Cossacks - Map Editor description. With images. In CAB file, Word format. Language:English.

I decided to make a detailed instruction card editor that anyone can create their own card. Yet еше live game, and will live as long as it played. All bored old maps, and all enjoy the new, unusual, interesting card.

We are preventing that, in addition to the instruction you need to install cards, but you can find on the internet ...

Welcome to the forums.

I presume, Daddio, that the above quoted site is the one you were talking about in your initial post. Just had a look. A good site indeed.
Downloaded the Map Editor Manual, I'll read trough it soon.

And fresh maps.

Best Regards

[E-BEL]^_^Angel^_^

You have made a very nice manual. Though its a bit in rough english it is understandable. I had plans to make something similar but just havent had time to do so.
You have covered most of the needed things to make the maps working.

A couple of suggestions:

[HOTKEYS]

* You mention the various objects in the editor but couldnt find the hotkey for it ( Chapter Trees& Stones, page 9 in your Word document).
The hotkey for these objects is CTRL+F8 (Walls, bridges,barrels, lantarns,...)
A special note, be carefull with "Oldmost" this bridge has a malfunctioning texture and makes the game crash to desktop(ctd).I'm working on it to get it working in my mod because it is a nice bridge.
Also the cool looking bridge in the 4th submenu looks good but is very tricky to properly place, because it places itself on the terrain and you have to adjust the terrain to match with the entrance. I suggest using the 2nd submenu for bridges , the one with the parts in it, these align nicely and once placed, just lower the terrain with F3 + CTRL.

* There are more menu's like CTRL+F5 ( this one holds animations from complex.rsr, but haven't gotten it to work ( in AC this one has the waterfall, ...) and SHIFT+F7 ( empty menu), or X ( empty list)

* You mention the hotkeys CTRL+SHIFT+A: WeaponSystem : this one is for modding the the abilities of the various weapons in the game, and hence i would not use this for mapping purposes. These modifications are saved to the various .xml file's and if done these would be required to be distributed with your map (synch errors otherwise) and is as such a mod and not a map.

* Also the hotkey CTRL+SHIFT+W: Weaponsystem: this one is is for modding the weapons itself ( again only for modding purposes)

* And also CTRL+SHIFT+S: Sounds: again, if any changes done, the newly added or modified sounds should go with the modified .xml's.

* CTRL+R: was new to me and like you i get an assertion error, but if you ignore, it would seem that the game starts up like in skirmish mode ( only if a working map is loaded). I reckon this is for testing purposes.

* CTRL+U: also new to me: I distinguish 3 types of signs: purple dots around buildings, white squares and red lines. The purple dots are the building blocking area. This means no other buildings can be build directly inside this area. However, there is a way around this, if you select a building (so it flashes white) and then hit the arrow keys, you can move buildings closer to eachother. I presume the purple dots are to show how much building space is left for the players in skirmish mode.
About the white squares I'm not sure, it would seem this designates the different blocks of which a building is made up from.
About the red lines: I suspect it has something to do with the building aligning editor with the 3D landscape ( refers to the line ALIGN_WITH_3POINTS in the .md files)

* CTRL+W: you say 'strange signs' however i dont seem to get this one working. Can you explain more or show a screenshot?

* CTRL+X: you say 'computer hangs, something done', indeed this is the hotkey for the calculating the pathfinding for the AI, so you should press this after you have placed roads in order for the AI not to behave weird on roads in certain occassions.

* What I did not see in your list is the CTRL+E command, i presume this is because you are running on 1.3( BFE), for some reason GSC took out a file (ALLEDITORS.XML) in this version and hence the list doesnt show up. This was present in the first C2 game ( 1.0, 1.1 & 1.2) It is also present in other game's using the gsc engine( Alexander, Hoae).
This submenu holds over 50 additional editors, from which some can be usefull towards map editing. If you like you can get the file on my site, I have uploaded it for people who don't have CII:Napoleonic Wars;follow the link above. Should be placed in the data\dialogs folder.
It is too much to go into detail about all these menu's, but in short some things that may be usefull towards map editing are:
- Battle editor ( for battles, setting up nodes, vgroups,...),
- ExTerrainEditor ( to create random looking maps in less then one minute with different sets of rules which can be added or changed,
- mAI monitor ( to test how the AI behave's on the map directly from within the editor for testing the map)
- Surface Editor ( to set the size of the map)
- MapLayers editor ( works in combination with ExTerrainEditor)
- Scripts Editor ( for setting up triggers for battles)
- Mission Scripts Editor ( self explaining)
- ...
The other menu's are mainly for modding purposes.

