Vbases, Ports and Ships Oh my!!! Part 2
First and foremost you must understand that this tutorial is just to give you some very basic knowledge on building
an Aces High terrain that you can fly offline.
It will not teach you how to make a terrain that will be accepted by Hitech Creations for use in their arenas.
That may come after a little more practice and further instruction.
This tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of how to install a program, and how to navigate thru the folder structure
of your hard drive. If not that is outside the scope of this tutorial.
Contents
Adding Ports
OK lets get on to adding the ports in our terrain.
Assuming you already have your terrain editor open and your test terrain loaded, and the show grid, snap setting selected,
and are at the objects tab, lets place our port on the southern edge of Island 1.
In the "Available shapes" list scroll till you find the "port0" object and add the port.
In the object data window that opens set the "Object Type" to "Group Master", Ownership to "Field Owned" and give it
the next field number that will be used. (if the last vehicle field, or Airfield you placed was field number 6, then your new port
will be field number 7". Since this is for Island number 1 which is set to "Zone 1" then select "Zone 1".
Set the "Object Date" to the number 2 ( remember from our previous tutorial that the data settings are,
( Airfield = 0, Vehicle Field = 1, and Port = 2.)
Click OK and then SAVE YOUR WORK!
Now under "File" select "Open" and re-open your "test.oba" file and unselect then reselect "Show Filed Numbers"
in the CBM window, your new port should be showing now.
Tweaking the area around the Port
Now we need to tweak the area around the port a little and maybe even rotate the port it's self.
First off we may need to rotate the port because the docks may be on our land area or not quite in the water.
If you have placed your port and the docks and ships in the port are already in the water as they should be,
you can skip this part and move on to the next.
OK to work on the rotation of our port using the mouse left click on the port in the main editor window
and place the red cross on the port. You should now see the ports name in the "Selection List" window
just below the "Available Shapes" list. It will have a name like "F10GMS000".
Left click on it once so it is highlighted in blue, then towards the top of the "Objects Tab"
you should see "Select, Move, Copy, Rotate, and Group Rotate". Select the "Rotate" Option.
This now lets us rotate our port. If you still have the "Snap" feature selected in the bottom left section of the editor screen,
when we rotate the port it will turn in 22.5 degree increments, or 1/16 of a complete circle.
So now that we have the "Rotate" option selected in the main editor window you will see your courser turn to a hand
with a curved arrow next to it. Left mouse click and hold the button down and rotate the port as you need it.
If by chance you let go of the mouse button before you complete the direction you need
your port to be facing, you have to reselect the rotate option again as it will return to
the "Select" option.
Now for the land and water around our port.
You may find that your "Ack" guns or maybe even the hanger area is in water or the docks have a little land area under them.
Here you will need to go to the water tab and maybe "Erase" or "Draw" some water and then go to the "Terrain" tab
and paint some grass at the port. You should remember how to do this from our first tutorial.
If not you may need to refer back to it.
Once you have done all the rotating and water or land changes to your port SAVE YOUR WORK! and then reopen your terrain.
After you have saved and reopened your terrain under "Settings" select "Fields Setup" and make sure your port
is set for the right "Zone" or country "1,2, or 3" to make things simple when we started our terrain we used only three
zones, Island 1 is Zone 1 and so on.
Repeat the above steps to place the other 2 ports for Islands 2 and 3 and don't forget to SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN!
Adding CV Task Groups
OK now that we have all three of our port's we need to give them some CV Task Groups.
A couple Important notes about placing CV Task Groups, you MUST make sure you have the "Snap"
feature selected in the bottom left corner of your main editor window.
Do NOT rotate your TG's once placed the MUST be facing the default direction.
The reason is the placement of the ships in the grid NONE of them can be on the red grid line.
Make sure you have the "Objects" tab selected and not the "Task Groups" tab.
Navigate to the water area south of your Island 1 and the port we placed there, about 5 or 6 red grid squares out from
the port. You don't have to place them exactly there, in fact they could go any where in the water on your terrain,
but for simplicity we will place or TG's close to their corresponding ports.
