WarCraft III Tutorial I -- Terrain Editor

By (VooDoo)Neff
Aka Joey Neff

Welcome! This is a tutorial on the Terrain Editor in the World Editor for
WarCraft III. First thing you will need is a copy of WarCraft III if you do not have a
copy of WarCraft III you might have a hard time with this tutorial If you do have a
copy of WarCraft III then this tutorial will be very easy to accomplish

Finding World Editor

WarCraft III comes with its own editorHow Cool Is That

If you installed WarCraft III in its default path that would be in

C:\Program Files\Warcraft III

Once you have located World Editor double click on the Icon OR if you plan on using
this a lot I would recommend right clicking on the Icon and
Send To > Desktop (create shortcut)
When you open World Editor you will see something that looks like this

NOTE: Blizzard has nothing to do with this Editor, yet they are the ones that made it. lol

Terrain Editor
Now we can start with the fun stuff
This is the Terrain Editor of World Edit this is where we will edit the way our map will
look

Ill start off by explaining the buttons in the Tool Bar that is circled in red. The first eight
will most likely be well-known to you.
1. New Map (ctrl+n) Starts a new map
2. Open Map (ctrl+o) Opens an existing map
3. Save Map (ctrl+s) Saves the map
4. Cut (ctrl+x) Used to cut an object on the map
5. Copy (ctrl+c) Used to copy an object on the map
6. Paste (ctrl+v) Used to Paste an object on the map

7. Undo (ctrl+z) Will undo the last thing you did

8. Redo (ctrl+y) Will redo your undolol
The next ten are not so common
9. Selection Brush (Space) Will select or deselect the object on your brush (I
just use the space bar)
10. Terrain Editor (F3) Where we edit our map (this is what we are working
with in this tutorial)
11. Trigger Editor (F4) This allows us to make special events called Triggers
(will not be used in this tutorial)
12. Sound Editor (F5) Allows the import and export of sounds (will not be used
in this tutorial, but is fun to play with )
13. Object Editor (F6) The Object Editor contains every object file thats is in
the game (its a whole new world in the editor and will not be used in this
tutorialIm saving that for the next one )
14. Campaign Editor (F7) This is for advanced users who want to make a single
player campaign (will not be used in this tutorial)
15. AI Editor (F8) This is for advanced users with no lifelol its to make the
computer players artificial intelligence. this is the hardest thing you can
possibly do with the editor (no way we are using this in this tutorial)
16. Object Manager (F11) This displays a map summary and helps keep your
objects in order (helpful, but will not be used in this tutorial)
17. Import Manager (F12) Lets you import files to use in maps (rarely ever
used, and will not be used in this tutorial)

18. Test Map (ctrl+F9) For test playing the map (will be used in this tutorial )

Oknow lets take a look at the Tool Palette to the right side of the Editor.

This contains every thing that we can use to edit our map. There are five selections in the
list box at the top of the Tool Palette.
1. Terrain Palette
Apply Texture:
Apply Cliff:
Apply Height:
Size:
Shape:
This allows you to make the terrain: dirt, grass, water, cliffs, hills, holes, also the size and
shape of them. If you would liketry playing with some of them before moving on to the
next paletteGo for it. While you do that Im going to go get some more coffeelol
Coffee! lol
2. Doodad Palette
Place Names

Doodad Types
Doodad list
Size:
Shape:

Here are scenery doodads some things do something like trees for recourses, and some
things just look nice. Go ahead and play with some doodads while I drink my coffee
3. Unit Palette
Player
Race
Units
Heroes
Buildings
Special
This has all the playable characters, buildings, and non playable characters (NPC). Try
adding some buildings to the map and some units. (Dont become attached to the things
you have placed on this map. This is only to get a feel for some of the objects.)
NOTE: The next Two Palettes will NOT be used in this tutorial so if youre not interested
in knowing what they are then just skip to the Start a New Map section.
4. Region Palette This is used for creating regions which is used for the
Trigger Editor. It allows you to call an event within the region also when
entering or even leaving a region

5. Camera Palette This is used mostly for the Campaign Editor AND Trigger
Editor. It allows you to make movies by setting camera positions and making
triggers to change views to make it look like its playing a movie.

