Heroes V map editor start help...

[Mace the Councillor]

Hi!

Some of you may remember me, as I am a long-time member of these forums and have made a map or two in the past. However, now I am trying to get into the Heroes V map editor and it hasn't been an all smooth transaction from previous Heroes games. Basically, I am wondering how a few things work, as shown below.

1. What is required of a map for it to be startable in the game? I can see a map I have made under custom maps and pick it, but after that, the "Start Game" button has its text marked grey and cannot be chosen. Why is that? When I run check in the editor, it says the map is well-formed, but apparently this is not enough.
2. How does victory conditions work? Does standard victory conditions (most likely defeat all enemy players) exist and are they active by default so they have to be deactivate them if other conditions are required instead?
3. Is there a good place to find scripts to learn from?
4. What are the basics of Heroes V terrain? It seems less based on placing lots of objects than previous Heroes games. If one wants to build, say, a mountain range, what are the building blocks?

Thanks!

[Asheera]

I'll answer what I can:

1. You need each active player to have at least one town or hero. Go to View->Map Properties, and there's a tab for setting up the players. Each player must either have a Main Town, or a Main Hero.

2. There are standard victory conditions (objectives). On the Map Properties Tree (on the left), expand the 'objectives' field and then expand some more stuff and you'll see, for example, OBJECTIVE_KIND_DEFEAT_ALL. That's one of the many standard objectives.

3. This guide is a great start.

Also, since the H5 scripting language is based on lua, you could check out the Lua Documentation page

And the .pdf files that come with the Editor are a good reference as well.

4. Heroes V's terrain is only formed of textures (for example, sand, snow, grass, etc). Of course, you can also raise/lower it and add objects, but the 'type' of the terrain (and the battlefield depends on this) is defined by the texture you apply on the tiles.

[Mace the Councillor]

Thanks for the reply...

1. Yes, I saw to that already, but still, the game won't load it.
2. Thanks, I found it. Just a couple of follow-up questions.
Is the paramater field below the kind field here meant for objectives like "Defeat Hero", requiring you to specify the object in question (in the case of "Defeat Hero", refering to which hero must be defeated), and if so, are the standard names from the scripting language used?
Can capturing a town be included as an object here (perhaps ...CAPTURE_OBJECT)?
3. Thanks, that seems to be an updated version of a guide I read yesterday.
4. After trying a little, I think I get it.

Thank you!

[Asheera]

1. Teams perhaps? Are you sure there is at least one enemy and not all of them are allies?

And, if you have the console activated (and know about this stuff), then you can check there (open the console) and see what error it displays. Write it here if you don't understand the error.

2. To be honest, I never created a real map, just testing stuff here and there, and I'm not sure... sorry

But I would guess that it's the name of the hero you use in the scripting, yes.

[Mace the Councillor]

1. Thanks! The teams thing did it. In my folly, I had activated teams, and forgot about it. But the map starts now.
I don't know how the console works, though.
2. I am going to have to test it, then.

[Asheera]

For the Console, here's how you can activate it:

Go to the directory where you installed Heroes 5. Then enter the profiles folder, and open the autoexec_a2.cfg file with Notepad (if you don't have Tribes of the East, open autoexec.cfg)

Add the following line at the beginning of this file:
setvar dev_console_password = schwinge-des-todes

Now go to your My Documents directory (Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents), enter the My Games\Heroes of Might and Magic V - Tribes of the East\profiles folder (without TotE you should enter My Games\Heroes of Might and Magic V\profiles). Now enter the folder with your profile name in the game. Open input_a2.cfg (input.cfg without TotE) with Notepad.

Add the following lines at the beginning of this file:
bind show_console '`'
bind fog_of_war 'CTRL' + 'SHIFT' + 'F'
bind adventure_teleport 'CTRL' + 'SHIFT' + 'T'

Now you activated the console! (you never have to do this again - unless you change your game profile)


To open the Console in game, press the key right to the left of your 1 key (the ` or ~ key). To hide the console, press it again when it is opened.

With the console you can do lots of interesting stuff. First, it shows you errors and some other things (like what AI does each turn). Second, you can execute all functions available in the scripts as well. However, you need to type @ at the start of the line if you want to execute some functions.

Here are some examples:

WRONG:
print(GetCurrentPlayer())
@print(@GetCurrentPlayer())

CORRECT:
@print(GetCurrentPlayer())


With the Console you can also cheat. There are many useful cheats described in the .pdf dedicated to cheats (in the same folder where there are the editor documentation ones). However, there are also two more very important cheats (VERY useful when testing a map) that I'll explain below.

However, in order to cheat, you need to type enable_cheats in the Console after you start the Map. Then you can enter any cheats you like (from that .pdf) and they will work. As for the other 2 very important cheats, here's how to do them and what they do:

Try holding your CTRL and SHIFT keys while pressing F, and you should deactivate the Fog of War on the map.
And for teleporting your hero: select the hero you want to teleport, move the cursor on the place you want him/her to be teleported and then press the T key while holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys. Note that you can't teleport your hero someplace where (s)he can't, e.g. in an unwalkable tile or near an enemy creature or hero.

Those CTRL+SHIFT+R or CTRL+SHIFT+T were actually defined in that file you customized for the cheats, check it again and you'll see the resemblance.

[PhoenixReborn]

Do you make maps Ashie?

[Asheera]

Nope... I do make test maps and such but I don't have the patience to finish a good-looking and balanced (with map objects, etc) map.

I'm more like knowing the theory behind the map editor, but I don't take it practically and create maps... don't really have time to create a map - I once tried and it's very tedious (gave up after some time)

[Belchior]

CTRL+SHIFT+F not work for me to reveal whole map.

[Asheera]

Make sure you first enable cheats since it's a cheat too

so open console and type "enable_cheats" (no quotes) and press enter

[Belchior]

ok thx.

[Franzy]

2 Mace the Councillor

Practice guide from the documentation pack is a good place to get an idea how it works.

[Franzy]

2 Mace the Councillor, Belchior

There is one thing no tutorial will tell you:

Always, ALWAYS make backup copies of your map. Ideally - after every editing session (you need to close the editor to be able to copy the file normally). The editor is buggy and has a tendency to ruin your map once in a while. If your comp will go down while you're working on a map (power failure, for example), your map will be screwed for sure. Also, there is no UNDO function in the editor.

So, ALWAYS make backup copies if you care for your mental health.

[modofit]

How do you open map editor?