User Guide

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12.Roads, railroads, and bridges. Roads, railroads, and bridges can be key tactical points on your maps
and add color to your urban landscapes. These elements are specialized textures that are treated like
objects. For more information,
➤ How to Build a Road on p. 49, ➤ How to Add a Sidewalk on p. 50, and
➤ How to Build a Railroad on p. 50.
✯ Groves. You can also use the Grove tool to place natural-looking groves of trees on your map with just a
few clicks. For more information,
➤ How to Build a Grove on p. 52.
✯ Fences. Use the Fence tool in the toolbar to lay down non-military fences. For more information, ➤ How
to Build a Fence on p. 49.
13.Place resources on your map. Supply docks, oil derricks and loose piles of supplies are key elements in
balancing gameplay. Place these items in equal quantity at equal distance from the starting points for
each player.
✯ In the Object library tree, resource objects are located under Civilian\Structure.
EA TIP: A good guideline is to budget $40,000 - $60,000 for each player on the map. If you
exceed this range, you may experience performance problems later in the game due to a large
number of created objects.
14.Create and Name Waypoints. If you’re adding more waypoints for units to follow or as markers for the
placement of other materials, do so now.
❍
To place a waypoint, select the Waypoint tool in the toolbar. Click a location on the map. The waypoint
is created. In the Waypoint Options window, you can change the name of the waypoint. For more
information,
➤ Waypoint Tool on p. 26.
✯ Sets of waypoints can be sequenced together into waypoint paths that units and teams can follow. For
more information,
➤ How to Build a Waypoint Path on p. 48.
15.What’s the ambiance? Ambient sound can be added to your map to add life to the civilian structures on
it. You can add the sounds of dogs, birds, markets, and cars—among others.
✯ In the object library tree, ambient sounds are listed in Civilian\Audio.
EA TIP: Put no more than three ambient sounds in any screen. Test ambient sounds in the
game for appropriateness.
16.Test in the game. When you have finished adding all of the elements to your multiplayer map, test it in
the game. Spend some time in the map as a single player, and test it with a couple of friends who are
willing to help you find problems with it. No one gets it right on the first pass, so be patient with
yourself. The simplest answer is usually the best one.
❍
To open a user-created map in the game, select SOLO PLAY from the Main menu. Then, select
SKIRMISH. In the Skirmish Setup screen, click SELECT MAP. User-created maps are listed under
Unofficial Maps. Select your map, and click ACCEPT. In online multiplayer games, user-created maps are
automatically transferred to all players who join the game.
17.Optimize tiles. During development, you may have blended textures together in order to create subtler,
more realistic effects. However, blended textures can be a burden on the game. Prior to releasing your
map, you should attempt to optimize your texture tiles.
❍
To optimize textures, select OPTIMIZE TILE USAGE from the Texture Sizing menu.
✯ For more information on steps to optimize your map, ➤ Optimizing Your Map on p. 78.
18.Ship It! When you are ready to distribute your multiplayer map, all of your gaming buddies must have it
installed on their system. A completed map should be approximately 1MB and can be emailed as a set
of attachments.
✯ When using multiplayer maps online, the creator of the map should host the game. The map is
automatically transferred to all players that join. Single-player maps must be transferred via email, FTP,
or the like.
❍
To install a user-created map, create a directory inside the Maps directory of the Command & Conquer
Generals game directory. Give the directory the exact name of the map file, minus the filename extension.
Place the map file, the .TGA preview file, and any other related files inside that directory. The map is
then available through the Skirmish Setup screen in the game.