Start a New Map

Ok lets start with a fresh map, after playing with the palettes your map probably
looks something like this.lol

NOTE: You can start a new map three ways, File/New Map, the first icon in the Tool
Bar, or ctrl+n
Once you have done that you will see this

Here you will see some settings like Map Size and Initial Tile. For the purpose of this
tutorial just set the map size to 128x128 and change dirt to Initial Tile: Grass.
Good now that we have a clean map lets make some important changes

For the first setting, click on the Menu Bar: Scenario/ Player properties.

This is the Scenario Properties

Here is where you can set the number of players, color, race, controller, and fixed start
location. There are many more options to set, but we are only using the Players Tab. But
dont let that stop you from looking at the other tabs and settings.

The only thing you will need to change is Race and Controller. I chose Race as
selectable because when you play a game that you have made, and anyone else that is
playing will want to select a race. For controller chose User this will allow players one
and two to be Human or computer.

NOTE: You could use a setting like Race Human and Race Orc if you wanted to
make a specific scenario. If you where to do that, there will be other settings that would
have to change in order for that to work. Controller Rescuable is used for setting non
player characters that you can rescue by walking up to them, and they become a member
of your team. Controller Neutral makes non player characters that do nothing. This is
good for a campaign with towns people.

Ok now click on Menu Bar: Scenario/Map Description

Description Tab will be the only page in this window that we will want to change. But
dont let that stop you from looking at the other tabs and settings.
So lets give our map a name. Since this is your first map lets just call it My First Map,
Suggested Players 2 or 1v1, Description is optional, but make sure you put your name
under Author. The last thing you want to do is make a really great map, and know one
knows who made it.

Bringing Some Life to the Map

Note: If you dont like the grid you can turn it off or change the size View/Grid
Note: You can use the Minimap to move around faster also you can use Right Click and
drag.

This map needs some life, or there cant be a WAR. So we need our Unit Palette.

Select the Start Location for Player 1 (Red) and place the Start Location on the map.
After you have done that change to player 2 (Blue) and do the samebut not in the same

placelol

Youre so close to a WAR you can smell the blood in the air. But there are two
major things missing, and that is your resources. You cant have a War with ought Gold
and Lumber.

So now what we need to do is change the box that says Player # (color) to
Neutral Passive and select the Gold Mine under Buildings.

Once you have selected the Gold Mine place one by each of the Start Locations
Note: You dont want to place them to close or to faraway. Some of the races need to be
close to them.

Ok now press the Space Bar to Deselect the object that is on your brush. Each Gold
Mine starts out with 12,500 Gold. You can change this by double clicking on the Gold
Mine that is on your map.

This is the Unit Properties window this works with anything that is in the Unit Palette.
For the Gold Mine we can change the player and Gold Amount (I would NOT
recommend changing Player for the Gold Mine. If you do so it will ONLY belong to
that selected player.)
But feel free to change the Gold Amount to any value from 1 1000000.
NOTE: you will have to change the value for each gold mine you place on your map. Or
you can make One Gold Mine, change the amount and use Copy/Paste.
Now we need some Trees. You can find a Tree Wall in the Doodad Palette.

Place some trees around your map be sure to make some close to the Start Locations,
and experiment with the size, shape, and the Place Names like Lordaeron Summer.

Save Your Map

Before you test your map SAVE IT you could use the third icon in the Tool Bar. When
you save your map for the first time you will get is this.

Pay no attention to that. This happened when you placed the first Gold Mine.

Here are all the maps that are in the game. Its best to make your own folder so you can
find them a lot easer, also save your map with the same name you used in Menu Bar:
Scenario/Map DescriptionMy First Map
Now theres only one thing left to doyes Test your map to do that just click on the last
icon in the on the Tool Bar
WARNING: testing does NOT auto save, so make sure you always save your map
before you test play.

OTHER NOTES:
Cheat Cods help test playing
When you are in the game press Enter to get the dialog box then type the code then press
Enter again.
iseedeadpeople Removes the Fog of War

whosyourdaddy Makes you invincible

greedisgood 100 -- Gives that value from 1-1000000 in gold & lumber (100 is just an
example)
warpten Fast Building
Always Save Every Chance You Get! Or you can go to File/Preferences/General and set
the Autosave. (I dont use this because it becomes a bit annoying, so I just save a lot)
When test playing and you want to exit, it is faster to Exit Program than to Quit
Mission.
Try adding some Neutral Hostile from the Unit Palette. It gives you more to fight than
just the other player.

If you have any questions about this tutorial, or any questions about using the Terrain
Editors interface feel free to E-mail me [email protected] and I will try to
answer your questions the best I can.
Note: The next tutorial will be on the Object Editor.