OK click on the center of the water grid where we want to place the TG and next to the "Available Shapes" list you
should see a "Shape Groups" list.
Select the "cvtg0" group and click the "Add Shape/Group" button below the "Available Shapes" list.
NOT the "Delete Group" button below the "Shape Groups" list.
Your "Object Properties" window should now appear.
Under the "Field" list click the arrow and scroll down the list to the bottom and you should see
a number with the word "New" next to it. Select that one it will number your TG to the next available field number for you.
Select Zone one since this is for Island 1 (when you add your CV for Island 2 and 3 they will be zones 2 and 3 respectfully),
then select OK.
Now you should see in the "Selection List" a group of names like "F10SHP000 thru 005".
SHP000 is the Carrier this is the one we need to assign to our port, so double click on it.
This will bring up the "Object Properties" window and now we have a new setting to make.
We will only be making one change to the objects properties so leave every thing else set as it is.
Next to the "Group ID" you will see a drop down window, this is the list of ports in the terrain.
Here is where you assign the TG to it's port. Click on the arrow and find the port number for
the port you placed on Island 1. Mine is port 7 yours may be different depending on what field number
you assigned to the port on Island 1.
Select that port number and then select "OK"
Now SAVE YOUR WORK! and then reopen the terrain.
Repeat the above steps and add the other 2 TG for Island 2 and 3.
Once they are done and you have saved your work and reopened the terrain make
sure to got to the setting window and select "Fields Setup" and change the CV's to the
right Zones (or country zone 1 = Bishop, zone 2 = Knight, zone 3 = Rook)
Save all that info and reload your terrain.
Assigning Map Rooms to the TG's
Now here is a part that may seem strange but it is necessary for our TG's to function properly.
Each TG must have a map room assigned to it so this is where we will do this.
Some where on the edge of your terrain, (navigate to a corner using your CBM, NOT in the black area but in the
shaded area in one of the grid squares click on the center of a grid.
Now in your available shapes list scroll down to "mpr0" this is our map room object, and select "Add Shape/Group".
This will bring up the Object Properties window. Set the "Object Type" to "Map Room", and the "Ownership" to "Field" and change
the field number to the number of the TG we first placed for Island 1. (mine is 9 yours may be different)
Uncheck the "Can Collide" box and leave the "Set to Terrain Alt" box selected.
Make sure the Zone is set to 1 and leave every thing else as it is and click OK.
After you have completed that one slick on the grid square next to the one you just placed
the other map room, and repeat the above steps for the other 2 TG's.
Make sure to set the "Field" and "Zone" setting properly.
Once this is complete SAVE YOUR WORK! and reopen your terrain.
Adding Way-points
Now that we have all our TG's placed and they all have a map room assigned we need to give them some "Way-points"
or patrol routes.
Now select the "Task Groups" tab and in the list select the first TG in the list.
This will probably automatically zoom your main editor window in on the selected task group.
Using the knowledge you learned in an earlier tutorial zoom the main window back out some, so
you see more water around your TG.
Leave the "Looped" button selected and right click your mouse in the water away from your TG.
You will now see a green arrow leading from your TG to the point you just clicked.
Now move over to the left or right of where you just click a little ways and right click again.
You will now see a Green Triangle, this is the patrol area your TG will be moving. (Our Way point)
Now click on the "Submit" button and your green triangle will turn red.
You have just made your way point for the first TG.
Repeat the above steps for the other 2 TG's in your terrain, and SAVE YOUR WORK!
Once you have all your TG, Map Rooms, and Way points done and have SAVED YOUR WORK!
Shut down the Terrain editor then restart it and open your terrain again and
you can build your new terrain with the ports and task groups and fly it off line.
This will conclude this series of TE tutorials.
I will probably write a couple more on how to do other things using some external
tool for doing more detailed terrains. Such as creating and importing an elevation map
to give a more realistic look to our terrains and such.
See You then.
Ted AKA mrmidi
