Map making is a rewarding part of creating your module. It�s the first thing the player sees after making his
character. The Neverwinter Nights 2 map making tools are incredibly flexible and you now have far more
control over terrain and prop placement. With the added functionality comes more complexity. This
document goes over the basics of exterior and interior map making and how to place the various objects.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What are Exterior and Interior Maps?
Exterior Environment Basics
Toolbar
Day/Night Settings
Area Properties
Using Environmental Tools
Brush
Terrain
Texturing
Grass
Water
Placing Objects
Placeables
Environmental Objects
Trees
Point Lights
Placed Effects
Prefabs
Level Baking
Walkmesh Painting
Walkmesh Cutter (Trigger)
Placeables and Walkmeshes
Baking a Level
Interior Environment Basics
Tiles
Level Baking
General Lighting and Additional Considerations
Conclusion
WHAT ARE EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR MAPS?
Areas in the game are either exterior or interior maps. Exterior maps are made with a height map and allow
full flexibility in sculpting your terrain. Interior maps are made with the various tilesets and similar to how
the original NWN1 maps were created, though with greater flexibility on object placement.
Within any given module, you can use both exterior and interior areas. In the Sample Module, for
example, you begin in the exterior map outside of Pitney�s home and then can enter the interior map in his
home.
EXTERIOR ENVIRONMENT BASICS
The first thing you need to do is create your first map. Create a new area by selecting 'File' 'New' 'Area'.
The New Area Wizard will come up.
The Area Tag is the name for the map so choose whatever is appropriate. Leave the Area Type on
Exterior. The size of the area can be adjusted after the map is made but start with a small map while
practicing with the toolset.
You should see a plain green area in the main window. If you click �Grid� on the Toolbar it will show
the area grid with Black. Red, and White lines.
The black lines signify tile regions which affect textures, water, & grass limits. The tile regions will be
covered in more detail in the appropriate sections.
The White line indicates where the map border starts. Each exterior map has a 2 tile region border that
characters can not enter. It�s there purely for decoration so characters won�t see the end of the world! This is
a place for hills, snaking roads, trees, etc. that add some beauty and detail to your maps but have no other
effect to gameplay.
Toolbar
The toolbar has several handy functions for map making. Not all options will be covered but feel free to play
around with the toggles to see what they do!
Grid. This will toggle to grid which is handy for seeing the region grid and border grid.
Occlusion Grid. This toggle shows the border area marked in red. Good for seeing where the border
area starts without the grid visible. Remember characters can not enter the border area so this will help
indicate the end of the walkable area.
Surface Mesh. Shows the surface of the map that can be modified by the Terrain tools. Each line
intersection can be adjusted in height. This will be covered in more detail in the terrain tools section.
Baked. This is for level baking which will be covered in the Baking section.
Shadows, Water, Bloom, Fog, Sky. These toggle the various map features and are mostly for help
during map creation. The water toggle for example is handy when you want to paint terrain under a lake
and need to temporarily see what you are doing! These toggles do not affect the terrain in any way in the
game engine.
Use Area Far Plane. This is used in conjunction with the Fog settings (Farclip, FogEnd, FogStart) in
area lighting. It will clip the view to where the game will stop drawing objects (Farclip). Useful for
determining what players will see at different locations on a map.
Normal Mapped Terrain. This toggle shows the terrain using either the basic ground textures or the
normal mapped ground textures. Normal mapped textures are similar to bump mapping in that they show
shadow detail based on how the light hits them. For lower end systems normal mapped textures can be
turned off so this toggle allows you to see what the terrain will look like on those systems.
Day/Night. Allows you to select which of the 7 day/night settings to display your map in. Default is
used for maps that have no day/night cycle. Lighting will be covered in more depth in the lighting
sections.
Filters: Show/Hide. The Show/Hide dropdown toggles the various map objects on and off. This is
handy for map making to remove various elements for ease of editing. As an example you might want to
remove trees from the map so terrain painting would be easier. This is strictly for display and the objects
never actually are deleted.
Filters: Selection. A very important dropdown that filters what objects you can interact with. When
there are many objects on a map but you are only adjusting lights for example you can turn off selection for
all other types. That way you won�t accidentally move or delete something else. The editor has no undo
function as of this writing so use the selection dropdown as a precaution.
