Modme Wiki
| This requires you to have a working Mod Tools installation. See the relevant tutorial for installing them [[here | http://phabricator.aviacreations.com/w/world_at_war/installing_the_modtools/]]. |
NOTE:
rootrefers to your World at War installation path. If you got it from Steam, it will be inC:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Call of Duty World at War\, or if you installed Steam elsewhere, go there. If you have a disc install, it will be inC:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\Call of Duty World at War\.
In early days of zombie modding, setup files would have to be placed manually, but now most of that is done for you in the several script placers available. I highly recommend Script Placer Z. Requires registration.
Right click on the .exe and click “Run as Administrator”. For the sake of the tutorial, I’ll refer to the map name as tutorialmap, obviously you can call your map whatever you want, and choose whichever features you like. It will create a small map that contains most things you need such as zones, spawners, barricades, mystery box, teleporters, etc. You can add these manually, but it’s not recommended.
NOTE: Modme may create a script placer that does not need registration in the future if we feel like it.
Radiant is the level editor used by all Call of Duty games.
Open the Modtools Launcher which can be found at root\bin\Launcher.exe. This is a program that manages the process of creating and compiling a map. Click the button on the left that says “Radiant”.
It may take a few seconds to load. You will be prompted to ask for a project file - locate codwaw.prj in the \bin\ folder. You only have to do this once. Click Open, and Radiant will open the root\map_source folder. Locate you map - in the tutorial’s case, tutorialmap.map. It should look something like this:
{F3279}
For now I’ll only explain these few icons.
{F3283, size=full, float} Open and Save
{F3285, size=full, float} Flip on X/Y/Z axis
{F3287, size=full, float} Rotate on X/Y/Z axis
NOTE: The Z-axis is the vertical axis in the CoD engine.
To toggle the view in the 2D window, press Ctrl-Tab. It will cycle between top/side/front views. To move the grid, right-click and drag. Scroll in/out to zoom.
To look around in the 3D window, right click on it and drag forwards or backwards. To move left/right/up/down, hold Ctrl and do the same. To look around without moving, hold Ctrl+Shift and drag.
To create a brush, left-click on the 2D grid and drag in any direction (be sure to press Esc once or twice to deselect anything first). Assign a texture to it by selecting a texture in the texture window in the bottom right. To extend or shrink it, left-click and hold just to the side of the brush and drag. Remember you can toggle the 2D view to extend or shrink the brush on a different axis. To move it, left-click and hold on the brush and drag. Creating brushes must be done in the 2D window, but modifying and moving it can be done in both 2D and 3D windows.
To select a brush or entity, hold Shift and left-click in either the 2D or 3D window. If you click the 2D window, you may involuntarily select a different brush, such as the light grid volume surrounding the map. Don’t worry about this, just deselect and try again in the 3D window. Alternatively, you can press F on the keyboard which brings up a list called Filters, from which you can filter out things you don’t want to see. This doesn’t delete anything, nor does it exclude them in the compiling process.
To select individual faces of a brush, hold Shift+Ctrl and left-click.
This map will pretty much work as it is, but I’m going to add an extra room to the map for demonstration. To do this, create 3 brushes outlining the room. I’ll just be making a simple room next to the already existing smaller room.
You will need to extend the ceiling to cover the new room. Click on the ceiling brush and extend it.
Here’s an action shot:
{F3289}
Don’t worry if it doesn’t look exactly the same.
This step is important: You need to extend the Light Grid Volume, that surrounds the existing building, to contain your new room. Simply select and extend it. You will also need to do this for the skybox. If you zoom out enough in the 3D view, you’ll see a huge Caulk box surrounding the map. The inside faces of these brushes are the skybox. Select and extend the brushes so your map is surrounded. Be careful not to leave holes in the skybox.
Now we’ll extend the playable area to include our new room. If you move your 3D view near the ceiling, you’ll notice a large brush with the word Trig repeating on it. Press N on the keyboard - this will bring up the Entity window. You should see this:
{F3291}
Those boxes with text in them are called Key-Value Pairs (or KVP for short). The playable area has the KVP targetname |
playable_area. Select it and extend it to cover your new room. |
To add the door, we must add a gap in the brush that separates the two rooms. One way of doing this is to copy the brush by pressing Space with the brush selected. There are other ways of doing this but I’ll stick with this for now. I then shrunk the two brushes and moved them into place, like so:
{F3293}
You’ll notice the thin faces of the two brushes have a Caulk texture. Just select the wall texture you’re using with both brushes selected and it will apply it to all faces.
