Worldbuilder

EA has made some massive changes to the effects systems since BFME1. With the addition of PCA water planes, reflections, waves, and weather, you now need to take extra steps to make the best looking environments for your maps. This article will cover all aspects of the new water and atmospheric effects systems, and I'm including some handy downloads. This is going to be a long article, so I'm splitting it into sections in the hopes it is more convenient. (or you can just scroll down and read it )

Many thanks to Dave (LongbottomLeaf) for helping me get some of my facts straight!

LAKES AND OCEANS

- Using the Lake/Ocean Tool
- Lake/Ocean Options
- FX Shaders
- Depth Colors
- Using the Wave Tool
- Wave Options
- Lake/Ocean Reflections


RIVERS

- Using the River Tool
- River Options
- River/Noise/Alpha Edge/Sparkle Textures
- River Reflections


CLOUDS AND LIGHTING

- About "Time of Day"
- Global Lighting Options
- Using Sky Domes


WEATHER

- About Weather
- About Fog

LAKES AND OCEANS

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<a name=lotool></a>
Using the Lake/Ocean Tool



Lakes and oceans are added using the Lake/Ocean Tool, which enables you to draw a polygon where you want your water plane to be.

Tip: EA recommends you to draw your lake/ocean polygon in a counter-clockwise direction, as polygons drawn in a clockwise direction are said to cause problems. (I've never run into these problems, but better safe than sorry!)

After adding the polygon (or by clicking on a lake/ocean polygon's edge or point), you will see some Lake/Oceans Options appear. Let's take a look at these options and go over their purposes.

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<a name=looptions></a>
Lake/Ocean Options

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td valign=top></td><td valign=top>Center Camera: Click this button to focus the camera on the center of a water plane. To focus on another water plane, select its name from the drop-down list and click the Center Camera button again.

Max alpha depth (ft): This option sets the height at which the water depth becomes opaque (contingent upon the Deep water Alpha setting) rather than transparent. Think of this as the option where you set the depth at which you no longer want to see textures/objects below the surface of the water plane.

Deep water Alpha: This option sets the transparency of the water, and works in conjunction with Max alpha depth. A value of 255 is completely opaque, whereas a value of 0 is completely transparent.

Water area name: This is an optional setting that simply gives your water plane a name to reference it by.

Water height (feet): This option sets the water plane's height (or z-index, if you will). Your water height should generally only be 1-2ft below your general terrain height, depending on design circumstances.

UV Scroll speed: This is a deprecated option in BFME2, as far as I know. In BFME1 though, this set the speed at which the water's texture scrolled across the surface of the plane.

Use additive blending: This is another deprecated option in BFME2, as far as I know. In BFME1 though, this set whether the water plane was to blend with the lighting and its surrounding textures or not.

Bumpmap Texture: This is another deprecated option in BFME2, as far as I know. In BFME1 though, this set the bumpmap texture for the water plane.

Sky Texture: This is another deprecated option in BFME2, as far as I know. In BFME1 though, this set the texture/color of the water plane.

Enable FX Shaders: Now we get to the good stuff! This is where you set your water plane's overall visual style. I'm not sure why EA didn't just put a drop-down box here where you can pick from the various FX Shaders, but oh well. You must do it manually. To set a new FX Shader, uncheck the box and then check it again, and it will allow you to browse your computer for the Shaders. (Read more about FX Shaders below, and download the available shaders.)

Enable Depth Colors: This is where you set the depth gradient for your water plane. Depth Colors act as an extra tint that blends with your water plane, and are a gradient so that, for example, you want shallow water to have a green tint and the deeper parts fade to a blue tint. Again, I'm not sure why EA didn't just put a drop-down box here where you can pick from the various Depth Colors, but you must do this manually as well. Uncheck the box and then check it again, and it will allow you to browse your computer for the Depth Colors. (Read more about Depth Colors below, and download the available gradients.)</td></tr></table>

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<a name=lofx></a>
FX Shaders

There are two types of FX shaders in BFME2: PCA water shaders, and Non-PCA water shaders. The PCA water shaders are very special and very natural-looking, and you should only use them for oceans and large lakes. You MUST use a PCA water shader if you are making an ocean that is going to use ocean swells, or else the swells won't work. Non-PCA water shaders are good for small bodies of water, and are essential if you want to make use of BFME2's water reflections.

