Any tutorials on making scenarios for SHC2 map editor?

[Andreas9541 3]

Hello guys, i've only been playing this game for the last two months and recently I started using the map editor. I made a few maps for custom skirmishes, but now i wish to make mission maps just like the lionhearts' 3rd mission on learning campaign. A guide on scenario editing would be really helpful.

 

Thanks

[Lord_Chris 251]

Moved to Stronghold Crusader 2. Volunteer Work is for asking for map testers, community projects. etc.

 

We're working on new tutorials for Stronghold Crusader 2 now, but I can't put a time frame on exactly how long it will take. However, I can promise things you may be more interested in - anything specific you would like to see us focus on in the editor, more specific than just scripting?

 

Also, if you have particular questions, you could ask them in this forum and we would be more than happy to help with those too :)

Edited March 11, 2015 by Lord_Chris

[Andreas9541 3]

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Moved to Stronghold Crusader 2. Volunteer Work is for asking for map testers, community projects. etc.

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Sorry about that. I thought that providing guides kind of falls in volunteer work xD

 

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would like to see us focus on in the editor, more specific than just scripting?

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I have pretty much learned most of design and aesthetic and functionality aspects of the map editor features, 5 maps ago :P . The scripting though is extremely challenging for me. All the maps that I created were basically 70% aesthetic and 30% functional. I'm looking to make some challenges or even my own skirmish trails once I get good at this.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Andreas9541

[Lord_Chris 251]

I'll see what tutorials we can create for scripting in the editor :)

[Nigel 71]

A tutorial for scripting in Crusader 2 would be great.

I dont think many peoply really know how it works (myself included).

That would really be a benefit to the mapmakers community.

[Lord Vetka 63]

Well unfortunately there is no tutorial on scripting for Crusader 2. Just the basic map editor tutorial they came out with a few months ago and it's not about scripting.

 

I did manage to figure out how to get the invasions to work, most of the time.

 

Open the markers panel, go to the marker tab and you will see 3 tabs, Generic, AI, Pathing, click on the Pathing tab, then double click pathing, double click chain, then place the Pathing marker in the territory you want the AI to attack.

 

Now go back to the markers tab and place a start flag and a flag where you want the invasion to gather to attack.

 

The start flag is where the invasion comes onto the map and they go to the next flag where the invasion will start from.

 

I have had some success with Harass troops, here I put a second pathing marker , by double clicking the pathing again, in the mines with a Harass troops gather here flag, some times the invasions will go to the mines and do other damage than going straight to the keep.

 

Hope that helps, if more is needed ask again. I have made a few maps with an enemy castle as well as your estate, some times the invasions will head toward your castle then stop and turn around and go to the enemy keep and just patrol back and forth without ever attacking you, not sure why they do that.

[Andreas9541 3]

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Now go back to the markers tab

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Do you mean the 'Generic' tab. I kind of lost you there.

 

I checked the markers tab and it seems frustratingly complicated. I searched for guides on that but I found nothing. I don't even want to mention the other scenario editing options because it gives me headache just by thinking about it :S

 

 

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I have had some success with Harass troops, here I put a second pathing marker , by double clicking the pathing again, in the mines with a Harass troops gather here flag, some times the invasions will go to the mines and do other damage than going straight to the keep.

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Have you created any maps with missions like the lioheart campaign in learning skirmish mode? I got your map 'chundra' and I found it very amusing (minus the lag from the overcrowded towers and invaders :rolleyes: ) and it really inspired me to make my own mission maps.

[Lord Vetka 63]

The marker tab contains some confusing stuff and FireFly does not want to help with it, they give no answers.

 

I am more than willing to help you to know as much as I do on scripting invasions, lets see if we can get you making great maps.

 

The Generics tab has your marker flags, they set where your troops come on the map and where they will go, so you need to place a, eg: blue 1 flag where the invasions come onto the map and a second blue 2 flag where you want the troops to gather before attacking. I place this flag just out of range of the castle defenses.

 

The Pathing tab has your invasion marker chains, double click pathing and you get chain, double click chain and you get an invasion marker, place this invasion marker where you want to have the invasions invade, I usually place the marker in front of the keep marker. There is more to the invasion markers, but lets work with this for now.

 

Sorry, but I never played the campaigns, I went straight to making maps and invasion maps, Chundra is the hardest map, most of my other maps are a little easier, this Chundra map is made in different difficulties, the hard map in our downloads has Harass troops scripted to attack the mines, is this the map you played? Jungle Fever has invasions coming from 2 different spots on the map. Your welcome to download my scenario maps to see how I did the scripting. I also have a map that is a free play map that has invasion triggers so you can test your castles defenses, it's called Free Falls, you will find that once you learn how to make the maps and do the scripting, the ideas for maps is almost limitless.

