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I've done everything and munged it, and the file in the addon folder has nothing in it! It crashes battlefront, and I have to delete it. The error message appears so fast that I don't have time to read it! Please help!

Whoa, slow down there. We can't help you if you don't slow down and tell us the problem more clearly.

I created my map in zeroeditor, then munged it. I got an error message that flashed by so fast that I couldn't see it. When I tried to load Battlefront II, it crashed. When I deleted my map from the addon folder, it worked fine, so I knew the problem was with my map. What do I do?

We're going to need more information before we can tell you anything. We need to know what exactly you did to the map, but posting an error log or even a mungelog (if it shows any errors) would be extremely helpful in pinpointing the problem quickly.

You may have too many addon maps in your addon foler
try deleting one and munging again

Darth Skraal wrote:...I got an error message that flashed by so fast that I couldn't see it...

It is unlikely that was an error. VisualMunge opens up a text file when it finishes munging if it had an error while munging something. VisualMunge does open command prompts to do a few things. That is most likely what you saw.

MutantMonkey wrote:

Hidden/Spoiler:

I doubt there r ne guides yet but I'll give u the low down (tho the documentation incl. aint that bad - I did have to disipher it a bit back in BF! Builder!)

1st thing to do - go into C:\BF2_ModTools\data\_BUILD (default directory) and double click (open) the "Modtools VisualMunge.exe" (should have an icon like system defrag) in the window that pops up you will need to put in a 3-letter world name (this is NOT the actual name of the map - so don't panic) this is what ur maps folders and files will b named using (I will refer to it as ***).
Tip: if u plan to release the map u will need to consider a 3 letter name that is not already taken
Enter a Full World Name (the actual map name) and optionally a description in the box below.
Select "space map" if appropriate and the game modes you wish to include (but I'm not gonna cover space maps as I don't know about them yet).
Finally click the "Create World" button and wait... a dialogue box will pop up eventually telling you to go to BF2_ModTools\data***\_BUILD and run visual munge from there, click ok and close that visual munge, DON'T do as it says just yet tho, instead go into your data*** folder and open the zeroeditor.exe in that folder.

Once zeroeditor loads - click the "LOAD" button in the top left (under "FILE:") and go to this directory C:\BF2_ModTools\data_***\Worlds\***\world1 and open the ***.wld

A new window will appear "Load Layers" - select all the layers (click on them) then click OK... now it gets a bit more exciting!

Depending on whether u chose a space or land map it will look different
-land maps load as a flat wireframe, which can b changed in size - now is the time to do so, under "advanced" click the "terrain" button (but this will wipe other things incl. the 4 spawn points (which are placed by default)
-space maps will have 2 capital ships (1 for each side) and 2 frigates (1 for each side).

camera/view Controls:

W key = forward
S key = back
A key = turn left
D key = turn right
F key = up
V key = down
Left arrow key = straif left
Right arrow key = straif right
Up arrow key = look up
Down arrow key = look down
, key (<) = decrease camera movement speed
. key (>) = increase camera movement speed

Panel buttons:

SHOW: - in order to show/hide different elements you need to click these buttons object is the only one selected by default

TERRAIN VIEW: -
select SOLID to be able to see textures (this takes more processor power)
select WIRE to see a vertex grid
(you can select both the above!)
select HEIGHT to see the wire frame in topographical style (height change is represented by colour)
select COLOR to see any coloured areas of your map (wire frame)

ACTIVE LAYERS: - click the CHANGE: button to see available layers in a new window, selecting BASE for example will allow you to see and edit Command Posts (CPs). Layers are a way of seperating out the different types of info so that you don't get confused and so your map doesn't get to cluttered - otherwise you could click accidentally on things you don't mean to.

