Making 3d Maps

All Warzone maps work in both 2d mode and 3d mode. However, when in 3d mode, there are a few additional features that are available to map designers to help take advantage of the additional rendering capabilities of Warzone's 3d rendering engine. These are optional, and as a map designer you can choose to use them or ignore them. They just allow your map to stand out better when viewed in 3d. All of these features can be found under the "3d Settings" button in the map designer. This button only appears when viewing your map in 3d mode.

Texture Image

Map designers can upload a texture image that will be displayed on the top of territories and bonus links. You can upload this image in the "3d Settings" dialog.

The image should be a png for best results, and should use a transparent background for any parts you don't want to alter. This width/height of this image should have the same aspect ratio of your map. For example, if your map is 1500x1000 pixels, your texture image should have a 1.5:1 ratio. Any area of the image that doesn't line up with a territory or bonus link in your map will not be used, so these areas can be transparent in your image.

Map designers can also set a texture image strength which defines how strongly the texture image, from 0 to 50, that controls how the texture image gets mixed with the normal color of the territory (normally the color of the player who controls the territory). A value of 0 means that the texture image will not show at all, and a theoretical value of 100 would mean that the normal color would not show at all and only the texture image would show. This is why it's capped at 50, since values that are too high would make the game unplayable.

The strength can be changed in the map designer and the results will be displayed in real-time, so map designers can tune in a value they are comfortable with. Uploading a new texture image also gets displayed immediately on the map for rapid iteration.

A good texture image does not use large solid colors, since this may interfere with player's abilities to tell which territories are controlled by which players in a Warzone game.

Heightmap

Map designers can upload two heightmap images that allow you to give 3d depth of your map when played in 3d mode. This is most commonly used to define hills or mountains or other similar forms of elevation. The main heightmap only applies to your territories and bonus links, and the terrain heightmap applies to the rest of your map (decorative regions).

This width/height of these images should have the same aspect ratio of your map. For example, if your map is 1500x1000 pixels, your texture image should have a 1.5:1 ratio.

Each pixel in the image defines how high the elevation should be at that spot, where black is the lowest possible elevation and white is the highest possible elevation. Colors have no meaning.

Map designers can define a max height for each of these heightmaps that defines how much the map will be raised. This value can be altered in the map designer and results are shown in real-time.

Map designers can also define a tessellation size for each of these heightmaps. This controls how big each polygon in the resulting object will be. In other words, this controls how much the object will be sub-divided. Smaller values will allow a higher resolution for your heightmap, but going too small may result in too many polygons being created for your map which could cause it to perform very poorly. If using a heightmap, you should experiment with different values. The best value to use for this setting is the highest value that still looks good.

Note that uploading a new heightmap image or changing the tessellation size requires clicking "Apply" in the 3d Settings Dialog before results are shown.