
Trade Wars 2 Official Level Editor

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1. Version history
2. Step By Step - instructions for making a level 
3. Object scales
4. Distributing your level
5. Problems
 
 
 
 
 
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1. Version history
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1.00
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First released version of editor.

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2. Step By Step - instructions for making a level 
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So you want to make your very own level for Trade Wars 2? It is very easy, just read
the instructions carefully.

Level making includes:
1) Drawing the level with any graphics editor
2) Drawing of indestructable areas with any graphics editor (optional)
3) Drawing of background with any graphics editor
4) Opening the level in editor, where you can determine active objects and
settings and finally saving the level.

All in all, the editor has very little to do with making of level. You will
mainly rely on your skills with graphics editors.

Hint: You can also make rendered 3D-pictures from your levels, but for that
you need other programs (and lots of skill ;))

The following will include detailed instructions for level making.
If you are a beginner in graphics editing, it is recommended that you first
read these instructions throughoutly, and then read again and do as
instructions tell you.

1) Open up any graphics editor you want to use to draw your level.
Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop etc. for example.
It should have good support for .gif. For example Paint saves all pictures with 256 colors, but
Paint Shop Pro, for instance, can save almost all needed colors.

2) Start a new picture. Make it exactly 800x525 pixels in size.

3) Now it is time to start drawing. One good way to start is to make a new layer,
and draw first with black and white only. This way you can get a clear picture
how your level will look, where to put objects and which tools player should use
in specific spots. It is also wise to test the level using black and white only
and after you are sure you don't need to change anything, you can put more effort
in look of your level. This way you will avoid unpleasant surprises.

It is also worth noting that:

- All black color (R=0, G=0, B=0) will be transparent.
- Your lemmings will react to even the smallest holes in ground!
- Don't make too low tunnels or any other tight places! Also avoid making of triangle-shaped
holes.
- Don't make hills that can't be climbed without hitting the ceiling.
- Don't make too steep hills if you want your lemmings to be able to climb over them.
That kind of hills should be 45 degrees steep at most.
- Remember the altitude changes! Your lemmings will die if they fall from too high.
- Check section 3, "Object scales" in this text file, so you will know how much space certain
objects will take in finished level. Pay special attention to size of bridges
and stairways.
- Don't draw water to your level in graphics editor. Level editor and game will handle is at
normal ground. Working water can be added in level editor.

4) Is your level ready. It is time to save the work.
You can create a directory to Trade Wars 2/Level/Custom, which you will name same
as your level and save the picture to there. Another method is to save the picture to
another directory and then moving it later to your level's directory. It is simplier to
use the first method, though.

Save your level in GIF format.
Save it as terrain.gif. DON'T CLOSE THE EDITOR YET!

5) This step is optional, but recommended if you want to make good levels:

Use the graphics editor selection tool (Freehand selection tool in PSP for example)
and select the areas you want to be indestructable. When you have selected the areas, invert your
selection. Now you have selected the areas that will NOT be indestructable. In PSP this is achieved with
Selection -> Invert. After you have finished, fill the selected area with black.

6) Now you should see the areas that will be indestructable and background is black. Save your
work in GIF format as rock.gif.

7) If you want, you can close other pictures and make a new one. It will be your levels background.
It can be any size, but it is recommended to make it as 800x525.
There is no special colors for background, so you can use black also. It may be better to use
darker colors in background than in actual level. If you don't want to make the background yet,
make it full black or don't make it at all yet.

8) When the background is ready, save it in GIF format as backdrop.gif.

Now it is time to start using the level editor. We use it to create all active objects, such as
spawning point, destination, tools etc. At the same time you learn to use the editor and
where all options can be found.
If you think you know the editor well enough, you don't need to do everything
these instructions tell you. It is recommended that you read these through,
though.

