ZK Map Making Guide - Revision history

Steel Blue: Template keypresses, changed in-game buttons and files in the Zero-K directory to codeblock style

2026-01-28T00:08:05Z

Template keypresses, changed in-game buttons and files in the Zero-K directory to codeblock style

GoogleFrog: /* Startbox Editor Widget */

2025-10-18T23:53:54Z

Startbox Editor Widget

GoogleFrog: /* Startbox Editor Widget */

2025-10-18T23:53:22Z

Startbox Editor Widget

Mojjj: /* Create Images */

2024-06-03T15:19:34Z

Create Images

F4Tornado: /* Features (geovents, trees, rocks, etc) */ Add a link to the features library, I hope this is what they were referring to

2023-11-26T23:13:06Z

Features (geovents, trees, rocks, etc): Add a link to the features library, I hope this is what they were referring to

Aquanim: /* Upload */

2023-07-26T00:39:16Z

Upload

Aquanim: /* Upload */

2023-07-26T00:35:50Z

Upload

Aquanim: /* SpringMapEdit */

2023-07-26T00:28:28Z

SpringMapEdit

Aquanim: /* Lobby/Website minimap image */

2022-06-07T00:24:26Z

Lobby/Website minimap image

Sprung: Fix a typo

2022-04-29T15:53:19Z

Fix a typo

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 ** Near the start of the file change the ''author'', ''description'', ''name'', ''shortname'' and ''version'' variables to suit you and your map.
 ** Scroll down a bit to the "smf" section and change the ''maxheight'' and ''minheight'' numbers to suit your map. Also change the file name after ''smtFileName0'' so that it has your .smt file's name.
-* To test your map, copy the .sdd directory into the /maps folder of your Zero-K install. In the settings make sure that "Only featured maps" is disabled. Then open a Skirmish game, click on the current map, select your map from the list, and play. (You might want to make the enemy AI inactive. The minimap in the lobby will be blank, don't worry about this for now.)
+* To test your map, copy the .sdd directory into the <code>Zero-K/maps</code> folder of your Zero-K install. In the settings make sure that "Only featured maps" is disabled. Then open a Skirmish game, click on the current map, select your map from the list, and play. (You might want to make the enemy AI inactive. The minimap in the lobby will be blank, don't worry about this for now.)
 * If you want to change your map you will need to replace the files in your ZK maps folder, then restart ZK, in order to load the new version.
@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 * Startboxes are specified by their corner points reading clockwise around the polygon. More than one separate box for a given team is possible.
-* Holding SPACE ingame will display a dialog box which (among other things) gives the X and Z coordinates of wherever your cursor is.
+* Holding  {{Key press|SPACE}} ingame will display a dialog box which (among other things) gives the X and Z coordinates of wherever your cursor is.
 * The metal and startbox files are just LUA scripts. This means you don't have to write simple numbers to specify locations; you can perform arithmetic to make sure your map setup is symmetric (the startbox of the South-East team in the blueprint is an example). More advanced scripting is also possible, for example to make your startbox configuration dependent on the number of players or allyteams. See the [[http://zero-k.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Startbox_API#Advanced_stuff Startbox API page]] .
@@ Line 141: / Line 141: @@
 == Startbox Editor Widget ==
-Load your map in ZK, open the ingame menu (F10), untick "Simple Settings" at the bottom, and navigate to "Settings/Toolbox". Click "Toggle Start Zone Editor", this should cause a new submenu to appear. Navigate to "Settings/Toolbox/Startbox Editor" then click "Use Mouse" to enable startbox editing. The startbox editor submenu contains instructions and the buttons have tooltips. The buttons can be clicked or have hotkeys set, like any other menu button, some suggested hotkeys are below.
+Load your map in ZK, open the ingame menu (F10), untick "Simple Settings" at the bottom, and navigate to <code>Settings/Toolbox</code>. Click <code>Toggle Start Zone Editor</code>, this should cause a new submenu to appear. Navigate to <code>Settings/Toolbox/Startbox Editor</code> then click <code>Use Mouse</code> to enable startbox editing. The startbox editor submenu contains instructions and the buttons have tooltips. The buttons can be clicked or have hotkeys set, like any other menu button, some suggested hotkeys are below.
 [[Image:Find_startbox_editor.png]] [[Image:Startbox_editor.png]]
 == Metal Spot Placer ==
-Load your map in ZK, press Alt-F11 to access the widget list, press "Search" and enter "Metal Spot". Enable the Metal Spot Placer widget. As per the ingame description:
+Load your map in ZK, press {{Key combo|Alt|F11}} to access the widget list, press <code>Search</code> and enter <code>Metal Spot</code>. Enable the Metal Spot Placer widget. As per the ingame description:
-* Press Alt-M to enable the widget
+* Press {{Key combo|Alt|M}} to enable the widget
 * Click in locations on the map to place metal points
-* Press Alt-M again to disable the widget and print a list of metal points to the infolog
+* Press {{Key combo|Alt|M}} again to disable the widget and print a list of metal points to the infolog
-Then open your infolog.txt (in the main zero-k directory) after you exit to retrieve the startbox information for copying into map_metal_layout.lua. Check that the metal point values for each mex point are as you want them to be. It's probably a good idea to turn the widget off after you are done with it.
+Then open <code>Zero-K/infolog.txt</code> (in the main zero-k directory) after you exit to retrieve the startbox information for copying into map_metal_layout.lua. Check that the metal point values for each mex point are as you want them to be. It's probably a good idea to turn the widget off after you are done with it.
 == Upspring ==

