RELIC ENTERTAINMENT

World Builder
Builder: Dawn of
War II
Quick “How-To” Guide
6/30/2009
 Relic Entertainment
WORLD BUILDER ................................................................
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INTRODUCTION ................................................................
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USAGE ON VISTA ................................

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RECOMMENDED SPECIFICATION................................
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COMMONLY USED TERMS ................................

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CREATING YOUR FIRST MAP ................................

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.................................. 4

CAVEATS ................................................................
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RUNNING YOUR FIRST MAP ................................

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................................... 5

PACKAGING YOUR MAP(S) ................................

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...............................................5
Creating an Archive Design File................................
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Creating an Archive ................................
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Running an Mod Archive ................................
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Playing with Friends ................................
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Adding Additional Maps to a Single Archive ................................................................................................
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TROUBLESHOOTING ................................
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LOCALIZATION ................................................................
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FEATURE AREAS ................................................................

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TEXTURE TILE PAINTING EDITOR (F7) ................................

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LIGHTING MODE ................................................................
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ATMOSPHERE PROPERTIES ................................
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Sunlight ................................................................
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Fog ................................................................
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TERRAIN PROPERTIES ................................
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LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN ISSUES ................................

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OBJECT PLACEMENT AND PATHFINDING CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................

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IMPASS ................................................................
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WATER ................................................................
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INCLUDED TOOLS ................................

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................
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World Builder
Introduction
This guide is a quick ‘HOW-TO’ for using Dawn of War II’s map creation tools, the World Builder. It
describes how to make a simple map, create an archive and outlines some common pitfalls. It is highly
recommended that everyone take a quick look at this document before attempting to use the map
editing tools, as it details minimum requirements for a valid map as well as some co
common
mmon pitfalls that
should be avoided. A simple map ‘4p_SmallDemo’ has been included with the World Builder that can
be used as a quick reference to see how something works.

Usage on Vista
On Vista this behavior requires admin privilege so the World Buil
Builder
der will need to be run as an
administrator. To start the WorldBuilder with admin privileges, right
right-click
click on the WorldBuilder.exe and
select ‘Run as administrator’.

Recommended Specification
The World Builder runs at the highest visual quality by default. There is no way to turn this down.
Therefore, it’s recommended to use a machine that can run Dawn of War II at High to Ultra visual
settings. Lower specification machines will potentially render maps incorrectly.

Commonly Used Terms

• Root or Root Folder – Refers
efers to the base path that the game is installed to by Steam. Ie. If Steam
has installed the game to ‘C:
‘C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\dawn dawn of war 2’,
2’ this is
the Root Folder. In the document, paths are noted in the following manner:
<root>\GameAssets\Archives
Archives.
• Bake or Baking – Refers to the process of taking raw assets from a tool and turning them into
assets that can be loaded by the game.
• Dev Mode or Preview Mode – Running the game with the –dev dev command parameter. This runs
the game using loose files in the <root>
<root>\GameAssets\Data
Data folder as well as loading the archives.
• Mod Mode – Refers to running the game with the –mod mod <modname> command parameter. This
runs the game using the <root>
<root>\GameAssets\Mods\<modname>.sga
<modname>.sga archive as well as the
default retail archives.
• Entity – Refers to a game object. A building, a fern and a placed squad are all considered
entities.
• [YourMapName] – Refers to the name you choose for your map.

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Creating Your First Map

1. Run WorldBuilder.exe, and select File -> New
2. Choose an appropriate size for the map, then press OK
a. By making the Terrain size larger than the Playable Area the outskirts of the map can be
made more aesthetically appealing.
b. FOR REFERENCE: A Dawn of War II 1 vs. 1 map never has a smaller playable area than
256 by 256, and a 3 vs. 3 map never larger than 512 by 512.
3. Name and Save the map
a. To Name the Map: Scenario
Scenario->Scenario
>Scenario Properties, write name in ‘Map Name’ field
b. To Save the Map: File
File->Save As… and save to
<root>/Assets/Maps/PvP/
<root>/Assets/Maps/PvP/[YourMapName].wb-scenario
c. REMINDER:ER: Save progress often. The editor crashes without warning.

Warning: The World Builder will save by default to <root>/Assets/Maps.. If maps are not saved to the
<root>/Assets/Maps/PvP folder they will not be baked to the correct location for the game.