Snap. Used for doors so they will snap into position at the doorframe correctly.
Select Objects. The main mode for selecting the various objects on a map.
Paint Objects. When you are painting objects this mode will be automatically selected. When you are
done painting objects hit ESC and you will return to Select Objects mode.
Select Terrain. Allows a tile to be selected. This is handy when working with water or checking texture
usage.
Paint Terrain. Mode for painting terrain, textures, water, or grass. This mode will be automatically
selected when using those tools. The color of the brush will match the tool button color. If you wish to
return to object selection, select �Select Objects�
Tiles. Used for Interior maps, see that section for more details.
Drag Selection. Marquee selection toggle. If you wish to click-drag a bunch of objects you can use this
toggle option. It�s recommended to have this option off during normal use so you don�t accidentally select
more then one object.
Day/Night Settings
Maps can have a full day/night lighting cycle. This runs automatically. Some races like Drow get negatives
during daytime hours and there are ways to force "always day" or "always night" on a map. Or through
scripts, you can start the clock at certain hours.
The day/night cycle is broken into 7 phases. If you look at the �Area Properties� for a map you�ll see a
section at the top labeled �Day/Night Cycle Stages� which allows full control of the lighting for each stage.
The details of this will not be covered in this document so it�s best to use one of the standard light settings
for your first maps.
Default is a special setting used on maps that have no Day/Night cycle. Mostly used for interior maps or
those that have a fixed time of day. Also generally used on maps made exclusively for cut scenes.
Run. This allows you to see the full day/night cycle running in the editor.
Normal Speed/Fast. Adjusts the speed of day/night cycle when �Run� is active. Useful to get a quick
feel of how the area looks at all times of the day.
Area Properties
The Area Properties for a map are accessed by clicking your area in the "Areas" tab. The "Properties"
window will display the area properties. This is where you can find the Day/Night Cycle Stages adjustments
plus other settings useful for map making.
Appearance.
a. Day/Night Cycle Stages - Opening this section allows control of the lighting for each cycle stage and
the default stage if no day/night cycle is turned off. There are many options here which allow almost infinite
control of your level lighting. When starting out it�s best to look at one of the standard lighting settings on
some of the sample maps to get a feel for what each control does.
b. Sky Ring - Select a sky ring for each direction on a map. Examples such as mountains, hills, trees, &
cities. These will appear the same color as fog color over the skybox on the horizon.
Environment.
a. Day/Night Cycle True/False - If set to True the game will cycle through the 7 day/night phases. If set
to False the game will light the map only on the Default lighting setting.
b. Has Directional Light? True/False - The �SunMoon� setting (also known as the Directional Light) in
the Lighting stages will be turned on/off here. This should normally be True for exterior maps. For interior
maps it can be used for additional light to enhance the normal mapped textures but is optional. It does
count as a light when determining performance issues with number of lights.
See Point Lights for more details.
c. Directional Light Casts Shadows True/False - The �SunMoon� directional light can have shadows
on/off. Normally exterior maps would be set to True. For interior maps that use directional light this would
normally be set to False. If Directional Lights are turned off then this setting has no function.
d. Is Always Night? True/False - Normally used for exterior maps that have a fixed �Default� lighting.
This setting affects whether races like drow and duergar ever suffer their light sensitivity penalties.
Advanced Topic: Eternal Night
To make an area night all of the time, you have to do more than just set �IsAlwaysNight� to True. Make
sure that the Day/Night Cycle is set to False and that the Default lighting setting (#7) is set to the nighttime
conditions that you desire.
Fog. Not currently functional. Leave at False.
General.
a. Interior True/False - For interior maps this should be set to true. Exterior maps should be set to
false. Surprise!
b. Natural - Natural environments like caves or forests should be set to true. Towns or villages would
be set to false.
c. Underground - Caves or underground lairs should be set to True.
d. Size � The map can be resized by selecting the button to the right of the "Size" listing. A popup will
appear that allows the map to be increased or decreased in size from any of the compass directions. There
are a few issues to be aware of when doing this. Any object that is Position Locked will not move when the
map shifts size. When the map changes size it sometimes needs to move objects to add the tiles and those
locked items will stay behind. Height locked items are not affected though.
