UltimateDucky's Map Making Walkthrough from forums

I have been stumbling through learning the map editor tool and only really understand
 the basics so far, but it has been enough to create a finished map (without many bells
 and whistles).  I am going to outline below how I approach creating a new map from
scratch.  You should familiarize yourself with the basic controls as Insane talks about
 above (such as using the middle mouse button to grab your map and move it around).

Launching the editor -
[img]http://i.imgur.com/h8p9Fq2.png[/img]

The editor opens with a blank map that is viewed at a 45 degree rotation.  I would
recommend using the "File" menu on the top tool bar to click "New" as a first step.  This
should bring up a small map with a large blue rectangle surrounding it.  (This is basically
Dust without all the tiles defined).

[img]http://i.imgur.com/y8trBsi.png[/img]

Next go ahead and click on "File" in the top menu bar again and then "Save As" to save
 your test map immediately.  Call it something simple like map1 or test.  You can always
 use the 'Save As' option later to save the map under a new name.

Now go to Global Settings (the Earth Icon) to start to define you maps basic attributes,
 such as size, the angle of view, and boundaries for the play area and camera.  It is best
 to start out with something small at first.  Use the following settings to create a [color=red]90[/color] x [color=red]90[/color]
 tile map with appropriate play area and camera bounds;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/UT73AwA.png[/img]

As a matter of explanation the text boxes are defined in the following manner;

[list]- Level Z rotation - defines the angle that the camera will be set at while editing and
playing the map.  There is never really a reason to set this to anything other than 0 or 45. [color=red](cut the rest of this sentence. Use Alt+MMB+drag to adjust your viewing angle, Shift+Space to reset camera)[/color]. If you want to set the angel of rotation to something other than 0 after wards you
 will want to click "View" on the top tool bar and "Reset Camera" to see the new
 perspective.  For this tutorial I am just going to leave that set to 0.

- cameraExtMin - this defines the camera's motion boundary for the negative side of the
 X and Y axis* respectively.  I assume the -500 value is the Z axis, but the camera never
 really travels "in and out" of the map... so I just leave that alone.  I am defining this at -45
 -50.  I have increased the camera's range on the negative Y axis to compensate for the
 angle of the camera above the play field.
[color=red]I would recommend the -x to be about 20 less than the MapExt/ForceBox setting. For -y, set to 10 more than MapExt/ForceBox.[/color]

- cameraExtMax - this defines the camera's motion boundary for the positive side of the
 X and Y axis respectively.  Again I don't mess with the 500 value.  I am setting these to
 45 45
[color=red]For x, set to 20 less. For y, 25-30 less than MapExt/ForceBox. This gives the roughly the same camera effect that official maps have, give or take some fine tuning.[/color]

- MapExtMin - this defines the [color=red]minimap boundaries[/color] for the negative side of the X and Y axis
 respectively.  I don't touch the 0 value.  Setting these to -45 -45.

- MapExtMax - this defines the [color=red]minimap boundaries[/color] for the positive side of the X and Y axis
 respectively.  I don't touch the 0 value.  Setting these to 45 45

- Force Box - this defines all the axis boundaries for the movements of your mech [color=red](not units)[/color] in the game.  Nothing can travel outside of the Force Box area.  I am setting these
 as -45 45 -45 45 to match the map size.

* The X axis refers to the 'East to West' size of your map.  Negative X values refer to the
 Left side of the map and positive X values refer to the Right side of the map.  The Y axis
 refers to the 'North to South' size of your map.  Negative Y values refer to the bottom
 (South) of the map and positive Y values refer to the top (North) of the map.  The exact
 center of the map would have co-ordinates of 0 0 0 0.  [/list]

Any/all of these settings may need to be tweaked through a process of play testing and
 editing, but this will give us a good defined start.

After having set these basic characteristics of your map we can choose a tile set to work
 with by clicking on the Slope icon in the center of your editing tool bar and selecting the
 tile set you want to work with.  I am going to stick with Canyon for this tutorial to keep
 things basic.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/uXIjnxw.png[/img]

Once the tile set has been chosen your should click on the "Nuke Vis Tiles" button, then
 "Gen Map Tiles" button to  get a clear picture of the game area as you have defined it.
  You can always paint more tiles outside of your game area and force box later to fill in
 background visual details for your map.  If you have been following along you should
 now have something that looks like this in the middle of your screen;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/QfW18t3.png[/img]


The next thing I would recommend is clicking the '[color=red]wrench[/color]' icon in editor tool bar (on the right
 side of the screen) and selecting the fortresses and dragging them out of your map area
 one at time so they are not obscuring the map tiles underneath.  Once that is done its
 time for the fun part - laying out your terrain.
[color=red]It's better to make a habit of using the wrench button for moving things around. Some categories in the + tab place objects per click, and won't allow dragging without issues.[/color]

Once again you will click on the slope icon in the editor tools to display your available tile
set and allow you to select squares on the map itself to edit.  Next I will hold control down
 while left clicking the tiles I want to raise up to create variations in height on the map.
  Then while still holding in control, when you click on the last tile you want to include,
 continue holding the left mouse button and drag up until the tiles raise by one increment.
 This is the height of the low hills and ramps in the tiles set.  You can also use the Up and
 Down arrows in the Editor Tool Panel to raise and lower selected tiles.  Let's raise a
 space for the fortresses to sit on first;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/pd9BesC.png[/img]

I would recommend saving your map about now just to be safe.  You might consider
 renaming it as well, so you can preserve the starting template that we created with the
 steps above.