VISABILITY: - this allows you to increase camera view distance but more view means slower performance, especially with more objects

EDIT MODE: -
HEIGHT - select this to access the height manipulation panel (on the laft) and edit the terrain height!
COLOR - select this to access the color mode and panel where you can colour the terrain!
TEXTURE - texture mode and texture panels (left and right)
WATER - water mode and panel, for creating and editing water (requires water related files)
FOLIAGE - create plants
OBJECT - this is where you can add all sorts of things such as buildings, replenishment droids, unit spawn points and vehicle spawn points!
PATH - a key part of any unit spawn point, it defines where units will spawn
REGION - a region is an area that defines where units have to be to capture a CP and its also the area which stops spawned units degenerating (and eventually destructing)
PORTAL - an advanced technique that sperates maps into areas allowing them to b loaded based on visability (basically this can improve game performance)
HINTNODE - These are things that tell the AI how to behave in certain areas
BARRIERS - Place these to tell AI to avoid objects (they can't see objects)
PLANNING - Allows you to setup AI routes allowing AI to move more intelligently through your map
BOUNDARY - this defines a border that humans and AI should not venture beyond, if they do they will b warned and given time to return if not they will be destroyed... this is actually very important in order to stop players seeing the edge of the level, where textures end (its all about asthetics)
LIGHT - pretty obvious I think... it's a new feature (wasn't in BF1!)

EDIT: - UNDO is for ppl who make mistakes (we are all *undo*... mostly humans) and REDO is for indecisive ppl who aren't so sure it was a mistake (lol)
-------------------------------------------------

I'm gonna leave a gap now that I may finish or some1 else can... should incl. the following:
-in depth panel descriptions
-how to add vehicles
-creating textures
-adding necessary files from assets
-xsi modelling
------------------------------------------------
Final Step:
Once you are done creating a map go to BF2_ModTools\data***\_BUILD and run visual munge from there. In this visual munge you will see the old options are greyed out and new ones are available but to start with you probably want to leave them as it will be faster - just click "Munge" (this is a term used that basically means to compile/create), again you will have to wait (this is when you wish you had a faster processor!) ...I think you can work the rest out

I did all this, and it still crashed my BF2! I have only 20 other maps in my addon folder, so it can't be that. After munging, when I open the the map folder, the folder DATA is empty. What is the problem?

Well, different computers handle different amounts of maps. As Tean said, some people he know have over 2000 maps with only one or two mappacks, well most people can only have 56. Or something like that.

Ahh, VisualMunge finishes quick right? Did you happen to install the mod tools in a path that contains spaces? The mod tools need to be installed in a folder with no spaces in its path.

I (and someone else who actually wrote a topic about it) had the same problem when I had the DirectX SDK March 2008 installed. No idea why it messed up the munge process, but the June version fixed the problem.

I have it in: Local Disk (C:), Program Files, LucasArts, Star Wars Battlefront II, Gamedata. Is that the problem? I heard somewhere on the forums that it needs to be there to work.

No. There is a sppace in the directory. BF2_Modtools.exe goes there. The folder BF2_modtools and all of it's contents except BF2_Modtools.exe belong in C:

I put it in the right folder, munged it and got this error:

ERROR[PC_modelmunge msh\geo_bldg_geoturret.msh]:AddSegment(geo_bldg_geoturret:shadowvolume): shadow mesh edge 216 / 226 is invalid (edge next == twin == 217)
WARNING[PC_modelmunge msh\geo_bldg_hangar.msh]:geo_bldg_hangar has 3981 vertices and NO COLLISION GEOMETRY (WILL BE SLOW)!
1 Errors 1 Warnings

What do I do? It still crashes!

EDIT: I fixed the crashing, but now the units won't spawn from their command posts! Whenever I click "Spawn", nothing happens! I got this error log: WARNING[PC_modelmunge world1\rep_bldg_deadklon.msh]:rep_bldg_deadklon has 4532 vertices and NO COLLISION GEOMETRY (WILL BE SLOW)!
WARNING[PC_modelmunge world1\rep_bldg_deadklon2.msh]:rep_bldg_deadklon2 has 4842 vertices and NO COLLISION GEOMETRY (WILL BE SLOW)!
WARNING[PC_modelmunge world1\rep_bldg_deadklon3.msh]:rep_bldg_deadklon3 has 6075 vertices and NO COLLISION GEOMETRY (WILL BE SLOW)!
WARNING[PC_modelmunge world1\rep_bldg_deadklon4.msh]:rep_bldg_deadklon4 has 4291 vertices and NO COLLISION GEOMETRY (WILL BE SLOW)!
WARNING[PC_modelmunge world1\rep_bldg_deadklon5.msh]:rep_bldg_deadklon5 has 5144 vertices and NO COLLISION GEOMETRY (WILL BE SLOW)!
0 Errors 5 Warnings