Because we’re adding a moving door, we can’t just add a normal brush for the door - it needs to be a script_brushmodel. To make this, right-click in the 2D window and go to script>brushmodel, like so:
{F3295}
You’ll need to add a KVP to this brush. Open the Entity window with N and add a new KVP, with key/value spawnflags |
1. This is required for doors. If you want your door to move when it’s purchased, you will also need to add script_vector |
x y z, replacing the x/y/z with the number of units you want it to move along the respective axis. I want mine to move -100 units on the x-axis, so I’ll make the KVP script_vector |
-100 0 0. (If I wanted it to move in the opposite direction, it would be a value of 100. If I wanted it to move vertically, the values would be 0 0 100 for example.) |
Now we add the trigger. When the player touches the trigger, they will be promted with the hintstring with the door’s cost, and when the player presses F (or whatever their Use button is) the door will be purchased. To create the trigger, right-click on the 2D grid and go to trigger|use, then move it in front of the door - remember to put it on the correct side of the door so the players can get to it! Bring up the Entity window with N and give it the following KVPs:
targetname | zombie_door
zombie_cost | VALUE
script_noteworthy | magic_door
script_flag | enter_zone_two
Replace VALUE with any of the following numbers: 100, 200, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750, 2000. These are the only valid values for doors/debris. You can make custom values but I won’t get into that here. I’ll set my new door to 1250.
I will explain the script_flag |
enter_zone_two later, in [[YourMapName.gsc |
todo]]. However, you do need to add a KVP to the already existing door’s trigger - script_flag |
enter_zone_one. |
Once those KVPs are entered, deselect everything, then select the trigger, then the door. It MUST be in that order. With both selected, press W on the keyboard - this will connect the trigger with the door. You should also see a new KVP appear on the trigger - target |
autoX where X is whatever number it chooses, and a corresponding KVP on the door itself, targetname |
autoX. You should also see a line pointing from the trigger to the door. For example, here’s mine: |
{F3297}
Remember to save! Use Ctrl+S as a shortcut.
Now we’ll add path nodes. These are the big pink cubes scattered around your map. These allow the zombies to find a path to the players. Without the path nodes, or if the path nodes are too far apart, the zombies will stand still and confused, before eventually dying. I will just select a row of pathnodes and press Space to copy them, and move them to my new room, then repeat until the room is filled. Here’s what my room looks like now:
{F3299}
Notice that I’ve put two path nodes directly in the doorway. You’ll notice the already-existing door has this too. You might need to play around with the positioning of your path nodes to have them work properly.
Your room will need light. Either right-click the 2D grid and select light, or find an existing one and press Space to copy it.
{F3301}
You can play around with the colour, radius, and intensity of the light by bringing up the Entity window with N. I will leave the radius and intensity as they are, because increasing them too much will make the room blindingly bright. Feel free to play around with it though.
Now we add a zone. You may have noticed a brush surrounding the original room with the word Volume repeating on it. Press N and you will see the KVP targetname |
start_zone. Don’t worry about the start_zone_spawners for now, that will be covered in Spawners. The smaller pre-existing room doesn’t yet have a zone, so I’ll add one to it. Right-click on the 2D grid then go to info>volume, then extend it to cover the whole room. Give it the KVP targetname |
zone_one or whatever you want to call the zone. I will then do the same for my new room, but I’ll call that one zone_two. |
I’ll continue in Radiant for now but the zone is not yet finished - it needs declaring in script. See YourMapName.gsc.
First we make the gap for the barricade to be placed in. This works in a similar way to the gap for the door. To add a barricade for zombies to get through, right-click the 2D view and go to misc>prefab, which will open a folder called _prefabs. This contains a bunch of .map files which can be inserted into any other map file - if the prefab’s .map file is edited, the prefabs in any map which includes it will be edited also. This is helpful for common items - like barricades! Select factory_barricade.map Align it with the hole you made in the wall. Here’s my example (with ActionNodes filtered out for visibility):
{F3303}
Notice that the top of the Traverse brush aligns with the bottom of the hole. This means zombies, when playing the wall-hop traverse animation, will place their hands on the wall, rather than in the air or in the brush. I’m going to add a few more brushes to line the hole with a wooden window-frame, but you can do whatever.
You will probably have noticed the character models outside the building. These are spawners. Select one, copy it with Space, then move it next to the new barricade we just made.
One of the KVPs is targetname |
start_zone_spawners, and there is a KVP for the starting zone, target |
start_zone_spawners. This means any spawner with that targetname will spawn zombies that are linked to that zone. To link this spawner to our new zone, we must change the spawner’s KVP to targetname |
zone_two_spawners and add a KVP to zone two’s info_volume, that is target |
zone_two_spawners. Once you’ve done that, there should be a line connecting the spawner with the zone, like so: |
{F3305}
Don’t forget to add pathnodes to the new barricade! Add some path nodes outside the building so zombies can walk to and from each barricade.
