GRAW Map Making for Dummies

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Fishmonger:
Some words about the layers in the editor:

Static - you already used it -this layer places stuff like buildings and roads on a map. We won't use this at all on the existing maps.

Props - those are things like fans, MGs, garbage cans, etc - we only use a few as only a handful of these will not require a new set of lightmaps to be rendered. More on that when we get there

Electric - only needed if you are building your own map. More on that when we do that tutorial

Dynamic - here's where you find cars and trucks - definitely needed!

Props Brush - only needed for map building. Ignore

Sky environment - very important to pick the sky this map was build with. How do we know what to pick? I looked it up in the XML we unbundled earlier - it is actually in the world.xml file we are using. Still a good idea to make sure the value we need is selected in the editor. Changing this will create unwanted results with shadows, etc. We have mission08 skies here:

--- Code: ---
<sky name="first">
<rotation yaw="0" pitch="0" roll="75.00177"/>
<setup sky_name="mission08"/>
</sky>

--- End code ---

Related to the sky is the "light box" which we choose on export of the map data from the editor. We'll get to that much later, but it is linked to what you pick here.

Sound - here's the layer for ambient sounds and detailed localized sounds. Don't mess with it if you are re-using a map that was well made

Multiplayer - important layer - here we set up spawn and zulu bases and check if our map area is properly set (can only set that in the xml but here we check if we did our math properly)

Player - ignore - not needed for OGR

Area - here we set up spawn zones - very important

Human - most important for us - this is where we place and determine what the AI does

Vehicle - Panhards, Tanks, Helis - you find them here

AI graph - Here we create/check if the AI has "anchors" to allow them to move in our world. The AI graph is a network of nodes that are needed for AI to spawn and move around. More on that when I create the one for this map.

Mission Command - ignore

Composition - ignore

I'll leave it at this for now - tomorrow afternoon I'll dig into the AI graph and show you a mission script that we can import and use for most maps, as long as we use some proper naming conventions for AI groups and vehicles, etc.

Fishmonger:

--- Quote from: bullett;180511 ---If one could similate the terrain,A good mission would be to take hilltop Alpha in landing zone zebra of the movie "WE WERE SOLDIERS".What with the creekbed area,the small ridge,and then to take the mountain.Maybe a stretch but can it be done?
--- End quote ---

you have to remember that in OGR coop, there's only one single objective: reach Zulu. How you wrap that into a mission is up to you, however, to force a certain route and resolution of situations, you'll probably have to resort to blocking off the direct route with stuff on the map. I've done it on Snake On Point - lucky there are a few objects in the editor you can put on any map without causing major graphics issues. This is higher level stuff and right now I'd rather not get into that.

I'll continue with this thread in little while, and I will post my world.xml for everyone to download once I have fixed it up far enough to start putting in trigger zones and AI, which everyone should do for themselves. At that point I can also put a sidebar up how to block off routes in the map. The blow-up part to open up routes is something I have not yet done myself, so that'll have to wait

Fishmonger:
not fnding the editor? that is because the editor IS the game executable, just starting up with different parameters. There's a special command line that is all the shortcut does for you. I'll grab it off my box downstairs and post it here - then just make a new shortcut and put the line in. I had a similar problem when I first started using the editor, as I was constantly swapping the startup XML files to launch either editor or game by editing the files, however, there are two files in the graw dir that let the program read presets for either editor or game mode. Some stuff is shared, like video settings, but the mode you go into is controlled by those files.

The game starts up using "context.xml"

The editor starts up using "context-editor.mxl"

the server starts up using "context-standalone.xml"

more on this in the next post - I gotta go to the system that has the program installed to get the startup info in detail.

The only other reason why there may be no editor is that you're not running version 1.35, but that's unlikely.

Fishmonger:
this is the command line in my GRAW editor shortcut:

Target box:

"C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\GRAW.exe" -o context-editor.xm"

Start in box:

"C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter"

just make a copy of your GRAW game shortcut and swap the command line and possibly adjust the path to where your game actually resides and that should do it. If it then still goes straight into the game, we need to edit your context-editor.xml file to look like this (the line I highlighted is the key - if yours is different you may still be loading the game and not the editor, even if you do all the above correctly)

--- Code: ---
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<context>

<script base="data" exec="levels/editor/editor" editor="true" enforce_texture_sets="false" override_allow_autoload="true"/>

<layer_config file="\data\settings\layers.xml"/>
<scene_config file="\data\settings\scenes.xml"/>
<unit_database file="\data\units.xml"/>
<sound settings="/data/sound/settings.xml" />
<network settings="/data/settings/network.xml" />
<static_texture_scope file="\data\settings\static_texture_scope.xml"/>

<skeleton_def file="\data\objects\def.xml"/>
<animations def="\data\anims\anims.xml" state_machine="\data\anims\state_machines.xml"/>
<texture base="\data\textures" />
<effects file="\data\effects\effects.xml"/>
<decals file="\data\effects\decals\decals.xml"/>

<default_shader_config file="\data\shader\default_shader_config.xml"/>
<default_render_templates file="\data\shader\default_render_templates.xml"/>
<physics settings="\data\settings\physics_settings.xml" fps="60" novodex="hardware" />
<global_materials file="\data\settings\materials.xml" />
<gui file="\data\gui" optimized="true"/>

<camera shakes="\data\settings\camera_effects.xml" cameras="\data\settings\camera_settings.xml" />
<bundler make_logs="false" />
<nls_lookup size="64"/>
<installer use="false"/>
<calc_video_mem_adjust value="false"/>


<compile xml="false" scripts="false" mopps="false" texture_db="false"/>
</context>

--- End code ---

The key line in that context file above your game should include is this one:

<script base="data" exec="levels/editor/editor" editor="true" enforce_texture_sets="false" override_allow_autoload="true"/>

Fishmonger:
At the risk of talking to myself - let's get back into this thing. Next step is to make sure the map we are hacking has what GRIN calls an "AI graph" - those are essentially a network of invisible hooks the AI tangos need to be able to walk around on the maps. They don't have a clue about where they can go unless there is a grid for them to hang on to. All multiplayer maps of the game except for the coop map, that graph is not present. So you just add it!

Here is what you need to see when you go to the AI Graph layer of a map. IF this stuff doesn't show up, just start right-clicking all over the place and make the mesh grow. That's what I did here - 45 mins and the AI can go into bunkers, on top of buildings, everywhere I put these little "anchors" on the map:

These things all have to link togther somewhere - not hard to do - the linking happens automatically if you click close to a node that can be reached.

There's a second AI Graph for vehicles. That one can be seen/edited/created by hitting the "N" key while in the AI Graph layer. Silly but that "N" key is a very valuable little key in the editor that does a bunch of stuff for placing objects as well. Here it toggles from human graph to vehicle graph.

The vehicle graph can only go where the biggest tank can fit - if the road is too narrow, it won't let you connect the dots. Do not have more than one vehicle graph on a map, as it will crash it when you try to load it later...

Here's my screen from the placing of my vehicle graph (right mouse button - green thing shows how far you can go from the last one)

When you're all done, you can check from overhead where you placed this stuff. Note that any vehicle you want to move on a map must spawn within the range of these green circles you see above to actually move somewhere on orders. Spawn away from the graph and the vehicle will not go anywhere.

This is where you order panhards or tanks or trucks to go in my map now:

And, to save you the hassles of doing this yourself, I am uploading my files so you can start from here (almost ready to place the bad guys)

Starting at this point, decisions about the mission have to be made. The spawn zones and zulu location need to be defined.

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