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Far Cry 2 Level Editor Tips, Links, Videos etc.

November 18, 2008
Category: Level Design Tutorials / Tips

TIPS AND ADVICE

by SABRETOOTH1971

While there maybe 3 sets of scrap tire models, for example, you don’t need to use them all. Using only one, it can be moved, spun, suck into the earth, angled, merged together, to make the same object have slight variations, while reducing your object count.

Also some similar models have slightly smaller object counts (each object has a number). For e.g you may put 3 individual barrels together. There total object count would be about 15. Alternatively, the model that has 4 barrels stuck together has a count of 6 or so. Maybe use that instead.

by THUNDERCHURCH
Design for the day and use the sun to check areas. Nothing worse than trying to build at night when you can barely see anything.

Turning off the shadows in the editor when laying out. It helps the process because then you can check intersecting objects easier to better match uneven terrain or oddball placements.

Balance. Make sure you give both sides pro's and cons.

Don't just focus on one awesome base and ignore the other team.

Focus on defense, offense, mobility, counter attacks and location. No one team should have them all while no one team should be missing them all.

by Rockamura  

Turn off as many HUD elements as you can when you take photos and videos of your make for promotion purposes. it distracts from your design elements.

Set aside an undeveloped area of your map and place all the objects and brushes you have to have in it to pass validation, before you place any other objects in the map, i.e. place all the spawn points, capture points spectator cameras, vehicles and physics objects and such that you know you will need to have all in one little corner off to - the side and leave them there while you work on the rest to "reserve" that memory limit (consoles) and brush budget, in case you get extremely detailed elsewhere. It sucks to spend a lot of time on something, only to find out you have to start deleting crap and reworking just to get your required elements in on budget.

Use ramp tool in short sections combined with the smooth tool to make fluid and natural looking roads that go up the sides of mountains.

by AlexG

Sketch your idea on paper, top down view. Doesn't have to be pretty but definitely have a plan

Reference. Look up images. Use images.google.com and research what theme, style and direction you are going. This is key if you want a good map.

Start small, don't get ahead of yourself. Build a simple basic map first if you never mapped before.

Take your time but finish what you started. Don't start a bunch of maps that will never get finished

Start from general to specific. When designing huge maps such as Far Cry 2 maps start with general shape of the land, terrain, and gameplay and start narrowing down to putting details later. Do not detail in the beginning.

General to specific. This is key!

by CircleTheFire  

Chose an overall theme for your map, beyond just the game type, to avoid causing players to wonder, "what's that desert rock doing in the jungle?" and ask yourself question like, "would this object naturally appear in this setting in the real world?" it'll do wonders for immersion and polish.

Do a rough sketch on graph paper before even picking up the controller. it really helps in getting a sense of where to begin once you fire up the editor. it doesn't have to be exact of fully detailed. Just a general layout that you will hammer into shape in the editor. think of it as a compass heading, rather than a detailed map.

Do as much of the terrain deformation, water level(if you're adding water), and such as you can BEFORE you add any objects, collection systems or vehicles. Definitely tweak and adjust as needed as your map evolves into the finished product. But you'll lose objects in the terrain if you start making major adjustments after you've placed a bunch of stuff down.

Try to use terrain tools instead of brushes like rocks and cliffs wherever possible. Save your brush budget for later, more important things.

Decide on a few "feature points or areas" of the map and focus on refining those first. Once you've got those locked down and mostly fleshed out, move on to secondary areas. Then once you've got those taken care of, you can worry about filling in the rest. Put your best efforts into those feature points, and your players will thank you for it. think of them as the biggest action scenes in a movie. I’ll use Heat as an example. the feature points in this regard would be the heist with the big tow truck ramming the armored car, the double-crossing on the exchange at the drive-in theater, the big bank heist, and then the scene where pacino shoots deniro at the airport. Everything else in the film is used as a way to link those big set pieces. Treat your map the same way.

Try to leave no place where a player can get get trapped with no exit. nothing sucks worse than falling down into a hole and not being able to move, and have the match go on around you, while you're helplessly yelling into your mic for someone to com shoot you in the face and put you out of your misery.  This is especially important on maps where you're radically deformed the terrain. What looks like a pothole while editing is can turn into a chasm of endlessness once you drop in as a player.

In line with that, and also in general. Continuously drop in and test everything as you go along! Don’t wait to be "finished" with the map before you test the feature points and any tricky areas. Things like objects blocking passage of hallways, foot paths through the mountain and rocks, caves and tunnels (created by piling up rocks over deformed terrain) can ruin an otherwise great map, if not discovered and corrected until AFTER you've uploaded and brought players in to play.

Find Far Cry 2 Editor on PC

"Map Editor:
Vista
Click on Start menu... go to Games.
Right ckick on Far Cry 2 Icon, the editor will be in the list.

To the guys who can't find the editor. It should be in the "Bin"-folder where you installed Far Cry 2.
example: C:\Far Cry 2\Bin\

If not, you can always search for the file name using the windows search-function.

The filename is: FC2Editor"

FAR CRY 2 VIDEOS

by Xanthochori

Intro to Terrain

Time of Day

Objects

Making Rivers

by GenesisDeviceMedia

Snap Tool

LINKS AND RESOURCES

10 Tips to Maps Maps not Crap in Far Cry 2
by Super Ninja Girl at SarcasticGamer.com

Planet Far Cry Editor Tutorial

Ubisoft Videos and Tips

Related Articles: Photoshop Wave / Polar Coordinates Filter Creating Environments from Photoshop Paths to Maya Level Design Workflow Tutorial How to Plan Your Next Map

Comments are Closed. Please Join & Discuss this post in the World of Level Design Forums Comments AlexG 13 Dec 2009, 11:25 Thanks, It all comes down to performance. You can add a lot of items and props, but the more you add the slower your map will be. It all comes down to how many players will be ingame, how much stuff happens on screen at the same time. Its about balance. Putting enough to look good while keeping the performance running high. H_San-Andreas 12 Dec 2009, 22:15 Very nice tutorials, I havent got around to getting the game yet but was snoopin around on the net to see if id like this famous map editor & i think its amazing definitely getting it now, just 1 question, how limited are u as far as how much u can put in a map. ex.20-30 buildings + all the mountains rivers, textures, scenery, ect (more? less?) & is there a limit on vehicles per se? & 1 more thing can u stack things like buildings ect.? please respond asap cuz it might really affect my thoughts on the game. Powered by Scriptsmill Comments Script