4. Add starting positions to the map

a. Click the Object Placement icon, or press F2 on the keyboard.
b. In the Object list select the following: ebps
ebps->world_objects->gameplay
>gameplay-
>starting_position_pvp_menu
c. Place two of these Objects into the map by right clicking on tthe
he desired player start
location.
i. World objects can be selected by left clicking on them, and they can be moved
by dragging them with the mouse.
5. Assign players to Starting positions
a. Select a starting position, in the Object menu, under ‘Current’ change the ‘Player
assignment’ from World to Player 1 and 2 respectively.
6. Add other gameplay objects
a. Victory Point:: ebps
ebps->world_objects->gameplay->victory_point_pvp
b. Power Point: ebps-->world_objects->gameplay->strategic_point_pvp
c. Requisition Point:: ebps
ebps->world_objects->gameplay->strategic_point_requistion_pvp
>strategic_point_requistion_pvp
d. Turrets: ebps->world_objects
>world_objects->gameplay->turret_position_pvp
i. Remember to assign any turrets to the same player as the base they are
defending is.
7. Save and Bake the Map: File
File->Save & Bake
a. If the map was saved in tthe proper location, it will be saved again, and Baked, which
makes the map ready to be played in-game.

Caveats
Consider the following when creating maps:

• The World Builder will crash without warning. Save all progress often.

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• There are prototype and/or legacy features present that are not used and/or are no longer
stable. This means that some features might corrupt maps. It is recommended to backup work
regularly.
• It is possible to create a map that will cause the game to crash. Preview maps that are in
progress frequently to ensure that the map has no elements that crash the game.
• The World Builder is provided as is, and THQ and Relic does not support it.

Running Your First Map

Run the game with –dev
dev as a command line parameter. There are two ways to do this:

1. Add the parameter to a desktop shortcut (RECOMENDED)

a. In Steam, under the ‘My Games’ tab, right click on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II.
Select ‘Properties’, click the ‘Create desktop shortcut’ button. On the desktop, right click
on the shortcut, select
elect properties, and in the ‘Target’ text field type –dev
dev after the
target path. Move the shortcut to any convenient location.
2. Add the parameter in Steam
a. Under the ‘My Games’ tab, right click on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Select
‘Properties’, click the ‘Set launch options…’ button and write –dev dev in the text field.

Once the game is running with the command line parameter, navigate to Mulitplayer
Mulitplayer->Custom
>Custom Games-
Games
>Private, and select a race. The newly created map will be in the Map drop down list. Choose the map
and play a game.

WARNING: To play maps with other players, the map has to be packaged. Unpackaged maps can be tested
against AI only.

Packaging Your Map(s)

The archive creation tool makes it easy to create map packs. Map archives are easier to share
sh with the
community, and ensure that everyone uses the same version of maps. Some minimal text edits are
required to archive maps.

Creating an Archive Design File

In order to create an archive of the new map, create a design file. An example is included,
include which can be
used as a reference and as a starting point. Browse to the <root>\Assets\ArchiveDesign
ArchiveDesign folder and make
a copy of the 4p_SmallDemo.sga_design file in the same folder and rename it to
[YourMapName].sga_design.

Opening this new file in a text editor will reveal an XML file. There are three things to change in this file:

1. In the Archive element (first line) adjust the attributes to the new name.
2. Adjust the root path to mirror your local machine
3. Change ‘4p_SmallDemo.sga’ to [YourMapName]

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<Archive Name="[YourMapName]
[YourMapName]" DefaultCompression="Buffer"
DefaultRoot="<root>\GameAssets"
GameAssets" ArchiveFile="Mods
ArchiveFile="Mods\[YourMapName]
[YourMapName].sga">

WARNING: In the above, <root> will be the full path on your local drive. Ie. DefaultRoot=” C:\Program
C:
Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\dawn
dawn of war 2\GameAssets”.

Creating an Archive
Browse to <root>\Tools\Bin and open CreateArchive.bat in a text editor. Modify the following:

Archive.exe -c -r
r ..
..\..\GAMEASSETS\ -cf
ArchiveDesign\%1.sga_design -a C:\DOW2-
..\..\Assets\ArchiveDesign
WB\Root\GameAssets\
\Mods\%1.sga -log %1.log

The C:\DOW2-WB\RootRoot must be replaced with the equivalent <root> for your local drive. Once that is
done, save and close this file.

