Electronic Arts Tiberium Wars User Manual
WORLDBUILDER
Instruction Manual
Before You Begin... If you haven't already done so, please review the README.txt file
included with this version of Worldbuilder for important disclosures and information, as
well as the basics on getting started with the software.
© 2007 Electronic Arts Inc. Electronic Arts, EA, the EA logo, Command & Conquer, and Command & Conquer 3
Tiberium Wars are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other
countries. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 3
KEY FEATURES .................................................................................................4
NEW AND IMPROVED FEATURES........................................................................5
GETTING STARTED ...........................................................................................5
BASIC TOOL CONVENTIONS.............................................................................6
NOTE TO BEGINNING MAP DESIGNERS..............................................................6
NOTE TO ADVANCED MAP DESIGNERS.............................................................6
GETTING STARTED............................................................................................... 8
ELEMENTS OF A MAP.......................................................................................8
THE DESKTOP................................................................................................11
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ORKING WITH MAP FILES.............................................................................13
W
COMMAND REFERENCE................................................................................... 16
MENUS.........................................................................................................16
TOOLBAR .....................................................................................................29
STATUS BAR ..................................................................................................35
LAYERS LIST...................................................................................................36
OBJECT PROPERTIES......................................................................................36
LAYING OUT A MAP......................................................................................... 40
BASIC DESIGN DECISIONS..............................................................................40
MAP DESIGN ISSUES......................................................................................43
GAME BALANCE: THE FUN FACTOR................................................................43
LAYOUT DOS AND DON’TS ............................................................................45
CREATING A MULTIPLAYER MAP...................................................................... 48
A FEW EXTRA STEPS FOR SKIRMISH MAPS........................................................ 54
BUILDING SINGLE-PLAYER MAPS..................................................................... 55
TUTORIAL: HOW TO........................................................................................... 56
PLAYERS, TEAMS, AND THE BUILD LIST ............................................................. 66
PLAYER LIST ..................................................................................................66
BUILDING TEAMS...........................................................................................67
SCRIPTS............................................................................................................. 72
CREATING AND EDITING SCRIPTS ....................................................................72
ORGANIZING YOUR SCRIPTS ..........................................................................75
SCRIPTING VARIABLES....................................................................................76
SCRIPTING TUTORIAL......................................................................................80
DEBUGGING..................................................................................................... 89
DEBUGGING OBJECTS...................................................................................89
FIXING TEAMS...............................................................................................89
REPAIRING TEXTURE ERRORS...........................................................................90
SCRIPT DEBUGGER ........................................................................................91
OPTIMIZING YOUR MAP................................................................................... 93
ELEMENTS TO OPTIMIZE..................................................................................93
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN WORLDBUILDER ...............................................95
GLOSSARY........................................................................................................ 97
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars Worldbuilder. This development
toolset is used by Electronic Arts designers to create single-player mission s and
multiplayer maps for Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars, and now it’s available to
you. The fully-featured 3D environment gives you complete visual controls and a wide
array of options to get the details of your maps exactly as you want them. Building game
maps is easier than ever—the Worldbuilder’s tool suite lets you rapidly prototype your
creations and then jump directly into the game to play them.
N
OTE: The Worldbuilder tool is provided on an "as-is" basis. Electronic Arts (EA) does not
provide Technical or Customer Support for the Worldbuilder tool. You may only use the
Worldbuilder tool pursuant to the terms and conditions of the EA Tools & Materials End
User License (“License”).
EA TOOLS & MATERIALS END USER LICENSE
Electronic Arts Inc, and its subsidiaries, affiliates and licensors (collectively, "EA") grants
you a non-transferable non-exclusive license to download and/or install and use one copy
of the software tool (“Tool”) and/or materials (“Materials”) (collectively the “Tools &
Materials”) solely for your personal noncommercial use in connection with EA’s products,
in accordance with the terms below.
EA owns all of the rights, title and interest in the Tools & Materials. You may not alter any
of EA’s trademarks or logos, or alter or remove any of EA’s trademark or copyright
notices included in or with the Tools & Materials or EA’s products. Your right to use Tools
& Materials is limited to the license grant above, and you may not otherwise copy,
display, distribute, perform, publish, modify, create works from, or use any of the Tools &
Materials. Without limiting the preceding sentence, you may not modify, reverse
engineer, disassemble, license, transfer, distribute, create works from, or sell the Tool, or
use the Tools & Materials to further any commercial purpose. Without limiting the
foregoing, you may not use the Tools & Materials to promote another product or
business, or on any site that operates or promotes a server emulator.
You may include materials created with the Tools & Materials on your personal
noncommercial website for the noncommercial benefit of the fan community for EA’s
products and provided that if you do so, you must also post the following notice on your
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“This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks
are the property of their respective owners. Game content and materials copyright
Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.”
You will not represent that your site is endorsed or approved by or affiliated with EA or
our licensors or that any other content on your site is endorsed or approved by or
affiliated with EA or our licensors.
THESE TOOLS & MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES
OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. EA SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY
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AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
ANY USE YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE OF THESE TOOLS & MATERIALS IS
UNDERTAKEN BY YOU ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. EA DOES NOT WARRANT
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THAT THESE TOOLS & MATERIALS WILL NOT CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR
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EA RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DISCONTINUE THE AVAILABILITY OF THESE
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At EA’s request, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless EA from all liabilities,
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by you and/or your use or misuse of the Tools & Materials.
EA may make the Tools & Materials available at its site(s) located in the United States
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to which the United States and/or Canada and/or European Union or its member
countries has embargoed goods.
