Tutorial For Making A Bird's-Eye View Map

(and for using Cheat Codes)

Introduction

    I have received many questions asking me how I manage to do the panoramic maps I use in my walkthroughs.  I decided to provide a simple tutorial on how to do them.  You can see examples of these maps in my walkthroughs for the following sub-missions:

    In this tutorial,  I'll be using The Command Post (TCP, from now on) as the main example but the techniques described are just the same.  Roughly speaking, these maps are the merging of dozens of screenshots taken from above.  So, first we need to learn how to take a single screenshot, then how to go upwards to see everything from above and finally how to merge the screenshots.  To merge screenshots, you need to learn how to draw a hand scheme of the map and how to take aligned screenshots.

    Also, you need a good graphics application, preferably one that deals with layers.  If you don't have such a program or if you don't know how to work with it, this text is not going to be useful at all for you since dealing with a graphics application goes beyond the scope of this tutorial.


  Taking A Screenshot  


    This is very easy.  Just press F12 key, whenever you want a screenshot of what you see on your game screen.  You're not going to use PrintScreen, since PrintScreen is a feature built into the operating system but, instead, you're going to use a feature built inside the game itself, so more appropriate.

    When you press F12, right after the screenshot is taken, you receive the following message: "Wrote screenshots/shotxxxx.tga".  This message means that a file, named "shotxxxx.tga", was created inside the folder "screenshots".  You can find this folder as a subfolder of the "main" folder.  The "main" folder can be found as a subfolder of the installation folder, i.e., the folder where you installed the game.  The "xxxx" part of the name is the sequential number the screenshot receive, so you can identify it easier, later.  The first screenshot you take is automatically named shot0001.tga, and so on.

    The .tga extension means that the file is of the graphic format.  In other words, it's a picture, like the ones ended in .bmp.  You must have a graphics application that can open this format of files.  Not all of them can.  Paint, for instance, the accessory that's bundled with Windows, doesn't support the .tga format.


  Flying Around By Using Cheat Codes  


    Using F12, you can take as many screenshots as you wish while playing the game.  These may be called the real in-game screenshots because they show a situation that can be really lived during the game.  But to take a screenshot from above, you have to get up there and the controls normally do not allow you to do so.  The solution is to bypass the normal way of playing; in other words, you must use cheat codes.  To use them, you must first enable them.  To enable them, you must add the following parameters to the Mohaa shortcut:

        +set developer 1 +set ui_console 1 +set cheats 1 +set thereisnomonkey 1 +set cl_playintro 0

    Oops!  The last parameter is meant to avoid the intro movies.  But I decided to keep it so you can learn how to get rid of those movies (they are interesting but only the first or second time you see them).  To add those parameters to your Mohaa shortcut and to learn the many cheat codes available, please, take a look at the Strategy/Cheat Codes page at the official EA site (or take a look at the Note, down below).  If the information at EA site is not enough, here are some instructions on how to enable the cheat codes (for Windows XP users only):

    First, right-click the icon you usually use to start Mohaa.  A dialog will pop up.  Then, click the "Properties" option (pic. 1).  Note that, in pic 1, I'm showing a shortcut from the Start menu, but you can right-click any working shortcut of Mohaa, be it located at the Quick Launch of the taskbar, or at the Desktop, for instance.
 
    Now, take a look at the "Medal of Honor Allied Assault Properties" dialog and click the "Shortcut" tab (pic. 2).

    There are two and only two edit fields to pay attention to, the one named "Target" and the one named "Start in".  Both must have a valid path, otherwise, when you click the "Apply" or "OK" buttons, you'll get an error, and they must have the same folder, the folder where the file MOHAA.exe is located.  If you installed Mohaa in the default folder, i.e., the one the installation program suggested you to use, then, these two fields must be as shown in pic. 2, because the default installation folder, for Mohaa, is "C:\Program Files\EA Games\Mohaa".  If you installed Mohaa in a different folder, then you're somewhat an advanced user so just make the appropriate adjustments to these instructions.

