posted 01-29-02 20:31 EST (US)
The Compendium has been updated from the original hard work by With a continuing active interest in Scenario Design, hopefully the Compendium can continue to be expanded and updated moving forward. Let's start with a common area. I have tried to make a distinction between Stronghold and Crusader, and if a question is game-specific, it will be recorded as such. It happens occasionally during scenario design that you will place a keep, only to find your Lord has gone AWOL. If this is the case, the keystroke Alt+V resets your Lord, generating a new one in the editor. There is a limit to the number of sprites, or map elements, that the games can keep track of and display in a single map. After this limit is reached, there will be a cut-off after which no more items can be placed. The official limits are as follows: Quoted from Lord Wibble: In the newest patch for Stronghold, v1.2, the editor will warn you when you can only have 200 more sprites. Peasants can be created whilst in the map editor by disbanding troops, but they will not turn into workers. House mothers cannot be created in the editor. To get peasants to turn into workers and to get house mothers to appear, you need to play the scenario in question for a while, then save it. Access the saved games folder on your hard drive and change the file extension (.sav) to .map. Move the map to the maps folder and relaunch the game. Your map will now show workers and house mothers in the editor. Please note that peasants do not appear whilst playing a siege map in Stronghold. For For Unfortunately there is no current definite answer to this, as various people have tested different theories on this subject. To date, the signposts chosen by the AI seems completely random, so it would be best to assume that we don't know! If this changes, I will update this section accordingly. One of the neat features of both Stronghold and Crusader is the ability to destroy walls and towers. This can really add something special to a map. To destroy walls, you need to be in the map editor function. Using some 'enemy' troops (i.e. red if you are to play as blue default), ask them to attack a section of wall. They will chip away at the wall until you move them away, or disband them. For towers, it may be better to place an enemy ram and 4 engineers for a quicker way around this. The ram will start destroying the tower (or wall, if you wish) until the tower collapses, leaving a ruined effect. Take care with this; the ram or enemy unit should stop just short of flattening the tower completely, but be ready to move it away once the ruin shows on screen. You need to be in invasion mode for Stronghold or invasion/skirmish mode for Crusader. For Stronghold automatically deletes or adds units depending on the difficulty level you choose. Play an invasion (or defending siege in Stronghold) on a harder level, and the troops won't disappear. Yes, for Stronghold. Make the map a Siege by pressing alt-comma in the main scenario screen (as detailed above). Save the map, then play it as attacker. While attacking, save the game and convert the .sav file to a .map file. Quoted from Lord Yoshi: Quoted from Ztolk: You must make your picture/screenshot a .jpg file (you can do that in "Save As"), and use a pixel program/paint editor. You can them upload it to the internet. I recommend www.boomspeed.com for uploading. Geocities will not work. After that use the http://imageurl/image.jpg tags. NB: The Boomspeed website currently states that accounts are only available for persons 18 years or over, due to the verification process using a credit card. It seems that many (but not all) of the 'free' sites that allow picture storage do not allow you to link a picture or screen caption to other sites. The best advice here is to hunt around and ensure that you read the Terms of Service that these sites stipulate must be adhered to. Fires can be a real problem. As they are able to spark and spread to neighbouring buildings, you need to ensure that you isolate buildings, or small groups of them, with a space of 4 tiles between each building/group. This way the fires won't be able to spread. This may not be practical in some scenarios (limited building space, for example), so in this instance you have to rely on numerous wells! One thread mentioned building a selection of cheap, disposable items, such as woodcutters' huts, some way from the main castle/settlement. These seemed to catch fire, diverting the risk away from the main body of the castle. But bear in mind that fires are random events that can trigger anywhere! Yes. Please refer to Without a doubt, the use of events in both Stronghold and Crusader are essential. From a simple win/loss event to the slightly more complex events dependant on other factors, they allow the map you design to be playable and enjoyable by those that downloaded your file. Firstly, I would recommend In addition to this, you may wish to take into consideration