From a command prompt (DOS

DOS Box) or Start
Start->Run, execute:
“<root>\Tools\Bin\CreateArchive.bat
at [YourMapName]
[YourMapName]”.

A new file is created in <root>\GameAssets

GameAssets\Mods called [YourMapName].sga.. A log file is also created
in <root>\Tools\Bin called [YourMapName]
[YourMapName].log.

WARNING: You need to run the .bat file from a command line. The .bat file does not run if you double click it.

WARNING: This archive design file will package up all files in the <root>\GameAssets\Data\Maps
Maps folder into
the archive file. You should clear out test maps that you do not to package.

Running an Mod Archive

Create another shortcut to the game executable, and add ‘‘–mod
mod [YourMapName]’ to the command line
in same was as for the preview mode and ‘‘-dev’.
dev’. Running the game with this mod will load the
<root>\GameAssets\Mods\[YourMapName].sga
[YourMapName].sga archive and the map will be available to play for
Custom Multiplayer.

Playing with Friends

For friends to be able to play the game, they need to save the archive in the same location, and run the
game with the same –mod command.

Adding Additional Maps to a Single Archive

A single archive can hold any number of maps. However, make sure that no incomplete maps or test
maps are in the <root>\GameAssets
GameAssets\Data\Maps folder, before creating the archive. Clean this folder out
first, then Save and Bake your map(s) selection in the World Buil
Builder
der and create a new Map Pack.

Troubleshooting
• Problem:: The map does not appear in the dropdown list.
o Solution:: Ensure that the map was saved to <root>
<root>\Assets\Maps\PvP
PvP and that there are
map files located in <root>
<root>\GameAssets\Data\Maps\PVP.

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o Solution: Ensuree that you are running the game with the –dev option.
• Problem:: The player slots are non
non-existent
existent or that there are an odd number of them.
o Solution:: Ensure that there are an even number of starting positions and that each is
assigned a unique player number in the World Builder.

Localization
The World Builder interface is in English only. However, it uses localized speech archives. Users that are
not using the English version of the game will need to open <root>
<root>/dev_pipeline.ini
/dev_pipeline.ini in a text editor and
modify the Locale setting in the [global] section. Depending on what locale the game is running, set this
to be one of: french, german, russian, spanish, italian, czech, tchinese, polish, or hungarian. To find out
which locale the game is running, <root>/GameAssets/Locale contains a folder with the speech archives;
the name of that folder is the current locale.

WARNING: If you do not do this, the World Builder will crash when maps are opened.

WARNING: The <root>/dev_pipeline.ini

peline.ini file will likely be over
over-written
written in a future patch. If the game is patched,
you will need to reset this locale setting.

Feature Areas
This section focuses on some functional areas that are potentially confusing to users.

Texture Tile Painting Editor (F7)

This panel contains textures that can be painted on a map
map. The
World Builder requires a combination of two textures to be
used to create what is called a ‘layer’. These two textures
consist of a ground and a cliff texture and are processed int
into a
combined texture file. Unfortunately, this processing
mechanism is not included in this version of the World Builder.
However, all the existing texture packages that ship with the
game are available for use.

Therefore, users are restricted to using opt

options that are
available in the Existing Layers section, and new layer combinations cannot be created.

WARNING: If a new layer combination is created, the end result will be pink “texture missing” textures in the
game.

Lighting Mode
Selecting the ‘Lighting Mode’ button activates lighting mode. This is how the map artists can add
additional light sources to the map. This feature can be used to lighten up a section of the
t map, or to
add high-lighting.

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Open up the two sections of the dialog by clicking on

thee Lighting and Light Object heading on the right panel.
To add a light, just right click on the map. This light can
then be moved around like any other object. Clicking
and dragging it moves it around in the X X-Y plane.
Holding the H key down allows it to m move along the Z-
axis. The size and color of the object can be set in the
Light Object section.

In order to test color changes quickly, select a number

of environment probes (these are the little black boxes
that form a grid on the map), and run a Quick bakbake
lighting from the Lighting section. For additional environment probes, these can be added to the map in
the same manner as lights. This will give an idea how the lights will look in their immediate vicinity.

Once satisfied with how they look, be sure to run a Bake Lighting, this is a longer process that will add
the light map to your map files.