As mentioned in the Lake/Ocean Options section above, WorldBuilder won't automagically let you pick from the available FX shaders, and you have to extract them from the game files to use them. I've done the hard work for you, and here they are! Just unzip them somewhere you can remember to find them.

Note: Not all the shaders included in the Non-PCA Water Shaders package should be used, but I'm including them anyway. For example, for Argonath, there are 3 shaders included: wtr_argonath.w3d, wtr_argonathl.w3d, and wtr_argonathm.w3d. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the shaders ending in "l" and "m" are "sub-shaders" that make up the "main" shader, such as wtr_argonath.w3d. I do know for a fact that the ones ending in "l" are not reflective, tend to be light in color, and the ones ending in "m" are reflective but tend to be a tad darker than the main shader. I would not recommend using any of the shaders ending in "l" or "m". Stick to the main shaders unless you have a good reason not to.

	PCA_Water_Shaders.zip
	Size: 8.43k
	Number of downloads: 986
	Player Name	Side	Team

	Non_PCA_Water_Shaders.zip
	Size: 49.86k
	Number of downloads: 767
	Player Name	Side	Team

Here is a preview of what the PCA water shaders look like:

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
waterplanepca4
Color: Light Blue
Transparency: High</td><td align=center>
waterplanepca
Color: Medium Blue
Transparency: Medium</td><td align=center>
wtr_celduin
Color: Dark Green/Blue
Transparency: Low</td><td align=center>
wtr_ettenmoors
Color: Dark Green
Transparency: Low</td></tr><tr><td align=center>
wtr_forlindon
Color: Blueviolet
Transparency: Low</td><td align=center>
wtr_gondor
Color: Dark Blue/Gray
Transparency: Low</td><td align=center>
wtr_mmorgul
Color: Dark Green/Gray
Transparency: Low</td><td align=center></td></tr></table>

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<a name=lotints></a>
Depth Colors

As mentioned in the Lake/Ocean Options section above, WorldBuilder won't automagically let you pick from the available Depth Colors, and you have to extract them from the game files to use them. I've done the hard work for you, and here they are! Just unzip them somewhere you can remember to find them.

	Depth_Tints.zip
	Size: 3.14k
	Number of downloads: 706
	Player Name	Side	Team

Here is a preview of what the available Depth Colors look like. The color to the farthest left will tint the shallowest depths (white = no tint) whereas the color to the farthest right will tint the deepest depths.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
wdepth_test</td><td align=center>
lutmirkwood</td><td align=center>
lutdepthtint03</td><td align=center>
lutdepthtint02</td></tr><tr><td align=center>
lutdepthtint</td><td align=center>
lutdepthtint_old</td><td align=center>
wtrdepth_harlindon</td><td align=center></td></tr></table>

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<a name=lowaves></a>
Using the Wave Tool



Waves and ocean swells are added using the Wave Tool, which enables you to draw a line where you want your wave to be. Click to add a point and start the line. The first point will always be the left side of the wave. So if you want to create a wave that flows north, your second point should be to the right of the first one. If creating a wave that should flow south, your second point should be to the left of the first one.



This is what the Non-PCA wave's texture looks like, and as far as I know...this is all you get to work with. I haven't been able to dig up any other useable wave textures from the game files. This is not such a boring wave though, as it is programmed to approach the shore, compress, and reverse in such a way to return to sea. It looks pretty good as a lake coast, but if you are creating an ocean, you should just use a PCA water shader and PCA waves.

Note: The wave tool is a very deceptive tool. Your wave will not necessarily be the same width/length of your line, nor will it always flow in the exact direction you want it to if using PCA waves. I don't yet fully understand this tool, so I apologize in advance if any my information is not absolutely correct.

After adding the line (or by clicking on a wave line's edge or point), you will see some Wave Options appear. Let's take a look at these options and go over their purposes.

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<a name=lowaveoptions></a>
Wave Options

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td valign=top></td><td valign=top>Center Camera: Click this button to focus the camera on the center of a wave line. To focus on another wave line, select its name from the drop-down list and click the Center Camera button again. (It doesn't seem to work though, but it will select the right wave line for you.)

Wave Name: This is an optional setting that simply gives your wave line a name to reference it by.