To add a buyable weapon, right-click the 2D view, go to misc>prefab then navigate to the _prefabs\zombiemode\ folder. Scroll down to the prefabs prefixed with weapon_upgrade_ - these are wall weapon prefabs. I’ll add the Thompson. Align it with the edge of the wall brush, like so:
{F3307}
Find one of the other mystery boxes in the map. You’ll see that it is all a bunch of separate models, with a clip and a trigger. Select all the models, and clip/trigger, then copy and move it. There will be a bunch of lines linking the copied box with the original, ignore these for now.
There are currently two mystery boxes in the map - boxes 0 and 1, so this one will be box 2. So you will need to rename many of the KVPs for this chest. Here is a list:
TRIGGER:
script_noteworthy | chest2
target | magic_box_lid_2
BOX LID:
targetname | magic_box_lid_2
target | magic_box_weapon_spawn_2
BOX BASE:
targetname | magic_box_base_2
RUBBLE (3 small crates plus teddy):
script_noteworthy | chest2_rubble
SCRIPT ORIGIN (red cube inside box):
targetname | magic_box_weapon_spawn_2
target | magic_box_base_2
To add another box, simply repeat this process but with chest3 etc. Do not include more than 6 mystery boxes in any map. It’s possible to add more but I won’t go into that here.
Congratulations, you’ve now added a room to your map!
World at War uses GSC and CSC scripts (GSC is game scripts, CSC is client scripts). When you used the script placer, it will have placed some scripts in root\mods\YourMapName. You don’t need to edit much to get your map working properly. Locate root\mods\YourMapName\maps\ and you should find some scripts. For now, the only script I need to edit is tutorialmap.gsc, but for you it will be YourMapName.gsc.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the first clue about code, I’ll explain the steps. Open the files in any text editor of your choice. Notepad will do, but I recommend Sublime Text if you want to get into more advanced scripting in the future.
Find this (should be around line 54):
// Magic Boxes -- The Script_Noteworthy Value Names On Purchase Trigger In Radiant
boxArray = [];
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "start_chest";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest1";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest2";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest3";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest4";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest5";
level.DLC3.PandoraBoxes = boxArray;
I only used start_chest, chest1 and chest2, so I will comment out the other three. To comment out lines, use two forward slashes - //. Mine now looks like this:
// Magic Boxes -- The Script_Noteworthy Value Names On Purchase Trigger In Radiant
boxArray = [];
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "start_chest";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest1";
boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest2";
// boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest3";
// boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest4";
// boxArray[ boxArray.size ] = "chest5";
level.DLC3.PandoraBoxes = boxArray;
Obviously you should only comment out any boxes you aren’t using. I have also edited level.start_score = 500; to 50000 so I can buy doors when I test the map, without having to kill a bunch of zombies first. For you, this is optional.
Now find this (should be around line 127):
add_adjacent_zone( "start_zone", "zone1", "enter_zone1" );
add_adjacent_zone( "zone1", "zone2", "enter_zone2" );
These don’t match the names of the zones in my map, so I’ll change the first two parameters to the corresponding adjacent zones. The third parameter is the script_flag you set on the door triggers - see Doors.
add_adjacent_zone( "start_zone", "zone_one", "enter_zone_one" );
add_adjacent_zone( "zone_one", "zone_two", "enter_zone_two" );
If you added any other zones, add another line and enter the zone names/flags accordingly.
That’s all you need to edit in scripts for now.
NOTE: I recommend using DidUknowiPwn’s Launcher and Mod Tools, he has made a more informative GUI and has fixed a couple of issues with some tools. Download at Mega.nz or Mediafire. I am using them, so the images used are of his launcher/tools.
Open the Launcher window and navigate to the Compile FF tab. Select your map from the list. Tick the following boxes:
{F3309} {F3311}
Click “Compile FF”. If you get the error EXE_ERR_HUNK_ALLOC_FAILED256, close some memory-heavy programs and try again. DidUknowiPwn’s tools fix this issue.
You should see the status bar say Success if it has compiled. If it has an error, look in the console and see if you can solve the issue.
{F3313}
Then I’ll select tutorialmap_patch, tick Build FastFile then click Compile FF. This should only take a couple of seconds. If you get the error EXE_COULDNT_LOADmaps/tutorialmap_patch.d3dbsp, navigate to root\zone_source\ and open tutorialmap_patch.csv in any text editor. Find this line and commment it out, like so:
col_map_sp,maps/tutorialmap_patch.d3dbsp
becomes
// col_map_sp,maps/tutorialmap_patch.d3dbsp
It should then compile fine. For the time being, don’t worry about errors as long as the status bar says Success.
Now navigate to the Build Mod tab. Select your mod from the drop-down list, then tick Build mod.ff FastFile and Build IWD File. In the box on the left, select everything except mod.csv. then click Build Mod.
You can either navigate to the Run Game tab, or just launch the game as you normally would. Either way, once the game is running, load the mod and start the game. Script Placer Z will have asked you to write a main menu solo button, but if you didn’t do that, open the console with ` / then type map tutorialmap` or whatever you called your map.
You should now be in-game!