In this article i will explain how you can create a .KM file from a normal image, wich you can use to create a custom mission or a multiplayer map. For this process we need an image. For this example, I use the campaign mission 12 - Lets Get Technical from the survivors campaign. You must convert your Picture in to a bitmap format. I use Gimp for preparing and converting. You can use any image editing program you want.
For what we are planning we need the Pic to KM tool from 0xAA55, you can find it in the download area. So we open the Pic to KM tool and move our picture via drag & drop in the free window at the top left. Pic to KM will resize automatically. if you want to change the size you can do that with the "Map Size" buttoms.
In this very special case we use an original mission from KKND2: Krossfire. For some reason the size is wrong here. If you ever want to use a KKND2: Krossfire mission you have to remember that you have to reduce the map size by 1. In the case of 12 - Lets Get Technical the image had a size of 3200 px x 2240 px that is converted into tiles 100 x 70 tiles (a tile consists of 32 px). However, Pic to KM specifies 101 x 71 tiles, which would cause problems when editing later with the KME 2.0.
If you have found the right size you have to apply it. To do this, press the "Apply the values left" button. Now you choose whether you want to have a custom mission or a multiplayer map and press "Export to KM". Don't be surprised if you you can't create a .KM, you need to create a name for your new .KM before you can export. I
have decided here for a multiplayer map. Since the original is a campaign mission, I decided to use a multiplayer map. There is no multiplayer map of campaign missions in the world. If you want to create a custom mission, you can still read on because editing the .KM file is the same for custom missions and multiplayer maps. In all cases you will learn something. You have to decide whether you want to do a custom mission or a multiplayer map when creating the .KM. This cannot be changed later.
Now we open our KME 2.0 and open the 12 - Lets Get Technical.KM then we just have to open the Highland.kp Tileset. Now we can begin.
In this particular case there are 2 options. Since it is an original map, we can simply rebuild everything other possibility would be to set each attribute individually. If you taking a C&C map it would be the only option. I use a mix of both here. The objects that have a top layer have to be recreated otherwise the tanks would be drive on the bones and not behind them. In this picture you can see that I rebuild the buildings identically to guarantee the correct functioning of this map.
What you have to do with every map is the "Cliff Attribute" and the "No Go Attribute" these are the most important. Remember that with other images you have to create all the attributes yourself. I have the advantage here that I can recreate the cliffs of this map.
As you can see in the next picture, the cliffs of the river basin are not actually cliffs. As you can see they have the "No Go Attribute" to make the map more interesting I will change that. On the right you can see how I set the actual "Cliff Attributes" manually.
To make the map even more interesting for a multiplayer match, I rebuilt it a bit. There are two camps, each with 4 starting points. They are where they are in the campaign. Anyone who knows the mission also knows that it is about Tech Bunker. That's why I put 3 tech bunkers this time, almost all of them are in the original places. Furthermore, the original path to the enemy base is a bit difficult. That's why I also adapted the one for a multiplayer match. Now there are 3 ways across the map to get to the feint.
At first I was skeptical whether it would be suitable for a multiplayer map, but I am very satisfied with the result. At the end of the quality control, I noticed 5 logic errors and 1 optical error, all of which were easy
to fix. This is just to show how important a final look is. At the end comes what you already know. File -> Export Mission.
As usual, thank you for your interest and for reading this. below I have the project file for you with the bitmap image, the KM and the finished map. I would also appreciate a comment on how you like the map,