DE/Resource:Editor

Der MTA:SA Map Editor erlaubt es dir Maps für Gamemodes zu erstellen.

Starten

Um den Map Editor zu starten, musst du nur auf den "Map Editor" Menüpunkt im MTA Hauptmenü klicken.

Menüs

Sobald der Map Editor gestartet wurde, solltet ihr 2 Menüleisten sehen können: das Hauptmenü am oberen und das Element-Menü am unteren linken Rand des Bildschirms.

Hauptmenü

Die sind die Buttons im Hauptmenü:

• Eine neue Map erstellen.
• Eine bereits exestierende Map öffnen.
• Map speichern.
• Map unter einem anderen Namen speichern.
• Allgmeine Einstellungen des Map Editors verändern.
• Die letzte Aktion rückgängig machen.
• Die letzte Aktion wiederherstellen.
• Liste von gespeicherten Orten und Interriors (Innenräume) anzeigen, zudem kannst du auch eigene Orte und Interriors abspeichern.
• Liste, mit allen Elementen deiner Map, anzeigen. (Objekte, Fahrzeuge, Markierungen, Pickups etc.)
• Map spezifische Einstellungen, wie z.B. Wetter, Tageszeit oder Schwerkraft, ändern. Hier kannst du zudem einstellen mit welchen Gamemodes deine Map kompatibel ist.
• Lade eine editor definition file (EDF) die du benutzen möchtest.
• In den Test-Modus wechseln um deine Map zu testen. Hast du zudem in den Map Einstellungen einen Gamemode angegeben kannst du deine Map sofort mit diesem testen.

Element Menü

Das Element Menü dient zum Hinzufügen neuer Elementer zu deiner Map.

• Erstelle ein neues Fahrzeug
• Erstelle ein neues Objekt (Gebäude, Straßen, Bäume etc.).
• Erstelle ein neues Pickup (Gesundheit, Rüstung, Waffen etc.).
• Erstelle eine neue Makierung.

Zusätzlich kannst du, wenn du eine EDF geladen hast, mit der Maus über das Element Menü fahren und durch scrollen des Mausrades benutzerdefinierte Elemente anzeigen.

Benutzung des Editors

Dieser Abschnitt erklärt wie man Maps erstellt und bearbeitet.

Auf der Map bewegen

Direkt nach dem Starten des Editors, befindest du dich im Kamera-Modus. Mit Hilfe der WASD Tasten kannst du die Kamera bewegen, mit der Maus kannst du die Kamera schwenken. Hälst du wärend du die Kamera bewegst ALT gedrückt bewegt sich die Kamera langsamer, hälst du SHIFT gedrückt bewegt sich diese schneller.

Um auf das Interface (Menüs) des Map Editors zugreifen zu können, musst du in den Mauszeiger-Modus wechseln, dies erreichst du durch drücken der F Taste, drückst du diese erneut gelangst du wieder zurück in den Kamera-Modus. Wärend du im Mauszeiger-Modus bist, ist die Kamera fixiert und du kannst mit Hilfe des Mauszeigers Elemente bearbeiten oder auf die Menüs zugreifen.

Das du gerade im Kamera-Modus bist erkennst du daran, dass in der Mitte des Bildschirms ein Fadenkreuz zu sehen ist, mit diesem kannst du genau wie im Mauszeiger-Modus Elemente auswählen und bewegen.

Starting a new map

• Start the editor, or if it is already started, click the New menu button.
• Click the Map settings button. In the Meta tab, fill in the Name and Author fields with the name of the map and your name respectively. Also open the Gamemodes tab and add the gamemodes your map is meant for (they will be moved to the Added gamemodes list). You can do this by selecting them and clicking Add, or by double clicking them. Click OK when you're done.

• Click the Definitions window and add the resources of which you want to use the custom elements. These will consist of the gamemodes you selected in the Map settings window, plus eventual additional resources. For more information about editor definitions, see EDF. Click OK when you're done.

