Using Bitmap maps with CFS Mission Editor

Keith Bedford September 1999

Note requires use of CfsMe 0.95 or later.

Usage

Edit the CfsMe.ini file to append the mapfile name after the appropriate map definition and use that map in the mission file.
[maps]
;Name,Top,Left,Bottom,Right[,Bitmap map]
.....
Map1Eur=N70 0,W6 0,N30 0,E36 0
.....
Map1Ef=N52 19.87,E14 16.35,N52 19.48,E14 47.23,c:\temp\Cfs\Ef\ef1.bmp
Start CfsMe and set the map in use (e.g. Map1Ef) on the Mission page, then open the Map page and you should see the map displayed with any waypoints and ground units already defined. Create new ones and change display options as normal.

The zoom facility should not be used as CfsMe cannot zoom into the bitmap and will revert to the defined outline map.

Bitmap maps may be derived from two sources:

Scanned maps

Real-world maps can be scanned or found on the internet, so long as exact co-ordinates are known for the top-left and bottom right corners they can be used as above.

The problem with these maps is that CFS scenery doesn't relate closely to the real-world, except perhaps for satellite-derived scenery like Grand-Canyon, so they cannot be used for precise positioning.

CFS Maps

A screenshot of a full-screen CFS map may not be quite so pretty but should be usable for very precise positioning of ground-layouts and waypoints.

To make a map, start CFS and whilst flying in the appropriate scenery area

I suggest making two maps - an area map for defining waypoints and a large-scale map for laying out the target area. When creating the mission you can swap CfsMe between the two maps using the drop-down list of maps on the Map form. CfsMe normally uses a coastline file for maps, which is defined in the .ini file and can be a text file (large and slow to load) or a binary (.dat - smaller and fassssster). In the main zip is just map.txt which is for europe and matches the default CFS world. On my web-pages are several .dat files for eg the whole world. New hiresolution maps can be downloaded from a US website called Crusty (as text) and used in CfsMe. Uncommenting the mapwrite line converts these files to binary, normally it should be commented. Until now you only could use one map at a time, but you can zoom into an area

Each mission file is based on a 'map' (eg Map1BoB, Map1DNG). For CFS it defines which map is drawn in the briefing screen (these are the MapxBob & MapxBfe's - there are no seperate bitmaps for these) For CfsMe it is the area enclosed by the mission, additionally you can have a .bmp file associated with the [maps] entry which is drawn instead of the coastline map. If the defined coordinates in the [maps] entry match the exact edges of the bitmap then it can be used for mission creation. The 2 examples are close but not perfect yet. Also on the CfsMe maps page is a drop-down list of maps, allowing you to change the map on the fly. eg with this mission Map1DNG is initially used, which shows the larger area in less detail, for waypoint planning, Selecting Map2Dng homes in to the target area for laying out the scene of conflict. You can put the Map bitmaps where you like so long as the .ini file points to them exactly