MAP MAKING TUTORIAL

Hello, i'm hawkynawa, 27 years old, living in belgium, nice to meet you :)
Ok i know, first of all, i'm sorry for my poor english. But... I also know that even if its bad, you should understand me, at least, i hope :)

After many requests, and problems found on multiple forums talking about adding maps from mods into MLR, i decided to make a small tutorial explaining how i made them myself.

I will build the "balaton 1" map from IL2:FB (original one, without any patches) because it's the only one i got.
This will include a multi layer Photoshop file for the 2D MAP (base map, icons, and texts layers) and another one for the 3D MAP, including the same layers.
The two files will have the same width and height to make building easier.

Step 1: Software and hardware required

- IL2:FB ( or ACE, PF, all you want )
- IL2:MLR2 ( www.thinking-board.net/MLR )
- IL2:MLR2 *SOURCECODE* ( same as above )
   The pack includes the tools (binaries and sources) used for map creation.
- Photo program like Photoshop, Paint shop pro, etc.

- You MUST have a "big" resolution, something like 1680*1050 is perfect.
   Smaller resolution MAY BE possible, but require tools tweaking and recompilation.
- A decent PC, at least IL2:FB must runs smoothly on it.

- And finally, a lot of patience, you will see in the next step why...

Step 2: Theory, tools details

Using the tools are not hard for anyone that is a bit computer literates.

As i seen in multiple forums, some people thinks that i had to make a screen shot of the mission builder to have the 3D Maps, because to view them you need to zoom a lot.
I have to tell you that they are rights in their things.

To make it by hand, we have to be crazy... It's why i made some tools (experimental, because i was the only one that used them) to make the work for me, or at least, THE BIG part : screenshots.

Here is how they work, you launch IL2, go into full mission building, adjust the zoom slider as needed, show/hide icons as you want, and finally, take a screenshot of the whole map by moving the sliders automatically.
It's pretty simple ? There are also some bad news.

You will need to crop the map because the borders are not calculated, and ... The really BAD news is ... Your pc is unuseable while screenshots making is in progress. Why ? Simply because the map capture tool is simulating keyboard/mouse event, meaning that your cursor is moving... ALONE! bouhhhhh. Sorry i don't have found yet how to move your mouse (the hardware unit i mean) alone :)
I know, programmers will certainly ask why instead of using keyboard/mouse event i don't send messages to the process, etc : Only because i was the only one to use it, and didn't have the time to make it user friendly.

Well, we will have to launch multiple capture process in this tutorial, for the PSD layers (i made it to demonstrates the whole thing, they are not really required, this depends on what you needs)

 

Step 3: Running and configuring

First of all, it should be good to kill all unecessaries tasks, including anti-virus, etc.

IL2 MUST be running using a resolution of 1280*960, windowed.
As said in step 1, other resolutions require sourcecode modification and rebuilding of the tools.

Until done, you can go in full mission builder, load the "balaton 1" map and set conditions -> time to 10.00.
This avoid having sun reflects in the water, or they will be visible in captures, giving bad results.

Remember to set the time to 10.00 everytime you build a new map, or you will waste your time.

It may also be more secure to set the IL2 process priority to high, to do this : CTRL-ALT-DEL -> processes -> il2fb.exe -> right mouse button -> Set priority to high

Now we can launch the map capture tool, you can found it in SOURCECODE\__Tools\__BINS\, the one we will use is "IL2MapMaker_BITMAP_R2.exe", the others can be used too but i think it should be the best one.
If you want to build a map i considere that you must know how to launch it, but ... Here is how, do an ALT-TAB to "exit" the IL2 window focus, and than launch it the usual way.

In the point 2, set the name of your map, here is "balaton 1", the path is where your output bitmap will be saved, i will use C:\MLR_MAP\
-> The directory must exists, and directory path must be finished by "\"

In the point 3, you can uncheck "Remove lens", and never use it, if you set time to 10.00 in mission builder, this is not required.

Points 5-ADVANCED should normaly not be used, BUT you can set "Pause / frame capture (ms)" to 100 or more to be sure that the capture is allright.
This avoid lags in the mission builder and then bad shifts in captured maps.

Here is how your desktop should look like

 

Step 4: Capturing the 2D MAP, and icons/texts layers

Here come a big process :

We will capture the 2D map, a layer containing all necessary icons (bridges, airports) and another one containing the texts.
This process will be done using a scale of 1/1, then put 1 in the point 6 in the map capture tool.

Set the zoom slider in the mission builder to the desired level, without forgetting that we will capture the visible things in a 1/1 SCALE.
Because the tool is experimental, it is not possible to make really huge map due to memory limit.

As soon as it's done, hide everything that is actually visible, frontmarkers, units, grid, etc.

I moved the slider to output a map with a size of about 4000*4000

Here is how your desktop should look like

Next thing is to detect the number of rows and lines to capture, to do this, click on Detect Lines/Rows button in the point 4 in the map capture tool.
WARNING : Remember that the capture tool is moving cursor etc, meaning that you CANNOT do anything while it is detecting things.

Here is how your desktop should look like

Now come the testing process, point 5.
You can set the mission builder sliders to the bottom left, and then, press the "Test parts (2x2)" button in the map capture tool.
This will test a 2 rows/2 lines capture, to test if the shifts are all rights.
If width and height in the point 5 are set correctly (they should be, by default) the outputted map "C:\MLR_MAP\Balaton 1.bmp" should looks like this.
I made a 2x2 capture with bad width to let you show how the outputted bitmap looks like...

Capture is good ? To be sure, we will do a 2 (full) lines test: Set the mission builder sliders to bottom left, and click on "Test parts (2 lines)" in the map capture tool.

Outputted map "C:\MLR_MAP\Balaton 1.bmp" should looks like this.
The border zone is normal, we will see later how to correct it.

We are now ready to start the capture process, in the map name, add suffix like "_2D_MAP", the name will become "Balaton 1_2D_MAP", this avoid having all capture process overwriting previous one written in "Balaton 1".

Press "Capture map" button, and don't touch everything.

The map is finished ? Take a look at it, if it seems smooth, without any shifts, etc.
The map should look like this. (This jpeg is intentionnally resized)

Now we have to capture only the texts...
Without moving zoom slider, etc. Just disable the background in the mission builder.
Set suffix as "_2D_TEXTS", and press the "Capture map" button...
Done ? You can check it, even it's not so easy with this one !
The map should look like this. (This jpeg is intentionnally resized)

And finally we have to capture the icons.
Without moving zoom slider, etc. Set bridges, airports, whatever you need to visible.
Set suffix as "_2D_ICONS", and press the "Capture map" button...
Like previous one, check if it seems allright.
The map should look like this. (This jpeg is intentionnally resized)

 

Step 5: Capturing the 3D MAP

Capturing the 2D MAP is a not really a long process, but the 3D MAP is !
Reset the mission builder view, show background, hide every icons etc, and move the zoom level until you switch from the 2D to 3D view.

We have to redetect lines/rows, you have to know how to do it, i got 23/23 as a result.
We can also retest parts (2x2 and 2 lines) to check if everything works correctly.

Capturing this map to 1/1 will make a HUGE map, with a possible capture crash as a bonus, so we will set scale to 1/2.

Remember to change the suffix of the map name ... I used "3D"

Now... Capture map button :)

The map should look like this. (This jpeg is intentionnally resized)

You can close IL2, and the map capture tool.

 

Step 6: Assembly

We have now four bitmaps that we have to transform to layers.
I made it because the maps cannot be captured WITHOUT texts, they are always visible, so to avoid retouching of every map, we will be able to change the color of the texts as we want.
However, for the 3D one, you MUST retouch it, because the names will be visible, even after resizing it.

First thing to do, are the borders to move, and crop the result.
To avoid making this four times, we will assemble every 2D things in one file, moving the three layers in one time.

Now we launch photoshop (or similar program), load 2D things, and paste them in one layered file:

3. TEXTS
2. ICONS
1. BASEMAP

We have to move the right border to the left, and the upper border to bottom.
This should be something like this.

Once its done, select the map area and crop it.
Do everything you want on the map...
- like changing text colors: show it here
...And save it.

We now have our 2D map ready for MLR.

Now do the same thing (borders/crop) to the 3D map.
When it's done, resize it to the same size of the 2D map, and paste the icons/texts layers over it, job done !

Note that You can have better result if you build multiple times the icons/texts layers and not just resizing the 3D map to fit them, but i will not explain everything, just giving important/required hints

Graphics part is finished, you can export the two jpeg in maps directory of MLR.

 

Step 7: Maps.ini

As written in the header of this config file, each map need some floats to define the "map zone", and the grid.

# Gulf Of Finland 1
###################
FinsGulf/load.ini : found in the log file after flawn a mission

Gulf Of Finland 1.jpg : 3d filename
-50.0 400.0 : bottom left position of the 3d map
435100.0 214500.0 : upper right position of the 3d map
0.0 0.0 : 3d grid start position

Gulf Of Finland 1_2D.jpg : 2d filename
0.0 1850.0 : bottom left position of the 2d map
433900.0 214400.0 : upper right position of the 2d map
0.0 0.0 : 2d grid start position

To fill thoses things, it simple.
Relaunch IL2, go into the full mission builder, reload "balaton 1" map.
put a front marker in upper right corner, and another one in bottom left corner.
This will give the positions of the "map zone" rectangle.
Check out theses screenshots 8 and 9.

You can add another things, frontmarkers, units to easily visible zone to help you with the fine tune, it's better to have a map that is really precise, like on the screenshot 10

REMEMBER the order you puts frontmarkers in the mission.

Done ? Save your mission... And play it (2 minutes are enough, this is just to write an eventlog)

We have now everything we need for thoses lines.
Open you mis file, mine giving this :

[MAIN]
  MAP Balaton/load.ini : the path required
  TIME 10.0
  CloudType 0
  CloudHeight 1000.0
  army 1
  playerNum 0
[NStationary]
[Buildings]
[Bridge]
[House]
[FrontMarker]
  FrontMarker0 191978.75 166391.94 2 : First frontmarker i put : upper right
  FrontMarker1 0.-5 40.51 2 : Second one : bottom left
  FrontMarker2 146226.42 84584.7 2 : Last one : helper

Ok, from now, we will round these values and set them as default :

# Balaton 1
###########
Balaton/load.ini : found in the log file after flawn a mission

Balaton 1_3D.jpg : 3d filename
0.0 0.0 : bottom left position of the 3d map
192000.0 166400.0 : upper right position of the 3d map
0.0 0.0 : 3d grid start position

Balaton 1_2D.jpg : 2d filename
0.0 0.0 : bottom left position of the 2d map
192000.0 166400.0 : upper right position of the 2d map
0.0 0.0 : 2d grid start position

You can now save the ini file, and launch MLR, your mission should be available if you have played a bit.

Load it !

You have now to go in the map viewer of MLR, and check if frontmarkers are present AND at the correct place.
They are not so precise ? Press CTRL-D, welcome in the fine tune of MLR. Change values until they are at the correct place, and then, precise !

For the grid... Generally it starts at 0.0 / 0.0, and need no changes, but sometimes it requires fine tunes.
To check this, simply set it visible in Full mission builder, and check with map viewer if it is in the same place as FMB.

Look at screenshot 11 to see how i checked it.

Fine tune is good ? Copy the part in "ini values", and paste them in the maps.ini file.
Relaunch MLR2 and .... good ? I hope :)

Now you have to do the same thing to fine tune the 3D MAP.

 

Step 8, finished

If any of you are making maps, please send them to me, i will upload them on MLR website and make them available for all.

email : hawkynawa@gmx.net
msn : hawkynawa@hotmail.com