* CTRL+F7: did not see this in your list: switches between 2D/3D mode. Not important though

[CODES]

Thank you very much for explaining how to use the "bstage" command. I had seen it inside the engine but had not figured out how to use it.Perhaps a note: this only works for buildings that actually have the graphics for building stages, for example the SelFraDoms or GorFra dont have these graphics and make the buildings dissapear.
Also thank you very much for explaining the usage of the "sklad1" command. I knew something was different from the original maps that i could not reproduce to make the peasants deliver resources from a mine to a nearby building.

[OTHER]

I noticed your wrote that you can save the additional settlement information. I have not been able to do so. When I save a custom settlement dip, i can not call back on it to load it and its nowhere to be found in the files inside the data folder. Have you tested this?
The only way i was able to create custome ai.dip.xml's was by making them manually for wood and stone and place them inside the data/dip folder and then load them up in the game.

Can you tell me how you got a menu in your File Catalog section on your site? I never figured out how to do it. It would be most usefull, because now all file's appear on one page and I want to organize them better. I presume you added a block that only appears on the catalogue page? Could you explain the different steps pls to get it displaying like you did?

Kind Regards

EbelAngel

Added (04/September/2009, 7:37 Am)
---------------------------------------------
Excuse, a typing error
I think together we can reveal further all secrets of the editor from GSC.
Agrid

Added (05/September/2009, 2:08 Pm)
---------------------------------------------
Hello Angel,
At me the request to you. At me it is established Mod v.1.2 "Allied Offensive 1806"
(Deutsch).
You have its translation into English? I so have understood, from the answer at a forum:

http://www.cdv-forum.de/cdvboard/english/showthread.php? t=54697&page=2

There references for downloading do not work, alas it is a pity...

It is possible to ask you, to give live references for downloading, or to send a file in English on agrid@front.ru

In advance it is very grateful!

ps at me the English and Russian coding is established, and the German text is displayed inadequately.

Agrid

Hello Agrid,

I just clicked on the link and it works for me. 22 people already downloaded from that link.

But I will repost the link here again: ( CII Napoleonic Wars Allied Offensive 1806 Part 2 English version )

http://www.filefront.com/1414805....rt2.rar

If it does not work for you, I will sent the files to you but I think they are too large to sent in attachment over email. Otherwise over msn messenger perhaps?

I do not understand what you mean here . Please explain again.

Just found out another code:

Select a formation ( unit) on the map . Press Enter. Type Unitchange Name of Unit ( Nation) . This will change the unit in an other unit.

So for example if you have a formation of French Voltigers on the map and you want to change them in Fusiliers do this.

Select the formation with Voltigers. Enter changeunit UnitFuz(FR) Enter

The formation will automatically change into Fusiliers.

Ofcourse to do this, you need to know the ingame name's of all the units from the .md file's or you can look them up in the text/mdlist.txt
I have tested this in the Editor.

I found some more codes inside the engine but still have to test them as I'm unsure of how to use them, this was the only one that was easy to find out.

Do you mean you need an example of an English description text for the maps?

That's it for now

Best Regards

EbelAngel

Tell where to send files with new map?

At me I only map, nearby 10, in them already are played by Russian users.

Agrid

~Glad to hear that the link worked, i just realize I only gave the link to the napoleonic wars version. We also got the version for Battle For Europe, however, it's not really advised, as this doesnt do any changes to the new nations ( Poland, Rhein, Spain). In any case I'll post it here aswell again :

http://www.filefront.com/1414809....rt2.rar

~ About installing the maps:

- If you are installing the maps for C2 Napoleonic wars direct the install path manually to your GSC Game World\Cossacks II folder.
- If you are installing the maps for C2 Battle for Europe direct the install path manually to your Cossacks Battle For Europe\Run folder.

~ Game/Mapping Codes:

I just made a list I extracted from the engine.exe with all the available codes. However I still need to test them all, and I'm unsure on how to use them. Maybe you can help to test them?

Here is the list:

***********
*CII Codes*
***********

Codes imported from engine.exe (1.2 version)

Some of these commands still need testing or I'm unsure about the correct usage / function.

To activate /use the following codes bring up the console box by pressing ENTER.

