Zero Editor FAQ/Tips and Tricks/Begginers Guide

[Breakdown]

Hello

I'm making this thread to adress common problems and issues with Zero Editor, and how to solve them. If you have a question about Zero Editor, ask here, I'll try my best to answer, and it will be added to the FAQ.

This can also serve as a mini guide, since a lot of these questions aren't really frequently asked

Other mappers here, if you have to answer to a question, I highly welcome you to post it here.

Zero Editor FAQ/Common Problems and Their Solutions/Guide

Q: In ZE, the texture looks fine, but in game it's very bright. How do I fix this?
A: There should be a "COLOR" tab at the top of the Zero Editor application, select a shade of grey from the pallete and cover the bright areas with it, this should help with the brightness
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Q: How do I insert CP Regions?
A: To insert CP regions, do the following:

1) In ZE click on the Regions tab

2) Click "New Group" and select the sphere, place it somewhere near a CP and adjust

3)This will be your capture region, say it's for your CP named "CP3"

4) Under Region ID write in "CP3Sphere" and under Properties write in "CP3Capture"

5) Now, go back to objects, click on your CP and to the right some boxes to fill in should appear.

6) Under captureregion type in "CP3Capture", because that was the properties name you gave it, make sure to press enter after typing it in

7) To set up control regions, do the same thing, except use box regions, and change the properties so it says "CP3Control" or whatever corresponds, and write in CP3Control under the Control Region part of the CP.

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Q: How do I get objects into my map?
A: First of all, you need the correct MSH/ODF/Effects files to work whichever props you want in zero editor. Let's say you are making a forest-like map, and you want all the trees from Endor. These are the steps to get some of these props in ZE, and in game;

1) Find this destination on your computer, or whichever harddrive your BFBuilder is stored on:

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C:\LucasArts\BFBuilder\Assets\Shipped Worlds\Endor

2) Good. Now open up My Computer again, and go to your Mod's folder, specifically the "world" folder. Example:

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C:\LucasArts\BFBuilder\Dataexample1\Worlds\example1

3) Now go back to the Endor folder, which should still be open. While still in the "Endor" folder, you should see folders saying MSH, ODF etc. And you want all the files to do with trees. So this is how I do it.

4) Hold down ctrl+f or click search at the top of the window in the endor folder. You want to search for the word "tree"

5) Now don't panic, a lot of stuff probably just filled the window, these are the tree files you were looking for. Right click in any blank space in the window, and change View to "Details"

6) Under "type" it should be in order. One chunk of the list is MSH/TGA/OPTION files, and another chunk should say "ODF File" under Type. First lets copy over all your MSH files

7) To do this, drag your mouse over all the MSH/TGA/OPTION files, or click on the first file, hold down shift and click the last MSH/TGA/OPTION file that's in that column. Now copy them, and paste them into this destination: 

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C:\LucasArts\BFBuilder\Dataexample1\Worlds\example/MSH

Do the same with your ODF's, copy them all over into:

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C:\LucasArts\BFBuilder\Dataexample1\Worlds\example/[b]ODF[/b] this time

9) That parts done. Now open up ZeroEditor, click on the Object tab and in the left dialouge box thingy, and find where it says "ODF File". Under that it should say "BROWSE". Click that, and find

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C:\LucasArts\BFBuilder\Dataexample1\Worlds\example/ODF again. There should be all the ODF's for your trees. Select them, and then place them in your map. And you're done!

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User Questions


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Tips/Tricks

-In the "Hieght" tab, use the "Blend" tool to smooth out corners and edges on your terrrain

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Hope this helps starting modders, I'll be updating this whenever I can
BD

[Xfire Keenmike aka cull]

I copied my bf tools from me external drive and tried it in my vista pc. It workded. Thanks for this information wampa.

[Nikoli]

two questions, 1 how do you set up lighting so that the ground surrounding you character is lighted instead of black? 2 how do you set up vehicle spawn points properly?

[Breakdown]

1) Change the terrain under "Detail texture" or something like that. Most stock maps have these detail textures, I can't check because I don't have any mod tools anymore, but I hope that helps.

2) Vehicle spawn points are tricky. The only things I've ever gotten to spawn are rebel hovertanks and taun tauns. It takes a while to set up, but here is the main jist of it (well what I remember)

Go into the common folder, and find the vehcle spawn odf.

Place it in your map.

Fill out the odf name under the team/attacking/defending stuff. Like if you wanted to spawn a taun taun for the rebels () yu'd put the taun tauns odf ( I forgot it) under ATK and DEF (scroll down the thingy to find all of the teams)

Set the control zone to the name of the CP you want to control it with ( I think, if not, try the control zone name)

I think that's all you have to do there, then you head into the LUA and set the memory pools correct, and add the vehicle to your unit list or whatever it is, if you look at some LUAs of stock maps you should be able to figure out what to do from there.


I hope this helps you

[Nikoli]

thanks! that actually helps alot.
:edit: what's editing the LUA memory pool do? (I'm really a nwb when it comes to map making)

[Breakdown]

I can' really explain it on my own in words, lol. But it's just I guess so it doesn't fry the games limitations? So it can only spawn the things needed. I really can't help you there xD

[Led]

New to zero-editor and need to know how to navigate and select objects?

Visit this page:

http://swbfmodding.wikidot.com/zeroeditor

Here are some items from that page that I found useful:


When in OBJECT mode
Left Mouse Button
Right Mouse Button
Middle Mouse Button
C + L/R/M Mouse Button
X + L/R/M Mouse Button
Z + L/R/M Mouse Button
X axis
Y axis
Z axis
Translate (move)
Rotate around Object Center
Rotate around Object Root
When in REGION or BARRIER mode
C + L/R/M Mouse Button
X + L/R/M Mouse Button
Z + L/R/M Mouse Button
Scale Object in the X axis
Scale Object in the Y axis
Scale Object in the Z axis