User Guide

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HOW TO BUILD A MAP PERIMETER
The map perimeter defines the playable area for the player and all of the units in the game. Each map must
have at least one map perimeter. During the course of a mission or game, you can activate and deactivate
map perimeters to change the boundaries of your map on the fly. This technique is particularly useful for
single-player missions in which the user should proceed step-by-step from one challenge to the next.
1. To show the current map perimeter, select SHOW MAP BOUNDARIES in the View menu.
2. In the toolbar, click the Border tool.
3. If you have not yet made changes to the map perimeter, the default orange one encompasses the exact
size of the map.
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To resize the default orange perimeter, click and drag the northeast corner of the perimeter.
4. To create a new map perimeter, go to point 0,0 on the map. Click and drag to create a new perimeter.
✯ You can create up to nine map perimeters. Each perimeter always starts at point 0,0, which is always the
lower left corner even if you resize your map.
5. After you have created a new perimeter, you can reference all perimeters through scripts by color. In the
Script window, look for the “Change Active Script Boundary” action. Select the color of the new map
perimeter from the drop-down list.
HOW TO CHANGE THE TIME OF DAY
You can create map environments set at any time of day.
NOTE: When you change the time of day for your map, all structures, bridges, and some other
props are automatically re-textured. However, many map elements are not re-textured, so it’s
recommended that you decide the time of day at an early stage of development.
1. From the Edit menu, select MAP SETTINGS.
2. In the Map Settings window, select a different time of day under the Time of Day drop-down. Click OK.
HOW TO MAKE A MAP AVAILABLE TO THE GAME
If you have saved your map in a non-standard directory, you must follow these steps to make it available to
the game.
1. From the File menu, select SAVE AS….
2. In the Save dialog box, click USER MAPS.
3. Enter a name for your map. Click SAVE.
✯ If the User Maps directory is a new location for your map, remember to reconcile the new file with the
old one. Do not have two files with the same name containing different versions of your map.
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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.
HOW TO BUILD A DAM
In a word: don’t. The dams in the single-player campaigns took a great deal of time and special coding to
create. If you would like to have the visual of a dam in your map, you can place the object, but be sure to
check that it is Indestructable and Unselectable in the Object Properties window.