*******************
*Alphabetical List*
*******************
addhi
addstmm
addpk
addfr
addtom
bstage
change
changeunit
charge
deposits
dest
endprof
EndGameMessag e
erase
estats
exec
fast
fway
FWAY
hbor
heroes
heroesupgrade
hold
illusion
immortal
invnorms
locktype
lucky
mind
ntch
Post GameStat
p ulse
reinforce
rifle
rntf
runprof
RunScript
savestats ('savestats <filename(without extention)>',0
scout
setmind
setbrignat
sklad
slow
stats
susptime
tchange
tlink
toplink
trestore
vprof
walkover
wledit
[END]

Some of these codes I already have working, but I'll post the list of how to use them after I tried them all out.

Best Regards

E.A.

******************************************
*USAGE - EXAMPLE - FUNCTION - EXPLANATION *
******************************************
***************
*USAGE: *
*EXAMPLE: *
*FUNCTION: *
*EXPLANATION: *
***************

NOTE:I'm first gonna test everything in editor on an existing skirmish map (skirmish2.md3).It is possible that some commands only work in game, but will test that later. It is also possible that some of the codes are intended for Alexander or Heroes Of Annihilated Empires as these commands are also present in those engine.exe's.

addhi
USAGE: addhi n
EXAMPLE: addhi 20
FUNCTION: adds height to the map by n ( 20 in this case in example)
EXPLANATION: Increases the total map height by specified number.I presume you can use any number between 1-999. Also negative values work to decrease total map height and lower it. So you can use - 1 to -200. Watch out for unpredicted results on already existing maps ;-), especially in lowering the map height.

addstmm
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION: unknown
EXPLANATION: unknown

addpk
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION: unknown
EXPLANATION: i tried addpk 10 and the game crashed to desktop :-) It surely does something, just dont know what

addfr
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION: unknown
EXPLANATION: i tried addfr 20 on a building and the game crashed to desktop.

addtom
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

bstage
USAGE: bstage %
EXAMPLE: bstage 50
FUNCTION: Sets a building to an unfinished building state in % of its total building time.
EXPLANATION: Select a building in Map Editor, type bstage 0-100 and the building will show its unfinished building animation.

change
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION: unknown
EXPLANATION: unknown

changeunit
USAGE: changeunit UnitNam(Nation)
EXAMPLE: changeunit UnitFuz(FR)
FUNCTION: changes units in to defined unit
EXPLANATION: If you have for example a formation of voltigers on the map, select them ,enter, and type changeunit UnitFuz(FR) , the formation will automatically change in to Fusiliers. Also works for single units . To do this you ofcourse need to know the name's of the units the game uses by checking the nation.nds file under [MEMBERS] and check with text/mdlist.txt if you don't know which unit is which. Doesnt seem to work for buildings though, but it says changeUNIT.

charge
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

deposits
USAGE:deposits
EXAMPLE:depo sits
FUNCTION:adds 50 000 of each resources
EXPLANATION:mainly used for single player skirmishes, cause in editor you already have maximum amount of resources.

dest
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

endprof
USAGE: endprof
EXAMPLE: endprof
FUNCTION: Debugger function for profiler
EXPLANATION: if you use this function it give's you the assertion screen stating : .\Profiler\FSampleProfiler.cpp .Suggest you stay away from this one.
I presume this command is used to end the runprof code.

erase
USAGE:erase
EXAMPLE:erase
FUNCTION: erases any building or unit from the map without leaving any trace's
EXPLANATION:Select a building or unit and use this code. This one is different than using the DEL key which burns a building down first leaving a rubble behind and a texture or if you have a formations, make's the flagbearers run over the map etc... Quick and Clean method of deleting stuff on the map you didnt intent to do. Could also use the N hotkey for terrain features ofcourse.

estats
USAGE:estats
EXAMPLE:estats
FUNCTION:brings up the statistics screen for battle for europe mode
EXPLANATION:this made my game crash in editor. In single player mode ( skirmish-BFE mode) it works and shows the statistics screen on a part of the screen.

exec
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown, but i presume this is short for execute, only execute what and which parameter is to be used here?

fast
USAGE:fast
EXAMPLE:fast
FUNCTION:increases game speed
EXPLANATION:everything goes at very fast speed. Return to normal with slow command

fway
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

FWAY
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCT ION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

hbor
USAGE:hbor
EXAMPLE:hbor
FUNCTION:Hides the resource bar, mini map, type hbor again to reveal it again
EXPLANATION: Evidently you can hide the toolbar ( ctrl+T), Minimap (M~toggle) but i never knew how to hide the resource bar. This is one Daddio will like for his screenshots when he create's previews for his maps. Suggest you take screenshots (H) after having used this command, will make it easier for the last line of shots to compile a preview of a map. nice one. I presume it refers to hide borland ( hbor) Are they using a borland interface?

