User Guide

46
HOW TO PAINT PASSABLE AND IMPASSABLE
TERRAIN
During the course of development, your manipulations may create terrain forms that are impassable to
vehicles and units. You can paint those units as passable. Similarly, you can paint passable terrain as
impassable, which is more commonly done.
WARNINGS
It can be tempting to repaint the entire map as either passable or impassable as you see fit. However, doing
so may cause problems, so please read the following warnings and paint with caution.
✯ If there is no gameplay reason for units to cross the terrain, make it impassable.
✯ Do not paint cliffs as passable terrain. It looks bad to have tanks climbing vertical surfaces, as the sense
of a real-world experience is lost. The ability to climb cliffs can cause problems for the long-range
targeting of some vehicles, too.
✯ In general, do not turn terrain that is naturally impassable into passable terrain. In World Builder, terrain
that is steeper than 45 degrees is impassable—and should stay that way.
✯ Resizing the map will cause impassable areas to revert to default 45 degrees.
✯ Do not paint the terrain at the edge of a body of water as passable terrain. Vehicles that pass into water
can get stuck underwater. It’s a much better idea to paint the entire perimeter of a body of water as
impassable.
✯ Do not create islands of passable terrain inside of seas of impassable terrain. For example, if there is a
spot of passable terrain at the top of an impassable mountain, AI players may attempt to drop
paratroopers inside the passable terrain. Units trapped inside a sea of impassable terrain spend the rest
of the game trying to get out and cause a significant impact on the frame rate. Instead, paint the entire
area as impassable.
✯ Do paint impassable textures around the outside of the map perimeter. Particularly for single-player
maps, it’s important to limit the ability to move beyond the map.
✯ Paint impassable terrain beneath boulder objects.
To Paint:
1. Under the View menu, select SHOW IMPASSABLE AREAS.
2. To set the angle at which terrain becomes impassable, select IMPASSABLE AREAS OPTIONS under the
View menu. For more information,
➤ Impassable Area Options on p. 18.
3. To paint terrain as passable or impassable, select the Single Tile or Large Tile tool in the toolbar.
4. At the bottom of the Terrain Materials Options window, check the box next to Paint
passable/impassable terrain. Choose whether you are painting Passable or Impassable terrain.
5. On the map, begin painting the selected textures. Remember to observe the warnings above.
6. When you complete your painting, it’s a good idea to give a texture clue that the ability to pass an area
is not what is expected. For example, if you painted a rocky slope as passable, you should repaint it with
a softer texture. Such painting helps users figure out where to go.