Final Width: This is a deceptive setting, but it what it does is set the maximum width of the wave when it crests. The actual final width of the wave will be about 25% wider than this setting though, so keep that in mind. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Final Height: This is another deceptive setting, but it what it does is set the maximum height of the wave when it crests. This does not refer to height as in z-index, it refers to the height of the wave's texture image. The actual final height of the wave will be about 25% longer than this setting though, so keep that in mind. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Initial Width Fraction: This sets the initial width of the wave. A setting of 1.00 will start the wave at its actual width (100%), while a setting of .050 will start the wave at 50% of its actual width. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Initial Height Fraction: This sets the initial height of the wave. This does not refer to height as in z-index, it refers to the height of the wave's texture image. A setting of 1.00 will start the wave at its actual height (100%), while a setting of .050 will start the wave at 50% of its actual height. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Initial Velocity: This sets the speed at which the wave initially emerges from the water. The higher the setting, the faster the motion. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Time To Fade: This sets the speed at which the wave fades out. The higher the setting, the slower the wave fades. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Time To Compress: This sets the speed at which the wave reaches the shore, turns around, and flows back out to sea. The higher the setting, the quicker the wave returs to the sea. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Time Offset 2nd Wave: This sets the time delay between waves. The higher the setting, the longer the delay between waves. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Distance From Shore: This sets the distance between your wave line and the actual shoreline. I think (but i'm not sure) that all the other settings are somewhat contingent upon this setting. Also note that this setting does not effect PCA waves.

Texture: This sets the texture of the wave. Don't touch this, as it doesn't seem to work properly.

Enable PCA Wave: This is where you make those pretty PCA ocean swells. As mentioned in the Lake/Ocean Options section, you MUST use a PCA water shader to use this setting, or else the wave won't work.</td></tr></table>

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<a name=loreflections></a>
Lake/Ocean Reflections

A new feature added in BFME2, water reflections add a new layer of realism to your maps. Your water planes can now reflect units that pass over over them, objects and trees placed near them, as well as the sky above them! (See the Using Sky Domes section for more info about sky reflections.)

To enable reflections in your water planes, simply use Notepad to create a file called "map.ini" within your map's folder, and paste this code into it:



Set "ReflectionPlaneZ" to the height of your water plane (see the Water height (feet) option in the Lake/Ocean Options section). You can only have one water reflection plane per map, so when designing your maps...keep in mind you should only use one water height.

RIVERS

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<a name=rtool></a>
Using the River Tool



Rivers are added using the River Tool, which enables you to draw a polygon where you want your river to be. Click, drag, and release to create the first edge. Keep in mind that the first edge represents the direction in which the river will flow. For example, if you want to create a river that flows north, your first edge should be at the very bottom of the map and all other edges should be created above it. To continue creating the river, click on one of your edge's corner points and drag it in the direction you want it to flow from, then click the other corner point and drag it to where it can align with the new (3rd) point you just created. You should now have something that looks like a square or rectangle, and the facet edges are represented by black lines and the river's shore is represented by blue lines (which blink cyan when selected).

Now, any good river is going to have many facets, as each facet is a stretched tile of the river's texture and it looks like crap if it is stretched too much. So to add more, simply click on the river's shore (blue line) edge with the River Tool where you want to create a new facet. You will see a new facet appear, represented by a black line. If it doesn't look right the first time, don't worry...you can always use the River Tool or Select and Move Tool to move the vertices around and place them where they look better. Vertices should generally be placed near the shoreline so that they blend rather than contrast. Also, the facet edges (black edge) between two vertices can be used to move both vertices together which can save a lot of time.

After adding the polygon (or by clicking on a river polygon's edge or point), you will see some River Options appear. Let's take a look at these options and go over their purposes.

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<a name=roptions></a>
River Options

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td valign=top></td><td valign=top>Center Camera: Click this button to focus the camera on the center of a river. To focus on another river, select its name from the drop-down list and click the Center Camera button again.

Water area name: This is an optional setting that simply gives your river a name to reference it by.

Water height (feet): This option sets the river's height (or z-index, if you will). Your water height should generally only be 1-2ft below your general terrain height, depending on design circumstances. Please note that water that is more than 5 feet deep will not be passable (fordable) by ground units.