 

I'm still getting troubles when I script a war scenario that has an enemy castle prebuilt on it, the invaders sometimes go part way out then turn around and go to the enemy keep and stay there. I still need to figure that one out and also how to use the markers in the AI tab.

[Andreas9541 3]

Thanks. I will give it a try and write back after I finish a map i'm working now.

 

P.S I played 'chundra' from steam workshop. I thought that was the hard map, but after I saw that the hard version is on this site, it hurt a little. :'(

 

PP.S I need to get my eyes checked. I just clicked on the dislike button by accident xD

Edited March 14, 2015 by Lord_Chris
Removed unnecessary quote of entire previous post

[Lord_Chris 251]

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PP.S I need to get my eyes checked. I just clicked on the dislike button by accident

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You can amend your vote by clicking on the + button. :)

[Andreas9541 3]

Vedtka: I just opened your map 'Chindra' (steam version) to see your scenario scripting and I have a few questions:

 

I noticed that you placed two flags (they look very much like tasty colourful candies but let's call them 'flags' xD ). The green flags 'G1' and 'G2' are not highlighted on the markers tab. Basically the command buttons showing you whether or not there is availability of flags is not coloured. How did you place G1 and G2 without clicking on flags 3 and 4 in the markers tab?

 

For the AI tab: What exactly does the 'Missile Defender' all the way to the 'Siege troops from up' mean? Are they related to village guard houses?

 

Lastly, the 'Edit scenario' -> 'Events' tab: What is the 'repeat interval option' exactly mean (it says '5' for all events) and the 'Is Idle' button?

 

I know that some of these staff that i'm asking you may sound like common sense to you, but I'm having a hard time understanding their functions and how they are connected to the flags.

 

Thanks for being patient with me so far. Once I figure it out, I'm definitely going to post some missions here for other people to understand. :)

[Lord Vetka 63]

First off, I apologize for the delay in answering.

 

To place a lollypop eg: G1 flag, on the left you see 8 colors, click green, on the right you see numbers 1-8, to get a G1 flag placed on the map, you click green then 1 then place flag, then place the flag where you want it on the map, do the same for the rest of the markers. These are the marker flags the AI uses to move troops to where you want them, use G1 for where you want the troops to come onto the map, then place a G2 flag where you want the troops to assemble before attacking.

 

The AI tab is still a mystery to me, I did use some Harras flags and another AI marker on Chundra and it does sort of work, we need to learn more about that tab.

 

The events tab, to have repeating events you would use these, 5 is default, change them to what ever value you want, 2 choices here, the amount of repeating events you want and how many days between events, so you want to have an invasion come onto the map 3 times every 10 days, set the repeat to 3 and the days to 10, you can use this for most events I think. The 'is idle' button, not sure about that one, only thing to do is give it a test and see what happens.

 

The editor is complicated enough, don't be sorry, there is no info to tell what all of the features in the editor are for and this is a different editor than I'm used to, it's all a new learning curve, but the more we ask and try, the more we learn!

 

If you make a map and can not get it to work, then, I might be able to get it working for you, just ask then you can send it to me for a look, please do not post a map until you are sure it works properly. We would be happy to have more maps in the downloads, hope to see something soon.

[Andreas9541 3]

Alright man, I saw your post a few days ago and started working on my first mission map.

 

Objective: Kill The Wolf before the day count (60). There are invasions which get progressively harder throughout the game. If he doesn't die by day 60 you lose.

 

I only have two problems with it. 1) I don't know how to set the win objective (enemy lord dies). I tested the map, killed the AI but the mission didn't end :P

 

2) I placed buildings in Wolf's castle just for him to have an economy but everyone remains unemployed in his economy throughout the whole game :S

 

P.S He does have a castle with defences but because I made the mistake of putting the mission in an XL map I placed invasion markers close to the 'human' lord's area.

 

How do I send you the file for any criticisms for my mission after these issues are resolved (or in case you want to edit yourself)?

 

Thanks

Edited April 4, 2015 by Andreas9541

[Lord_Chris 251]

If you attach your file to this thread I'm sure we'd take a look for you, if you go to the full editor by clicking "post reply" (underneath my post) then you can see a space to upload files.

[Lord Vetka 63]

Good going, glad to see my answers have been enough to get you started on a map.

 

Normally, you would ask for testers in our volunteer section, but as this is your first map and I'm helping you to get going, you can send the map directly to me through my email and I will take a look at it, but lets keep the comments here, they help others as well.

 

For the win, did you tell the editor which Lord is killed for the win?

 

For me to find out why the workers don't work, best to send me the map and see if I can see what is going on.

