How to make your own Minimap

[Black-Hole]

I've seen that theres alot of map creators who have problem with creating their in-game minimap.
In this tutorial, I'll tell you that (credits to blu_da_noob on wc3campaigns, I learned this from a thread).

1. Tools - Needed for a beginning

Of course, you cannot make a picture if you havent got the right tools for it. Since we shall make one .TGA picture and convert to .BLP,
we need the tools for it.
First thing first though..
Get a program that can make TGA pictures, like adobe photoshop.
Next, get WC3 Image Extractor II from this page.
Great, let's begin then!

2. The picture - Doing the TGA

Okay, open photoshop (or whatever you use), and create a new picture. It should be 256x256 in pixels.



Some nice things do do on the picture, is if you give it an inner border, dark colors, and do the roads in brown or such.
Make the picture however you want it to be!

3. Converting - A how to guide

Okay, you have your picture in 256x256, and it's TGA.
Now, we must convert it to BLP.
Open the WC3 Image Extractor II (it might not have a DLL file, look on www.dll-files.com)
Now, press on open in the top-left corner.
Choose Image (ctrl+o).
Now, choose your minimap TGA file.
Now you can see on your right in the program.
Press Save, it's next to the Open button.
Save as a blp file, like Minimap.BLP.
On this new screen comming up, just choose 100%, it's not taking too much space anyway.
You now have your BLP!

4. The picture and the editor - Importation

Begin by open your world editor.
Open your map, and push the 'Import Manager' button.
Now, import your BLP file and use the custom path; war3mapMap.blp
Just that, nothing else.

Save your map, and see the results!