Next I am going to create the slopes/cliffs around the fortress by clicking the wire frame
 picture of the small slope in the Tool Panel, then selecting a tile or tiles in the map to edit,
 then selecting the picture of the tile I want from the Tool Panel, and finally rotating/raising
lowering them with the arrows in the Tool Panel.  With Patience and some trail and error
 the map will start to take shape like this;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/X54pREV.png[/img]

Once you have finished editing the terrain we can begin to place some props, outposts,
 and units onto the map.  I'd still leave the fortresses off the map for now.  To begin setting
 props and such, click on the + Icon at the top of the Tool Panel.  It may be best to drop a
 couple outposts onto your map from the "prefab" section of the pull down menu first.   I
 am going to select 'outpostv2' from the list by clicking on it once, then clicking on the
map where I want to place it. [color=red]Always use 'v2' style outposts.[/color]  When placing any object you will want to press the 'M'
 button while it is highlighted to snap the object to the height of the tiles underneath.
The editor is a little weird with dropping objects and sometimes you end up dropping
 multiple outposts/objects when you don't want to.  To delete an outpost[color=red], go to the 'wrench' tab,[/color] click and hold the
 left mouse button over it, press the delete key, then move your mouse off the map and
 back onto the Tool Panel before releasing the button.  Otherwise you will end up
 dropping another outposts again and need to delete that as well.  [color=red](most of the above can be simplified by using the wrench tab to edit objects)[/color]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/SvWySsC.png[/img]

Once I have placed an outpost I am going to click on the Wrench Icon and define the
 outpost as neutral by changing the Team ID to 7.  Team IDs 0,2,4 will set the outpost to
 the Player 1 side's color and Team IDs 1,3,5 will set it to the Player 2 side's color.  Also
 under the Wrench Icon for the outpost you can see Isolation Range (I have no idea what
 that is for yet) and you can see the infantry defined for each of the outpost "bulbs".  In
 this case outpostv2 comes stocked with Level 2 Creeps.  By clicking on any of the
 LatchSlots you can select which infantry to place there instead.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/b8xCHaK.jpg[/img]

At this point I am going to move the Fortresses back onto the map, by clicking on the + Icon on the Tool Panel and dragging them to the center of their hills, then while the
Fortress is still highlighted click the M button to snap it to the new height of the raised
tiles.  If you have been following along faithfully, your map should look something like this;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Q4ANDsR.png[/img]

Note that sockets can be found under Props in the same pull down menu where we found
Prefabs for our outposts.  When a socket is dropped on the map it seems to automatically
become assigned to the nearest Prefab structure.  This makes it easy to drop a few
 around an outpost or fortress and know that they will auto assign.  Be sure to use M
when dropping sockets to snap it to the terrain.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/XPNtWRC.png[/img]

There are two more things to be done before saving the map and trying a test play.
First, move all those player start markers in the center of the map over to their appropriate
 fortress start positions.  To do this you'll want to click on the Wrench Icon, the click and
 drag the little blue circles one at a time to the center of the fortresses.  Be sure to press
 M when placing the spawn points to snap them to the higher terrain under the fortress,
  When you click on  a circle the Tool Panel will display a "Player Index" number for the
 that spawn icon.  Players 0,2,4,6 will all be on the first player's team.  Players 1,3,5,7 will
 be on the second player's team (though player #'s 6 and 7 will not be used in a standard
 1v1, 2,2 or 3v3 match.)  In short, even numbers go over the blue fortress, odd numbers
 go over the red fortress. [color=red](colors can differ based on the teamcolor used in the players current loadout)[/color]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/0qrZatL.jpg[/img]

Once your terrain is all set, your outposts are where you want them, you have added
props, and the the spawn points are above the fortress, the last thing you need to do is
generate the navigation mesh and map overlays needed for determining the pathing
algorithms.  Start by clicking on the Icon between the Wrench and Slope to bring up the
[color=red]air-[/color]pathing mesh Panel.  I would adjust the values in the text fields to match the map
dimensions that we set earlier (as picture).  Once that is done click "Generate" at the
bottom.  you should see the green wire mesh conform to your terrain, etc.  Then to create
the creep paths, click on the right side wire mesh icon in the top Tool bar (where my
mouse pointer is in the picture).

[img]http://i.imgur.com/gsWYgqB.jpg[/img]

And that is it.  We have created a basic map that should be playable now.  Save the map
 again under whatever name you choose, then select File and Resume Game to give it a
 test shot.


As a matter of further example; here is a somewhat larger map I have been working on
using the same principles I described above.  I have shown the global settings here to
illustrate the slight difference in size more clearly;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/B3nnE4j.png[/img]

And one last example, slightly larger, but similar in many ways;

[img]http://i.imgur.com/wcmTti1.png[/img]