EA may revoke or terminate this License at any time, for any reason or no reason, in its
sole discretion. Upon termination, you must destroy or return to EA all Tools & Materials.
This License is governed by United States Copyright and California law (without regard to
conflicts of law), and is the entire agreement between EA and you regarding the Tools &
Materials.
By using the Tools & Materials you accept the terms of this License. If you do not
wish to accept this License, do not use the Tools & Materials. You may only use
the Tools & Materials pursuant to the terms and conditions of this License.
KEY FEATURES
Step-By-Step Process for Building Multiplayer Maps. Follow the steps listed in
this document to get up to speed building multiplayer maps for up to eight players.
With a few extra steps, you can turn your finished multiplayer map into a Skirmish
map.
Designed Like an Art Tool. The menus, tools, and their uses are derived from
desktop art tools. If you’re familiar with traditional art software programs,
Worldbuilder will feel very comfortable.
What You See Is What You Get. Interact with your maps through the same engine
as the game. Visual toggles and camera options in Worldbuilder allow you to
position the camera anywhere over the map and to view some or all of its
components at any time.
Many Environmental Settings. Use textures and settings to place your map in a
wide range of geographic locations with varying simulated weather con ditions at
any time of day.
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Small Output. Created maps are small enough to e-mail to your friends who also
play Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars.
NEW AND IMPROVED FEATURES
If you're familiar with previous versions of Worldbuilder, the most obvious difference in
this version will be having access to completely new assets from Command & Conquer 3
Tiberium Wars. However, the following differences may also be of interest:
Larger Maximum Map Size. Previous versions of Worldbuilder supported maps up
to 500x500. Maximum size has since increased by 50 percent to 750x750.
Single-player Scripting Changes. Fully-featured copy-paste between scripts; new
command for locking/unlocking player powers; attack priority system has been
removed; new skirmish AI behavior scripting added.
NOTE: While this release of Worldbuilder allows you to experiment with singleplayer scripting and design, user-created single-player maps (as opposed to
skirmish / multiplayer maps) are not compatible with Command & Conquer 3
Tiberium Wars as of this writing. A separately available Mod SDK will allow users
to create and play single-player maps.
GETTING STARTED
Prior to starting Worldbuilder, set your display resolution to 800 x 600 or higher in the
Display control panel. For information on how to set your display, see your Windows®
Help file.
To get up and running in Worldbuilder:
1. To create a new map, select NEW from the File menu. As you read through this
document you can test out what you learn inside Worldbuilder.
2. To get familiar with the components of a Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars
map, see the Elements of a Map section in this document.
3. For explanations of the different elements of the Worldbuilder desktop, see the
Desktop section in this document.
4. For explanations about the individual menu items and toolbar controls, see the
Command Reference section in this document.
5. Follow the step-by-step instructions to build your first multiplayer map.
6. After you feel comfortable building multiplayer maps, you may want to try to create
single-player maps. Since behaviors for CPU-controlled armies must be scripted,
single-player maps are more difficult to create.
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BASIC TOOL CONVENTIONS
Each square of the grid measures approximately 10 in-game feet on a side.
To toggle the display of the map grid, select Grid Settings from the View menu.
Then check the box “Show Grid.”
Be sure that the number in the Z box is greater than or equal to the base terrain
height of your map to be able to see the grid.
The most commonly used tools are placed in the toolbar above the Work window.
There are many more editing, viewing, and global tools in the menu system.
When you select a command or object, a window appears to the right of the Work
window. Change the parameters in this window to alter the properties of the
selected item or items.
To select an object on the map, left-click it. To rotate that object, click and drag the
pointer at the end of the object’s icon.
To dolly the camera, right-click and drag the mouse in the direction you want to
move the camera.
If possible, use a mouse with a mouse wheel. Press and hold the wheel to pivot the
camera in position. Scroll the wheel forward/backward to zoom in/out on the
current position. Click the wheel to reset the camera to the default angle and zoom.
NOTE TO BEGINNING MAP DESIGNERS
After installing Worldbuilder and reading through this Introduction, beginning map
designers should read the Getting Started chapter to learn the basic eleme nts of the
application. Some fundamental map designing concepts are presented in the Laying Out
a Map chapter.
Start by building a very simple multiplayer map. If you have questions during the process,
you can refer to the Tutorial: How To section, which describes in simple steps how to
build individual terrain, texture, and object features.
Skirmish maps are made by adding a few more things to a multiplayer map. If you
design a good multiplayer map, you can produce a good Skirmish map ea sily.
When you complete your map, be sure to test it in the game.
NOTE TO ADVANCED MAP DESIGNERS
Worldbuilder is a graphical tool based on industry-standard graphics applications. If you
are familiar with common art packages, the tools of Worldbuilder should be fairly intuitive.
As you learn, you may want to review the Command Reference section, which outlines
every toolbar tool and menu item in some detail.
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It is highly recommended that all designers become familiar with the Creating a
Multiplayer Map and A Few Extra Steps for Skirmish Maps sections. These
sections present a general, step-by-step approach to developing m aps. When
you’re ready to build the more complicated maps for single-player games, see the
Building Single-Player Maps section.
Additionally, the Tutorial: How To section provides simple instructions for creating
rudimentary map features.
For definitions of terminology used in Worldbuilder, see the Glossary at the end of
this document.
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GETTING STARTED
Because the Worldbuilder tools are easy to use, you can begin building usable
multiplayer maps immediately. This chapter discusses how to develop multiplayer and
single-player maps in Worldbuilder. However, since single-player maps require behavior
scripting of CPU-controlled opposition, you should begin with multiplayer maps.
