Map Designing (Editor manual)

[AugustinMalar]

I followed Article 6. (Picture Pad) of the editor manual to create a map with an pad image.
It is stated that firstly you can fill the roads, railroads and rivers with the editor. So I spent many hours doing that with the appropriate tiles.
Then, I added terrain features (tiles), as indicated in the manual of the editor and I generated the tiles.


Roads, railways and rivers did not show up on the tiles generated.
The problem is you need to do terrain features (tiles) and generate them, then add road, railroad and river tiles on them.

Have I done something wrong or is the editor manual not accurate ?
I lost many hours of work.

[bebro]

It's a bit tricky. It's best to add roads and rivers via "edit" > "terrain features" NOT via "edit" > "roads" or "rivers".

You should see simple blue and grey lines then. From those the roads and river graphics should indeed be generated with "generate tiles" automatically. It works normally well, is that how you did it?

You can also edit in stuff manually without using "generate", then add the correct overlays if you want, though I recommend it only for some final touches.

Always be careful with using "generate tiles", it wipes out most manual changes. So those manual changes should always be done last.

In case something is not showing you can also check the editor's display settings - maybe you just deactivated something so it's not showing yet?

[nikivdd]

I followed Article 6. (Picture Pad) of the editor manual to create a map with an pad image.
It is stated that firstly you can fill the roads, railroads and rivers with the editor. So I spent many hours doing that with the appropriate tiles.
Then, I added terrain features (tiles), as indicated in the manual of the editor and I generated the tiles.


Roads, railways and rivers did not show up on the tiles generated.
The problem is you need to do terrain features (tiles), then add road, railroad and river tiles on them.

Have I done something wrong or is the editor manual not accurate ?
I lost many hours of work.

Ahoj Augustin,

I can tell you how i create maps.

1) Draw roads, rivers (2nd menu from the top); it is the menu with the 4 lines, two blue (passable/unpassable river), one grey (road), one black (railroad).
2) Place tiles (1st menu from the top) like forest, clear, airfield, city and so on
3) Use validate scenario: it will tell you if you forgot to assign one or more hexes
4) Generate map
5) String menu for naming cities, rivers and so on
6) Checking the road and railroads for any mistakes. Use the rail overlays for bridges, use road overlays for bridges, use river overlay for estuaries, or any other overlay to improve the generated map
7) Assign victory hexes, deployment zones (land/air) for both sides
8 ) Scenario parameters (date/nations/victory conditions and so on)
9) Place units

After you generated the map you can always return to the "ungenerated" map by pressing spacebar.
Important: if you generate or re-generate the map after you placed overlays, they will all vanish! (except for estuaries)

If you need assistance or if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask .

[AugustinMalar]

Thank you for your excellent explanation. Now it'll be easy.

[flakfernrohr]

AugustinMalar, I had the exact same thing happen to me. I thought WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I never touch the generate tiles button. If I accidently tap it when making a map, I just go back on the back button. I probably create maps the hard way, but mine are intricate and full of details anyway, so the generate tiles button is just something I avoid because of the very reasons you said. I spent hours, even days making a beautiful map package of rivers, streams and such along the Volga, voila, one tap on the wrong button and they were all gone. I was surely pissed.

Another thing I highly recommend is that periodically you "save" your map as you build it. That way if you mess something up or hit the wrong button, you can go back and start again from a reasonable position and not lose all you have done thus far. When I am done with the map, I make one copy for a "Master" copy and put it in a file out of Panzer Corps in My Documents under the name of CUSTOM PzC Maps Master. The other copy in PzC I use to do the final stages like placing units, etc. But I always have a "Master Map" in a file that I can go to if I want to make variations on the units or something messes up. All the saved copies of the map that I saved along the way I delete.

If you have not used any of Massi's terrain tiles, I recommend you take a look at them and consider installing them. They make a huge difference in the appearance of the maps for the better. Bear in mind that if you create a custom campaign, you will need to inform anyone playing it they will need these tiles in their terrain tile files.

[nikivdd]

@Augustin @Flak : i hear ya! I just had the bloody same when i started to make maps. And we also have a rather rich vocabulary in dutch for cursing.
The scenario editor manual is a good effort but it is not written for a beginner. So for everybody who want to make maps i began posting a guide how to do that. I hope i can make it easy enough and understandable for everybody.
Don't expect it to be finished in one day. For the first part i was already busy for 2 hours. So be patient while i finish it.

[captainjack]

Is there a convenient way to cut and paste existing maps into the map editor?

It's pretty easy with one existing map - open, rename, save, crop or add hexes as required and fill in the empty hexes as needed. But if I have two existing maps and want to create the space between them then I would want to open Map1, trim to size, add extra hexes and then import Map2 (either before or after trimming to size).

At the moment, I open modified Map 1, open Map 2, switch between the editor screens inserting hexes into modified Map 1 to match my view of Map 2. Slightly tiresome, but it works. Cutting or importing Map 2 (or even Map 3 and Map 4) would be easier, faster and more accurate, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

[nikivdd]

Is there a convenient way to cut and paste existing maps into the map editor?

It's pretty easy with one existing map - open, rename, save, crop or add hexes as required and fill in the empty hexes as needed. But if I have two existing maps and want to create the space between them then I would want to open Map1, trim to size, add extra hexes and then import Map2 (either before or after trimming to size).

At the moment, I open modified Map 1, open Map 2, switch between the editor screens inserting hexes into modified Map 1 to match my view of Map 2. Slightly tiresome, but it works. Cutting or importing Map 2 (or even Map 3 and Map 4) would be easier, faster and more accurate, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

I cut/paste maps before with paint.net. If i have several maps that require joining than i use irfanview. This map i then load as padding image into the editor. It is a simple but crude way but it works.

[captainjack]

It is a simple but crude way but it works.

Thanks Nikivdd
Your method probably would be easier than what I'm doing now, especially as it allows map scale to be more or less matched up before starting the new work. Overlapping maps aren't that common, but I am working on two where one map has 7 hexes between two cities while the other map has 5 or 6 hexes between the same two cities, and I was having to think harder than I wanted to when extending one of them.