heroes
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:i think this is for Alexander and Hoae, cause they got heroes

heroesupgrade
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:i think this is for Alexander and Hoae, cause they got heroes and upgrades
hold
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

illusion
USAGE: illusion
EXAMPLE: illusion
FUNCTION: takes away the vision of a unit building even though it belongs to a nation
EXPLANATION: If you want to hide a particular unit ( so the fog of war goes over it), select the unit, use this code and you will see fog of war over the unit.on next load you will not see the unit. Nice one for hidding surprise units belonging to a nation for campaign use or smth forcing the player to scout around on the map for hidden easter eggs.

immortal
USAGE: immortal1
EXAMPLE: immortal 1
FUNCTION: makes a building (unit ?) immortal
EXPLANATION: the code only take's effect on the next load up of the map. It would seem that after rebooting the computer the effect of the code is gone so it does not attach to the map itself, but must store this information in a temporary file or cached memory of the game.

invnorms
USAGE:invnorms
EXAMPLE:invnorms
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:on using this i get a message back saying: Normals were inverted. Ok , but which'normals' and I didnt notice anything different.

locktype
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:i tried this on the french barracks typing locktype UnitFuz(FR) thinking this would lock or hide the Fusilier but didnt seem to do so. I also tried locktype Strela thinking this would lock a unit from using his weapons but didnt seem to work. Don't know what its for at the moment or how to use the parameters. Ok, a few codes further some of my french fusiliers formations suddenly dont have any interface anymore and since this is the only command i used on them that remotely could do something like this it must have been correct. (locktype UnitFuz(FR)) trying on a different unit.Ok no, this must be something i screwed up on my mod, as i'm testing this on my mod version. pff.GG.Well a single fusilier has its weapons interface but not a formations, i still think this is one of these commands that didnt seem to do something but did so, but why i got this on other version of my mod aswell then, gotta back track this properly in my logs and versions.

lucky
USAGE: lucky
EXAMPLE:lucky
FUNCTION: opens up the map ( hide's the fog of war) and give's you access to the nations screen
EXPLANATION: after typing in the code, the map will be revealed and then type P to access the units/buildings tab. To close again hit the x button on the tab and pres F9 to return to normal mouse mode.

mind
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

ntch
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATIO N:Only guessing what it could mean : not charge, no team change, ...?

PostGameStat
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

pulse
USAGE:pulse
EXAMPLE:pulse
FUN CTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:when selecting a formation and then typing pulse, it leave's a circle on the minimap.like the command centers or the strategic zone's. Unsure what this is for

reinforce
USAGE: reinforce
EXAMPLE: reinforce
FUNCTION: reinforces formation
EXPLANATION: pretty clear

rifle
USAGE:rifle
EXAMPLE:rifle
FUNCTION:formation will shoot with rifle at enemy
EXPLANATION:when putting2 enemy formations near eachother, nothing happens, but as soon as you select one formation and type rifle, about 20% of the units will shoot from various positions at the enemy

rntf
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

runprof
USAGE: runprof (?)
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION: runs the debugger/profiler
EXPLANATION: when i tried this command it started up the debugger but gave me a fatal error stating the following: Could not CoCreate CLSID_DiaSource(Alt). Register msdia20.dll or add its location to your path. OK --->Assertion Failure(pos\=0&&pos<NValues): file../ClassEngine\dynarray.h.line 98 Retry?Cancel? Well clearly i need msdia20.dll, register it or add its location to the path. But the dynarray.h error tells me i will need the source code to the engine in order to run this debugger properly. I did give me a blue screen with some text in the background but these errors showed up above it and i could not read what was written there.
Ok , so in installed msdia20.dll and registered it regsvr32 msdia20.dll trough cmd.exe . Then on running this code again I get the next error message: Fatal Error loadData From Pdb/Exe-->Ok. blue screen on background still not entirely visible but says: Profiler Initialisation : Then you can p.....able profiling. To view results , unpress N....CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-SPACE. Stuck here

RunScript
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION: mostlikely a shortcut to start up the attached script to a mission map
EXPLANATION: i tried this on one of the mission maps, but didnt do anything mostlikely because i didnt define the name of the script itself. However you can run the script to test trough the ctrl+ battleeditor options or Script editor aswell, its probably just a quick way of doing this

savestats
USAGE: savestats <filename (without extension)>
EXAMPLE: savestats test123
FUNCTION: generates a report with nation statistics
EXPLANATION: This will generate an excel spreadsheet with all kinds of statistics and information about the current nations(units+buildings) in the game. This file iwll appear in your data folder of the installed game. I saved the file and copied it to a backup folder for further inspection. See Attachment for example (it's from one of my mod version, so dont pay attention to unusual things in there).