If you are unsure which direction is North there�s a button (Show North) above the Area Viewer that
places a North arrow in the center of the map. It�s a very good idea to save before doing a resize since there
is no undo command.
Import/Export Environment Settings
At the top of the Area Properties window are two buttons �Import Properties� & �Export Properties�. These
settings will allow you to import and export a group or individual day/night/default lighting settings. Useful
if you like a map�s lighting and want to import it to your own map.
Using Environmental Tools
Now it�s time to try your hand at painting an exterior map. There are four major tools available.
Terrain is for adjusting the height of the surface mesh, adjusting the walkable areas, and tinting the
textures. The brush will match the color of the currently selected tool.
Texturing is used to paint the actual terrain surface with grass, rock, dirt, cobblestones, etc. and has
great versatility in brush control for nice mixing effects.
Grass is used to paint various animated grass on the surface mesh and has control for mixing different grass
textures, blade size, size variation, and density.
Water can be painted down at any height and has control of color, ripples, speed, & reflections.
Brush
All four tools use the Brush to control painting size, brush pressure, height, & density.
Size. This is the area of the brush that paints at the full pressure setting. Indicated by the inner circle of
the brush.
Outer. The �drop-off� of the brush. Indicated by the outer circle of the brush. A large outer setting will
make more subtle hills when painting terrain and more blended textures during texture painting.
Pressure. In terrain building this will affect how extreme the sculpting of the terrain will be. For subtle
changes use a low setting under 20%. For texturing it controls how much the selected texture mixes with
the already painted textures. As an example if you have pressure set at 50% it will mix the selected texture
50% with any other textures in the currently affected area.
Density. On grass painting this affects how much grass will paint in the current brush size. A high
number will make a dense grass section.
Height. Controls what level the water will paint. Can be used with the Eyedropper button. More details
are in the water section.
S, M, L, G. These are predefined buttons for brush size.
Terrain
The terrain tools allow sculpting terrain. You can paint hills, chasms, mountains, roads, etc. It�s the basic
tool section for laying out your map.
Brushes
Raise/Lower. As the name suggests the brush will raise or lower the terrain in the selected brush area.
Use the pressure setting to control the level of adjustment. Lower settings are suggested for fine
control.
Noise. Adds a noise to painted area to break up flat sections of the map. Please note the tool does not
work across tile regions and can break sections. If this happens use the Smooth tool to clear out disjointed
tile regions.
Smooth. Smoothes out a section. Great for flattening out peaks or building terraced hills.
Walk/No Walk. Used in conjunction with level baking to control character movement on a map. See
Level Baking for more details.
Flatten. This control has �Height� instead of �Pressure� and will force the surface mesh to flatten at the
set height. Used with the Eyedropper tool allows good control on maps you have much elevation
changes.
Color. Used to tint the ground textures a certain color. Very useful in adding detail and modeling to
existing textures. Using a medium brown to darken ground around water or in crevasses along hills helps
break up uniform patterns. Don�t underestimate this tool! Great to use after texturing is completed to
�weather� a map.
Other Options
Flatten Under. By selecting a placeable object and pressing this button, the ground will flatten to the
base of that object. Good for use with buildings to match the ground to the floor.
Eyedropper. Used with Flatten to define a height level to flatten too. Very useful for making terraced
hills or raising sections of the map quickly.
Color. Used with the Color Brush to tint ground textures.
Texturing
This tool is used to paint textures on the terrain. With the pressure option various textures can be layered to
add greater detail and variety.
Texture painting has some limits so be sure to plan ahead when making your map. Usually it�s a good
idea to pick a couple grass and dirt textures that you plan to use throughout the map. Leave at least one
texture space free for later additions. Even though you can use up to six textures per tile region don�t go too
heavy on usage. The more unique textures a map has the more video card memory is needed.
Texture Selection. This scrolling list shows all the textures included with NWN2 for use with ground
texturing. Select a texture on the list and the brush will paint it on the terrain at the size and pressure
percentage.
Texture Swapper. This option will swap the currently selected texture with another one you pick on the
popup list. This will do this swap on the entire map so take care!
Fill Map. This will fill the entire map with the selected texture overwriting all current texture painting.
There is a confirmation box just to remind you since this is a very dangerous button!