At the conclusion of this chapter, you should have enough information to begin
developing your own map and have sufficient references to other parts of this
documentation to explore topics in depth.
Prior to starting Worldbuilder, you should set your display to 800 x 600 or higher in
the Display control panel. For information on how to set your display, see your
Windows Help file.
¾ To start Worldbuilder, double-click the Worldbuilder icon or use the Windows Start
menu. Select NEW from the File menu to begin building a new map.
NOTE: Worldbuilder requires significant system resources to update the map and your
computer screen. If it seems like your computer is updating too slowly, adjust the
display settings in Worldbuilder to improve performance.
Each designer discovers his or her own strategy for designing in Worldbuilder. Consi der
the following questions as you begin to design. What is the basic shape of the map? Is
there a dominating terrain feature? Is there a slope to it? Where is the map located?
Where are the best locations to build a base? These questions can affect the concept
that you begin to implement.
As you build your map, you may need to reposition the camera and change the
scale of the display.
When you want to test your work in the game, save your map for use in the game.
The following sections provide further details on getting started.
Elements of a Map. Defines the basic map components.
The Desktop. Describes the windows, tools, and status information displayed in
the application desktop.
Working with Map Files. How to accomplish the basic tasks of loading, saving,
erasing, and exporting your work.
ELEMENTS OF A MAP
All Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars maps share three ba sic components: terrain,
textures, and objects (which are generally developed in that order). Using the
Worldbuilder tools, you can add, remove, raise, lower, and shape the terrain to describe
the land forms of your map. On top of the terrain, you layer textures that give the
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appearance of futuristic cityscapes, war-torn wastelands, or expansive outdoor
environments representing any part of the world according to the game's sci-fi setting.
Finally, objects such as civilian buildings, civilians, trees, Tiberium fields and tech
structures are placed around your map for strategic purposes or to give your map a
natural appearance.
The table on the next page identifies map components and provides basic definitions. In
the section after the table, you can learn about the global parameters you can set for your
map.
For more definitions, see the Glossary at the end of this document.
MAP
DEFINITION
COMPONENT
Terrain Terrain is the mesh underneath the surface that describes the shape of
the hills and valleys of the map.
Textures Textures cover the surface of the map and give the visual appearance
of the varying land forms.
Starting
locations
Civilian
Structures
Infantry Each side has multiple types of foot soldiers.
Vehicles The land war is usually won with tanks and other ground vehicles.
Air units Air units can transfer some of your ground forces across impassable
Roads These visual effects of the urban landscape are actually objects. In the
Bridges In almost any battle, a bridge becomes a key tactical objective. Bridges
Each side has a starting location where the ground is very flat to allow
for optimal build area.
Most civilian structures can be garrisoned to add protection for your
infantry units. If these structures drop below a certain health
percentage, they cease to be able to be garrisoned. Destroying them
will leave them in a rubble state.
terrain as well as provide combat support when assaulting your enemy.
game, they become textures.
can be blown up, but also repaired by Engineers, Saboteurs, or
Assimilators.
Bodies of
Water
Ambient
Sound
Trigger Areas You can define trigger areas as polygons to be referenced in scripts.
Waypoints A waypoint is a marker you place on the map. Through scripts, you can
Lakes and rivers are combinations of specialized shapes and textures.
Units can only cross at fords less than five feet deep.
You can apply ambient sound to areas such as forests, rivers, and
mountains. Sounds are placed like other objects. Do not place more
than three ambient sounds in any displayed map area.
These areas are invisible to the user but visible to every unit in the
game. Through scripts, units can take actions based on activities inside
and outside of trigger areas.
reference the waypoint as a map location. There are a number of
specially named waypoints, which are mentioned throu ghout this
manual.
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Waypoint
Paths
Other Map
Elements
A string of connected waypoints becomes a waypoint path, which can
be referenced through scripts. Units and teams of units can be
instructed to move along waypoint paths.
Worldbuilder comes with a full library of miscellaneous objects, which
appear either natural or human-made, to add spice to your maps.
MAP ENVIRONMENTAL SETTINGS
Map Perimeter. A map perimeter indicates the edge of the map for AI-controlled objects.
The perimeter defaults to the map size specified in the Horizontal and Vertical feet set for
the map in the New Map menu and defaults to an orange color.
¾ To set your map perimeter, click the Border tool in the toolbar.
¾ The Orange border can never be changed. However, you can add a new border by
holding down the Shift key and left mouse button and dragging on the map. This
will create a new border that can be specified in the scripting tool.
GLOBAL LIGHTING
Basic global lighting defaults to one of four main settings: Morning, Afternoon, Evening,
and Night.
¾ To switch between these basic settings, press Ctrl + D.
More advanced users may want to tweak these default light settings. After establishing
the time of day, tweak these settings for terrain and objects.
¾ To change global lighting settings, select GLOBAL LIGHT OPTIONS from the Edit
menu.
You can create custom shadows for individual objects, although they can be taxing
on system resources.
In Global Light Options, you can modify the light source over the map.
GLOBAL LIGHT
DEFINITION
OPTIONS
Ambient Ambient light comes from no single source. Enter RGB values for
ambient lighting. The new color is displayed in the square.
Sun Set the angle of the sun and its 360-degree location around the
map. Changes to these positions affect the lighting on the terrain.
Set RGB values to change the color of the sun.
Accent 1 Define an accent light source using the same controls as Sun
placement. An accent is an additional lighting source for
highlighting a specific area of the map.
