Does anyone know how I can access the existing maps provided with the game to modify them using the map editor? I can't find the map files anywhere, and they are not in the map folder. Please help, I want to make some of the forced faction maps playable by any faction!

u have to use a winzip or a total commander to enter in data.pak which is in .../homm5/bin but take care if u modify something inside the data.pak u can

What dark said really.

Best way to do it is to extract a copy of the maps therein and edit them then use them like any other singleplayer-map.

ok i extracted the map files but how do i open them with the map editor? I tried archiving them into .H5M files but the editor crashes when i try to open them.
Can someone pls make the old maps into .H5M files so they can be opened with the editor

quote:

Originally posted by nevermindspy:
It's quite simple you can't edit an existing map without its .h5m file which means u can't edit ubi's maps , "It's sad but true.."

.h5m file is just a .zip file, only renamed and you can edit existing map if you pack them and rename as .h5m

i tried that st14z but when i try to open them with the editor it crashes
any more ideas pls!!!

No, h5m files are plain zip files.

Try to imitate the exact structure of .h5m file.

First make any map and rename it as a .zip file and examine the folder structure an find files in it and second try make a .zip file out of normal map with that same structure, you have to include ALL maps files, including those text files from text.pak or whatever was its name and third rename the .zip to .h5m

.H5m files are in <HoMMV Main folder>\Maps folder.

Trick is to remove all pic files and references to them in map-tag.xdb also i renamed files in archive just like in they were in a map i made with editor from scratch.

im with you in that the .h5m do seem to hold a bunch of other files which are all about a specific map.... (e.g. GroundTerrain.bin, XL1.xdb, etc.)

but when I try to load a zipped (and then renamed to .h5m) file in the editor it gets part way through and comes up with a message saying failed to load...

would you be able to upload one of the .h5m files that work?

1. made a folder MAPS in MAPS Folder
2. copied whole Singlemissions folder into created MAPS folder
3. zipped whole Maps folder
4. made copy of that .zip file
5. deleted all but one folder in .zip file, i left SXL1 folder and all files in it
6. unzippped file into some working folder with folder structure
7. removed write protection
8. edited map-tag.xdb an took away references to external files.
9. zipped folder again
10. rename .zip to .h5m
11. double click and EDIT

Folder structure in .h5m file is:
Maps\Singlemissions\<mapname>

Files:
GroundTerrain.bin
map.xdb
mapscript.lua
mapscript.xdb
map-tag.xdb
SXL1Description.txt
SXL1name.txt
UndergroundTerrain.bin

st14z, I'm trying to do what you saying for map L4 located in multiplayer folder...
Adding txts fromt txt pak, files, and compress like a zip, the editor crashes when I'm trying to open it.

Could you try it with this map? its a multiplayer map. There's no *.lua and I've deleted all external references (pic files) in map-tag, nothing to do...

can u try it please?

Map-tag:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AdvMapDescTag>
<AdvMapDesc href="map.xdb#xpointer(/AdvMapDesc)"/>
<NameFileRef href="mapname.txt"/>
<DescriptionFileRef href="mapDescription.txt"/>
<TileX>176</TileX>
<TileY>176</TileY>
<Goal/>
<teams>
<Item>1</Item>
<Item>1</Item>
<Item>1</Item>
<Item>1</Item>
<Item>1</Item>
</teams>
<thumbnailImages></thumbnailImages>
<HasUnderground>true</HasUnderground>
</AdvMapDescTag>

It works!!

rename L4.xdb to map.xdb

YES! it works, well, it seems the key is to rename map to map.xdb (the file name and in the xdb file too)

too complicated...

thanks a lot, I would try to learn first from ubi maps before starting one on my own...and change a couple of things...

p.d: a message for ubi or nival: ridiculous.

Is anyone else appalled that ubi released the map editor without a single example h5m file? I know they've been under a lot of pressure to release the map editor yesterday, but how hard would it have been for them to convert the existing maps to h5m files? [Yeh--I know it's too hard for me--I've tried following the suggestions in this thread with no luck--but you would have thought that they could have done it fairly simply.]

Anyhow, if anyone wants to post links to h5m files (particularly interested in multiplayer maps--the bigger the better) whether conversions of existing maps or new ones of your own creation, I'd be overjoyed to get my hands on them. :-)

quote:

Originally posted by pumlek:
Is anyone else appalled that ubi released the map editor without a single example h5m file?

I'm appalled, but not surprised, that NIVAL (not Ubi) would make a map editor so user-UNFRIENDLY as to prevent & discourage many of us regular people from using it.

Could somebody, who have enough time, pack those Nival maps into .h5m files and link them to allow ppl to dl them?