Advanced Topic: Selection
This list shows the currently used textures on a tile region. Each tile region (the black lines when �Grid�
is on) can have a unique set of six textures. The position on the list is not an issue when painting from one
tile to another. So if you have Dirt05 on two tiles in different positions on the list the editor will paint
correctly across tile boundaries. You can individually change a texture on a tile by selecting that texture and
picking a new one. If you want to do this for the entire map, use the Texture Swapper. If you already have
6 textures on a tile the editor will not allow you to paint another one.
Grass
Animated grass adds some nice movement and dimensionality to a map. It can be sprayed down like a
texture and has control on blade size and density.
Grass Options.
a. Blade Size - Adjusts the size of the grass.
b. Blade Size Variation - Adjusts the size variation so grass doesn�t have an even height. The higher the
number the more extreme the variation will be.
2. Grass.
a. Grass Selection - Pick a grass texture from the list. You can select multiple grass textures and they
will be mixed together when you paint.
b. Paint - Paint grass with the brush.
c. Erase - Erase grass with the brush.
Water
Water is painted down just like textures or grass but conforms to a flat height setting. Each tile region can
have its own water height so it�s wise to plan ahead on where you want water if multiple ponds or lakes will
be on
a map.
Water.
a. Paint - Paint water down with the brush. The water will paint out to the Outer setting as there is no
falloff with water. While a tile is selected any changes to settings will affect all water on that tile only. If you
wish to update the water on another tile just paint there and that water will conform to your new
settings.
b. Erase - Erase water with the brush.
c. Eyedropper - Use the button to set the height you would like the water to be painted at. Useful for
filling in a lake and finding the height just by selecting the wanted waterline.
d. Import - Import previously saved water.
e. Export - Export your favorite water settings for use on other maps.
Water Settings.
a. Color - Set the color of the water!
b. Ripple- Adjust the level of ripple. X & Y can be independently controlled.
c. Smoothness - Adjust the choppiness of the water. From a violent sea to a frozen lake.
d. Refraction settings - Adjust the reflection level of the water.
Water Layers. Water has 3 layers that can be independently controlled. Allows great variety of effects.
Controls scroll direction, rate, and angle. Plus two textures are available.
Placing Objects
Now that you are familiar with terrain, textures, grass, and water painting its time to place the various
objects on a map.
The Blueprints window is where you pick the various objects. Each type has its own tab. For the
purposes of map making, we are most concerned with placeables, environment objects, trees, lights, placed
effects, and prefabs. Some of these are discussed below.
Placeables
Placeables are premade objects like buildings, rocks, crates, etc. Just select a placeable from the list and
stamp it down on the map. It will conform to the height of the terrain. If you select and drag you can move
it around. Shift-right-click & Hold to rotate. Page Up/Down to change height. The Spacebar drops to the
ground plane.
Placeable Properties
There are many properties associated with a placeable. When a placeable is selected its properties will
appear in the properties window. Not all will be covered in this document but below are ones more
associated with decorating your levels.
Tint. Many placeables have areas of the object that can be tinted a selected color. Up to three colors
can be changed depending on the object. The object name will indicate if the object has tinting
enabled.
Scale. Change the X/Y/Z scale value of an object. Can be made large or small but take care not to
increase size too much since it will stretch the texture!
Static True/False (Static/Dynamic). Static objects (Static True) are default placeables. This means the
object takes up space but can not be interacted with. Dynamic objects (Static False) are chests, bookcases,
etc. that need to be interacted with. Chests etc. are covered in more detail in other documents.
Height/Position Lock. These settings control locking of an object. Height lock is useful when you have
an object at the right height and don�t want it to move up/down when you adjust its position. Position lock
is good for objects you don�t want to accidentally move later. Quick key for HeightLock is Z. Quick key for
Position Lock is L.
Stackable. Placing objects on tables can be a pain! But Stackable True solves it for you. Select an object
and set Stackable to True. Drag that object to a table and the object will pop up to the top! Quick key is
S.
Cast/Receive shadows. Shadow casting is processor intensive. For small objects or objects always
inside a shadow you can set them to not cast shadows. By turning off receive shadows an object can appear
to glow. Useful for arcane circles or torches.
