Portfolio :: David Hayward

Dawn of War Level Design

Texture Formats
Finishing and Links

Finishing Touches and Useful Links:

Changing Minimaps and Previews:

The other two TGA files generated when you save a map are the icon that show in the map selection screen, and the minimap that shows in the HUD. There are several bugs with these, covered and solved in these three threads:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=49141
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=49193
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=49756

How to Package Your Map:

While mapping, keep a record of all the custom files you create. With a skirmish map, there are at least the four files created in your Scenarios\MP folder. Additionally, there are the custom icon and minimap TGA files, as well as any custom decals and detail textures. If you have such an array of custom files, reproduce the folder structure away from the Dawn of War Game folder, then copy each of the files required to run your map into the dummy folder structure. Once you've done that, use a program such as Winzip or WinRAR to package the folders up into a single archive file (Some people prefer zip files, though rars offer better compression).

Archiving your map with a folder structure allows anyone who downloads it to simply unzip it into the game directory and play, rather than fiddling with lots of files and a readme that tells them where to put them. If you do that to them instead, they will hate you for it, and rightly so. After all the effort of creating a map, why commit that one act of laziness, eh?

Get some friends to test it to make sure it works, and by "it" I mean both the archive file structure and the map itself. Include a readme text file detailing the map name and map author, along with any relevant websites, contact information, credits and fluff you may wish to put in. Putting this in means that a few years hence, when a player might have a huge heap of custom maps for Dawn of War, they can still find out who made a particular map and possibly track down the rest of the author's work.

Markers:

I pointed these out on the toolbar, but didn't cover them in these tutorials because noone seems to know how relevant they are. Skirmish maps seem to get by fine without them. Here's a thread with more information:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=48037

Dawn of War Level Design

Finishing Touches and Useful Links:

Changing Minimaps and Previews:

How to Package Your Map:

Markers:

Other External Links: