I want to make a map

[board 3659]

@thedog I have 2 ideas, one historical, one not
both would be from scratch

[TheDog]

As you probably know creating your own map from scratch is a lot of work.

How you tried modding the two areas you are interested in, as this is where you should start?

What are the two ideas?

[board 3659]

@thedog I never tried to mod
I had an idea to make a map of the Sonderbund war. The 2nd one is not historical and it isn't meant to be taken seriously, it's called Manassas war (this is an idea I had since I was little and I was thinking about it for years)

[TheDog]

I would download a map like the two ideas you have and to make/replace unit icons, flags for that map

Maybe like Napoleonic Empires or one of the US civil war maps.

I use an old version of IcoFx 1.6.4, this version is free to use.
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/icofx-1-6-4

Load IcoFX
Drag the image you want to convert into its work area
select custom button - (untick square, if not square)
set the width and height
click OK - (this will resize automatically)
File> Export Image
select png or jpg or bmp or gif
enter filename
Save Button
Repeat

Also to learn to mod the the language of TripleA.

This will start you down the road of no return

[board 3659]

@thedog I can get a map of the Sounderbund ar easily by googling and I used google maps so I can have a starting point for Manassas war. What language is triple A?

[TheDog]

It is written mainly in Java, but I think you mean to mod it, its an xml and text files. You will need Notepad++ (or similar) to edit them both.

This will help
http://www.starlords3k.com/XOB.html
https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/2637/standard-image-sizes

[board 3659]

@thedog ok thanks

[beelee]

@board-3659 yea to get familiar with triplea probably mod an existing map be best. POS 2 and pact_of_steel_2.xml which is a little out of date since redrum left and the http://www.starlords3k.com/XOB.html are good resources if you're not aware of them.

Roger Cooper has some good stuff too. Hmm... I can't seem to find his.

These mostly deal with the xml. The graphics are different

[board 3659]

@thedog I want to make a map from scratch so how do I begin?

[Cernel]

@board-3659 said in I want to make a map:

@thedog I want to make a map from scratch so how do I begin?

Regrettably, TripleA doesn't have an actual integral map-making program, and I believe no developer is working on making one, either. TripleA did have a few map-making programs made along the way (meant to guide you in the making of a map from nothing at all), but I'm not aware if they are still good enough, yet I'm quite certain each of them is neither exhaustive nor up to date.

Consequently, I believe most map-makers make maps manually, going as far as even creating or modifying XML files with text editors.

This said, one way you can make a new map from virtually no map is by firstly learning everything which is critical in the documentation given at
https://github.com/triplea-game/triplea/tree/master/docs/map-making/tutorial
and thereafter downloading the
https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/1873/0-base-map
to rename it as you wish and change its files as you wish using a graphic program (like GIMP) for images (which you can also freely copy from
https://github.com/triplea-game/assets/tree/master/game_headed_assets
and from
https://github.com/triplea-game/map-maker-assets
together with other assets like sounds),
and using either a text editor or the TripleA "map creator tools" (which you can access by launching TripleA) for the rest.
I think all of the basic elements you can see in the "0" map are fairly self explanatory (and fully explained in the map-making tutorials). If you want to add more, what you learned in the map-making tutorials should give you the knowledge to do so to some extent, and you can also look at the
https://github.com/triplea-maps/the_pact_of_steel
map and in particular at the
https://github.com/triplea-maps/the_pact_of_steel/blob/master/map/games/pact_of_steel_2.xml
within it, pasting and rewording what you wish into the renamed "0" map.
If you wish to add other (all unnecessary) elements beside images and text-based files, you may have to use other programs to work on them (like Audacity for sounds).

---

This post extensively covers your question too:
https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/918/map-maker-resources?page=1

[TheDog]

@board-3659
What Cernel said above.
Except I use paint.net, instead of Gimp, as its more my style.

[board 3659]

@thedog Me too

[board 3659]

@cernel Thanks a lot, I have some ideas for making maps

[board 3659]

@thedog What is the difference between modding a map and making one from scratch?

[TheDog]

@board-3659 said in I want to make a map:

@thedog What is the difference between modding a map and making one from scratch?

Time.
A map from scratch will take you man weeks to complete, say 100-5000 hours.
A modded map, you could change just one thing and be done in say 10 hours.

As you have never ever tried to mod I would work backwards.

• Pick an existing map, say your favourite map
• change some values, play the game.
• change a units look, play the game
• add a new unit into the game, this requires the above and much more
• add an Event, play the game

You get the idea, your are learning the building blocks of modding, this is how I have learnt.

Creating a mod from scratch requires;

• tracing a map or drawing one with paint.net saving it a png this will be your baseTiles.
• Tempting as it is do not produce the reliefTiles, yet.
• Build the rest the units, the flags, the core xml code.
• Test it.
• You will almost certainly find a flaw(s) in the baseTiles, change it, test it.
• Then produce the reliefTiles
  and so it goes, your labour of love.

I still have not produced a map from scratch, but now that I have modded the baseTiles and reliefTiles I feel confident that I could.

[board 3659]

@thedog OK thanks a lot

[Therese Beasley]

If you want to build a map from the beginning, it will be quite time consuming, you should choose a game mod to help you reduce the construction time

[TheDog]

@therese-beasley
Welcome to the forums!

[Therese Beasley]

@thedog thank you very much

[board 3659]

@therese-beasley yeah modding isn't really hard tbh (at least the simple stuff like unit values being changed)