Map Dimensions Other Than Pre-Sets
You want to know the mystic secrets of maps with peculiar dimensions?
Read on.
1. Well, first you need a hexeditor. You're not going to get anywhere without one of those. If you have a problem with that, make like a chicken and 'evolve'. (MUHAHAHA)
(a hexeditor may be found at http://www.bpsoft.com/downloads/index.html)
2. Now that you have a hexeditor, you need to extract the .CHK file from the map. Kali_Kao is telling me that I should explain how to do this for those of you who don't know, so if you already know just extract it and go ahead to number 3.
a. Open StarDraft. You don't have Stardraft, you're in a pickle. Camelot Systems might be a good place to start.
b. CWD Manager.
c. Create a CWD.
d. In the Options menu, click MPQ Viewer.
e. Open the SCM or SCX.
f. Select the CHK file, click save to CWD, close the MPQ viewer.
g. Drag the CHK file out of the CWD contents onto the Hard drive.
h. Understood?
3. Open up the CHK file in the hexeditor. This is usually a pretty simple matter of clicking 'File' then 'Open', and finding the CHK file. If you can't find the CHK file, it is possible that you extracted it from the SCM or SCX into a CWD, but didn't save it out of that.
4. Find the section of the map labeled with DIM. This isn't too far down.. shouldn't be hard to find.
5. In the DIM section you will see two numbers. You will probably recognise these as the dimensions of the map. If not, look at this:
Decimal
64
96
128
192
256
Hex value in map
4000
6000
8000
c000
0002
Edit that to whatever you want. In my thin map, I got the dimension of 32 with 2000.
(Well, maybe not whatever you want. See Problems below. And I haven't tested any weird sizes save 32)
6. Save the CHK file and import it into your map with the StarEdit Enhancer. I have heard that this does not work on anything above Staredit 1.04. The solution to this is to use Staredit 1.04. I reinstalled Brood War, made a copy of Staredit, and then upgraded it back to whatever version it is now. I have heard that there is some easier way to get Staredit 1.04, but I didn't need it, so I didn't bother to remember it. After importing it into the map, close Staredit and play the map in Starcraft.
How to import a file into a map:
a. Run Staredit 1.04 with Stardraft. There is no need to run a patch on it, all you need is the Staredit Enhancer.
b. Open your map.
c. Click the StarEdit Enhancer. Enable it.
d. Set the default path to "staredit\". Click Apply.
e. Open up the WAV importer, and import your CHK file.
f. Close Staredit. There is no need to save the map, it'll already have saved the CHK file.
Problems you may run into:
1. Any value above 256 crashes the game. Blizzard's fault. No known cure.
2. Staredit won't open the map afterwards. Live with it. You'll survive.
3. The terrain's all wasted. Yes it is. Explanation follows.
Starcraft uses the data contained in the map file to fill up the terrain, from left to right and top to bottom. If there's not enough terrain data for the dimensions, the remainder is filled with empty space. This empty space can be quite interesting: On a space platform, terran buildings can land on it, but units can't walk over it. I haven't tested it on other terrains yet. If there's too much terrain data, the excess is ignored. Starcraft is fairly accomodating here. Staredit is not, which is probably the reason for Problem 2. The most annoying effect of this method of reading the terrain is this: If a map width is changed, you can end up with squarish looking terrain. (See my anorexic map)
The terrain data includes doodads, but not units. This means that units which have been placed outside the new map boundaries vanish. This shouldn't cause any problems with the units if you do it right though.. as there is no size greater than 256, you can have already placed the units in their correct positions before hexediting. However, the terrain can look terrible. My thin map was orginally twice as wide, and I put the same terrain down both sides so that it would look something like it should.
This section was by Ookla as an add-on.
There are a couple things I would modify about that tutorial. First it says that 256 is 0002. It is 0001. Cerebr@ Brog swears that in the chk it actually does say 0002 but it does not; I checked. 0002 is 512 and anything over 256 will not work.
Also it is much easier to use the program MPQ2K to import back into your scm than any other method. This doesn't require installing StarEdit 1.04. (And why is is that people always think you have to install the whole 1.04 kit and kaboodle if you want to use StarEdit Enhancer? All you need is StarEdit 1.04 (named just StarEdit) in your any-version Starcraft folder, with StarDraft 1.04. I don't use the StarEdit Enhancer method anymore because mpq2k is so much easier to use and because it's scriptable, mpqs can be made and remade very easily.)
As far as custom map sizes go, DI informs us that King Arthur made the first custom sized map long long ago. Unfortunately it was a 512x512 map, and when it crashed starcraft he just dropped mapsize editing and went on to something else. (I am paraphrasing here.)
Also Hypah makes a good point that custom map heights are much easier to deal with than widths. Widths will mess the terrain up completely, but heights will just clip the terrain at the bottom of the map. e.g. if you want a 65x12 map just make a 64x64 and don't worry about what is below the 12 line in StarEdit. All terrain at the top of your map once you clip it will look just fine. (If you don't know who Hypah is he is the one who discovered colored text in maps. He doesn't have a PC or even Virtual PC so he hasn't made much of a splash outside of macstarcraft.)
Wow, wasnt that confusing...
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