scout
USAGE:scout
EXAMPLE:scout
FUNCTION:lifts fog of war
EXPLANATION: toggle to hide or show fog of war

setmind
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown

setbrignat
USAGE:setbrignat n
EXAMPLE:setbrignat 3
FUNCTION:changes the nation color of a formation
EXPLANATION: Select a formation, use setbrignat 1-7 to change the color and owner of the nation.

sklad
USAGE: sklad n
EXAMPLE:sklad1
FUNCTION:sets the function of a building to a storehouse
EXPLANATION: for example on one of the GorFRa or SelFra buildings for the villages so the villagers instead of going back in the mine's, drop the resources on this building.

slow
USAGE:slow
EXAMPLE:slow
FUNCTION:sets the game speed back to normal
EXPLANATION:sets game speed to slow after having used the 'fast' command

stats
USAGE:stats
EXAMPLE:stats
FUNCTION:shows statistics screen
EXPLANATION:shows end game statistics. After closing i get a defeat message and the game returns to editor

susptime
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:i presume this means suspend time, but it doesnt do anything if i type it or if adding parameters like susptime 20 etc...

tchange
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:i presume this is for team change, but need to test on a map with teams, could also be time change, who knows

tlink
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:well if tchange would be for teamchange, then this could mean team link but then again it could be something totally different

toplink
USAGE: unknown
EXAMPLE: unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:saw something changin on my minimap but was to quick to see, tried again and didnt show. Weird

trestore
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:mostlikely something to do with tchange and tlink to restore any changes, but dont know

vprof
USAGE:vprof
EXAMPLE:vprof
FUNCTION:Internal Profiler Menu
EXPLANATION:Opens up a new menu, still have to figure out and test what it exactly does, but nice one. So much hidden stuff in this game, just when you think you'v seen it all, there's a whole new world opening.

walkover
USAGE:walkover
EXAMPLE:walkover
FUNCTION:wins current level
EXPLANATION:for single player games: skirmish, campaigns, battles

wledit
USAGE:unknown
EXAMPLE:unknown
FUNCTION:unknown
EXPLANATION:unknown[END]

So 15/37 codes known now. I will do more tests later on the unknown commands. Hope for some feedback of other people on this.

E.A.

*******************************************************************************************************************
Update : Added 14 other codes i found to the above lists, still have to try them out. And updated 2 code usage's. So 17/51 codes known now.

*******************************************************************************************************************
Update: Added 5 more usage's of codes to above list. So 22/51 codes known now. And attached that skirmish2test.csv (excel file)

*******************************************************************************************************************
Update: Added 1 new code and added 4 usage's of codes to above lists. So 26/52 codes known now.

*******************************************************************************************************************

Gradually I will check and let know about results. My researches in this area very modest.

I use codes: deposits, erase, fast, lucky
, reinforce, scout, sklad, slow, walkover. You in the list do not have code: immortal 1.

lucky - to open all card + we have an opportunity to add units. It is for this purpose pressed [P] we choose whom it is necessary and it is drawn units by pressing of the left button of the mouse. When have finished we press [F9]. This code for version 1.3 and 1.4

immortal 1 - does construction it is impossible to destroy, after card reboot. But, it почемуто vanishes, after computer reboot. The nature of this phenomenon has not found out.

sklad is a Russian word a warehouse written by English letters. Only sklad 1, only so instead of 2,3... And so on, figure one shows a priority of the allocated building in the given group of constructions.

Agrid

Added (07/September/2009, 10:16 Am)
---------------------------------------------
EbelAngel, ps

Angei, Excuse, you have not understood me. I know and I am able to insert cards into game. I asked will check up the description to map because my English translates the robot and it likely strongly not clear.
I ask check up mine map "Winter plateau" if to be pleasant that I will lay out still new map. I have more than them 10 pieces, and in them Russian users already play.
If you will find mine map good lay out it on the page, I not against.:)
I put it in archive:
Yours faithfully, Agrid.

ps could not attach a file, has sent on E-mail:suepatrick@cfl.rr.com, this address has left at us a forum respected Daddio, I so believe, you have with it a possibility to communicate.
If that is possible let how to send you files know.