Scenario Design

Please keep these things in mind when making your map! :)

1) Always remember to save your map regularly and make backups.

You don't want to put hours into your project only to lose everything to a freak crash. Save the map every fifteen minutes at least.

AOW2 editor does make a backup file (*.bak) of your scenario for you after you've save your map the second time, so that you can still retrieve your map in case the orginal saved map (*.ahm file) becomes corrupted and cannot be used. The bak file of the map is the saved map, two saves ago. To use the bak file, get rid of the corrupted ahm map file, change the extention of the repective bak file to "ahm" and you can breath a sigh of relief that at least you only lost a bit of your work (ie if you saved often!).

And it still doesn't hurt to make your own backup copies of your work in progress.

Keep backup copies of the map-in-making at different stages in the design process. Should the map somehow become corrupt in the design process, you can at least step back to the latest map backup that's in good shape. - Angel Nojd

2) The Map Validation Button does not check for empty signs.

It doesn't. Be sure to fill in signs as you put them down on the map. Don't ever think that this validation button can spot all the stuff that you may have miss out on.

(Earlier, I had stated that the map validation does not check for unnamed cities, but this is no longer relevant since the game automatically names all unnamed cities.)

3) AI does not use boats efficiently.

It is a known issue that the AI does not use boats to travel properly.

Josh of Triumph Studios: "Well, the AI not being able to use to use boats is a known issue... but is unlikely to be addressed before an expansion. If you're making a map, I would not suggest depending on the AI to make use of boats..."

4) Libraries

Josh of Triumph Studios: "I would suggest shutting down and restarting the editor (if it's already running), then starting a new (blank) map, before making major changes to the Hero Library. Then close the editor (no need to save the blank map) and restart it to use the library.

If the editor experiences any problems while running or shutting down, it may not save your libraries properly.

I personally tested this method, and it worked fine. LMK if you have further problems..." (josh@triumphstudios.com)

5) Tiles on the Border

Do not place tiles beyond the map border. Currently a bug allows you to do this, but please avoid exploiting this bug because it may make the map unplayable.

Josh: "Any map with absolutely no borders is going to have serious problems. A patch would be unlikely to correct existing maps. For now, I can only suggest to mapmakers to make sure there is always at least a 1-hex border on maps, and if you want to be safe, leave the default 4-hex borders."

(Original discussion here.)