UV Scroll speed: This option sets the speed at which the river's texture scrolls across the surface of the plane. A higher value increases the speed, whereas a lower value decreases the speed, and a value of 0 disables the scroll altogether.

Use additive blending: This option sets whether the river texture is to blend with the lighting and its surrounding textures or not.

Alpha: This option sets the transparency of the river. A value of 255 is completely opaque, whereas a value of 0 is completely transparent.

Color RGB: This option sets the color of the river. This will blend along with all the other options.

River Texture: This option sets your river's overall visual style. (See examples of all the River Textures below.)

Noise Texture: This option sets the noise texture of the river. There are only two textures available, and these basically just add some foam/bubbles to the river. (See examples of all the Noise Textures below.)

Alpha Edge Texture: This option sets the type of edge the river should use. This is basically an alpha overlay that controls how the river blends with the shores. There are 3 textures available; one for lava, one for regular rivers, and one for a cloud plane. (See examples of all the Alpha Edge Textures below.)

Sparkle Texture: This option sets the sparkle texture of the river. There are only three textures available, and these basically just add some more foam/bubbles to the river in addition to the Noise Texture. (See examples of all the Sparkle Textures below.)

Minimum WaterLOD: This option sets the minimum game level of detail (LOD) at which the river can be viewed on. For example, if Minimum WaterLOD is set to UltraHigh and someone tries to play your map using Low settings, the river will not load for them. You should leave this setting on "ANY" for rivers. If you are creating a cloud plane, however, for performance reasons it might be good to set this to Medium.</td></tr></table>

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<a name=rtextures></a>
River/Noise/Alpha Edge/Sparkle Textures

River Textures
Here is a preview of what the River Textures look like. These textures were extracted from the game's files, so you are looking at the actual textures and not screenshots. TWWaterEmpty is supposed to be black, as it intended to be completely transparent.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
TLava_Mor01</td><td align=center>
TSWater</td><td align=center>
TSWater2</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv</td></tr><tr><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv2</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv3</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv3a</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv4</td></tr><tr><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv5</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv6</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv7</td><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv8</td></tr><tr><td align=center>
TWSkyEnv9</td><td align=center>
TWWater01</td><td align=center>
TWWaterEmpty</td><td align=center></td></tr>
</table>

Noise Textures
Here is a preview of what the Noise Textures look like. These textures were extracted from the game's files, so you are looking at the actual textures and not screenshots. These act as an overlay of the River Texture.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
Noise0000</td><td align=center>
Noise0001</td></tr>
</table>

Alpha Edge Textures
Here is a preview of what the Alpha Edge Textures look like. These textures were extracted from the game's files, so you are looking at the actual textures and not screenshots. These act as an alpha channel for all the other river effects. TWAlphaEdge is the texture used for standard rivers; as it blends the edges of the river polygon nicely and adds the "flow" effect as well. TLava_Mor02 should only be used in conjunction with the TLava_Mor01 River Texture, as it is reserved creating a lava flow effect. TWAlphaClouds01 is handy to use if you want to add a cloud plane to your map.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
TLava_Mor02</td><td align=center>
TWAlphaClouds01</td><td align=center>
TWAlphaEdge</td></tr>
</table>

Sparkle Textures
Here is a preview of what the Sparkle Textures look like. These textures were extracted from the game's files, so you are looking at the actual textures and not screenshots. These act as an overlay of the River Texture.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
WaterSurfaceBubbles</td><td align=center>
WaterSurfaceBubbles01</td><td align=center>
WaterSurfaceClouds01</td></tr>
</table>

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<a name=rreflections></a>
River Reflections

Rivers are not as simply reflective as Lake/Ocean planes. To reflect things in a river, you must create a Lake/Ocean plane just one foot below the river plane. (See the Lake/Ocean Reflections section for more info about Lake/Ocean reflections.) For best results, use a Lake/Ocean FX shader that flows in the same general direction of your river, and choose the TWWaterEmpty river texture or set a high transparency for the river itself so that you can see the reflections through the river plane.

