Observations made on Scenario Editor version 1.8.3.
BASICS
Scenario Editor can be accessed through game Main Menu.
With opening the Editor you will start with loaded map of predefined size. 20x20 hexes in size map will be covered with Open Terrain as its base terrain type.
If you wish to create a map of different size click New Scenario button located on the right side of UI (figure 1).
figure 1
With New Scenario opened a pop up window will appear (figure 2). Here you can choose map size, name a scenario or decide which base terrain to use. Map limit is 120x120 hexes. Confirm button will load the map with set choices.
figure 2
First thing to do is to lay out terrain for the map. Various terrain types can be accessed by clicking Terrain button at the left side of the UI (figure 3). Editor uses 2D style for terrain representation. Terrain is laid out by selecting desired terrain type and clicking on the hex where you want it to be. If you changed your mind about convenient base terrain you can fill the map with one terrain type by using Fill Map button or if you want to make parts of the map faster it is possible to change Brush Size. By holding down left mouse button map will be filled with chosen terrain how you move brush over it (figures 4-1/4-2).
figure 3
figure 4-1 and 4-2
After basic terrain is being laid out, under button labeled as Other (figure 5) is additional layer of terrain features like roads, railroads, rivers and other map elements that have specific function. Most notable of those are Capture Point that places a flag on the map,Supply Point that defines supply output of a source, Hex Ownership that defines which faction owns the hex. Desired faction should be selected from faction list before using hex ownership (figure 6), effect of defining it should be visible through supply boundaries between hexes as well as
flags placed on the map should change depending on which faction owns the hex.
figure 5
figure 6
Decorations layer is the one that contains elements for adding final details on the map for the purpose of beautifying and atmosphere.
After map is being done units could be placed on it but before placing all of the units and defining AI (singleplayer) behaviour it can be useful to define Scenario Settings first (figure 7).
figure 7
Using pad image for scenario map
For map creation one can use geographical map as pad image on top of which hex terrains are placed. To do this find desired map image. If necessary cut parts of the image to create smaller one if the area on the image is to large and includes lot of out of play space. Check the width and height of your pad image. Transfer width and height measures into hex count at your own liking (1cm=some number of hexes). This way when you create map of certain size it will have same ratio as pad image. Take a note image used needs to be in .jpg format.
After deciding for a pad image and scenario map size follow this steps:
1. Create a scenario in the size you wish and save it
2. Find the location of this custom scenario, for the main game usually ...
My Documents\My Games\Order of Battle - WW2\Scenarios - in there each scenario gets its own subfolder
3. Find an image of a map you want to use as pad image for scenario map. Save it as
template.jpg in the custom scenario's own subfolder
4. Now when reloading your custom scenario the image you use as template.jpg will be shown in the background with some opacity, so you can place geographical details more accurately (figure
pad image)
figure
pad image