Mission Design - Tips

Disclaimer

First up, I don't consider myself an expert at C4 mission design, but I have discovered a few things along the way that I thought would be handy to share. So if you're into making missions, check out my tips below.

If you've got a tip of your own to share, send it to me and I'll add it to this page (with full credit to you, of course).

Tip #1
GET THE OPENED EDITOR

There's an alternate version of the Mission Editor program that has extra features that have been 'unlocked'. There's all sorts of additional menu items and things to play with, if you're serious about mission design this is a must-have tool.

A highly recommended download. Find out more about it on the Tools page.

Tip #2
SCROLLING MADE EASY

a. Grid settings

Scrolling in the editor window is linked to the grid setting. If the grid setting is large, you'll scroll in big jumps and vice versa.

When you want to zoom in on something, centre the item (roughly) in the middle of the window and reduce the grid setting to 32m, then zoom in. You'll find it much easier to centre what you want in the middle of the window, especially at large magnifications.

Conversely, if you zoom out with a small grid setting you'll find scrolling is very slow. Adjust the grid setting up to about 1024m and it'll be much quicker.


b. Turn off things you don't need to see

I placed a forest of 100+ trees and immediately noticed how the scrolling slowed down when moving over that area. Adjusting the grid setting did not improve things, it had a definite lag, like a memory problem.

That's when I twigged and turned off the Foliage, and the character tiles. It's what that panel of ticks in the "Show" (top left corner of the editor) is for! And hey presto, no lag!

Tip #3
'TOP OF THE HILL' CENTERING

Want to make sure an item is placed at the very top of a hill? Select it and place it roughly where you think the highest point is.

Then (while still selected) use the keyboard arrow keys to move the object while you watch the AZ setting in the attributes window. First move it back and forth in a north-south direction to find the highest number then repeat this in the east-west direction. This will make ensure you centre the item on the apex.

Tip #4
COPY-AND-PASTE

When placing items on the map put the first one down and change it's attributes (team, waypoints, etc.) then copy-and-paste the item to make more of them. This is quicker than inserting them individually because the attributes are copied as well, so you save time.

Doing it this way is also good because it (usually) means all these copied items are in bunches of consecutive SSN's which makes it easy to find things when you are setting events.

Tip #5
USE GROUPS FOR BUILDING

When building a structure with multiple items on different z levels I find it useful to make each level a separate group. Then when you (inevitably) need to go back and adjust a z setting, just go to 'Groups' and select the group of whichever level you want to adjust.

For example, I made a sandbag bunker for troops to stand in with a roof made of a layer of sandbags. Until I set a group I had a devil of a time picking out all the individual sandbags to move the roof. But now I just select the group 'bunker roof' and they're all automatically highlighted for me.

Note: Use higher numbered groups for this building stuff so when you tidy up later and delete them it won't leave gaps in your groups list. Leave the lower number groups for blue or red units used in the game.

Tip #6
CHECK ALL TERRAIN VIEWS

When placing items on the map check their location by clicking through the three different terrain views. This will help ensure that you place things on level ground, not on the side of hills, etc.

Tip #7
IF UNITS GO WANDERING

I've encountered a problem where a unit or group of units suddenly decide to take off across country and not follow their proper waypoints.

I first noticed this phenomenon when making the Find the Scuds mission, it was quite bizarre. Three armoured units and a soldier would converge from different points on the map and circle a FARP. This gives one a nasty surprise on returning, especially if you're low on life and ammo...

Eventually I found out what the problem was. Somehow, each SSN's waypoint number had changed, in a random kind of way. The values were 10, 282, 556 and 13. And I'm 99.9% sure I didn't change them, the default value is 0, I never change it.

I think it's a bug. It's easily fixed though, if you're scratching your head about something weird that's happening, select the suspicious units (one at a time) and reset these values to zero.

Tip #7
TEST IT...REPEATEDLY

Test your missions thoroughly. Play them as you build them, making notes while you play of things to fix later.

Play the mission from all angles. Remember, people will play your missions in unexpected ways - try attacking targets from all sides to make sure the mission works as it should.

Tip #8
STARTING GAME FROM DECK OF LHA ASSAULT CARRIER

If you want to start a mission with your Comanche on the deck of the LHA Assault Carrier:

1. Place the carrier onto the map.
2. Place a FARP on it.
3. Place a player start point in the middle of the FARP.
4. Select the player start point and set it's Z alignment to 52.

Note: You don't have to set a Z alignment (height) for the FARP, only for the start marker.

Tip #9
COMMUNICATION TOWERS

Ever noticed how the communication towers won't die? You shoot them and they fall over but you can still target them because the base of the tower remains alive. One theory I had was to make them change to green team if they are dead but that doesn't work.

The only solution is to use the tower called "Communications Tower (Mission Goal)", it also has a short title of "Comtowr4", it is the only tower that you cannot target when it's dead.

Tip #10
TESTING TIP - CHANGE TEAMS

When you are creating a mission you need to check things like unit and building positions and the only way to do this is by playing it. But this can take a lot of time if you have to fight your way through dozens of enemy units.

The solution is to put the enemy units into Groups. Then select each group and change them to Green Team. After you've finished testing, select them all again and change them back to Red Team.

Tip #11
PLUG IN YOUR HEADPHONES!

I don't know why I didn't do this long ago! Late one night I wanted to play Comanche but everyone was asleep so I plugged my headphones into the computer. I was astounded at what I could suddenly hear! I realized that until now I'd only been hearing half the sounds and effects.

And because the sound is in stereo I could place enemy units accurately behind hills before I could see them. And the sound is MUCH better in tone than what comes through my crappy desktop speakers - there's just no comparison.

Do yourself a favor and PLUG IN NOW!