 

Welcome!

[Andreas9541 3]

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For the win, did you tell the editor which Lord is killed for the win?

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I just put the win option now. I didn't see the option 'Lord Dies' before :rolleyes:

 

Thanks

 

I also finished another mission map and working on a third one now.

 

The first map which is the one i'm sending you is called 'Wolf Fortress'.

 

Edited April 7, 2015 by Lord_Chris
Please use the 'quote' button in the editor

[Mathew Steel 151]

I'd just like to say thank you to for creating this thread and to [user]Lord Vetka] for the descriptive explanation. I know you've explained invasions to me before, but every so often I forget, this was a good way to refresh my memory! :D

[Lord Vetka 63]

Thanks Mathew, you could always take the thread and turn it into another great tutorial if you like.

 

Andreas9541, I checked your map, and the AI does get workers but calls them back to the keep, not sure why, I have several invasion scenarios with AI castles on them and none will work.:-(

 

The only invasion scenarios that I have manged to get working properly are the maps with no AI castle on them and free build maps with invasion triggers.

 

Sorry but for now we have to live with making war scenarios that are invasions only, no AI castles on the map, and that really sucks, maybe we can figure it out one day, no hope of Firefly helping:-(

 

Another thing to think about, when you make a map, smaller is better and less clutter, I say this to help keep the lag to a minimum, your large map started to lag on me, even the small invasion maps that I've made have lag on them when the troops start coming, and my PC is within specs.

[Andreas9541 3]

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AI does get workers but calls them back to the keep

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Maybe I shouldn't have placed the keep at all. Or maybe AI is trying to compensate for the already placed soldiers there.

 

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when you make a map, smaller is better and less clutter,

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That was a mistake I made at the beginning because I didn't consider what mission I was going to do. Thanks for the tip.

 

It f*****g sucks to not be able to add more and bigger stuff because the game is not optimised. Firefly is really really desperate for the money to get this game working.

 

Anyway, I'm not ready to give up just yet.

Edited April 8, 2015 by Andreas9541

[Lord Vetka 63]

I made a map with an enemy castle and a village compound, there is a fair distance for the enemy to attack from, they come about half way and turn around and go back to the enemy keep, I thought it might be distance so I cut a trail through the hills to cut the walk almost in half, but they still come a way then turn back to the keep, I saw this happen on the map you sent me to.

 

This map was made just before the winter update and worked OK, then after the update it would not work and no map I've made with an enemy castle has worked since, also on my map the peasants go to work then turn back to the keep, after a long time they do fill the work stations, my village compound works great though.

 

A thought I have had is to make a village that is as strong as a castle and use that as an enemy castle you have to siege, an example of a strong village can be seen on the map called "Two Cities", a skirmish map in the downloads.

 

If you would like to see the map I made, maybe you could find a solution, send an email asking for it and I will send it over, I have remade and fixed and prodded, rescripted, you name it I think I tried it, even cut a path through the hill to make the distance way shorter for the enemy to get to my castle.

[TheBlackGrouse 3]

Following every attempt/discussion to make the game more interesting... ;)

 

 

Good work!

[Andreas9541 3]

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they come about half way and turn around and go back to the enemy keep

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That is a mystery greater than the Bermuda triangle wrecks.

 

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my map the peasants go to work then turn back to the keep

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I found the solution for this one. Build a keep only and no spawn point and make sure that all the AI's buildings are build after you mark their territory.

I'm not sure why that works, but it might also have to do with happiness factor. Maybe if you set the starting goods to a certain level, the AI will start employing people. The above 3 somehow dropped the unemployment rates for my AI :D

[Lord_Chris 251]

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I found the solution for this one. Build a keep only and no spawn point and make sure that all the AI's buildings are build after you mark their territory.

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While this may seem stupid, unlike the editors of the previous games of the series, you can't place the buildings before painting the terrain, because when changing the territory colour, the part underneath the buildings will not get changed. Therefore, it's necessary to remove them and add them back on again.

[Nigel 71]

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they come about half way and turn around and go back to the enemy keep

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I am only speculating about it, but it could be that when you have an AI and a Script on the map, then the AI overrides the Script.

 

Thus, the AI wants to use their troops to defend their own castle, the Script suddenly add more troops to the map and the AI decides to say "thanks, I use them to defend my castle".

 

 

Did anyone try to set a map up so that the AI is player 2 and the Script is player 3? Is that even possible to do?

[Mathew Steel 151]

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Did anyone try to set a map up so that the AI is player 2 and the Script is player 3? Is that even possible?

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This is exactly what I was going to try, I never got around to it I'll find out tonight. We may be onto something Nigel :)