Environmental Objects
Environmental objects are placeables converted to a less processor intensive format. Any placeable can be
converted. Select the placeable and use the �Convert� button at the top of the map screen. Also any
environmental object can be converted back to a placeable.
Use this for any object in the Border area or objects like rocks or buildings that the player can never get
close to. The engine does not calculate collision with them (character or camera) and does not cut the
walkmesh for them. They are useful to give the game fewer things to calculate when running your map.
Decorative objects on tables are another good candidate for conversion.
Trees
Trees are objects created with the SpeedTree technology. They are designed specifically for high speed
processing of natural looking trees and can be used in relatively great numbers without significant processor
load.
Trees can be adjusted in scale just like placeables and have standard height and position locking
options.
Each tree has a random seed value that can be changed to adjust the look. So if two Oak trees are
placed with different seed values both will have different trucks, branches, and leaf positions. Play with the
number and see what interesting trees you can make!
Though the number of trees can be relatively great, the number of unique trees should be controlled.
The engine spends a fair amount of time calculating each unique tree so limiting the number is a good idea
to keep your map running smoothly. At present it is recommended not to have more then five unique trees
per map. Please note the same tree with two different seed values is considered two unique trees. But tree
scaling is not considered a unique tree so using the same tree/seed value with different scales is an easy way
to add variety.
Point Lights
Point lights are lights that can be placed on a map to add interest to a level. You can adjust range, color,
intensity, shadow level, & flickering to each light.
Placing. Point lights are placed just like other objects. You will notice there is only one listed in the
Blueprints. To keep track of your lights they can be named in Light Properties under �Localized Name.� If
you select multiple lights all can be named as a group. For example all the torch lights on a level could be
named "SmallTorch Light."
Color. The color setting controls the color, reflected color, and intensity of the light.
a. Diffuse Color. This is the main setting for color and will light all objects within the range that
color.
b. Specular Color. This is the reflected color that bounces off shiny objects like armor, metal, and
glossy objects.
c. Intensity. Brightness of the light. Be careful of
too high a setting since it can blow out the detail on close objects.
d. Lerp Color. Used when Lerp is on. The color a lerp light changes to from the normal color
settings.
Range. Range of the light. The red dot pattern globe shows the point the light no longer affects tiles,
surface mesh, and objects. This range is significant when dealing with lighting performance issues.
Shadow/Intensity. Lights can cast dynamic shadows on tiles, surface mesh, objects, & characters. The
intensity is how dark that shadow will be. It�s best to keep the intensity close to your directional light
shadow settings. Generally a setting of 0.5 or 0.6 is a good level. Turning off shadows helps with
performance and works well for lights that should act more like a glow such as magical effects in the
environment.
Flicker settings. Lights can be set to flicker so objects like torches and fireplaces look more natural. The
Flicker Type controls the type of flicker effect. For example Jumpy will make the dynamic shadows move
and works wonderfully with campfires and similar.
a. Flicker Rate. The speed of the flicker.
b. Flicker Variance. The range of the flicker effect. High number will make the flicker more dramatic
while a small number will make it more subtle.
Lerp settings. Lerp can set a second color for a pulsating light. Use it for a light you want to change
between two colors. The Lerp Period controls the rate of the transition.
Performance Considerations. Point lights take a fair amount of processor time especially with shadows
turned on. Use the range globe to see how many lights are affecting objects, surface mesh, and tiles. A
good rule of thumb is to have no more then three lights hitting any of these. Remember if you are using a
directional light it should be considered when making your calculations.
Placed Effects
Placed effects are premade effects created with the Effects Editor. They include such things as fire, torches,
candles, smoke, etc. They are placed like any other object and have few controls to deal with. The yellow
"helper" object allows you to select and move the effect around. You can turn this off separately in the
Show/Hide filter on the Toolbar.
Prefabs
Prefabs are objects grouped together for easy placement. An example is a chandelier with candle placed
effects. When you select the object group it moves and rotates as one item. You can Right-Click on the
object group and ungroup them if you prefer. If you want to select just one object in the group Ctrl+click.
You can manipulate that one item without breaking the group.
Make your own prefabs by first selecting multiple objects and then right-clicking on one of the objects
in that group. A popup allows you to group those items together. Give the group a unique name and you�re
done! If you can export that group to your Override folder, it will appear on your Prefabs blueprints
window.
