I am not sure wether you can still get GeoControll. I think the company changed and they are planning to release a new software called World Creator. An alternative would be using Terragen:

http://planetside.co.uk/products/download-terragen-3

But I am not that used to terragen.

As with most of those softwares: they are not for free but you can try demos or get some trial time. When you are starting with mapping should be a good start. If you want to do some more advanced errosion stuff you can also import your terrain into UnrealEngine 4 and work a bit with errosion brushes. It is not as advanced as those procedural terrain tools, that are specialized for such tasks obviously, but it is a good start.

Oh yes, I have indeed downloaded Terragen 3 since Ferning's tutorials make use of it. I'll fiddle around with it.

some helpful tips here for people new to bf2 mapping in general, good luck   

https://web.archive.org/web/20141006173310/http://www.bfeditor.org/forums/index.php?

Thank you, I'll take a good look since I'm still confused about lots of things in mapping.

By the way, sorry for converting this thread into "Major Major Asks Questions and Gets Answered". 

Ok, so a question about heightmaps again... I've been following one of the tutorials from the PR website, in which Google Earth and microdem are used in order to get the heightmap. However, is there any way to find the heightmap of the exact place you're looking for other than guessing?

I have downloaded a dem file containing data for most of the Nord Pas de Calais area and after that I've had to narrow down my area by guesswork. However, in the Prokhorovka dev blog Knoffhoff seemed to get a heightmap that 100% matched his topographic map, so I wonder if he (or anyone else who makes scaled or unscaled but true to the real terrain maps) used another tool.

So, I've been learning how to place road splines today, but the tutorial I'm following just creates a basic dirt road. If I wanted to load Anctoville or Goodwood in the editor too look at how sidewalks are done, which files should I unpack? (Btw, sidewalks are objects right? Haven't found them so far, but I've only looked at the France section of the static objects list).

As I said earlier, you need to pack it with the map packing script.

That's what I've been trying to do. I have the map-pack.py in the fh2 folder. I executed the script for the map, and although a client and server .zip files are created, I don't see any mapdata.py file created, which is present in stock maps. When loading the maps ingame, they crash due to having no kits.

I tried executing the python script through the windows console. It's telling me that my map does not need repack.

What am I doing wrong? Sorry if I'm being a pest and I'm missing something obvious.

I've been following the official EA mapping tutorials. They are helpful but they were made for vanilla Battlefield 2... and right now I'm in the stage where my test map has a few statics scattered, the object and soldier spawns and one flag for each side. However, when I want to assign each teamto one of the FH2 factions, I can't save the changes because there are no kits associated with said factions.

Also, my level doesn't show ingame. According to the EA tutorial, I shouldn't need any extra step, but it's not on the list when I try to create a local game.

So, let me present my first mapping project, Neufchâtel.

*** Warning: completely irrelevant stuff. Read at your own risk.


Now for the actual map.

The Battle of Neufchâtel took place the 22nd of May 1940. After the allied forces in Belgium and northern France had been surrounded during Fall Gelb, the 2nd Panzer Division was assigned with the capture of one of the 3 channel ports in the pocket: Boulogne. One Kampfgruppe approached the city from the south, eventually reaching the crossroads town of Neufchâtel, where the french troops, lacking any AT-mines, had erected some barricades and emplaced 8 AT guns in order to slow down the panzers and allow the evacuation to proceed.

I based my map off this sketch from an edition of "Les dossiers de l'histoire boulonnaise".


This is the layout that I had in mind for the map. Flag positions are only orientative.


The playable area fits within a 1kmx1km box. Would it be adequate to do a 1:1 scale map? Or would it be too ambitious for someone who's just getting started? Tedium and hard work don't scare me, but I want to keep my expectations realistic.


Another thing that worries me is the distance between flags. Can any experienced mapper tell me what distances work best? I want to avoid frustrating players by making them play a walking simulator instead of an FPS.


I'd be really grateful for any criticism. I know that this project has small chances of ever being finished, but if I have to fuck it up I'd rather do that in the editor than in the planning stage. In my opinion, a badly executed idea can be eventually fixed and polished, but a bad idea can't be patched together no matter how hard you try.