Map Editor (Mac Alpha) Available Now

[Guest MajorH]

TacEdit is the working title of the Mac and Windows, TacOps Type2 map making utility.

An alpha test edition of the Macintosh version is now available for ftp download from Battlefront.com (28K Stuffit file). (I will likely start on the Windows version next week.)

You won't be able to actually use the maps that you make with this utility until I release the v3.1.0 patch but if you start using the utility now you can get a head start plus contribute to the utility's development.

To make a Type2 map.

1. Use a third party paint program to create a piece of artwork that has a width and height of from 200x200 pixels to 31000x31000 pixels.

2. Save the artwork in bmp format - preferably in 256 colors.

3. Name the artwork file using the following convention: 'Map' + 3 digit number + 'c.bmp'. Example: MapXXXc.bmp.

4. Run TacEdit, select the File/New menu item, and load the '.bmp' artwork file from step 3.

5. Explore and experiment with the TacEdit menu items to encode the map with some terrain data .

6. Use the File/Save menu item to save your work to a '.dat' file. Your work will be saved to a file with the following naming convention: 'Map' + 3 digit number + 'c.dat'. Example: MapXXXc.dat.

7. The next time that you want to work on this map, you will use the File/Open menu item to select and load the MapXXXc.dat file that was produced by step 6.

Summary:

A. Use File/New only to create a new map. You will be asked to select a file that ends in '.bmp'. The initial '.dat' file will then be created semi-automatically.

B. Use File/Open to continue work on the '.dat' file for a map in progress. You will be asked to select a file that ends in '.dat'

Best regards, Major H.

majorh@mac.com

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To ftp download the Mac version of TacEdit ...

1. Fire up your Internet browser.

2. Enter the following URL into the address line of your browser ...

http://www.battlefront.com/resources/secure/tacops/

3. You should then get a popup dialog that asks you to enter a userid and a password. Enter the following keys (all in lowercase) ...

Userid: tacops Password: tacops30

4. You should then see a directory structure in your browser window. Click on the file titled 'TacEdit.sit' and it should be automatically downloaded to wherever your browser puts downloads.

5. You are done with the downloading so shut down your browser and proceed to trying out the utility.

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Best regards, Major H

majorh@mac.com