Renaming a map & map description hints

Tutorial for Battle for Middle-earth II BFME 2, Battle for Middle-earth II: Rise of the Witch-king ROTWK

Puzzler33

Category:	Worldbuilder
Level:	Beginner
Created:	Saturday April 17, 2010 - 7:01
Updated:	Saturday April 17, 2010 - 8:08
Views:	4089
Summary:	How to fully rename a map and map.str-related hints on map description.

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So what do you do if you realise that your map, despite being renamed, still shows up in the game as its initial name?

(Assuming you have taken the appropriate steps to be able to open .ini files:)
The reason this is happening is because when you renamed the map, the display name remained the same. You can change this by accessing the MapCache.ini in the 'Maps' folder (if you don't know where this is then use Search to find your (Hidden) Application Data folder, open the game's folder then create a shortcut to the Maps folder on your desktop for quick access).

In MapCache.ini you might notice it says not to edit it - nothing will go wrong if you use the correct format (speak its language, if you will). Use Find (Ctrl+F) to find your map and you should see that the display name underneath the map name is what you don't want (aside from the fact that after each letter there is '_00'). To avoid mistyping something we will use the map description as a tool for translating into the code the file uses - close MapCache.ini, start worldbuilder and open your map. Copy the map description into a word document or somewhere temporarily and delete any text in the map description and replace it with your map name as you want to display it. Save your map and go back to MapCache.ini where you find your map's details you should see your map description (again lots of '_00's). Copy the map description and replace the Display Name with it. Save and quit MapCache.ini. Copy from the temporary document the map description back into worldbuilder and save your map.

How can you customise your map's description to include things like new lines?

If you do not have a map.str file for your map, now is the time to create one. You can do this by creating a new notepad document in your map's folder, Save As..., call it 'map' (without quotation marks), select file type '.str'. You can also do this by finding a map with an str file and copying it into yours (then deleting the text in it).

STR files are quite simple creatures, consisting of three distinct lines: the title, the body and the end.

Code

SCRIPT:MapIntro01

"Hello and welcome to my map.\n I hope you like it."

End

The first line (SCRIPT:MapIntro01) is what you use to reference the body of text, for example if I wanted to use it as a notification or 'military briefing' then I would make a script a little like:

Code

***IF***

True



***THEN***

Display military briefing 'SCRIPT:MapIntro01' for '10' seconds.

The second line is what you would actually see in the game. If you entered the body of text as the name of the military briefing in the example script above, you would end up with 'MISSING:' in front of it in the game and you wouldn't be able to make new lines.

Using 'End' is vital for it to work because it tells the game that the string is finished. 'End' is also used in ini files and other coding.

Now back to the map description: to be able to use new lines and go way beyond the word limit in the map description, you need to enter into your map.str file a string like the following:

Code

Map:mapname/desc

"Close slot 2 under the host to avoid problems!\n You are about to enter a world of mystery where allegiances change with the wind and nothing is certain. Keep alert and you might just get out alive..."

End

In the first line you may change 'mapname' to whatever you want (except no spaces). Launch worldbuilder and open your map, open 'Map Settings' and paste in the first line from your str file into your map description. In the game your map description will now be whatever you put between those quotation marks in your str file.

Comments

Display order: Newest first

Puzzler33 - Wednesday April 28, 2010 - 9:29

Yes I know you don't have to edit the map file names or even the folder name but it's best if everything is uniform in that way. I have found that using Ctrl+Enter doesn't work for multiplayer (i.e. the second and subsequent lines only show in single player). I may be wrong about it because I think I may have not run the map before manually updating its displayname, but I was under the impression that the game does not update the displayname if you change the map name. You don't need to do the map description in the str file but you can (though if ctrl+enter does work then I suppose that's a little obsolete too). :D

Spartan184 - Tuesday April 20, 2010 - 20:45

Its true what _Haldir_ is saying ;) But it is right what you have said.

_Haldir_ (Team Chamber Member) - Monday April 19, 2010 - 7:20

I'm pretty sure you don't need to edit the map.str, map.ini or mapcache.ini files in order to change your map's display name and description. You only need to open up WB, and edit the Map Settings (like you've said). Editing it through WB will also automatically update the mapcache once you run the game.

You can also use ctrl+enter to create new lines as you edit the description in the map settings, rather than dividing it up between the description and in-game strings.

Everything you've said is right, it just seems like an overly complicated way to do things.

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