
The HOMEWORLD Map-Makers Primer

'A good map is never finished - its just abandoned...'

[v1.6 Written by Dylov - 10-05-00]

[Based mainly around the work written and compiled by:
Shin, Hellhawk666, TAKER, Obithrawn and BPLlama]



TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION	
SOME POINTS TO REMEMBER:	
PART ONE - THE MAP BASICS	
AND SO IT BEGINS
ON THE MAP DESIGN	
The Multiplayer 'Skirmish' Map	
The Multiplayer 'Homeworld' Map	
The Multiplayer 'Battle' Map	

DIRECTORY STRUCTURE	

DIRECTORY CONTENT	
THE DESCRIPTION FILE	
THE LEVEL FILE	
THE MOTHERSHIP FILES	
THE RESOURCESPHERE FILE	
PART TWO - UNIVERSAL SETTINGS	
THE DESCRIPTION FILE	
THE MAP DESCRIPTION	
DEFAULT SETTINGS	
RU INJECTIONS	

THE LEVEL FILE	

COMMENT LINES AND GAME INFORMATION	
THE MISSIONSPHERE LINES	
PlayerNumber	
RaceName	
Misspheretype	
Posx, Posy, Posz	
Radius	
Sphererotz	
Contents	
startingRU's	
MAP LEVEL DATA	
Background and lighting settings	
Sensors Manager: Universe size and Scanner radii	
Determining what ships and resources to load	
Ships	
Resources	
Derelicts	
Determining what colour schemes a ship can be:	
SongNumber	


PART THREE - THE MISSION SPHERE FILES	

THE MOTHERSHIP MISSION SPHERES	
posx, posy, posz	
rot	
race	
shiptype	
numShips	
formation	
flag	
Properties and porpertiesParam: colour	

THE RESOURCE MISSION SPHERES	
THE RESOURCES LINE	
resourcetype	
posx, posy, posz	
layout	
distribution	
numResources	
radius	
length	
roty, rotz	
properties	
DERELICTS	
derelicttype	
posx, posy, posz	
roty, rotz	
properties	
SHIPS	
NEBULAS	
posx,posy,posz	
Nebula	
distribution	
NumTendrils	
xSize, ySize, zSize	
NumChunks	

RESOURCESPHERE AND MISSIONSPHERE PROPERTIES:  (GARY'S NOTES)	
A note on Rotating Derelicts:	
A note on MissionMan and properties:	
A note on properties of '64' and '128':	

A FEW POINTS FOR TROUBLESHOOTING THE MISSION SPHERE FILES;	

DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES; THE *.DIST FILES	
ResourceTypeSize	
RelativeNumber	
RegenNumber	

ON THE PLACEMENT OF SPHERES, CYLINDERS AND RECTANGLES	
SPHERES	
CYLINDERS	
RECTANGLES	

ON THE ADDITION OF CPU CONTROLLED SHIPS IN MULTIPLAYER MISSIONS	


PART FOUR - FINISHING YOUR MAP	

ADDING MORE PLAYERS TO THE BASIC 2-PLAYER (1V1) MAP.	
THE MAP FOLDER	
THE DESCRIPTION.TXT FILE	
THE LEVEL FILE	
THE MOTHERSHIP_#.MISSPHERE FILES.	
THE RESOURCESPHERE_#.MISSPHERE FILE AND ITS DISTRIBUTION FILES	
ResourceSphere	
The 64k-WON Limit	
Distribution files	

TWEAKS AND FINAL TOUCHES	
ONCE YOU HAVE FINISHED YOUR MAP 
AND SO IT ENDS


PART FIVE - APPENDICES	

APPENDIX I RELIC'S LISTING OF ALL OBJECTS	

DETERMINING WHAT RESOURCE TYPES AND DERELICTS TO LOAD	
DETERMINING WHAT SHIP TYPES TO LOAD	
SONGNUMBER LISTING FROM THE HOMEWORLD.BIG FILE.	

APPENDIX II HELP AND TROUBLESHOOTING	

HOMEWORLD MAPMAKING HELP AND FAQ V2.0A  (WRITTEN BY OBITHRAWN)	
1 - What do I need to make my own maps?	
2 - Where can I get MissionMan?	
3 - Are there any other mapmaking programs?	
4 - What does MissionMan do?	
5 - How do I make distribution files, and what do they do?	
6 - Why are there more than one directory for every map?	
7 - Why do the directories end in a number?	
8 - What does the Desiption.txt do?	
9 - What does the ResourceSphere_X.missphere do?	
10 - What Does The Mothership_X.missphere do?	
11 - Do I need one Resource Sphere file?	
12 - Do I have to have the Mothership Missionsphere files in every directory?	
13 - Why should I exclude things from my map?	
14 - Do I have to exclude things individually?	
15 - How can I exclude most things, but not all?	
16 - Do I have to include the comment lines on my map?	
17 - I've made all my files, where do I put them?	
18 - Why doesn't my map show up in the game menu?	
19 - How/where do I put in the description for my map?	
20 - I can select my map, but when I try to load it, it goes back to Windows, what's wrong?	
21 - When a map crashes, will it screw up Homeworld?	
22 - Where else can I find help?	
23 - For practice, can I edit other people's maps?	
24 - How do I put together the files to post to a site?	
25 - How do I make sure my map will work?	
26 - When I try to play my map over WON, when it tries to download, it crashes. What is wrong?	
HELLHAWK'S CHECKLIST FOR ADVANCED MAP-BUILDERS  (WRITTEN BY HELLHAWK666)	
1. Directory Structure	
2. Directory Content	
3. Basic File Content	
4. Detailed Inter-File Content	
5. Testing	
TAKER'S EXCEPTION ERRORS DEMYSTIFIED (WRITTEN BY TAKER, AKA JAMES TOOMAN)	
A. If the error occurs BEFORE the load indicator bar even comes on the screen:	
B. If the error occurs just after the load indicator bar comes up (one inch on my 19" monitor):	
C. If the error occurs after the load bar has gone a few inches, but not quite half way:	

APPENDIX III BIBLIOGRAPHY	

PART ONE - TEXTS	
PART TWO - UTILITIES	
PART THREE - WEBSITES	


 