Accent 2 Define a second light accent source using the same controls as
Sun placement.
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Lighting Applies To Apply the lighting settings to selected elements of the map. In rare
cases you may want to light the terrain and the objects differently
for mood but keep the position of the light source consistent.
¾ To restore defaults, click RESTORE TO DEFAULT. To close the Global Light
Options window, click the X in the corner.
THE DESKTOP
Read this section to learn more about elements found on the Worldbuilder desktop.
DESKTOP ITEMS DEFINITION
Work Window The main window in the application, the Work Window is where all
terrain, textures, and objects are placed and manipulated.
Toolbar Across the top of the Work Window, the most commonly used
tools are available as clickable icons in the Toolbar.
Context Windows Depending on what tool is selected, a Context Window appears in
which you configure the settings of the tool or the object you are
placing.
Menus From the Menu system, select commands to edit and view your
map or change its textures and windows.
Status Bar At the bottom of the screen, the Status Bar displays current cursor
positional and color information.
Layers List You can organize objects into visual layers for display purposes.
Layers are listed and manipulated in the Layers List.
A
NOTE ABOUT 3D DIRECTIONS
Movements in three-dimensional space can be described in three directions. Stand up
from your computer (OK, you can just pretend). Let's call the position where you’re
located "Point A."
The X-direction refers to steps to the left or right of Point A. In-game, this is left and right
of the map when the camera is facing the default direction.
The Y-direction refers to steps forward or backward of Point A. In-game, this is towards
the top and bottom of the map when the camera is facing the default direction.
The Z-direction refers to changes in elevation from Point A. From where you're standing,
movements in the Z-direction would require you to jump into the air or dig into the ground.
In-game, the Z-direction refers to the height or depth of terrain and objects.
MAP SETTINGS
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Through the Map Settings window, you can name and describe your map as well as set
the simulated time of day and weather. Your map’s name and description appear in the
game.
¾ To change your map settings, select EDIT MAP SETTINGS from the Edit menu. In
the window, enter a name and a description in the spaces provided. Select weather
and time of day settings from the drop-down. Click OK to accept the changes.
ESIZING YOUR MAP
R
You can add more space to your map or subtract terrain to trim off the unused pieces. It’s
best to resize your map before you add many objects or waypoints.
You should have at least 30 extra tiles (300 feet) on each side of your map as
additional workspace.
¾ To resize your map, select RESIZE from the File menu.
¾ When a map is resized, all areas and waypoints previously placed on the map
remain at their original coordinates and may need to be moved after the resize is
completed.
MAP GRID
You can toggle the display of a grid to assist in the placement of objects and the
measurement of distances between them.
¾ To toggle the display of the grid, select Grid Settings from the View menu. Then
check the “Show Grid” box. Be sure that the Z value is greater than your base
terrain height or the grid will exist under the terrain and not be visible.
¾ To force placed objects to align with the underlying grid, select SNAP TO GRID in
the Grid Settings menu. Snapping to the grid facilitates object placement,
alignment, and spacing.
¾ The grid defaults to 10 (10 x 10-foot squares) but can be scaled to show different
grid sizes by changing the number in the “Spacing” box of the Grid Settings menu.
For the measurement of distances between objects, switch your view to a top-down
orientation.
¾ To switch to a top-down view, select SHOW FROM TOP DOWN VIEW in the View
menu. You can also toggle this by pressing Ctrl + F on your keyboard.
Each grid square is equal to the spacing set in the Grid Settings menu scaled feet
on a side. Distances can be measured by counting squares, or you can move the
cursor over the two points and compare the locations displayed in the Status Bar. A
calculator may help.
¾ To change the number of grid squares displayed on-screen at any time, select
GRID SETTINGS from the View menu. In the sub-menu, select the grid size you
want.
¾ Spacing and distance can also be measured using the Ruler tool. Select the Ruler
tool from the tool bar and then left-click and drag the line across the distance you
want to measure. The distance measured is listed in the bottom left corner of the
Worldbuilder window.
CAMERA SETTINGS
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You can place the camera over any map location and vary its pitch and distance from the
terrain.
¾ To change the camera pitch, select CAMERA OPTIONS from the Edit menu.
IEW TOGGLES
V
To simplify your view and to improve Worldbuilder performance, toggle the display of
various elements on the map.
¾ To toggle the display of map components, use the commands under the View
menu.
MOUSE FUNCTIONS
The mouse is your primary device for manipulating terrain and textures and placing
objects. Move the mouse to move the cursor over the section of map displayed in the
Work window. When using the mouse in conjunction with its buttons, you change the
view of the window over your map.
¾ To select an item, click the Select and Move tool in the toolbar. Then, move the
mouse over the item and click the left mouse button. To select multiple items, click
and drag a selection rectangle over the desired items. All items inside the rectangle
are selected and can be manipulated together.
¾ To dolly the camera across the map, click the right mouse button and drag until you
are over the desired location.
If possible, use a mouse with a wheel device in Worldbuilder. The wheel can be used to
zoom in or out of the map and to rotate the camera.
¾ To rotate the camera, click the mouse wheel and drag the mouse.
¾ To change the camera height, roll the mouse wheel.
QUITTING THE PROGRAM
¾ To safely exit the program, select EXIT from the File menu. (Please remember to
save your work if you wish to later resume designing from where you left off.)
WORKING WITH MAP FILES
This section covers the basic file functions of making maps—from creating a new map to
distributing a completed map to your Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars friends.
CREATING A NEW MAP
¾ To create a new map, select NEW from the File menu. In the dialog box, enter the
X and Y size of the map, as well as the initial terrain height. Click OK.