    Now, add to the "Target" field the parameters, as told before.  Your new "Target" field must have this text:

"C:\Program Files\EA Games\Mohaa\MOHAA.EXE" +set developer 1 +set ui_console 1 +set cheats 1 +set thereisnomonkey 1 +set cl_playintro 0

    I should warn you again that if you have installed Mohaa in a different folder than the default one, you MUST change the installation folder information (the maroon part) of the text above to the full path of the installation folder you really used for Mohaa.  If the shortcut was working, prior to you showing this dialog, then this folder is already correctly informed in this field.  Do not delete the original information of this field, just add to it the parameters !!

    Your "Start in" field must not be modified, unless the folder informed is not valid.  I just said to pay attention to it because it must have the same folder name as the one in the "Target" field, but with no file referenced, and no parameters, just the name of the folder.  "Start in" has the name of a folder; "Target" has the name of a file, with its complete path.  Now click "OK" or "Apply/OK" and that's it, your cheat codes are enabled.

    Once the cheat codes are enabled, you need only one of them to fly around any map: it's "noclip".  So, turn on the Console option, by pressing the "~" (tilde) key (the one at the leftmost upper corner of the keyboard, just below the Escape key), and type noclip (in my keyboard, the Microsoft Internet Keyboard, this key is not the tilde ~ key but actually an apostrophe key, like this ' , so the symbol this key represents may vary, depending on which country the keyboard was made for)  When you type noclip, you receive the message "noclip ON"; if you type it again, you toggle it off: "noclip OFF".  Note that cheat codes only work when you have a game loaded.  When noclip is on, you cannot fire a weapon and the enemies cannot harm you at all (although they fire at you all the time, unless you are using notarget cheat code).  Use the forward, backward, strafe left and strafe right keys to choose the direction, or the mouse (I prefer the mouse).  To get higher, use the Jump key.  To get lower, use the Crouch key.  Since I'm left-handed and all my controls are different from the default, I'm not going to point out here the default configuration.  And that's it, now you can position yourself anywhere in any map.

    The F12 key works the same way when noclip is on.  I call the screenshots taken when noclip is on as cheated screenshots.  Most of my pages use real screenshots.  Some use cheated screenshots.  Omaha Beach, for instance, only uses single cheated screenshots.   Obviously that the maps are made also using only cheated screenshots.

    Note - Here are the cheat codes I know of, based on EA sites and other more complete sources of information about Mohaa.  I have only tested and used 'dog', 'notarget', 'noclip' and 'kill' so, please, if you have any difficulty trying to use other cheat codes than these, I can't help you.

Cheat Code

Effect

wuss Gives player all weapons
dog God Mode (invincibility)
fullheald Heal player
notarget Removes target
(enemies won't fire at you)
noclip No clipping (pass through walls)
listinventory List of the player's inventory
tele x y z Teleport to location
coord Prints out current location and angles
health set current health
kill Kills the player
(useful when in God mode)
giveweapon weapons/''weapon_name''.tik Gives the player the specified weapon

    To be able to use the last listed cheat code (giveweapon), you need to know the names of the weapons, so here they are:

weapon_name Friendly Name
colt45 Colt 45
m2frag_grenade Frag Grenade
p38 Walther P38
steilhandgranate Steilhandgranate
m1_garand M1 Garand
kar98 Mauser KAR 98K
shotgun Shotgun
bazooka Bazooka
panzerschreck Panzerschreck
bar BAR
mp44 StG 44
thompsonsmg Thompson
mp40 MP40
springfield Springfield '03 Sniper
kar98sniper KAR98 Sniper

    About the 'toggle cg_3rd_person' cheat code, since I believe it's only intended for multiplayer, I omitted it from the list.  And, 'maplist', also mentioned in EA site as a cheat code, for me it's just another console command.  I talk about it at my "The Names & Saved Games Of All Single Player Maps" page.


  Drawing The Guiding Scheme  


    Now, the first tough part.  Roughly speaking, all you have to do to create a map is to take a bunch of screenshots from a high position and merge them, one beside or atop or below the other.  Easier said than done.

    Mohaa, as all the others first player shooter games out there, is a very perspectived view game.  What does that mean?  It means that from the same position, depending on how you look to a given place, it can have different aspects.  Take a look at the picture below (pic. 3).  It shows three real screenshots taken from the same door (the door of the first house of TCP), from the same distance to the door, but from different views: the upper one is looking down, the middle one is looking straight ahead and the lower one is looking up (crouched).