CLOUDS AND LIGHTING

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<a name=cltool></a>
About "Time of Day"

Time of Day (View -> Change Time Of Day or Edit -> Map Settings :: Time) is essentially just a setting that loads a pre-defined set of lighting settings as well as a cloud texture to be used in water reflections. You may choose from Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night (the Interpolate setting does not work, unfortunately). To make your maps unique, you should get into the habit of using the Time of Day settings only as guidelines, and tweak the settings yourself. I'll go over lighting settings in a moment, but first, take a look at the various cloud textures associated with the Time of Day settings. These textures were extracted from the game's files, so you are looking at the actual textures and not screenshots.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
Morning/Afternoon</td><td align=center>
Evening</td><td align=center>
Night</td></tr></table>

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<a name=clgloptions></a>
Global Light Options

Global Light Options (Edit -> Global Light Options...) is where you can tinker with the lighting settings. You will also see some yellow 3D light boxes representing the 3 available lights (Sun, Accent 1, and Accent 2) appear on your map when this window is open. Let's take a look at these options.

Note about RGB values: R, G, and B values represent the level of Red, Green, and Blue (respectively) color values. 0 is equivalent to black (or no hue), and 255 is equivalent to white (or full hue). When RGB values are all the same value, they are a grayscale value rather than a color value. For example, if your RGB values are 0, 0, and 255, your light will be very blue. Click here to read more about RGB color values, and/or click here to go to a page that will visually generate RGB values and color compliments for you.

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td valign=top></td><td valign=top>Restore To Default: Click this button to restore the default lighting settings for whatever Time of Day you have enabled for your map.

Lock RGB sliders together: If checked, this will make it so when you change any RGB value for a particular light, the sliders will be locked together so they always have the same value (ie: grayscale).

Ambient RGB: This sets the ambient light color for the map. Ambient light is an artificial illumination level that makes it so all surfaces, even those without direct illumination, become visible to the user. All other lighting settings will blend with this color. Think of this as the foundation for your lighting effects; the overall tint and brightness.

<div style="float: left;"></div>Sun: This sets all the options for your Sun light, and the Sun light is represented on your map as a yellow light box with a sun icon on it. The first slider sets the vertical angle of the Sun light, from 0-90 degrees. A value of 0 would shine the light horizontally across your map, whereas a value of 90 would shine straight down from above the map. The 2nd slider sets the horizontal angle of the Sun light, from 0-359 degrees. A value of 0 would shine the light from the west, whereas a value of 90 would shine from the south, whereas a value of 180 would shine form the east, etc. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th sliders below allow you to select the RGB color of the light.

<div style="float: left;"></div>Accent 1: This sets all the options for your Accent 1 light, and the Accent 1 light is represented on your map as a yellow light box with a the number 1 on it. These options work just like the Sun light options.

<div style="float: left;"></div>Accent 2: This sets all the options for your Accent 2 light, and the Accent 2 light is represented on your map as a yellow light box with a the number 2 on it. These options work just like the Sun light options.

Lighting applies to: This option lets you specify a different lighting scheme for different object types.

No cloud factor: This option allows you to reduce your lighting percentages for Low LOD computers. On Low LOD, the cloud layer is not rendered, which can make the lighting appear much brighter. If you've chosen heavy clouds for your map, then it is a good idea to set the "No cloud factor" to something like [0.5, 0.5, 0.5].

Enable 2x Overbright Lighting: This is a feature added between Generals and BFME1. It was needed so that more texture layering would not appear too dark. The SAGE engine uses a subractive lighting model, so each time a lighting effect is used, it eats away at the original lighting. The light starts off twice as bright after Generals because any lighting effect or particle effect will have a greater lighting range to work with. Normal mapping, particles, damage texture overlays, terrain macrotextures, cloud textures, darkness effect, etc. all of these make the existing lighting darker when they're used. This is also why when some of these things are not enabled (i.e. on Low LOD) that the "No Cloud Factor" feature must be used to compsensate.

Enable Bloom Lighting Effect: If checked, this will add a neat glare/blur lighting effect to the map. The RGB sliders below it let you pick the color of the effect.</td></tr></table>

Here is a drastic example of multicolored lighting on some common objects.



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<a name=cldomes></a>
Using Sky Domes

To add more realism to water reflections, you'll need to add a Sky Dome. Sky Domes are special objects, which serve as a sky to be reflected in water planes. These are added using the Place Object tool, seen below.