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SAVING YOUR WORK
Worldbuilder maps are stored as data, along with references to all of the art they use.
This storage method means that completed maps are usually less than 5 MB.
¾ To save your map, select SAVE from the File menu.
The default directory for saved maps is inside your Command & Conquer 3
Tiberium Wars folder. You can choose to save in any directory.
If you want to save a version under a different name or in a different location, select
SAVE AS… from the File menu. To save the map so it is usable in the game, click
USER MAPS. Save the map in that directory.
The Save As feature is useful if you are engaged in making major changes to your
map or if you want to experiment without committing to the change.
LOADING A MAP
To load your map, load the Worldbuilder program. These files end with the .MAP
extension.
¾ To load a map, select OPEN from the File menu. Navigate to the folder where you
saved your map. Select the .MAP file and press OPEN. Your map opens.
Worldbuilder files contain all of the data necessary to describe your map contents. They
do not contain the object and texture libraries; in a Worldbuilder .MAP file, objects and
textures are stored as references to the libraries that are automatically loaded when you
load the Worldbuilder file.
UNDOING CHANGES
In Worldbuilder, a few mouse clicks can undo or erase any mistakes or undesirable
changes.
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UNDO/REDO
DELETING OBJECTS
DELETING TEXTURES
DELETING TERRAIN CHANGES
DELETING MAPS FROM YOUR COMPUTER
¾ To undo the last action, select UNDO from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl +
Z. (To redo an undone action, select REDO from the Edit menu, or press
+ Shift + Z.)
Ctrl
You can undo the last 10 operations. Changes to your view of the map
cannot be undone.
¾ To delete one or more objects, select the object(s) in the Work window.
Then, press Delete.
¾ To delete a texture, repaint it with a new one.
¾ To revert to the macrotexture, select the macrotexture with the
Eyedropper. You can fill in a texture field using the Flood Fill tool.
¾ To undo a completed terrain change, press Ctrl + Z.
¾ To flatten the terrain to the height of the surrounding terrain, use the
Height Brush tool configured to the terrain’s base height.
¾ To delete a map from your computer, navigate the directory tree of your
hard drive to the directory where you have saved your maps. Your map
and its support files are contained in a directory named for the map. Click
and drag the directory to the Recycle Bin on your Windows desktop.
MAKING MAPS AVAILABLE TO THE GAME
For debugging purposes, you can dump all of the naming, positional, and scripting
information for your map objects into a text file.
¾ To dump your map to a text file, select DUMP MAP TO FILE from the File menu.
This file will be saved in the same directory where you installed Command &
Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars.
You can share completed maps with friends by sending the file as an email attachment.
Most completed maps should be less than 5 MB.
For online multiplayer games, if the host selects a user-created map, that map
automatically transfers from his computer to all of the players. Single-player maps
must be manually transferred to other players.
Page 15
COMMAND REFERENCE
The Command Reference contains all of the menu and toolbar commands available from
the desktop. Additionally, you can learn more about useful displays such as the Layers
List and the Object Properties window.
Menus can be accessed from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
The toolbar appears on-screen, and its display can be toggled in the View menu.
The status bar appears along the bottom of the application window.
The Layers List allows you to organize your map elements into visual layers—you
can toggle the display of these layers.
The Object Properties window lists the properties for any selected object.
MENUS
FILE MENU
NEW
OPEN
Create a new map. In the window, enter the dimensions, the basic height, and the
background texture to be applied.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl +
Suggested Dimensions:
Single-player: no larger than 500 x 500 tiles.
2-player: 250 x 250 tiles.
4- to 6-player: 350 x 350 tiles.
8-player: 450 x 450 tiles. If you’re creating a map larger than 400 x 400 tiles,
you should have clear reasons to do so. For online games, you may not be
able to find seven other players who can play such a large map effectively.
Suggested Border:
30 tiles (300 feet) on each side.
Suggested Initial Height:
16, if terrain has very mild depressions. Use 50 for more drastic terrain
changes.
Open an existing map. In the dialog, navigate the directory tree to find the map.
Then, click OPEN.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + O
N
CLOSE
Close Worldbuilder and exit to the desktop. You are prompted to save any unsaved
work.
Page 16
FILE MENU (CON’T)
SAVE
SAVE AS…
RESIZE MAP
*PRINT…
*PRINT PREVIEW
Save changes made to an existing project. If the current project is new, then you
must enter a file name.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
Save the current map under a new file name.
Add or subtract area on your map. In the window, the current size is displayed.
Enter your new map dimensions. In the Anchor area, click the square where you
want to locate the current map. To resize the map, click OK.
N
OTE: Resizing the map can change the location of waypoints, waypoint p aths, and
area polygons. This will also alter painted impassables and some texture
work, so be careful. After resizing the map, double-check the location of all
the elements.
Print the current map.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
Preview the printout of your map on-screen.
+ S
+ P
PRINT SETUP…
DUMP MAP
TO
FILE
RECENT FILES
EXIT
*Certain features may be disabled in this version of Worldbuilder. They may be available in a subsequent version.
Windows-based print setup screen.
Dump name, position, team, and scripting information of every object into a text
file. The dumped file is useful for debugging purposes. For example, you can
search for objects or waypoints that you can’t find on-screen in Worldbuilder.
List the last four maps opened in the editor. To open a recent map file, select it in
the menu.
Quit Worldbuilder. You are prompted to save any unsaved work.