@@ Line 141: / Line 141: @@
 == Startbox Editor Widget ==
-Load your map in ZK, open the ingame menu (F10), untick "Simple Settings" at the bottom, and navigate to "Settings/Toolbox". Click "Toggle Start Zone Editor", this should cause a new submenu to appear. Navigate to "Settings/Toolbox/Startbox Editor" then click "Use Mouse" to enable startbox editing.
+Load your map in ZK, open the ingame menu (F10), untick "Simple Settings" at the bottom, and navigate to "Settings/Toolbox". Click "Toggle Start Zone Editor", this should cause a new submenu to appear. Navigate to "Settings/Toolbox/Startbox Editor" then click "Use Mouse" to enable startbox editing. The startbox editor submenu contains instructions and the buttons have tooltips. The buttons can be clicked or have hotkeys set, like any other menu button, some suggested hotkeys are below.
-[[Image:Find_startbox_editor.png]]
+[[Image:Find_startbox_editor.png]] [[Image:Startbox_editor.png]]
 == Metal Spot Placer ==

@@ Line 141: / Line 141: @@
 == Startbox Editor Widget ==
-Load your map in ZK, press Alt-F11 to access the widget list, press "Search" and enter "Startbox". Enable the Startbox Editor widget. The ingame description doesn't say much so let's consult the [https://github.com/ZeroK-RTS/Zero-K/blob/90d61099e3fb8509645cf16d3fa2982150c81bdd/LuaUI/Widgets/dbg_startbox_editor.lua widget source file]:
+Load your map in ZK, open the ingame menu (F10), untick "Simple Settings" at the bottom, and navigate to "Settings/Toolbox". Click "Toggle Start Zone Editor", this should cause a new submenu to appear. Navigate to "Settings/Toolbox/Startbox Editor" then click "Use Mouse" to enable startbox editing.
-[[Image:Startboxeditor1.png]]
+[[Image:Find_startbox_editor.png]]
-...well, that's not a good sign. Scroll down a bit further:
+The startbox editor submenu contains instructions and the buttons have tooltips. The buttons can be clicked or have hotkeys set, like any other menu button, some suggested hotkeys are below.
-[[Image:Startboxeditor2.png]]
+[[Image:Startbox_editor.png]]
 == Metal Spot Placer ==

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 For a 10x10 (TitanDuel-size) map, create the following images with a tool of your choice:
-* A height map grayscale image with dimensions 641 x 641, saved as an 8-bit .bmp or a 16-bit .png. (The latter is preferred but not all tools offer 16-bit output.) The brighter a pixel is the higher the corresponding part of the map will be.
+* A height map grayscale image with dimensions 641 x 641, saved as an 8-bit ".bmp" or a 16-bit ".png". (The latter is preferred but not all tools offer 16-bit output.) The brighter a pixel is the higher the corresponding part of the map will be.
-* A texture map colour image with dimensions 5120 x 5120, saved as a .bmp
+* A texture map colour image with dimensions 5120 x 5120, saved as a ".bmp" . Using the program provided in the wiki (pymapconv.exe) it is possible to use a regular ".png" file, with alpha channel removed.
 For a different size map, multiply the height/width of the map by 64 and add 1 to get the right size for the heightmap; multiply the height/width of the map by 512 to get the right size for the texture map.

@@ Line 169: / Line 169: @@
 This method of placing features requires you to have some s11n gadgets in /LuaRules/Gadgets and some s11n and lcs stuff in the /libs/ folder. If your map doesn't have these then get them from the blueprint or some other map.
-* Put the files defining the features you want in your map file. This includes a definition in the /features subdirectory, model files in the /objects3d directory, and textures in the /unittextures directory. The easiest way to get these is to borrow them from existing maps. There is a features library as well... ask around in #zkmap for a link then update this page.
+* Put the files defining the features you want in your map file. This includes a definition in the /features subdirectory, model files in the /objects3d directory, and textures in the /unittextures directory. The easiest way to get these is to borrow them from existing maps or from the features library [https://github.com/Spring-Helper-Projects/spring-features here].
 * Load your map in Springboard
 * Delete any features you have marking mex locations, otherwise you will end up with two copies of them and that is bad.

@@ Line 109: / Line 109: @@
 * Your map isn't set up right. Test it locally again and make sure your map works.
 * Something on the server has gone wrong. AFTER testing your map locally and finding that it works there, contact an admin. Uploading your map to a file-sharing service so the admin can look at it may help.
 = Skeleton Of A Map =

@@ Line 138: / Line 138: @@
 == SpringMapEdit ==
-=== Installation ===
+No safe link to this known as of Jul 2023. RIP
 == Nobiax Texture Pack ==

@@ Line 211: / Line 211: @@
 == Lobby/Website minimap image ==
-This minimap image is generated from your map's texture, but unlike the ingame minimap does not have water drawn on it. If you would like your map's lobby/website image to be different, you need to create replacement images and provide them to somebody with the appropriate server access to overwrite the existing minimaps (not just any admin can do this). Anarchid has handled most of these in recent years. Ideally you only want to do this once, so wait until your map is up to a final release version before making the replacement image.
+This minimap image is generated from your map's texture, but unlike the ingame minimap does not have water drawn on it. If you would like your map's lobby/website image to be different, you need to create replacement images and provide them to somebody with the appropriate server access to overwrite the existing minimaps (not just any admin can do this; you are probably most likely to get a quick response from Aquanim or Anarchid). Ideally you only want to do this once, so wait until your map is up to a final release version before making the replacement image.
 Required images for a map called "map name v1.0":