some other factors. The use of events, when utilised correctly, can add a tremendous amount of enjoyment to a map. Likewise, they can also ruin gameplay. Below are a few points worth remembering. Think about the scenario you are designing. What do you hope to achieve? Is your map to be economic-based, with a number of win-criteria to be met? Is it an invasion, where you must defend a castle against multiple waves of attacks? Or how about a combination of the two - sometimes referred to as an With invasions, which are in themselves events, try different methods of getting the AI to attack you. Rather than have one large invasion of, say, 400 troops, try to break it up into 4 separate invasions of 100 troops and see how the map plays. It may play slightly differently, but give you the effect you want. Some of the downloads available here have very large invasions to deal with over a period of time, as a result of the above method - smaller invasions spread out over a period of time, but sufficient in size and frequency to ensure you are kept on your toes. The biggest piece of advice that many, many forumers have given about events is to There has already been a large number of threads about landscaping posted within the Scenario Design forum, as map makers continue to research and develop techniques within the editor. This section is designed as a reference point for some of the most valuable and frequently asked questions, which will hopefully give new and old map designers alike a useful guide. It needs to be stressed that there is no right way or wrong way to design terrain, and what follows are thoughts, ideas and interpretations that people feel works for them. First off, a link to a series of articles by Good landscape design for both games takes a little time, and it will help if you have an idea, even rudimentary, on what you want the finished terrain to look like. To make things easier, I have split the section into two. Therefore, separate sections are available for both Stronghold and Crusader When deciding to place a river or stream as part of your map, there are a couple of very basic, yet critical factors to remember, if you want to achieve a realistic effect. Put simply, water will always find the quickest and easiest way to get from top to bottom. Bearing this in mind, try to place rivers in a natural environment. Look at your map... where (if any) are the high ground areas going to be? How would the river flow in nature? River terrain looks messy if applied to steep river banks or placed half way up hills as you sweep the brush around the map. Most rivers will have some degree of current and when it comes to bends, deposit sediment and pebbles on the inside of banks, where the flow is slower. Small areas of land on the inside of bends gives this feeling of sedimentary deposit well. In slower moving rivers, for example nearer to river mouths, the capability of water to hold large volumes of material decreases and this material is deposited in the form of deltas. Large, meandering rivers can be made to look realistic by using the method used on river bends... small, mainly elongated strips of grass terrain reflecting these deposits. Higher up near the rivers' source, the flow is less in volume but quicker. On higher terrain, small streams, babbling brooks and waterfalls look extremely impressive, as do springs, which can be easily done either by disguising the source of a spring with rocks, shrubs and/or trees, or allowing the spring to appear between two different levels of plain. On the lowest terrain, it's an idea to place trees next to rvier banks, along with the occasional stone or boulder. Shrubs also work equally well in making the river more of a feature. One tool item that is sometimes overlooked is the ford tool. Used to allow troops and units to cross the river, it can also be used sparingly in both rivers and lakes near the edges of the water to give the effect of stones just underneath the surface, or rock pools if you have a small pond. Lakes follow similar rules as rivers in terms of decorating them. Raising the surrounding terrain slightly around a lake really gives the idea of depth to a map. You can also recreate wetland without using the marsh effect by using the very smallest brush size and, with river terrain selected, drawing small streams and waterways leading from a main body of water. Try to make this main lake as irregular as possible in terms of shape. The The preset terrain levels, low, medium and high, are useful if your map involves extensive building, but can look a little out of place in other areas of your map. Whilst flat plains can look effective, they need disguising by additional features such as trees, shrubs and rock to avoid blank areas of landscape. A great effect, that of rolling hills or undulating terrain, can be easily achieved. In areas that aren't crucial to your map design, a rugged landscape can add real atmosphere. An easy way to do this is to use the second