EDIT MENU
Page 17
UNDO
REDO
CUT
COPY
PASTE
DELETE
SELECT DUPLICATE OBJECTS
Remove the last operation performed on your map.
The last 10 operations can be undone. Changes to your view of the map
cannot be undone.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Z
Perform again the last map operation that was undone.
Keyboard Shortcut: Shift +
Y
Remove all selected objects and place them on the clipboard.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + X
Duplicate all selected objects and place them on the clipboard.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
+ C
Place the contents of the clipboard at the selected location.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + V
OTE: Pasting objects can produce unexpected results.
N
Remove selected elements from the map.
Keyboard Shortcut: Delete
Select all objects that are located on top of another object. When you use the
Paste command, objects are pasted directly on top of the originals so that they
look like a single item. You should periodically search for duplicate objects.
Avoid placing objects on top of each other.
NOTE: Pasting objects can produce unexpected results.
SELECT
OBJECTS
/BAD TEAMS
W
When a created team is deleted, any objects remaining on the map from that
team have no team association and can cause problems in the game.
Periodically, use this feature to see if any objects have no team.
SELECT DEPRECATED OBJECTS
So if an object once existed in the game and was placed in a map and then
removed, the object’s point would still remain on the map but not do anything.
Selecting this option will select all those bad objects so they may be removed
from the map.
SELECT SIMILAR
When you select an object, the Select Similar command selects all objects of the
same type on the map.
Select Similar is most commonly used to change properties of object
types.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
+ M
EDIT MENU (CON’T)
Page 18
SELECT CLOUD TEXTURE
*SELECT
MACRO-
TEXTURE…
SELECT ENVIRONMENT MAP
SELECT BASE OBJECT(S)
REPLACE SELECTED…
PICK ALLOWANCE
Selects the cloud texture to scroll over the map.
Select the background texture of the map.
This is the texture that will be reflected off of anything using the glass shader.
Generally this is never changed from the default texture.
When selected an object that has been marked as “Is a base”, this feature would
allow you to select all the objects belonging to that base and vice versa.
This feature is no longer available.
Replace all instances of the selected object with another object. In the object
library, navigate the object tree to find the object to replace. To make the
replacement, click OK.
Object properties are inherited by the replacement objects.
When you choose a constraint, all selection tools in Worldbuilder select only
objects of that type. For example, you can use Pick Constraint to click and drag a
rectangle over an area to select all buildings in it.
¾ To return to the default selection mode, select ANYTHING from the Pick
Constraint sub-menu.
¾
Use the keyboard shortcuts to pick constraints.
SCRIPTS…
GLOBAL LIGHT OPTIONS…
CAMERA OPTIONS…
EDIT SHADOWS…
*Certain features may be disabled in this version of Worldbuilder. They may be available in a subsequent version.
Open the Scripts window.
Open the Global Lighting window.
You can set camera positioning for use during development. Use this information
when developing cinematic scripts.
To set the camera angle, enter a new figure in the Pitch textbox.
¾
Set the color (in RGB values) and the opacity of shadows. Raising the
default intensity creates harsher shadows.
EDIT MENU (CON’T)
Page 19
EDIT MAP SETTINGS…
EDIT SKYBOX SETTINGS…
EDIT POST EFFECTS…
EDIT CAMERA ANIMATIONS…
EDIT TEAMS…
EDIT PLAYER LIST…
Open the Map Settings window. Edit the name and description of the map that
appears in the game. Select a time of day and weather conditions. To apply the
changes, click OK.
N
OTE: When you change the time of day and conditions, you may have to re-
texture some elements and replace some objects with choices more
appropriate for the new environment.
This feature is no longer available and has been disabled.
This is where the bloom, the lookup table, distortion and light rays are setup for
the map. Distortion maps are always setup by default for every map.
By selecting which post effect you want and clicking the Add button, you can
apply a new post effect to your map. Once it’s been added, a selection of
parameters become available for tweaking.
This is used for cinematic moments, but has no application for making single or
multiplayer maps.
Open the Teams window.
Open the Player List.
EDIT MULTIPLAYER POSITIONS…
ITEM LIST…
SPECIAL
This feature is no longer supported in Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars.
This bring up the Item List Tool window which is a quick reference to all the
objects that have been placed on the map.
Two options available in this section are:
¾ Adjust Terrain to GROUND Objects…
o This feature is no longer supported in Command & Conquer 3
Tiberium Wars.
¾ Remove all texture blends…
o All texture blends that have been applied on the map will be
undone and need to be reblended.
VIEW MENU
Page 20
*SHOW GRID
GRID SETTINGS
REVERSE MOUSE SCROLLING
*SHOW TEXTURE
SHOW TERRAIN
SHOW OBJECT ICONS
SHOW WAYPOINTS
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + G
Quickly open the Grid Settings menu to turn grid view ON/OFF or to turn Snap to
Grid ON/OFF.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
Reverse the mouse interface for scrolling. This is checked by default.
Toggle display of terrain textures.
Toggle display of terrain changes.
Toggle display of colored icons beneath objects to assist in selecting and
manipulating them.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
Toggle display of all waypoints.
+ E
+ B
SHOW TRIGGER AREAS
*Certain features may be disabled in this version of Worldbuilder. They may be available in a subsequent version.
Toggle display of trigger areas created with the Polygon tool.
VIEW MENU (CON’T)
Page 21
SHOW SHADOWS
SHOW LABELS
SHOW OBJECTS
SHOW GRASS
SHOW ROADS
SHOW GARRISONED
SHOW SOUND FLAGS
Toggle display of object shadows. Terrain shadows remain on and are
determined by Global Lighting settings.
