Krom Map Editor + Lewins Mission Editor

[Snaiperisz]

hello everyone i am now downloaded kroms map editor and lewins mission editor and i have some questions :

1.Witch one program start using first : if i create a map Do : terrain and sth but when i save how to use lewins mission editor i mean how to open map file if lewins mission editor only saves Dat files so how am i suppose to use it?

[Lewin]

Hello!
Sorry for taking a while answering, I only just remembered about your question.

Okay so the first thing you have to do is make the map. (or at least make part of it) Runs Krom's map editor, click new, choose a size and make some rough terrain to start with. (do the fine details later) Then save the map in <KaM Folder>\data\mission\smaps\<Your Map Name>.map Note that <Your Map Name> cannot have spaces or it won't work!

Next, open up my mission editor. First make sure you have set your KaM Dir in the settings. (it should be the folder that contains KaM_TPR.exe and the folder 'data') Then click New. Browse for your map file (<KaM Folder>\data\mission\smaps\<Your Map Name>.map) and choose the mission type and number of players. (you can change these later though with the treeview) Click okay and it should load the map on the screen and set the default values for each player in the treeview. If it displays an error message about the map file then make sure that you have set the KaM Dir (under settings on the main menu) to the right place, and that the map you chose exists and is within that directory. (but under data\mission\smaps)

If my editor is showing the map properly you can start placing things on it using Placement and setting player options using the Treeview. Once you are ready to test your mission click Save in my editor and browse to <KaM Folder>\data\mission\ Then save the map as smission<1-7>.dat for single maps on the KaM main menu, mission0.dat for tutorial, mission1.dat for TSK campaign, or dmission1.dat for TPR campaign. You MUST override a previous mission in order to play yours because KaM was never meant to have addin missions. You can make a backup of the mission file before you override it though.

Then start KaM and play the mission you saved it as. KaM will load the mission file (.DAT) and from that find the map file (.MAP)

I hope this was helpful to you, please let me know if you want more help!
Good luck!
Lewin.
P.S. I wrote some help on getting started with missions in my editor. Click Help -> Help and go to "Getting Started"->"Playing your mission" or something like that.

[H.A.H.]

I'm pretty sure that I did everything as it should be done, but still no luck with playing my own map.

- Make a map, save it both as a new named map and override an existing one.
- Create a mission, load the new map correctly, save the mission as "smission7.dat"
- Launch the game and pick single misson 7 (darkness something) and the game load the original map and mission.
- Go back the the editor and load up smission7.dat. It is my map and my mission. So, how did the game load the original one?

Another question: in the mission editor, are there any required element except form the obvious like player starting location, store house, starting worker,... Are the defense and offense AI, lost condition, objective neccessary? I just want a non-combat mission.

Thanks for any help.

[Lewin]

If it's starting the original mission then you saved it wrong or played the wrong mission in KaM. Try it in another slot, e.g. mission0.dat - the tutorial. (load it up and click "Save As" then save it over mission0.dat) Experiment with different things. Other thing I've done occasionally is had multiple versions of KaM installed at once and saved it in one whilst trying to play it in the other But I guess you only have one copy of KaM installed at once.

Lose and win conditions are both required otherwise you will win or lose the game instantly (no condition = instant loss/victory) AI commands aren't required, all you really need is a victory and loss condition that do not occur at the start of the mission (e.g. if you must protect your own storehouse then obviously you need a storehouse) If you want a non-combat mission then set the lost goal to be "protect buildings of human player" and the victory goal to be "destroy buildings of human player". (where human player is 1 or whatever number you assign to the human player) That way you will never win unless you destroy your own buildings, which is impossible. The two goals are still required, though.

Post back and let me know how it goes.
Lewin.

[H.A.H.]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll give is another try after work.

[H.A.H.]

Nope. No luck with that.

I try with your mission InlandEncounter and the game still load the original after I override the file (even delete and replace the file). I use Windows XP home with one installation of KaM - TPR. So, how did the game find the original after I deleted it.

[Lewin]

I'd say you're replacing the wrong file for the mission you're playing in KaM. To confirm: You are replacing the files in the folder \data\mission\
Also please make sure the *.DAT files are not read-only. (right click -> properties -> make sure read-only is not checked. If it is then that's your problem)
Try deleting mission0.dat then starting the tutorial in KaM. The map should display blank for a few seconds and then exit. If the map still loads then something very strange is going on. Does this mean you are unable to play any missions from my website?
Another thing you could try is editing the a mission file and e.g. open smission1.dat in my mission editor and modify something you will be able to notice e.g. setting reveal entire map to true or added some new troops/buildings. Try replacing a mission file, then close my editor and open the file again in my mission editor to see whether it is the original mission or the one you saved.
Lewin.

[H.A.H.]

Check and recheck everything. Pretty sure that everything are correct.

Definitely something strange about my PC. When I delete a mission dat file then try to played it, I will get a black screen then instant win just as expected. However, if I replace it with my own mission file, the game will load the original even when it was deleted (not even in the recycle bin). It was the same with some of the missions I DLed to test.

By the way, I'm using a digital copy I bought from Trymedia. Don't know if they have any hidden function to restore data files or keeping backup data some where. I did a search for the mission files in question, but it returned only the locations I know of.

Another thing is I have problem with Krom's map editor. Even though I put it in the correct place (in my KaM folder), it still gives me the pallete loading error and and disable the object tab. Sometimes, I get the *infinite* range check error at the start.

Another question: is it possible to play the original mission with an altered map? What I mean is I just edit the map and leave the mission file untouch.

Anyway, I will try a complete uninstall/reinstall to see what happen.

[Lewin]

Ah I would say it's because it's from Trymedia. The fact that Krom's Map Editor has a palette error means that your game files are non-standard, hence they cannot be used properly by fan made tools.

I think I've had a user report a similar issue with replacing missions before, and it was caused by a bad copy.

Can you please email me and I'll help you sort this out from there? My address is lewinjh@gmail.com
Thanks,
Lewin.
P.S. It is possible to play missions with an altered map by just editing the .MAP file and leaving the .DAT file as is. However editing original maps is hard to do because the data for edging tiles does not exist for Krom's map editor.

[matheusaqui]

Hi. I downloaded the program "map2bitmap-0.7-40.zip " but I can't make it work.Someone help me!? When I open the file appears this mensage

Error:Wrong number of paramiters specified.Map2Bitmap Usage: MapaeBitmap.exe<Show><Input Map File<Output><Start><Start><End><End>

[Lewin]

Please read my reply here:
http://www.atfreeforum.com/knights/viewtopic.php?mforum=knights&p=8593#8593

[matheusaqui]

Thanks, but I can?t make it work .But thank you for the help.

[matheusaqui]

I make every you tell me.But I don1t understand this part "Once you have done that the command prompt will be working in that directory. Place the KaM map you want to convert in the SAME folder. Next type in:
map2bitmap-0.7-40.exe Y MapFile.map MapFile.bmp 0 0 -1 -1 "

[Lewin]

I explained it in some more detail here:
http://www.atfreeforum.com/knights/viewtopic.php?p=8598&mforum=knights#8598

Please reply in that thread so as not to fill this one with off topic stuff.