WARNING: If the map in game does not look as good

good, or the lighting seems to be wrong, remember to Bake
lighting.

Atmosphere Properties
From the menu, select Scenario->Atmosphere
>Atmosphere Properties to bring up the Atmosphere Properties dialog.
This is where a number of very important global settings are configured. Once the settings are set to
satisfaction, this file should be saved to <root>\Assets\Maps\Atmospheres.

Sunlight
This is where the color intensity and position of the sunlight is configured. It allows map artists
artist to set a
very general light scheme for a map. This can be modified in different ways to make deep jungle maps, a
bright desert scene or a polluted Hive city be very distinct in terms of lighting.

Fog
This is where fog on a map is configured and implemented. Be sure to make the fog look visualy
consistent with the lighting and environment of the map.

WARNING: Does the Fog of War look really terrible on your newly created map? You should adjust the settings
of the Fog on the map to make it look better.

Terrain Properties
From the menu, select Scenario->Terrain
>Terrain Properties to bring up the Terrain Properties dialog. This is
where the Giant Shadow type is set, as well as setting the appearance of water on the map.

Limitations and Known Issues

The World Builder has a number of limitations and known issues
issues. Below are some of those.

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Object Placement and Pathfinding Considerations

Dawn of War II pathfinding algorithms essentially
operate on sector maps being created on the map.
These sectors are made visible, by selecting Overlay
Overlay-
>Draw Overlay Map->Draw
>Draw Sector map. There should
be no more than 40,000 of these sectors on a map.

While adding buildings to the map, p, regenerate the

pathfinding by selecting Overlay->Regenerate
>Regenerate All
Pathfinding (Shift-F5).. The effect is displayed on the
sector map.

No entity can cover more than approximately 200

sectors. So if too many entities are placed on top or in close proximity to
o one larger object, some issues
will occur in the map. The new map, (4p) Medean Cliff Mines contains a large ground fan that can be
used as a guideline for how much density can be used around a large object.

WARNING: If the World Builder crashes when attempt to save a map, you may have broken this
th pathfinding
limitations.

WARNING: Does the custom map seem to crash the game when you are playing in a particular area of the map
more than others? Remember that game play actions can affecaffect pathfinding, so building
uilding destruction or
construction (ie. Turrets) may have pushed a close to the limit area, over the limit.

Impass
After rebuilding the pathfinding for a map, view the
Impass overlay in the same manner as the Sector map.
Red and orange squares are impass
impassable for the current
pass type. Red squares are terrain that is impassible due
to terrain or entities. Orange sector are user painted
impasses using the Impass Map Editor. It is a good idea
to ensure that important areas are not blocked off, or
that there are not too many overly narrow choke points
as these areas will have a negative impact on the
pathfinding.

Furthermore, be careful with bridges.

dges. BBridges
ridges are passable with the exception of a very narrow strip of
impass on the edges in order to keep units frfrom
om falling off the edge. It is advisable to paint the bottom
of crevasses or gaps impassable as it will keep from having jump units leap into them.

WARNING: If you use a long bridge to cross a narrow gap, the impass of the long bridge still applies and you
yo will
see unexpected pathing behavior around the bridge entrance. Check the impass map to see what is happening..

WARNING: If you find that you cannot path over a bridge, did you paint the bottom of the gap immediately
below the bridge to be impassable?

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WARNING: In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, stairways are bridges.

WARNING: You may need to smooth out your terrain if you find there are lots of impassable areas after using
the Terrain Height Editor.

WARNING: Water areas become impassable

mpassable at 50 cm, or 0.5 meter.

Water
The water editor does occasionally displays water in the World Builder differently than water in the
game.. If something does not look correct or looks like clipping, check in the game first.

Water objects are fairly performance expensive items, and only one should be used per map.
map

Included Tools
• <root>/Tools/Bin/Archive.exe
• <root>/Tools/Bin/Bake.exe
• <root>/Tools/Bin/CreatArchive.bat
• <root>/Tools/Foreign/nvdxt.exe
• <root>/WorldBuilder.exe
• <root>/dev_pipeline.ini

There are additional files that can be located in:

• <root>/Tools/ToolsData
• <root>/Assets
• <root>/GameAssets/Mods

Acknowledgements
Relic thanks NVIDIA for permitting the inclusion of their Texture Conversion Tool with the World Builder.
Builder

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