Object shadows impact Worldbuilder performance, so leave them OFF
if possible.
Toggling this on, will allow you to select the option, “Use Shad ow Map
Shadows” which appears directly under this option.
Toggle display of identifying labels for sounds and waypoints.
Toggle display of objects.
Toggle display of grass objects.
Toggle display of roads.
Toggle display of flags over buildings controlled by a side.
Toggle display of flags used to indicate the position of ambient sounds.
INFLUENCES
TILE FEEDBACK
VIEW IMPASSABLE AREAS
Toggle display of object attributes such as sight and weapon ranges.
Highlights different tile types, such as impassable terrain and tiles stretched
because of vertical cliff faces.
Toggle highlighting of areas that cannot be crossed by ground units. Use this
toggle frequently during development.
Impassable areas should be identified with consistent texturing.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
+ I
VIEW MENU (CON’T)
Page 22
IMPASSABLE AREA OPTIONS
SHOW 3-WAY BLENDS IN WHITE
HIGHLIGHT TEST ART
In the window, you can enter, preview, and set the angle at which terrain
becomes impassable.
TIP You can set this tool at any angle to show slopes that are steeper
than a desired angle. You can highlight slopes too steep for units to
climb or imperfections in base areas and other mesas. Use this tool
in combination with the Smooth Height tool to polish your maps.
¾ To change the angle of impassability, enter a number from 0 to 90 in the
Angle textbox.
¾ To preview the effects, click PREVIEW. The changes are displayed in the
map.
¾ To accept the changes, click OK. To cancel and exit without changing the
angle, click CANCEL.
When textures are blended with the Auto Edge Out tool, more than two textures
can be affected. Three-way texture blends can cause performance slow-downs,
so try to find and repair three-way blends. Limit their count to 300 in your map.
Highlights any objects meant only for test purposes.
SHOW WIREFRAME 3D VIEW
SHOW FROM TOP DOWN VIEW
SHOW LETTERBOX
SHOW MAP BOUNDARIES
Toggle display of the 3D wireframe describing the terrain.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + W
Toggle view of the map from a top-down perspective.
TIP Use this feature with the grid view to position objects and features
relative to each other. If Snap to Grid is ON, then you can use all
three tools for careful placement and alignment of buildings, roads,
and sidewalks.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + F
Adds letterbox bars for previewing cinematics.
Toggle display of the map perimeter.
VIEW MENU (CON’T)
Page 23
SHOW ALL OF 3D MAP
PARTIAL MAP SIZE
SHOW CAMERA SAFE IN PREVIEW
SHOW SAFE FRAME OVERLAY
SAFE FRAME OVERLAY SETTINGS
SHOW CLOUDS
Toggle display of the entire map. Use this toggle to see how your work in a local
area fits into the entire map.
This feature can impact performance, so keep it OFF when you don’t
need it.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
Change the displayed area of the map in the Work window to one of the
available selections.
If you experience performance problems, keep this setting at the smallest
grid size.
This feature is no longer supported in Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars.
This is for cinematics and is no longer supported in Command & Conquer 3
Tiberium Wars.
Allows you to adjust the size of the Safe Frame Overlay.
Toggle display of clouds. In Worldbuilder, clouds pass in front of the light source
off-screen to create the sense of cloud cover. Showing clouds can affect
Worldbuilder performance.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl
+ A
+ U
SHOW BUMPED MAP TEXTURE
SHOW WATER
SHOW
MACRO-
TEXTURE
SHOW REFLECTIONS
Will allow any bump maps to appear as so in Worldbuilder.
Displays water plane.
Toggle display of the background texture. Turn it OFF to improve performance.
Displays the reflection of textures off of water, and anything marked with the
glass shader.
VIEW MENU (CON’T)
Page 24
SHOW SKYBOX
SHOW EFX
CHANGE TIME OF DAY
SHOW BRUSH FEEDBACK
RELOAD TEXTURES
This feature is no longer supported in Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars.
Displays particle effects.
Toggle between the four time of day settings: DAY, DUSK, NIGHT, and DAWN.
Each of the basic settings can be tweaked with custom Global Lighting settings.
N
OTE: Not all objects can be used during all settings. For example, if an object
does not have a “Night” image, it disappears from view although it still
exists on the map. In the game, players may crash into objects they cannot
see, so if you switch the time of day in the middle of development, be sure
to double-check for the existence of invisible objects.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + D
Toggle display of the texture or terrain brush passing over the map.
Terrain, object, and texture manipulations can cause textures to disappear or to
get scrambled. Select RELOAD TEXTURES to reload your map textures.
TOOLBAR
STATUS BAR
LAYERS LIST
LISTEN TO MAP
SET LOD
Toggle display of the toolbar. Some tools are available only through the toolbar.
Toggle display of the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.
Toggle display of the Layers List window.
Activate ambient audio sound markers. Scroll around the map to hear the
effects.
Toggle display of the different Level Of Detail settings for textures and objects.
WINDOW MENU
In the Window menu, you can set the resolution for the Worldbuilder window. 800 x 600 is the
default setting. Higher resolutions impact system performance.
¾
To reset the resolution and window positions to their default settings, select
RESET WINDOW POSITIONS.
Page 25
TEXTURE SIZING MENU
MAP CLIFF TEXTURES
REMOVE CLIFF TEXTURES
OPTIMIZE TILES AND BLEND TILES
REMAP TEXTURES…
When textures are stretched across cliffs higher than 80 feet, they can look too
stretched. To do a special mapping for a cliff surface, click this command then
click on the texture you want to make a cliff texture. Textures are shrunk to their
maximum height without distortion, leaving black areas above and below, which
you can fill in with other textures.
