Registered Member #263 Joined: [ 03:07 ] [ 06 May 2004 ] Posts: 563
Here are some tips when using BattleCraft 42.
1.) It is a good idea to leave the shadow generation processes until the last steps of your map creation.
2.) Use the Copy Level To... function in the File menu to create a backup of your level archive. It is a good idea to do this often to prevent frustrations if you mess up your level.
3.) Due to the lengthy saving process, Battlecraft 1942 does not have an Auto Save feature. So do yourself a favor and Save Often!
4.) The control key (Ctrl) is a magic button throughout the editor. Try it at different times to see what happens!
5.) To save yourself headaches, wait until you have your terrain and material map built before you start painting the surface with the Surface Map Painter.
6.) The mapper buttons are placed in the order that you should use in the map creation process. Build your terrain, paint your materials, place your objects then paint the surface.
7.) You can create your own Surface Map Painter brushes by creating a new 8-bit greyscale bitmap in the editor of your choice, placing it in the Battlecraft "brushes" directory and then restarting Battlecraft!
8.) You can press the 'Tab' key in any mapper other than the object mapper to see your static objects.
9.) You can hold down the 'Shift' key to ramp up the camera movement speed while traversing around the map!
10.) You can create your own texture sets to use in the surface map generation process by placing a new folder in the BC42 "TextureSets" directory, placing the files from the "TextureSets\Default" in there then editing them!
11.) In the Terrain Mappers Point Manipulation Tool, you can hold the 'Shift' key to drag your selected points up or down!
12.) You can press the 'Space' key at any time in the Terrain Mapper or Object Mapper to de-select any points or objects that you have selected!
13.) You can create realistic looking road tracks in the Surface Map Painter by using the Road Tracks brush, the Darken tool and setting the power to around 45!
14.) You can raise or lower the water level by pressing the Page Up and Page Down keys. That is considering the level allows the usage of water!
This is because Battlecraft fails to release the memory after it is finished, so everything will run slower and you can often get low virtual memory warnings.