
and destination areas HAVE to be of equal size.
Now you know the basics of MapMaking, but are you really happy with only editing
the map of Britannia?
Some people only want to edit parts of the map that is already there,
but others feel that this isn't enough and want to make their own NEW map.
When doing so, using the MELT feature to take out all the items on the entire
map would not exactly be a pleasant thing to do, if even possible without going insane.
That's why there is a feature in WorldForge called FILL/CLEAR.
This feature works almost like a fill-tool in a paint-program, and it can be VERY
helpful for creators of custom worlds.
What you do is that you after taking all the normal precautions, like backups and
shutting down one thing or another, start up WorldForge and click the FILL/CLEAR
button. A new window will now appear.
The first thing you should do is select which files you want to FILL/CLEAR.
You do this by clicking next to either STATICS0.MUl/STAIDX0.MUL
or MAP0.MUL, or both, marking them as selected or not selected.
Next, enter the coordinates you want to FILL/CLEAR. If you want to clear
the entire world, leave the default numbers there, as they already go from one
end of the map to the other.
Earlier these coordinates had to be divided by 8, as it would FILL/CLEAR
only blocks but that has changed.
So, remember, NO dividing by 8 here.
Now choose which TILE ID you want to replace the tiles you FILL/CLEAR with.
These can be any valid number(look in the landscape art section of InsideUO, or
the Tilelist in WorldForge MapEdit)
You can also choose the Randomdraw-"brushes" that you also saw in the
MapEditor. Just press the down arrow and choose an appropriate one.
*TIPS* Random grass is a good base to start off.
After choosing between all those options, click the Go! button, and wait
for the blue bar in the main window to finish.
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