Level Baking
Level baking is the process of defining what is and is not walkable by the characters. The process has two
basic steps. The first step is to define your walkable region and the second step is to run the �Bake�
procedure which imbeds the walk data into the level. You can always modify the map walkable regions but
you must �rebake� the level after you do this before running the level in the game engine. If you try to run a
level without baking, the characters will be stuck wherever they spawn!
The first step in getting a level ready for baking is defining where on the map a character is allowed to
walk. There are basically three levels of control for this procedure. Please note that border area tiles are
ALWAYS set to �No Walk�.
Walkmesh Painting
The first level is the �Walk/No Walk� buttons under Terrain Tools. This is the lowest level control over where
a character can walk. Use the Brush tool to control size of brush similar to how it works for Terrain and
Texturing. The black lines are non-walk areas, green lines walk areas, & yellow lines are the border between
them. The character in the image is standing in a legal walk area but the hill to his left is not crossable.
It is advisable to paint �No Walk� over large areas of non accessible areas since it will make the baking
process much faster and generate a smaller area file.
Walkmesh Cutter (Trigger)
In the �Triggers� tab of the Blueprints window there is a special trigger called a Walkmesh Cutter. This
special trigger displays in blue and is used to more finely control where a character can walk. It is placed the
same way as a normal trigger (see trigger placement info elsewhere) and will define a no walk region when
the level is baked. It�s usually best to place these with the camera directly overhead. In the below image our
hero now has a tighter exit off this slight rise. He can�t walk in the black area to the left and rear plus is
blocked directly in front of him. And he can�t walk inside the area defined by the blue region.
Placeables and Walkmeshes
Placeables will cut out the walkmesh automatically during the bake process. This is especially useful for
buildings and walls which you can use to strategically block areas of the map. Many objects like bridges and
raised platforms will cut the walkmesh so the character can walk on the bridge or platform instead of the
terrain below it.
Baking a Level
Once you have everything defined it�s time to run the bake procedure. Under �File� is an option called
�Bake�. Running this can take some time on large maps so you will be greeted with a warning box just to be
sure you really want to do it.
Once you run the baking procedure you can check it to be sure everything is defined as you planned.
On the toolbar turn on toggles �Surface Mesh� and �Baked�. In the image below the Walkmesh cutter has cut
out the area defined by the blue lines. The rock placeable cut itself out automatically! Our character has
much less space to move around now. Note there�s a little sliver of walkable region between the cutter and
rock placeable but since each creature in the game has a defined width he shouldn�t be able to move inside
there.
If you want to make changes to a walkmesh first turn off the "Baked" toggle button and make any
adjustments you want. You can change walkmesh cutters, placeable locations, & terrain walkmesh painting.
But before you run your level in the game make sure to �rebake� the level! The Bake toggle will always show
the current terrain bake so by turning it on and off will show the changes that you made.
Advanced Topic: Issues with too many objects
Sometimes with densely packed placeables a tile region can get overloaded and fail the bake process.
You�ll see that by a tile that is completely unwalkable. There are two ways to fix this. Delete and/or move
some placeables and try baking again. Or try converting some placeables to �Environmental Objects� (see
placeables section) and surrounding by a Walkmesh Cutter. Walkmesh Cutters tend to be simpler for the
engine to process a walkmesh from. The below example shows two stools and a campfire that were
converted to environmental objects and surrounded by a cutter.
This is a simple example and normally the engine would not have an issue with a simple cut like this.
INTERIOR ENVIRONMENT BASICS
Interior maps are created using tilesets similar to the original NWN1. There is no surface mesh painting or
texturing needed since you can build everything from the included tilesets. It generally takes less time to
make a good interior than it does to make a good exterior.
A new area is created just like with an exterior map.
Create a new area by selecting 'File' 'New' 'Area.' The New Area Wizard will open up.
The Area Tag is the name for the map so choose whatever is appropriate. Switch the Area Type to Interior
(terrain). The size of the area can be adjusted after the map is made but start with a small map while
practicing with the toolset.
Tiles
The Tiles Panel displays the seven tilesets available. By opening up each subsection it will show the available
tiles for that set. Most tilesets also have �Meta Tiles� that are special larger pieces used either for specific
main campaign maps or for added flexibility. The �Caves� tileset for example has many unusual meta tile
pieces to help make a cave look more natural.