    Note that the same object, the door, has three different shapes.  It can be a perfect rectangle (like in real life) or different forms of trapezoids.  But the fact is that the door is indeed a perfect rectangle so why the distortion?  Because to make the game feel more realistic, an object closer to you must be bigger than the same object when far from you.  That's perspective.  It has to be this way!

    Every screenshot you take has a high degree of perspective.  When up above and looking down, note that the same situation occurs to every object on the floor, be it a house, a tree or whatever.  And due to this perspective effect, when you try to merge screenshots, you normally get lost because the real size of things are compromised.  The distance between objects, although should be always the same, they vary as you move up above.

 
    For this reason, to prepare to merge the screenshots, the first step is to draw a hand draft of the whole map, from up above. It will be your guide for the merging (pic. 4).

    How to draw the hand scheme?  First, enter the map, activate noclip cheat code, use Jump key to go upwards and choose an adequate height; then, look straight down.  Position yourself in a good horizontal and vertical alignment, i.e., align yourself adequately according to the map so that the key elements are aligned to the limits of the map.  In TCP, for instance, I aligned myself so that the houses and the main walls and fences were perfectly vertical or horizontal when seen from above.  You can use the compass to help you get a very accurately alignment.  Save this position because you're going to need it again when it's time to take the screenshots.  Then, measure how many screens the map will take.  In TCP, as you can see in pic 4, I drew a 4 by 5 squared paper, columns from 1 to 4 and rows from A to E, because, after flying around the map, paying attention to the edges of each screen, I noticed that the whole map, from that chosen height, would fit horizontally into 4 screens and vertically into 5 screens.

    Then, by looking at each screen at a time, by looking at the distances between key elements even in-between screens, I drew the key elements of the map, like the road, the guard houses, the barn, the houses, the walls, the tents, the other buildings, the turrets, the watch tower, the fences, the limits of the map and even the main trees.  It's important that you draw them on a scale, not a perfect one but a good one, at least when comparing one element to the other and the distances between them, so you can, later, position the screenshots adequately.  Also, keep always the same height while flying around.


  Shooting The Whole Map  


    Now, it's time to take dozens of screenshots.  Load your saved game with the chosen height and correct alignment.  Now, DO NOT touch the mouse again and use only the forward, the backward and the strafe left and right keys.  No other key or the mouse should be used or you lose alignment.

    Start taking screenshots from some key element.  In TCP, I started my first screenshot with the guard house at the entrance gate, at the center of the screen.  Then, move a little ahead (click forward key some times) and take another screenshot.  Again, click forward key some times and take another screenshot.  Keep doing this until the end of the map.  When you reach the end of it, click the strafe right key some times (or left, depending on the situation), and take another screenshot.  Then, start using now the backward key, taking the screenshots going backwards, until you reach the other side of the map, where you started the first time (but now you are a little to the right).  Using this technique, cover the whole area of the map.  It's a lot of screenshots, I know...

    A problem that you'll face is the ideal height.  What is the ideal height to take the screenshots?  Well, the higher the better so you have more information in the center of the screenshots, but the higher you go, the worst the image gets.  So elements are not seen when you're too high and, in the case of TCP, the scenario happens at night and with a fog, I couldn't go as high as I wanted.  Having to take screenshots from small height means more screenshots to cover the same area, more work.  For some levels, like the one in the forest, I guess it would be impossible to do a map since when you go upwards, all you see is white and trees and trees and white.


  Merging The Screenshots  


    Now, the tiresome and delicate work begins.  You have dozens of screenshots and a guiding scheme.  You must merge them.  But, you need a good graphics tool, or application, to be able to do this.  If you do not have the right program, you just cannot merge the screenshots.  The programs I know of that are appropriate, because they work with layers, are Adobe Photoshop, PaintShop Pro and Corel Photo-Paint.  There must have others out there.  If you don't have an adequate application, you have to get one and you have to learn its basic features and this takes days or months.

    Now, with your preferable graphics program, create a new file that I'll call the master file.  In TCP, since I work with screenshots 800 x 600 pixels of size and I was going to need the area equivalent to 4 x 5 of them, I needed at least a file 4x800 by 5x600 píxels size, or 3200 x 3000 pixels, so I used a 3500 x 3500 pixels size as the master file.  Then, draw gridlines 800x600 pixels apart and identify them (pic. 5).  Note that the original file from where pic 5 was taken is 3500 x 3500 pixels size and each cell of the grid (like cell 1A) is 800x600 pixels size.

