Index of Questions
Basic Questions
1. What do I need to make a scenario?
2. How do I make a map?
3. What is a Mission Group?
4. What's a Zone?
5. Are there limitations on how I can name Mission Groups and Zones?
6. How many Mission Groups and Zones can I use in a scenario?
7. How do triggers work?
8. How does Cossacks deal with math?
9. How does Cossacks deal with time?
10. How does Cossacks deal with directions?
11. Are there any conditions that don't work?
12. Are there any actions that don't work?
13. How many triggers can I use in a scenario?
14. How do I play a mission I've made?
15. Why do I need to install the Scenario Editor patch?
16. Are there any other bugs I should know about?
Simple Scripting
17. What should my first trigger look like?
18. How do I make the players enemies?
19. Can I make a color neutral?
20. Can the player be a color other than red?
21. How do I set resource levels?
22. How do I give control of a color to the AI?
23. What does "Don't use selected units by computer player" do?
24. What are mission objectives and how can I set them?
25. How do mission objectives be reflected as met?
26. How do I define victory conditions?
27. How do I define conditions for defeat?
28. How do I select which units to control?
29. Why should I use "Deselect Units?"
30. Can I make peasants gather food, chop wood, or quarry stone?
31. Can I make peasants enter a mine?
Intermediate Scripting
32. What does "saving waypoints" do?
33. How do I make the enemy units attack?
34. How do I order enemy units from one point to another?
35. Can I order one unit to guard another?
36. How do I determine the starting position of the player's screen?
37. Can I make parts of the map visible through the Fog of War?
38. What do flags do?
39. How do timers work?
40. What does "Activate Current Trigger" do?
41. How do I regulate looping triggers?
42. How do I work with gates?
43. How do I display messages?
Advanced Scripting
44. How do I use Inserted Condition Blocks (ICBs)?
45. How do I ask questions?
46. What's a Dynamic Group?
47. What are some uses for Dynamic Groups?
48. How do I add units to the map in-game?
49. How do I order buildings to be created?
50. Can I order units onto a ferry?
51. What's a "response chain?"
52. How do I use a response chain?
53. How do I disable upgrades?
54. How do I prevent the AI from producing certain units?
55. Can I make different things happen according to the difficulty level the player selects?
56. How do I select different start options (Peace Time, No Peasant Capture, etc.)?
Troubleshooting Questions
57. Why can't I attack the enemy?
58. My trigger only happens once. Why won't it work again?
59. My repeating trigger goes crazy once it kicks in. How do I stop it?
60. One of my triggers just doesn't work at all. How do I fix it?
61. My triggers are changing all on their own. I can't even save the game without everything going haywire. Help!
62. A formation I've ordered to march into a zone just stands there. What's wrong?
63. The enemy artillery rolls toward the player and attacks with grape shot. I want them to use round shot. How do I do this?
64. The grenadiers won't attack a building with grenades. Can't it be done?
65. The grenadiers always attack with bayonets and won't shoot! How can this be fixed?
66. My dragoons have forgotten how to shoot! How can I get them to fire on the player?
67. My scenario loads fine until the Fog of War starts to lift... then it crashes to desktop. What's wrong with it?
68. I get a Mission Script Error when I try to run my scenario. What's that mean?
FAQ Questions
69. I don't see an answer to a question I have here. Who can help?
1. What do I need to make a scenario? Back to top
First and most obvious, you need to have Cossacks: The Art of War installed on your computer. With it is a utility called the "Scenario Editor." BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, you should also download and install the "Scenario Editor Patch," available at http://www.cossacks.com/downloads/taow_scenarioeditor-patch.exe This fixes bugs that cause the Scenario Editor to crash sometimes when renaming triggers, and corrects problems that arise from saved games.
To make a scenario or a single mission you will need to make (or download ) a map (.m3d file). It can have as few or as many resources and units as you want on it, within the limits of the game. How much of what to put in is entirely up to you; see no. 2 below ("How do I make a map?") for a little more information.
Then you will have to go to the Scenario Editor and put your Triggers in place. When doing so, it's a good idea to have no other applications open, otherwise some irregularities may crop up.
To create a mission, select "New Mission" in the File menu. You will need to find and select a map to work with. NOTE: Only one scenario can be made per map.
2. How do I make a map? Back to top
Load Cossacks Art of War and choose the Editor from the Main Menu. You will need to place units and (depending on what type of action you have in mind) peasants, buildings, ore deposits, trees, stones, and zones. At least one unit needs to be placed on the map, though through scripting additional units can be placed later. It is beyond the scope of this document to tell you how to make a map; however, a decent map can be made using the "paste" function. (Read the Cossacks: The Art of War manual for further help on creating maps.)
3. What is a Mission Group? Back to top
A Mission Group is a collection of Units created in the Map Editor and defined using the Mission Group tool (which looks like a square formation of troops). Turn "Scroll Lock" on your keyboard, select units to be grouped, click on the tool, and give them a name. Mission Groups are fixed elements and cannot be added to in the course of a game. While you don't need to create Mission Groups for every map, they greatly simplify scripting for Fixed Force style missions by pre-defining the groups with which the Scenario Editor can work.
The units making up a Mission Group don't have to be all of the same kind -- or even "units" as we tend to think of them. A Mission Group can be buildings, troops, artillery etc. If they are all grouped together and labeled as a group (identified by a rectangle encompassing them in the Map Editor) then they are a Mission Group.
NOTE: Mission Group names CANNOT include spaces; see Question 5 for more tips.
4. What's a Zone? Back to top
A Zone is, as the name suggests, an area on the map (marked out by you). They can be very small or large, but use care in creating large zones; a zone encompassing the entire map often will crash the game. Zones can be created with the Zone tool in the Map Editor, which looks a little like a bullseye, and are demarcated with a yellow circle surrounding a central "signpost." Turn "Scroll Lock" on, make sure no units are selected, then click on the Zone tool. You will be asked to name the zone. Click and drag to place the zone on the map.
NOTE: Zone names CANNOT include spaces; see next question for more tips.
5. Are there limitations on how I can name Mission Groups and Zones?...
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