Introduction to the Map Editor

In Fleet Operations, the Map Editor can be accessed directly from the main menu or by pressing Ctrl+E while in an Instant Action game. There is a nice list where you can select the map you want to edit or even create a whole new map.

All maps carry two names: the map's Filename, and the map's Mission Name (used in the Game Setup window).

Upon creating a new map, you will be prompted to enter a filename. If however you decide to change the filename, you can do so by hitting Ctrl+R while the Map Editor is running. Select the General tab and input a new filename with no   periods. This same tab allows you to change the mission name as well.

Map Editor Interface

The Map Editor interface works mostly with a keyboard. The map object menu is used with the function keys (F1 to F6 and F10)

The map objects can be dragged to different locations by selecting the object and holding down the left click button and they can be rotated by holding down the right click button. If you want to change the object's placement in the Y direction, it is recommended that you follow the instructions given in the Advanced Settings section. Note that if you want to avoid placing objects off the playable map, you should activate the grid feature by pressing Alt+G. This will show you the map boundaries. Note that each grid is 100 units².

The All Map Objects Window

Filtering

Clicking on the Show buttons will allow only Ships / Stations, Background Objects (moons, nebulae, etc) or only Paths (not functional in Fleet Ops) to be shown in the above list. Checking Show Only Team, and entering a team number will cause only objects from that team to be shown. Both filters may be used at once (i.e. only show Ships / Stations on Team 3).

Edit

Select an object and hit the Edit button to bring up the Object Settings box. If multiple objects are selected, only the first will be open for editing.

Goto

Select an object in the list and click Goto. When you close the dialog box the camera will centre on the selected object. If multiple objects are selected only the first will be shown.

Delete

All selected objects in the list will be deleted upon closing the dialog box.

Creating a Minimap

After you are finished with your map, you probably want to put the minimap with your map so that you can see it in the map selector.

Note that sometimes objects that have been moved after having been placed on the map will not show up on the minimap. Everything will appear in the correct place after a simple save and reload.

Manual System

Move your screen in the left or right corner of the map, zoom in all the way, take a screenshot and crop the minimap out of it. The dimensions should be 160 by 160. Make sure to save the minimap image as a .png in the BZN folder. The minimap image shares the map's name so that they both have the same filename (but a different file extension).

Automatic System

Move your screen in the left or right corner of the map, zoom in all the way, and hit Ctrl+S when still "in-game" (or go to the "escape menu" and use the save dialog) to generate a .png of the minimap.

Saving / Loading a Map

When the Map Editor is running, you can save your map by pressing Ctrl+S or by pressing Escape, and then the Save Map button. To be able to play the map, you must save it to the BZN folder in the Fleet Operations' Data folder.

When the Map Editor is running, you can save your map by pressing Ctrl+S or by pressing Escape, and then the Save Map button. To be able to play the map, you can either save it to the BZN folder in the Fleet Operations' Data folder or to the folder in your application data: %appdata%\star trek armada ii fleet operations\bzn

You can also load a map through this window.

The map editor may crash occasionally, so remember to save your map often.

Advanced Loading Option

Note that there is an undocumented command line parameter for Armada2.exe , /loadsavetext, which will allow you to open BZN files in text format. In this way it is possible to edit map objects (as they have been converted to an ASCII format).