Custom Minimap Preview
Custom minimap previews for custom scenarios is a big fashion. Some people might actually leave the game you've hosted because they think that the map sucks when it doesn't have a minimap preview. So here's a guide on how to make your own.
Open your favorite image editor and make yourself a good picture. You have to keep in mind that the image should have the dimensions of either 256x256 or 128x128.
Save it as .jpg or .tga if you can. If not, go get the tool
Warcraft 3 Image Extractor II, open up your image and save it as .blp or .tga.
Open up World Editor and then open the Import Manager and import the image.
Double-Click on the image and tick "Use Custom Path" and set the path to:
war3mapPreview.tga or
war3mapPreview.blp to have the image being the minimap preview.
You can also save it as
war3mapMap.tga or
war3mapMap.blp to make it being the in-game minimap.
Importing a Minimap Image
Importing Minimap images is easy. You will just have to make an image in .tga or .blp format and import it into your map and change its name. This method is used in many maps and makes the map more interesting for people who might join when hosting a game.
You can choose between two sizes of images: 256x256 and 128x128, I prefer using 256x256 because there is a world's difference between the quality of these images. But also a world's difference in size :S
Creating the Image (with advanced image editing program)
Let's say I want to make an image, so I open up Photoshop, Photoimpact, Gimp... You will need an advanced image editing program and not just paint. You can get Photo Impact
Here.
Remember to make the image 256x256 or 128x128 in size and save it as .tga!
Creating the Image (using any image editing program)
Create a new image, set the size to 256x256 and save it as .jpg.
Then open up Wc3ImageExtractor (get it
here)
Click
Open ->
Image and open your picture, then click
Save ->
Image and save it as a .tga or .blp image.
Importing the Image
Open up
World Editor, then
Import Manager and press
Import File.
After that, double click on the imported file in the Import Manager, tick
Use Custom Path and set the custom path to one of these:
war3mapPreview.tga - this is the preview people can see when joining the game.
war3mapMap.tga - this is the in-game minimap which you can see when present in the game.
Custom Loading Screen Images
Magos' War3 Model Editor Can easily create custom loading screens.
Custom Loading Screen Tutorial V1.5 shows an alternate method.
