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'BattleCraft 1942' - Updated Map Editor Available NOW

by Rainier on Nov. 14, 2003 @ 1:58 p.m. PST

Electronic Arts has released an updated Battlecraft 1942 version of the Battlefield 1942 map editor, . This new v2.0 version updated with new applications like the PreFab Manager and Surface Map Painter, enhancements to the existing tools, bug fixes, etc. Read more for details and download links ...

Get the BattleCraft 1942 v2.0 off Worthplaying (18mb)

Version Compatibility:

Battlecraft 1942 created maps can only be played with version 1.25 or higher of Battlefield 1942 As of this writing, the latest version of Battlefield 1942 is 1.45. The latest patch information can be found at www.battlefield1942.com.

Battlecraft 1942 was released in two open beta versions, 1.0 and 1.1 Release notes for these can be found at the bottom of the readme and in the Battlecraft 1942 Users Guide.

Levels created with versions 1.0 or 1.1 of Battlecraft 1942 will work with version 2.0. However, the object spawns will not function. In order to fix this, delete the old object spawns and object spawn templates, and replace with new object spawns and object spawn templates.

Mods and Battlecraft 1942:

In order to make a Battlecraft 1942 map for a Battlefield 1942 mod, such as Desert Combat or Galactic Conquest, you must have a .lst file and a .cfg file in your Battlecraft 1942 directory. A .lst file is a listing of all custom objects the mod contains. The .cfg file is a file directing Battlecraft 1942 to the proper .rfa directories. We have provided you with the latest versions of .cfg files and .lst files for Desert Combat and Galactic Conquest. These .cfg files are configured for a default installation of Battlefield 1942. In order to use them, simply rename them, for example from desertcombat.cfg.use to desertcombat.cfg. If you have a non-default installation path for Battlefield 1942, you must open the .cfg file and edit the path.

NB: Because of the level-dependent .rfa structure of Desert Combat, Desert Combat static objects are not available for use. The only way to access Desert Combat static objects is to open a Desert Combat level, use “copy to” to save it under a different name, and then open that level. You will then be able to use any and all static objects used in that level.

NB: Many Desert Combat levels are so large they have a great deal of difficulty being opened in Battlecraft 1942.


Hardware Compatibility:

We do not recommend the use of dual monitors or dual video cards with Battlecraft 1942.

Battlecraft 1942 has known issues on the following cards:

Radeon (7200) 64MB
Radeon 7500 64 MB
Radeon 8500 64 MB
Radeon 9000 64 MB

The following workaround will address any issues encountered while generating shadows using the above cards:

Step 1. Unpack the game.rfa using one of the freely available .rfa unpacking utilities.
Step 2. Open the init.con file.
Step 3. Add the line   "raytracer.init" to the end of the file (do not include the quotation marks).
Step 4. Save the file and repack the .rfa file.


New tools, changes, and notes added in version 2.0

PreFab Manager: A prefab manager has been enabled. This tool allows you to save areas of your maps and have them available when creating or editing other maps. In other words, you can make a small “tank repair base”, save it as a prefab, and have it available for placement in any map you wish.

Unlock all: Unlock all as been added.

Can no longer delete locked objects

Added .cfg files for Desert Combat and Galactic Conquest.

Fixes:

***- Fixed various crashes with shadow generation.
***- Fixed crash when saving level
***- Fixed crashes related to mod selection
***-Nudge tool now operated in top-down mode
***-Fixed crash related to surface map painter
***-Fixed various problems with surface map generation on large maps
***-Improved framerate

New tools, changes, and notes added in version 1.1


New Tools

Surface Map Painter-- a new mapper-style tool, enabling you to paint textures and colors directly on to your map. To enter Surface Map Painter mode, press the palette shortcut on the toolbar, next to the object mapper button. Once activated, you will see a "brushes" drop down list on the right, a darken tool, a lighten tool, a material painter tool (which, it is important to note, does not actually paint the materials-- the sound a soldier stepping on an area of "wet grass" material that has had "rock surface" painted on it will still make the "wet grass" sound) a texture blender for smoothing out rough edges, and a color selector. At far right is a drop down menu with textures-- only used, of course, if you are using the material painter.

Undo: Undo has been implemented. It is functional in all mapper modes. Undo will function on every change you have made to an object, but cannot function if you have since selected a new object. There is no redo. Keyboard shortcut is CTRL-Z Undo does not function in Surface Map Painter mode.

Con File Editor: Now you can editor your level's con files without unpacking and repacking. The Battlecraft 1942 confile editor allows you to open and make changes to your level's con files. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: If you save your level after editing con files, your con files will be overwritten. So, save your level first, then edit your con files (saving each individually through the con file editor), then exit without saving the level in general. Also, I suggest heartily that if you've made many changes to your con files you'd be sad to lose, copy and paste them into a word document-- that way they'll be perfectly safe.

Lock/Unlock: In order to prevent the pain and suffering of accidentally moving an object you just spent a half hour moving into just the right position, you now have the option to lock objects in place. In fact, objects come into being locked into place-- you'll have to use the unlock button one of a group of three new buttons to the right of the toolbar. After you're done jockeying your object into place, lock it up. You can also lock all objects at once by hitting "lock all objects".

CTRL-Click Functionality: Now when you're selecting an object inside another object (such as an ammo box inside a house) a dialogue box will appear asking you if you which of the two (or both) you want to select, making transportation of your nicely-set-up houses a snap.

Nudge Tool: To ease perfect placement of objects, the nudge tool allows you to increment very small changes to the X and Y positioning of the object. Just select the object, select the new nudge tool from the object manipulation toolbar (it's red, right next to the "rotate objects on the Z axis" button. Then just click and drag, and your object will move with you... hold down CTRL to slow the speed of movement-- and remember to lock it when you've nudged it into just the right place.

Editor Options: You can increase or decrease your view distance through editor options, found under "edit".

Copy To: A pseudo "save as", this creates a complete copy of your level .rfa, named whatever you like. Note that after using this, the editor stays in the original level. And because of the way Battlefield 1942 handles appended filenames DON'T RENAME FILES USING NUMBERS. In other words, don't make "My_Cool_Level2.rfa". Battlefield 1942 will treat it as an appendix to "My_Cool_Level" and problems will arise.

Generate Material Map: Found under tools, this allows you to specify whether materials will be auto-generated using either height or angle as a reference.

Tips: A handy bunchy of tips now display at startup. These cannot be deselected until you have read (or at least scrolled through) all of them. We advise reading them.

Changes

The "red orb of terrain editing" has been removed.

The terrain editing tools for carve and raise have been reworked to be smoother.

Custom mouse icons have been added for all tools.

Can now resize the level tree

Changed the name of the default theater to “Europe”

Added uninstaller available through start menu.


Fixes
***-Fixed crash bug with running Test Level on MOD other than bf1942
***-Fixed crash bug on creating new MOD of same name then deleting duplicate one in the list
***-Fixed bug with selecting "NO" in new MOD dialog upon install of BC42
***-Fixed creating new MOD with no characters in name
***-Fixed texture rendering problem on Radeon 9x Pro video cards
***-Addressed memory issues when generating by clearing surface maps before-hand
***-Fixed Mini Map to update properly
***-Fixed Offsets on Surface Map Assignments dialog
***-Fixed mini-map cursor movement in normal windowstate
***-Fixed maxnumberofobject

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