To remove the special texturing applied to cliffs, click the texture, and then select
this command.
TIP If you have created a very tall cliff and cannot get textures to look
good on it, smooth the cliff into multiple slopes using the Smooth
Height tool.
Two- and three-way blended textures can slow down your machine. By
optimizing textures, you allow Worldbuilder to look at your blended textures to
see if it can find similarities between them. Similar blended textures are replaced
by a single texture. Optimize tiles before releasing a final version of your map.
Replace each texture with a new selection. You may have to remap textures if
you change the time of day, geographic location, or conditions.
¾ To replace a texture, navigate the texture tree in the window to find a
replacement and click OK.
¾ To skip that texture, click CANCEL. You can now choose to replace the
next texture.
After you have remapped textures, check your blended textures again.
TEXTURE SIZING INFO…
*TILE 4 X 4
*TILE 6 X 6
*TILE 8 X 8
*Certain features may be disabled in this version of Worldbuilder. They may be available in a subsequent version.
Display the amount of space and its percentage of the total available occupied
by regular and blended textures.
Each map can contain up to 4MB of texture space for regular and blended tiles.
You are unlikely to reach the maximum limit for blended textures, but you should
check your usage for regular tiles.
Set the texture brush size to 4 tiles x 4 tiles.
Set the texture brush size to 6 tiles x 6 tiles.
Set the texture brush size to 8 tiles x 8 tiles.
VALIDATION MENU
Page 26
GENERATE REPORT
FIX TEAMS
REMOVE MINVOLUME CUSTOMIZATION
ABOUT WORLDBUILDER…
This feature may be unavailable in the current version of Worldbuilder.
If you have units on your map that are not assigned to a team, you can use
this command to place those objects in the first team listed in the Teams
window. However, it usually makes better sense to fix them manually.
Resets any minimum volume values you have customized.
HELP MENU
Learn more about Worldbuilder.
CTRL+ `
CTRL+ 1
CTRL+ 2
CTRL+ 3
CTRL+ 4
CTRL+ 5
CTRL+ 6
CTRL+ 7
CTRL+ 8
CTRL+ 9
CTRL+ 0
CTRL+ W
CTRL + W
E
COMPLETE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Pick Nothing
Pick Buildings
Pick Units
Pick Shrubbery
Pick Props
Pick Natural
Pick Debris
Pick Waypoints
Pick Roads
Pick Sounds
Pick Anything
Waypoint
Wireframe
BlendSingleEdge
Page 27
SHIFT + E
ALT + E
R
CTRL + ALT + R
T
CTRL + ALT + T
Y
CTRL + U
CTRL + I
CTRL + ALT + I
CTRL + O
P
CTRL + ALT + P
[
SHIFT + [
AutoEdge Out
AutoEdge In
Road
Edit Scripts
SingleTile
Edit Teams
LargeTile
Show Clouds
View Impassables
Item List
Open
Place Object
Edit Player
Zoom In
Zoom In Slowly
]
CTRL + ]
CTRL + A
S
CTRL + S
CTRL + D
F
CTRL + F
H
SHIFT + H
CTRL + H
SHIFT +
(FLOODFILL)
SHIFT + (SELECT)
CTRL + Z
Zoom Out
Zoom Out Slowly
Show All 3D Map
Smooth Height
Save
Cycle Lighting
FloodFill
Top Down
Height Tool
Mound
Dig
Replace All Texture Occurrences
Add to Selection
Undo
Page 28
CTRL + SHIFT + Z
CTRL + X
C
CTRL + C
CTRL + V
CTRL + B
CTRL + N
CTRL + M
CTRL
ALT
SPACE
SHIFT + SPACE
TOOLBAR
Redo
Cut
Fence
Copy
Paste
Show Object Icons
New File
Select Similar
Temp. Move/Rotate
Temp. Eye Dropper
Pan Camera
Pan Camera Slowly
The most important tools for shaping the terrain, painting textures, placing objects, and
adding waypoints and trigger areas to your maps are located for easy access in the
toolbar above the main application window.
¾ To activate a tool, click its icon in the toolbar.
¾ To learn the name of a tool, move the mouse cursor over its icon in the toolbar.
FILE TOOLS
All of the File tools in the toolbar are also available from the File menu.
EDIT TOOLS
Edit tools unavailable in the Edit menu are described below.
Page 29
SELECT AND MOVE
LOCK ANGLE
Use this default tool to select, adjust, and move objects. When using this tool,
each mouse button has a separate function.
Toggle the locking angle for all selection and placement functions. When the
angle is locked, all textures and objects are angled in the same direction,
which is useful for urban development.
You can use the 3D wireframe of the terrain as a guide.
ERRAIN TOOLS
T
When shaping your map terrain, it is best to shape the largest elements first and then
work on the finer details. The Terrain tools can scale to accomplish both tasks.
The Terrain tools allow you to raise, lower, and flatten terrain in large and small
brushstrokes. When you select a terrain tool, you can configure the settings of your brush
in the Terrain Brush Options window. With the Ramp tool, you can create pre-fabricated
forms in the terrain with a smoothness and finish that is difficult to achieve by hand.
After manipulating terrain, double-check the placement of all objects located on the
changed terrain. Some objects do not conform to the terrain.
After you dig out an area, use the Water tool to fill the area with water and give it a
current like a river or an undulating tide like a lake or sea.
TERRAIN TOOLS
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