Creating new elements

Adding elements to your map, such as vehicles and objects, is very straightforward.

• If you are in camera mode, switch to cursor mode first by pressing F.
• Click the button in the element menu that represents what you want. E.g., click the button with a car on it to add a vehicle.
• A new element of the selected type will be created and attached to your cursor. Move it to the location where you want it and left click to drop it off.

To create custom elements that are specific to a resource, hover the cursor over the element menu and turn the scroll wheel until the desired resource comes up. Note that for this to work, you first have to add the EDF file of the resource in the Definitions window.

Selecting

• Left click an element to select it in keyboard mode.
• Right click it to select it in mouse mode.
• Press the Spacebar or click in an empty area to deselect.

The selected element, if any, is denoted by a yellow cone marker. Elements (particularly objects) with poor collisions can be detected easier by enabling High sensitivity mode, by pressing the E key. This increases detection at the expense of accuracy.

The Current elements dialog can also be used to select elements. Double-clicking an item within the list will select it in Keyboard mode.

Moving

Moving elements can be done in several ways.

With the mouse

• Simply drag and drop with the left mouse button.

Or:

• Select the element in mouse mode (right click), move it to where you want it, and click to drop it off.

You can also adjust the Hold distance of an element toward and away from the camera by switching to camera mode, right clicking the element, and rolling the mouse wheel.

With the keyboard

• Select the element in keyboard mode (left click).
• Use the arrow keys to move the element in the horizontal plane, and PgUp/PgDn to move it vertically. Hold ALT to decrease the movement speed, or SHIFT to increase it.

By default, elements move relative to the camera and are not locked to any axes. This can be disabled in the Options menu.

Rotating

With the mouse

You can rotate selected elements around the Z axis with the mouse wheel.

• Select the element in keyboard mode (left click) and roll the mouse wheel while holding Left CTRL.

Or:

• Select the element in mouse mode (right click), hold CTRL, and roll the mouse wheel.

With the keyboard

• Select the element in keyboard mode (left click).
• While holding CTRL (the selection marker will turn green), use the arrow keys and PgUp/PgDn to rotate the element around the different axes.

With both methods you can additionally hold ALT to decrease the rotation speed or SHIFT to increase it.

Changing model and other properties

Most elements have a variety of options that can be altered to change their appearance and behaviour. Examples are the model, color and visual upgrades of a car.

• Open the properties window of an element by either double clicking it or by selecting it and pressing F3.
• Make any alterations that you want. For example, to change the model of a car or object, click the Browse button next to "model" to open the model browser.
• Click OK when you're done.

Cloning

You can clone an element by selecting it and pressing C.

• In mouse mode the cloned element will be attached to your cursor. Left click to place it in the map.
• In keyboard mode the cloned element will be cloned in the identical position.

If you hold CTRL while clicking, the element will be cloned again and will again be attached to the cursor. This way you can easily place large quantities of something.

Alternatively you can use the Pullout button located in the bottom-right corner of the properties box to clone an element.

Deleting

Simply select the element and press DEL (Delete).

Alternatively you can use the Pullout button located in the bottom-right corner of the properties box to delete an element.

Creating maps for specific gamemodes

To make a map for a specific gamemode, you have to do two things:

• Click the Map Settings button in the top menu, go to the Gamemodes tab and add any gamemodes that your map is to be used with.
• You will likely also need to add one or more Editor Definition Files. These will allow you to place gamemode specific elements in the map, like spawnpoints, race checkpoints, or CTF flags. You can add EDF's by clicking the Definitions menu button and adding the relevant gamemodes.

Controls

Here is a list of all default controls. To change them please go to the MTA Settings menu while the Editor is started.

