This is the second part of a multipart tutorial on the basic functions of World Builder. The scenario editor for Command and Conquer Generals.

By clicking on "View" (see Screenshot 09) in the tool bar a drop down box will appear with a plethora of options for the would-be map maker. The first 2, "Grow Grid" and "Show Textures", are disabled in the current version.

"SHOW OBJECT ICONS": This function toggles the object icons (a small target ,or cursor, underneath all objects and props) on or off, denoted by a check mark to the left of the function name.

"SHOW WAYPOINTS" toggles the waypoints (points of navigation) on or off the monitor screen.

"SHOW TRIGGER AREAS" will toggle the trigger areas (water areas and area triggers) on or off the screen. Water areas are formed with a unique tool covered later. They define the borders of water bodies and make it possible for water to be placed at different heights on the map. Area Triggers define the real estate that is governed by a trigger or set of triggers. These are used by the AI in setting up a skirmish map and also in single-player mode for certain scripting events.

"SHOW SHADOWS" toggles the shadows, as seen in-game, on or off. I normally leave this function off until I need to see what the terrain looks like in a certain light. This is a function that consumes memory from both the system and the graphics card. The editor will lag if you have a low end graphics card or lack sufficient memory.

"SHOW LABELS" simply turns the names of anything that is listed in the string file off or on.

"SHOW GARRISONNED" is a very neat function in that it will call up the garrisoned artwork of any structure that has this characteristic.

"SHOW MAP BOUNDRIES" will put a yellow border around the map allowing you to see the border, or playable area of the map, without having to have the "show impassable areas" function operating (more on that later). When resizing the map this will need to be adjusted. By clicking the Border tool (located in the upper tool bar) and picking the NORTHEAST corner of the map boundary you can adjust the border until you have it set to the same area as impassable boundary (denoted by a blue line around the playable area of the map).

"SHOW IMPASSABLE AREAS". This function enables or disables a layer that is painted over (in red) the tiles and areas that are not passable by the normal units. Impassable areas are normally painted with cliff textures so that the player can have some sort of idea as to where his units may travel. You can use any texture that you desire but, do us all a favor and use cliff textures please. It also denotes the border of the map as this too, is impassable.

"SHOW ALL of 3D VIEW". By ticking this function the entire map will be shown in the isoview screen. If the map is large and/or the object count is high the fps (frame rate) will suffer for those of you lacking memory or lower end graphics cards. Normally any map under 200x200 will be viewed with little problems.

"PARTIAL MAP SIZE" will limit the area of the scenario that can be viewed at any given moment. There are 4 basic settings that can be selected (Screenshot 10), 96x96, 128x128, 160x160,and 196x196. The version I am currently using states that the 96x96 version is the standard game size, not true. This size map leaves little room to build and very little room left for any terrain features what-so-ever. A good choice for a 2 or 3 player map would be 175x175. It takes around 1200 sq feet in order to build a base (This was found through many hours of trial and error), so with this setting both starting areas and terrain features can be incorporated easily.

"SHOW WIREFRAME 3D VIEW" (Screenshot 11 ) toggles the wireframe on or off. This mode is used for precise measurements and placement of objects. It is also useful for seeing raised and lowered ground when the lighting is wrong for a currently viewed angle. The intersections of the various axis points form the grid when using the "Snap to Grid" tool discussed further along in this tutorial.

"SHOW FROM TOP to BOTTOM" will replace the normal isoview with a view directly overhead. This places a large amount of information on the clipboard and again, machines which lack proper graphics and lack memory will suffer. The area viewed can be zoomed in and out by using the thumbwheel on your mouse.

"SHOW 3-WAY BLENDS in WHITE" does just exactly that. Screenshot 12 shows the three way blends (white squares) that were created and used in this particular map under construction. This function is useful when looking for potential tiling errors.

"SHOW CLOUDS". By ticking this, cloud shadows will move across the terrain as it would in-game. This is also one of those functions that consumes memory, so use it when needed to view the cloud characteristics.

"SHOW SOFT WATER" will allow the map maker to view or recognize shallow water areas. This are discerned by the water being translucent and the underlying textures being visible as well.

"SHOW MACROTEXTURE" toggles the overlaying, or macro (LARGE) texture on or off. Think of this as a layer that binds the blend tiles together more readily. This function can be deceiving. If it is left on while creating the map then most alpha blends will appear to look quite nice, however, when it is turned off you will notice that many blends are no longer there. It also consumes memory. I normally turn it off as the map is progressively increased in file size so as to facilitate scrolling and painting textures. When left off during the creation process less tiling errors will be created FOR THE LOWER END graphics card . In other words if you are playing the game with the graphics detail set to high then the macrotexture will be seen by you. If, however, you have the detail set to medium or low then the macro is turned off and all unblended tiles can be seen by the player. These are not tiling errors per se, as the map does look fine in the "high" detail mode. If the map is created with it turned off then turned on to check for tiling errors in the macro, then everyone including the low end graphics people can enjoy a nicely detailed map.

"CHANGE TIME of DAY" will change the apparent ambient lighting and accents to that of a new time period PROGRESSIVELY from morning, to afternoon, to evening to, night and back again.

"SNAP to GRID" causes all objects (to be placed) to "snap" to the grid lines of the wireframe. This makes placing items equally from each other and in straight lines an easy and relatively simple operation. It does not affect objects previously placed.

"SHOW BRUSH FEEDBACK" turns the VISIBLE paintbrush for the currently selected tool on or off.

"RELOAD TEXTURES" will cause the WB executable to find and reload the textures as used in the game.

"TOOLBAR" simply hides or reveals the toolbar.

"STATUS BAR" hides or reveals the status bar. This is located underneath the viewing area and contains such information as number of objects placed, number of waypoints used, cursor coordinates, map height for a given area, name of an object or prop that is currently selected, etc.

"LAYERS LIST" opens and closes the layers list (Screenshot 13). The layers list allows you to place items into different layers. This is handy when laying out the map and wanting to hide or view certain groups of objects. By default all items will be placed into the default layer until, or when, the map maker moves them. By right clicking on the default layer (in the list) you can insert a new layer, delete a layer, merge a layer into another layer, merge all selected objects into a layer, or hide the layer.

This concludes part 2 of the basics. Click on link below to continue to part 3.

« Chapter 1 - Part 1 | Chapter 1 - Part 3 here »