Placing tiles is as easy as selecting the desired type and clicking it down on the map area. To make
mapping easier turn on �Occlusion Grid� on the Toolbar. This will show the tile boundaries and map
edges.
Rotating tiles. To rotate a tile use the Left/Right Arrow keys.
Types. There are many types of tiles and the thumbnail image will give you an idea what the tile is. A
blue line means a wall. Red is a door position. A cyan dot is a corner. Arrows indicate a staircase up or
down.
Tile Variations. Some tile pieces have variations you can choose. Frequently a straight wall will have
versions with pillars, windows, damage, etc. To cycle through the variations use the Up/Down Arrow
keys.
Mixing tilesets. Some tilesets can be mixed such as the Caves and Mines. Doorways will sometimes line
up depending on tileset or a special Meta Tile will be available to connect them. Check the sets and
experiment to find what you can connect!
Border considerations. When placing tiles make sure to leave one tile section around the perimeter of
the map. Otherwise the backside of a tile will be visible ingame.
Selecting Tiles. On the Toolbar you will note the �Tiles� button is on when placing tiles. You can select
multiple tiles by holding the Shift key down. This is useful when tinting (explained below.) When you want
to work with objects make sure to switch to "Select Objects."
Deleting Tiles. Just select a tile and press the Delete Key. You can use the Shift Key to select multiple
tiles first. If you have any objects on that tile they will stay behind but you won�t be able to see them unless
you place another tile down. All deleted tiles are replaced with a "Roof" tile.
Tile Tinting. Most tilesets can be tinted. There are separate controls for Walls and Floors. Select a tile
or group of tiles and check the Tile Properties window. Under Appearance you can select the colors you
want to change. Some tilesets have tinting on the roof pieces. These are not separately tinted but use the
Wall colors.
Level Baking
Level baking needs to be done before a map is completed just like exterior maps. Tilesets are predefined for
baking. The walls and doorways are already setup to bake properly. Your main consideration will be
placeables and other objects. Remember if a tile is overly populated with objects it can fail to bake properly.
If this happens that tile will not be walkable and you will either have to remove some objects or convert
some to environmental objects and use walkmesh cutters. See the Level Baking section for more info.
General Lighting and Additional Considerations
Interior maps are lit just like exterior maps but no exterior elements like sky, moon, or sun are visible.
Interior maps should be set to �Day/Night Cycle: False� in the Area Properties window. They will only use
the �Default� light setting.
Directional light considerations. Normally you will want to have "Directional Light Casts Shadows:
False" & "Is Always Night?: False" set. The directional light can be set to True or False. The directional light
(SunMoon setting under Default) can help punch up the Normal mapping on the walls and floor. But when
calculating number of lights for performance issues you must count it as another light resource.
Point Light considerations. Point lights are extremely important for interiors to help enhance the
lighting of your map. They should be used for torches, candles, fireplace objects, etc. and help add
interesting shadows and color to an area. But they do require a fair amount of processor time so limiting the
number in an area is important. Usually a good rule of thumb is no more then 3 lights hitting any tile or
object at a time. Note that if you have Directional Lighting set to True this will count as another light.
Terrain/Texturing/Grass. These terrain tools are not used in interiors.
Water. Water can be used in interiors. For example, the cave set has a pool tile that is excellent as a
place to put water. You can even use water to simulate a marble floor!
Placeables. Placeables and environmental objects work as they do for exterior maps.
Trees. Even trees can be placed inside. Try changing the scale and turning a tree into a house
plant!
Placed Effects. Add torch fires, candles, etc. to your lighting objects for added detail.
Prefabs. Many of the prefabs are made specifically for interior use. Some handy ones are the
chandeliers with candle flames already placed!
CONCLUSION
The Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset has extremely powerful capabilities for building and creating beautiful
worlds and environments. It can take considerable experience to create your own masterpieces, but
dedicated world makers will find the end results to be well worth the effort. Now that you�ve completed this
HowTo, you should know:
The differences between exterior and interior maps.
How to sculpt, texture, and decorate terrain.
How to bake levels so that they are ready to be played in the game.
How to place objects such as trees and lights.
How to utilize tiles to quickly make interior maps.
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