    The grid and the id tags are in independent layers.  Put them in the highest order and lower their transparency so that you can see them and the screenshots at the same time, when merging.

    Now, you're going to open one screenshot at a time and each screenshot will be pasted into a different layer of the master file so you can move it around independently.  Using the guiding scheme, position the screenshots adequately, guiding yourself also by the grid and the id tags of the master file.  Discard the information of the edges of the screenshots since it is highly perspectival.  Take the same information from the next screenshot, where it'll be more centered and, as a consequence, with less perspective.  The more the information is at the center of a screenshot, the less perspective effect it has, so the better it is.  For the elements at the edges of the map, they can have perspective since they are not connected to other elements by all sides.

    To make the limits where a screenshot ends and the next one begins as imperceptible as possible, you should use the tools available in your graphics program, like cloning an area into another one.  Also, since the screenshots are originally very dark (at least in my computer), for each one of them, I have to adjust the contrast, the brightness and the levels so that they all look good and as if they had really come from the same picture.

    It's a tiresome work as I've said, and delicate as well.  I had a very good moment when my three years old daughter came near my computer, and I was cutting one piece at a time from the screenshots, then positioning the pieces in the right places of the master file, and she asked me: "What are you doing, daddy, mounting a puzzle?"

    Yes, it is like a puzzle.  And you have to cut the pieces, from the center parts of the screenshots, and then mount them adequately.  I'm not going to explain further since there are many details and this tutorial is long enough already.  Only by practicing it you can develop skills to do a better map.  My first one was The Bridge.  Look how awkward it is.  Then, I did Sniper 1 and then Sniper 2.  They are better.  Finally, TCP, where I think I finally managed to do a great map.  I liked it a lot.  It's far from perfect, of course, because dealing with these perspectival screenshots is really tough, but it is good enough for the purpose.

    Just for information, the final map of TCP had more than 70 layers, i.e., I used more than 70 parts of screenshots to build the whole map.  And even after it was almost finished, later, when I flatten the image (discard all the layers and make them all into just one) I had to add new parts of screenshots for the houses area, so the doors could be seen and the roofs could have a better looking.  I also added specific screenshots for some elements not seen from the original height, like the crates of Area "B" and the Tiger Tanks; parts of screenshots taken from lower heights need to be proportionally reduced in size to be on the same scale as the others.  All in all, I used around 80-90 screenshots to do that map (pics 6 and 7).

    The two pictures above, pic 6 and 7, show a working version of TCP master file, with more than 65 MB size by then, having each 50% of the layers disabled, or invisible, so you can have an idea of how the merging takes place.


  The Schematic Map  


    What about the schematic maps of the Siegfried Forest?  Are they based in screenshots?

    Yes, they are.  I found impossible to produce a normal map for the Siegfried Forest since there are too many trees and they block the view from upstairs.  Besides, there is snow falling what makes everything white from a certain height.  So, I had to improvise.  I made the aligned screenshots not from upstairs, looking down, but from downstairs, looking up.  Of course, all the screenshots had to be cheated, since it'd be impossible to go below floor level without using noclip.

    Since I wanted a very schematic map, precision was not a goal, at first, as in the first schematic map, Flak Guns.  So I just placed the screenshots, one beside and atop and below the next one, without any merging at all.  A total of 55 screenshots were placed together, in a file 6400 x 5400 pixels of size.  Then, the final file needed to be flipped horizontally and rotated 90º to be in the correct position.  When doing the second schematic map, the one for the Bunker Hill level, I was a little more experienced, then I used, again, a guiding scheme and a guiding grid, like then ones shown in pics 2 and 3, but my key references were the stones (I counted and numbered 73 stones or group of stones), the tents and the bunkers.  A total of 67 screenshots were somewhat merged in a file 7200 x 3600 pixels of size.  The final file had to be flipped vertically.

    You can see examples of the schematic maps in my walkthroughs for the following sub-missions:


  Hope It Helped !!  


http://www.viol.net/mohaa
Version 1.00 posted on Mar 21st, 2002
(V.1.05 - Jun 3, 2002)

All rights reserved. © 2002 by André Viol.