9) Open up Trade Wars 2 Official Level Editor (Level Editor.exe)

10) Choose from menu Editor -> New Level

11) A new window will appear. Fill up these boxes:

Level name:
If you made a directory for your level earlier to Trade Wars2/Level/Custom,
then write that directory's name to here (watch out for typos).
If you didn't, you may write level's name here now.

Author:
Level creator's name or nick.

13) Press OK.

14) If you moved your graphics to your level's directory, they should appear now
in editor automatically. If you didn't, move terrain.gif, backdrop.gif and possible
rock.gif to level's directory. After that, choose Edit -> Load GIF from menu.
All graphics found in level's directory will be loaded then.
Note: If the pictures don't appear or something goes wrong, save your level (Editor ->
Save level) and restart it. You can load your level with Editor -> Load level.

15) Notice that there are several functions located at bottom bar. Most of them
are for adding objects. If you have played the game for some time, you probably
know what every object does.
We begin by adding a couple of spawning points to your level. Choose spawning point
from bottom bar (first from left) and put couple of them to your level.

16) Click right mouse button to reset your selection. By default all new spawning points'
are set to 1, which means they spawn only one lemming. You can change every spawning points'
value by right-clicking the spawning point and selectin "Set value".

A new window will appear. You can now put in desired amount of lemmings you want
to spawn from chosen spawning point. Amount must be between 1-200.
Note: Notice the total amount of spawning lemmings! If you make five spawning points
and give each one a value of 200, there will be 1000 lemmings. This is too much
for game's performance. It is recommended to keep the amount of lemmings
fewer than 200. The fewer lemmings, the better game will run.

When you are done with value, click OK.

17) It is worth noting that you can also delete objects. You can do this by
selecting eraser from bottom bar (first from right) and click on object that you
want to delete. When you are done with deleting, click right mouse button to
reset the selection.

18) You can create a destination for the lemmings now. It is second from left in bottom
bar. You can create more than one destination; all the lemmings don't need to get
to same one!

19) Now we can create some water. There won't be any physics to the water, so it is probably
best to create it for places meant for it (with edges that can't be destroyed).
There are two kinds of water, surface water and ground water. Only difference between
these two are that surface water includes waves. This doesn't affect the gameplain any way.
Now look for any "hole" in your level and fill it up with water.

Note: It is adviced to use the grid for this. Click the "X" in bottom bar, and "OBJ" replaces it.
Now the pieces of water move in invisible grids. Try it and you will see how easy it is to
place the pieces. You can use the grid with other objects, too.
You can't change location of the grid.

20) Open up the Propertiers window by selecting Edit -> Properties. Now we can adjust settings
for your level. Fill up the boxes like this;

Level name: 
This is your level's name. By default it should be same as your level directory's name.

Author:
Name or nick of creator of the level.

Difficulty:
Estimated difficulty of the level. If you have no idea which it will be, choose "Unknown".
It is recommended to select another one, though.
Note: Difficulty doesn't affect the game in any way, it just gives the player a rough
idea how difficult the level will be.

Music:
Choose which song will be played during the level. Player can change the song
in game's properties if he or she wants.

Flow of lemmings:
Determines the rate of spawning lemmings (1-100). The higher the value, the faster
lemmings will spawn.

Information:
Write a short description about your level IN ENGLISH!

Water:
Choose wheter the water will go behind the areas in rock.gif.

Lemmings:
Level editor has calculated how many lemmings there will be in the level.

Home:
Choose how many lemmings must be rescued. The amount can't be 0 or higher than
spawnable lemmings.

Tools:
You can add and substract the amount of tools. Click the corresponding
picture with left mouse button to add or with right mouse button to substract.
Middle button resets the amount to 0.

Choose "Save" when you are ready. Note that level's settings are saved
automatically, so you don't need to save the level again.

21) Now we have gone through the most important things. If you want,
you may add some objects and see how they work in game,
but your level is ready to be played now. Choose Editor -> Save level
if you did some changes.

22) Your level is now ready to be played. If any problems occur, read the instructions
again or look at section "5. Problems" in this TXT-file.

