The map
The map is the heart of the studio. It looks like the map computer you use in the game: the level's real ground in green, with its hills and contour lines, the buildings drawn from above, and everything that matters on top of it.
What you see
- The ground is the level's real terrain, lit from the north-west, with a contour line every 5 m (a darker one every 25 m). With Ground textures on, it is shaded by what it is made of: fields, dirt tracks, rock, snow.
- Buildings, towers and structures are drawn from their own 3D models, from above, at their true size and heading. A radar dome reads as a dome, a water tower as a tank on legs.
- Vehicles, crates and other solid props are drawn from their models too, in a darker green, so a truck stands out in a yard.
- Trees, lamps, poles, computers and switches are symbols at their real size.
- Guards are triangles pointing the way they face: red for the level's, yellow for yours. Snipers, gunners and officers are marked.
- The player start is a green triangle. Select it and drag it to move where the mission begins.
- Pickups show what they are: rifle, sniper rifle, SMG, shotgun, pistol, grenade, mine, medipack, ammo.
- Cameras are red camera symbols. Zoomed in, each shows its view cone, and dashed, the whole arc it sweeps.
- Objectives are numbered yellow diamonds; events are pink numbered badges.
A building goes see-through while the pointer is over it or it is selected, so you can see what stands inside. The X-ray layer does this for every building at once.
Moving around
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Move the map | Drag empty ground, or Ctrl+arrows |
| Zoom | Scroll, or + and - |
| Fit the base | F |
| Fit the whole level | 0 |
| Jump to the player start | H |
| Zoom to the selection | Z |
| Step through your changes | J |
| Measure a distance | M, then click two points. It gives the distance, the height difference and the slope |
The readout in the bottom left corner gives the position, the ground height and the slope under the pointer.
Hover to learn
Hover anything on the map and a card tells you what it is: its 3D model, a tag (enemy, camera, building, vehicle, pickup, yours) and the facts that matter. For a guard: his type, weapon, model and how far he sees. For a camera: its view, tilt and height. For a building: its kind, size and model, and whether you can go inside.
The layers
The bar above the map shows and hides what is drawn: the terrain relief, ground textures, buildable ground (B), the grid, buildings, props and vehicles, fences and walls, doors, pickups, the level's guards, cutscene actors, map labels (L), all walkway points (N) and the level's patrol routes. At its right end are the patrol animation's controls: play or pause (Space), speed, and back to the start positions.
Guards with a patrol walk it on the map as the game would have them do: along the walkways, pausing at their stops.
The view tools and the legend
From the left: jump to the player start, fit the base, fit everything, zoom to the selection, step through your changes, measure, save the view as a picture, the map computer preview, sight lines (see Guards), and the live view.
The Legend lists only what is on this map, with counts. Hovering shows the first rows; a click opens the whole list.
The map computer preview
The screen button shows the mission as the game's map computer will: the ground, buildings, walls and large structures, the labels, the player, and the numbered markers of the objectives. Its card lists the Objectives page as the game shows it, and how many of the map computer's 32 markers and labels the mission uses. The game cannot load a level with more than 32, so the studio warns you before that happens.
Right-click
Right-click anything for what you can do with it:
- On a guard, pickup or object: edit, duplicate, rotate, view it in 3D, edit or clear a patrol, change a guard's type or weapon, change a pickup's item, undo its changes, remove it.
- On a walkway point: remove it, undo, zoom to or hide its graph.
- On open ground: add an enemy, a weapon or item, a building or object (a search box over the whole catalogue opens), a walkway point, Build a fenced compound here..., or Test from here... to start the game with the player right there.
The Mission menu
Mission (beside the studio's name) has:
- New mission, the library, Save, Duplicate, and Rename & in-game description: the name and the line of text the game's mission list shows.
- Time limit and weather (see Objectives).
- A draft from a description...: write the mission in plain words and the studio places it for you, without any AI service (see The AI designer).
- Easy, normal and hard versions... and Make a campaign... (see The AI designer).
- Export the mission to a file, export all your missions in one file, import a mission file, and copy the plan.
- Check mission..., Apply to game..., Remove from the game once it is in, and Settings.
- Tidy up: finds things of yours that hover over bare ground, and things placed twice in the same spot, and offers to fix them.
- Undo, redo, the keyboard shortcuts, and Delete mission....
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| Arrows (Shift ×10, Alt ×0.2) | Move the selection 0.5 m |
| R / Shift+R · T | Turn by 15° · by 90° |
| [ / ] | Selection down or up one floor |
| Delete · Ctrl+D | Remove · duplicate (the whole group when several are selected) |
| Shift+drag · Shift+click · Ctrl+A | Select a group · add or drop one · all your changes |
| Ctrl+C · Ctrl+V | Copy the selection · paste it at the pointer, in any mission |
| G | Drop the selection onto the ground |
| P | Edit the selected guard's patrol |
| V | View and place the selection in 3D |
| A · N · L · B | Add walkway points · show all walkway points · show labels · buildable ground |
| + / - · F · 0 | Zoom · fit the base · fit everything |
| H · Z · J | Player start · zoom to the selection · next of your changes |
| M | Measure (Esc stops) |
| Space | Play or pause the patrols |
| Ctrl+Z · Ctrl+Y · Ctrl+S | Undo · redo · save |
| Esc · ? | Stop or deselect · list every shortcut |
Next: guards, patrols and walkways.