How-To: Using Template Images in World Builder
In this tutorial we'll go through the steps of adding your custom template images to World Builder. These template images can be used for creating a map layout based on real locations. You could also draw fictional designs in Photoshop. It's all up to you!
For example Relic mappers use template images for map layout designs. Take a look at the Official
CoH2 World Builder trailer to exactly get what this tutorial is all about.
Here is a screenshot of example result:
Rule #1:
Do not keep World Builder open while doing the steps in this tutorial unless told to.
Rule #2: No other rules.
Required tools:
- Basic text editor. Microsoft Notepad is great for this. More suitable tool would be notepad++, which you can download from notepad-plus-plus.org
- Adobe Photoshop with DDS plugin
We'll start by setting up a folder system to hold the templates and by downloading a set of example files to test it.
Tip: You can use World Builder Ruler tool to determine scale. Ruler measures distance in meters.
Now that we have a working system, we can continue to creating our own template image(s).
Assuming that you already have a template image, we'll start by saving it as .dds
In case you have no template image, head to, for example, https://maps.google.com/ and get one by taking a screenshot.
Load your template image to Photoshop. Make sure the image width and height are multiples of four. Here is a list of few examples (basically any power of 2 is suitable):
128, 256, 384, 512, 768, 1024, 2048
Once you have done necessary adjustments to your image ensuring correct image width and height, save your template image as yourTemplateName.dds to
Company of Heroes 2 Installation folder\CoH2\Data\art\scenarios\textures\splats\templates
, using following settings in photoshop:
Image #3: Exporting DDS
Now, when your image is successfully exported as .dds, we'll create a .terrainmaterial file to describe the properties of the new splat. You can do that by doing the following steps:
In this tutorial you learned how to add custom template images to the World Builder. Fell free to share your results in this thread!