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3. Object scales
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Values are pixels X, Y.


Lemming (standing still): 12, 22

Bridge: 98, 10

Stairs: 74, 56

Fatal falling: estimated 175-200 pixels (Y)

Spawning point: 43, 25

Destination: 40, 32

Water: 51, 41

Spinning spikes: 32, 20

Landmine: 15, 5

Button-controlled spikes: 37, 16

Spike control lever: 17, 17

Arrows: 48, 41

Teleport: 17, 17


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4. Distributing your level
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You can send your levels to game's homepage.

More info at tradewars.ferror.net

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5. Problems
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Most of the problems are not likely to occur if you don't intentionly mess things up.
Here are some of most common problems with the editor:

Q: I can't get my level graphics loaded.
A: Make sure that the picture is exactly 800x525 and format is .gif.
If the level still doesn't load, the picture may be corrupted. It is also worth
trying to restart the editor.

Q: Why .gif?
A: JPG might be grapgically better, but by default more "distorted", which
results in black color at level edges.
BMP is way too big (uncompressed).
GIF doesn't lower the quality of picture (if you don't use too many colors).

Q: I can't get the level loaded or it doesn't load correctly.
A: Make sure that at least these files are located in level's directory:

terrain.gif
level.dat
info.ini
Optionally there may also be rock.gif and backdrop.gif.

Q: Can I transfer a level from Trade Wars Revolution to Trade Wars 2?
A: Theorically yes, but it isn't too simple.
Here are the instructions however:

Load your TWR level to TWR level editor. Take a screenshot. Select the map from
the screenshot and make sure that it is 800x525 in size.
Save it as terrain.gif. Now you can create a backdrop and load it in
Trade Wars 2 level editor. Note that you must make all the settings and
place all the objects again.

Q: Why I can't see the backdrop or it is black?
A: Make sure that in terrain.gif and rock.gif desired transparent areas
are completely black (R = 0, G = 0, B = 0).

Q: Why each spawning point spawns only one lemming?
A: If you haven't defined spawning points' values, they will spawn only
one lemming by default. You can edit their values by clicking
them with right mouse button in editor and choosing "Set value".

Q: How do the teleports work?
A: Teleports only work one way, like this:

Red -> blue, green -> yellow.

Q: What the hell? How can photographs be used as level?
A: Simple. First you need a digital camera (that's a big surprise) and
required cables you use to transfer the pictures to computer. Editing
is the most important part and it works just like any other picture
editing:

Simply choose terrain areas and make all the other areas black.
This will be terrain.gif.
You can use the whole photograph as a backdrop, but it is recommended to make
terrain areas darker. This will be backdrop.gif.
Choose the indestructable areas and make everything else black. This will be
rock.gif.

Simple, eh? Picture quality doesn't get screwed either, even the format
is .gif. Official levels using photographs are taken with Canon PowerShot A510.

Q: How does the water work?
A: Water doesn't have any physics, so you can place it to "pools" you have
made to terrain.gif. It is recommended to make pools' edges indestructable.

Q: Can I use the editor to make Campaign-levels?
A: It is quite possible to make a own campaign. The level editor doesn't support
that in this version, though.

Q: Load GIF doesn't work.
A: Save your level, close your editor and try again.

Q: How can I undo the mistake I made in editor?
A: Not with CTRL + Z, at least. There is no undo function
in level editor.

Q: What does Water Front/Back mean and how does it work.
A: If you choose "Front", nothing special happens.
But if you choose "Back", water will be behind the terrain
in rock.gif. Unfortunately the water can't be behind terrain
in terrain.gif.

Q: I would like to distribute my level for other player. How is it done?
A: Check the section "4. Distributing your level" in this TXT-file.

Q: I didn't find the answer for my question!!
A: In that case you can contact the author. Contact information can be found
in end of readme.txt.


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© Fear of The Fatal Error 2006 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
http://tradewars.ferror.net