or third smallest brush size, and place areas of different terrain heights around the map. Then, using the If you are creating larger areas of raised terrain, a large brush size is naturally better for speed. For the more intricate details, stick to the smallest brush size possible, for it is this that will give you the best results. For mountainous areas, it can be difficult to achieve within the limits of the editor. However, basing the whole of our map on terrain ranging from high to low can combat this limitation and provide more than acceptable results. Small pathways and larger rock outcrops adds the atmosphere element, along with pine trees and shrubs/bushes. The default effect when placing blocks of terrain produces the One of the greatest features of Stronghold allowing you to make great looking landscapes is the range of bushes and trees. They can take a map and transform the design. Equally, they can also ruin what could be a great terrain if they are placed incorrectly. By this, I mean clumsily or not in keeping with the landscape itself. It's widely recognised that the pine tree looks better on higher terrain, by coastal scenes or by lakes. The oak and chestnut trees are equally effective lining the route of a river or for creating a thick forest. Birch is much lighter in density and i've found that this works well in marshy areas or light woodland, but usually interspersed with other tree species. Rather than clump them together, try to feather the effect, placing fewer trees the further away from your wooded area to give the impression of a forest. Shrubs and bushes look perfectly suited in between stones in a rocky outcrop, especially on higher terrain. As rocks weather, they release minerals into the soil. Rocky outcrops also provide shelter from the wind and these factors are reflected in nature. Try the same with your shrub placement. Lining the banks of a river or lake with shrubs (interspersed with trees, as above) works too. In fact, there isn't any specific area on a map where shrubs don't, or can't, look good. Try to avoid large clumps of single colour that end abruptly, a more random placement seems to be more in keeping with the natural look. Plaza Above and beyond articles on how to create various elements, several of our core of designers and posters have created galaries of ideas they have had, and screenshots of them. In these cases, I have acredited the thread to the designer who first started it, though often other designers have done variations on the theme. That's the power of this section, and why it has been given its own category, these ideas are all stepping stones, suggestions of where the editor can go. It's up to you to figure out how to do it better. Within each order the threads are presented in no order other than the one I found them in. If you feel you have been left out of this section (or that a thread has been left out), let me know in a reply, and if you really want to help me out, provide the URLs for your threads so I don't have to go a'hunting. These links will go to discussions in other parts of the Stronghold Heaven discussion board (marked "Discussion"), to other parts of Stronghold Heaven (marked "SH"), and to outside sites (marked "Outside"). This will also include links to currently active scenario design, and related contests being run by this and affiliated sites. Main Stronghold Site: The Editor: Mapmaking 101: Places that host images for free You'll need to figure out if they allow linking of images. [This message has been edited by Sulis (edited 06-18-2003 @ 10:47 AM).]
Section 1. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Section 2. Alt key combinations
Section 3. Better Map Design - Events
Section 4. Better Map Design - Landscape
Section 5. Eye Candy & Mapmaking 101
Section 6. The Review Guidelines
Section 7. Other useful links
Trees and shrubs are grouped on their own with a limit (I think) of 2000. People and animals are grouped with a limit of 1,500. Flying things, like arrows, flags, birds, etc have a limit of 2,000. Buildings have a limit of 1,000
You can use the three extra MP players in single-player scenarios by placing the purple, cyan (light blue) or green units in the MP editor and then changing the map type into some other map type. These units will fight against any other unit on the map including other enemy units. They can be used as extra eye-candy colours or you could even start a scenario with an epic battle with computer players fighting each other. And if you're creative, you can use this trick to have unstable "allies".Ztolk 3.2 Ztolk 3.3 thurdl01 and others 3.4 By Inquizative_HTS 3.5 SSSI_Gordon Farrell 3.6 IrishStag 3.7 SSSI_Gordon Farrell 3.8 SSSI_Gordon Farrell 3.9 Lord_ako 3.10 Jayhawk 3.11 Link posted by aubergine 3.12 Yoshi
Tournaments:
Bits and Pieces:
(Includes more in depth presentations of some elements first explored in forum posts)
Tripod also is a free host
Thanks thurdl 
Better answer this in the FAQ, too.