You can find the domes under SKYBOXES in the Object Selection Opts window after you have clicked on the Place Object tool. Sky Dome objects should be placed in the very center of the map, and unless you zoom out a whole lot...you won't be able to see it at all. You should only add one Sky Dome per map.



Here is a preview of what the Sky Domes look like: (Note: I can't find the texture for the WaterReflectionSkydome_Cave dome, sorry!)

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="100%" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tr><td align=center>
WaterReflectionSkydome_Celduin</td><td align=center>
WaterReflectionSkydome_DolGul</td><td align=center>
WaterReflectionSkydome_Ettenmoors</td></tr><tr><td align=center>
WaterReflectionSkydome_GapOfRohan</td><td align=center>
WaterReflectionSkydome_MinasMorgul</td><td align=center>
WaterReflectionSkydome_Mirkwood</td></tr></table>

WEATHER

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<a name=wtool></a>
About Weather

Weather (Edit -> Map Settings :: Weather) is a new enhancement ala BFME2's WorldBuilder. This setting existed in BFME1's WorldBuilder, but did not function. Setting this to "SNOWY" now activates BFME2's "snow mode", which covers buildings and creeps used on the map with a fine layer of snow, as can be observed in BFME2's "Withered Heath" map. This setting, however, will not make it actually snow, nor will you be able to see a difference in WorldBuilder itself. You will have to add snow code in a map.ini file to make it really snow.

I'm currently compliling a list of common map.ini hacks, so I will just post a link here to the ones that pertain to weather when my list is finished.

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<a name=wfog></a>
About Fog

Fog is another feature that can only be added in the map.ini file. Every map should use fog to add depth/volume to the map's atmosphere. Keep in mind that the fog effects are relative to the user's point of view and not the map itself. If a user scrolls to a far corner of the map, the fog will remain in the same place and not change when the user scrolls to a different area of the map. Here is the code:



HardwareFogColor is the color of the fog, in RGB values. See Global Lighting Options for more info about RGB values.

HardwareFogEnable simply tells the map to use Fog.

HardwareFogStart sets the distance at which the fog effect should start. Think of this as the distance from the "camera" at which you want to see fog start to fade in. For a very dense fog effect, this should be set to a very low value between 0-100.

HardwareFogEnd sets the distance at which the fog effect should reach its full effect. Think of this as the distance from the "camera" at which you want to see nothing but fog. At this distance, fog will obscure any objects behind it. Set this to a high number like 2000 if you don't want really thick fog in the distance that obscures things.

OMFG what a guide

Very usefull

Very nice guide! At some points, it feels like you took the words right out of my mouth!

Yes very good guide Rohara

Well done

sorry for this extreme bump

"To enable reflections in your water planes, simply use Notepad to create a file called "map.ini" within your map's folder"

what file shall i create? a notepad file? that didnt work or shall i create some sort of final.big file?

once again, sorry for this huge bump

dont be sorry bumping does not matter in this topic, i would recomend that you make a map.ini file. that should work for any programing except music

Here's how to create an map.ini file. You can use this file to create water reflections and fog

-Open Notepad and paste in the code mentioned above.
-Then go to File>Save As.
-In the window that pops up, change the location to the folder where you map is.
-Look in the line that says "File Name". Currently the file name is "*.txt"
-Change "*.txt" to read "map.ini"
-Look in the line that says "Save As Type". Currently the file type is "Text Documents (*.txt)"
-Change "Text Documents (*.txt)" to read "All Files"
-Press the save button.

This post has been edited by LongbottomLeaf: May 20 2007, 20:25 PM

I did this, but when I tried to play the map i got a game crash error and the game closed why? and how shall i get it to work?

well could you post the map in a .zip or .rar file so that we could view it
do this in the EA Worldbuilder General Discusion please

well actually that map was only a tiny testing map without textures it was just a ini test map

post the ini file dont worry ill take a look

ok, can i just post the map in these forums?

no wait, Ive deleted that map already well, if i get more problems, I will post it here

This post has been edited by SvN91bast: May 22 2007, 04:41 AM

to post a map you must place it in a .zip or .rar file but yes you can

Great

Mapping is fun but I just don't pay attention to details enough... or put enough time into doing this kinda stuff. The sucky thing is that I can't see water reflections ingame, ever. No matter what the graphics are set at.

Odd, your graphics card settings might be set so that more complex things dont run to minimize system usage:P