Camera

camera_move_forwards	w
camera_move_backwards	s
camera_move_left	a
camera_move_right	d
high_sensitivity_mode	e

Cloning

clone_selected_element	c
clone_drop_modifier	lctrl	(Left CTRL)

Element manipulation

element_move_forward	arrow_u	(Arrow key Up)
element_move_backward	arrow_d	(Arrow key Down)
element_move_left	arrow_l	(Arrow key Left)
element_move_right	arrow_r	(Arrow key Right)
element_move_downwards	pgdn	(Page Down)
element_move_upwards	pgup	(Page Up)
zoom_in	mouse_wheel_down
zoom_out	mouse_wheel_up
quick_rotate_increase	mod_rotate + mouse_wheel_up	(Left CTRL + Mouse wheel Up)
quick_rotate_decrease	mod_rotate + mouse_wheel_down	(Left CTRL + Mouse wheel Down)
mod_rotate	lctrl	(Left CTRL)
mod_slow_speed	lalt	(Left ALT)
mod_fast_speed	lshift	(Left SHIFT)
destroy_selected_element	delete
drop_selected_element	space
pickup_selected_element	F2
reset_rotation	mod_rotate + r	(Left CTRL + R)

GUI

toggle_gui_display	F4
toggle_cursor	f
select_target_keyboard	mouse1	(Left Mouse button)
select_target_mouse	mouse2	(Right Mouse button)
edf_next	mouse_wheel_up
edf_prev	mouse_wheel_down
undo	Ctrl + z
redo	Ctrl + y
properties_toggle	F3
browser_up	arrow_u	(Arrow key Up)
browser_down	arrow_d	(Arrow key Down)
browser_zoom_in	mouse_wheel_up
browser_zoom_out	mouse_wheel_down
browser_confirm	enter
currentelements_up	num_8	(Numpad key 8)
currentelements_down	num_2	(Numpad key 2)
toggle_test	F5

Multiplayer

The editor is built with both serverside and clientside components, and therefore supports multiplayer out of the box. To use the editor in multiplayer with other players, simply copy all of the editor's resources into your server, start the editor resource and allow other players to join.

Please note that currently the editor lacks any permissions system, ao all users have access to every function.

Plugins & External resources

The editor allows basic importing of elements from external resources. This is useful for resources that may have to manipulate an element in a specific way that cannot be performed by the editor. For example, a map resource which uses custom models (and has a script to import these models) cannot be manipulated by default within the editor.

By using the import <resourceName> command in console the resource's elements can be imported within the editor.

FAQ

I get a black screen when launching the Map Editor

Usually this is caused due to incorrect installation of Map Editor resources. If you are using a stable MTASA client, please install it again and make sure that you use Client and Server install option.

If you are using a nightly build, to get it working right you need to download latest resources (step 3), unpack the archive and put its contents in: MTA San Andreas\server\mods\deathmatch\resources , where MTA San Andreas is a folder where you've installed MTA San Andreas (default location: C:\Program Files\MTA San Andreas).

Putting them in this path: MTA San Andreas\mods\deathmatch\resources is a common mistake - it won't work if you put them there. So make sure to put them in the italic path above.

If this issue still occurs, even when you've checked the note above and verified that you've installed it correctly, it might be because you've got an outdated acl.xml file. You can download the default one here. It should be placed in server/mods/deathmatch/ in your MTA: San Andreas installation directory.

I get an "Could not start the local server. See console for details" when using the "Map Editor" button

This is because you do not have a valid editor.conf installed. You can download the default one here. It should be placed in server/mods/deathmatch/ in your MTA: San Andreas installation directory.

I have saved a map but cannot find it in my server's resources directory, despite the Editor itself being able to see it

This is due to the fact that Vista/7 limits write-access for non-admin processes in Program Files directory. Files get written in the "VirtualStore" directory instead of real Program Files folder. You should be able to locate your map resource in a similar directory to:

C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\MTA San Andreas\server\mods\deathmatch\resources\

Running the Server/MTA San Andreas with Administrative rights will allow the map to be saved to the proper location.

I have found a bug or have a suggestion/feedback for the map editor

Please use the official bugtracker for reporting bugs. Feel free to also join us on IRC.