The Armada Map Editor is actually an Activision tool, although for it officially being a beta software the company wants essentially nothing to do with any damages or liabilities. So in essence you can use it at your own risk. But unless you choose to edit stock game maps, you should be fine. You can get it here:

http://armadafiles.com/files/armada/utilities/mapping-tools/armada-map-editor/details

Certain usability aspects require some getting used to. You will find some notes blow on how to use it.

• Place the Qedit file inside the root directory of your Armada installation.
• Create a Windows shortcut to your Armada.exe file.
• Edit the just created file and add /edit <map_file_name>.bzn to the Target line.

The <map_file_name>.bzn value should fit the map file name you intend to edit or create. Example:

“C:\Games\Star Trek Armada\Armada.exe” /edit my_new_map.bzn

Filenames should be eight characters or less plus the .bzn extension. But it is not necessary to limit the length to eight characters.

You can open files that are present in the bzn or addon folders. If a file with the given name does not yet exist, a new one will be created but not yet saved.

When you confirm your changes with the OK button and double-click on the shortcut Armada will launch into edit mode.

Edit Mode looks very much like the normal Armada game interface, but there are also very important differences to it.

While in Edit Mode you can lay down objects, ships, and stations by hitting the appropriate function key to navigate the build lists. Here is an overview of how to do that.

• Use your F-keys (e.g. F1) to open sub menus (shown in the upper right corner of the screen) or place map objects.
• Use the TAB key to go back up a level in the menu.
• When hovering your mouse pointer over a selected object left-click and hold to drag the unit or point to the desired location.
• When hovering your mouse pointer over a selected object hold down CTRL and move the mouse to adjust the height of the object.
• When hovering your mouse pointer over a selected object hold down the right mouse button and drag to rotate the object.
• When hovering your mouse pointer over a selected object hit DEL to remove this object.
• Double click on an element to modify its Object Settings.
• Double right click on a unit to modify its Physics Parameters.
• Hold down SHIFT and use the ↑ and ↓ arrows to change the team number for units and buildings that will be placed next. (You can also change the Team by double clicking the object and changing the value afterwards.)
• Use CTRL + R to specify the map name, background, map size, ambient light, etc. (Note: some of the settings in this menu are overridden by the game setup screen as they were used while designing single player missions.)
• Use CTRL + Shift to save the map in the directory addon. (All new maps will be placed in the directory addon by default.)
• Hold ALT and left click to drop a point.

• Hold ALT and double click to drop a point and open it’s properties in one go.
• Continue to left click to add more points to the path, that will be formed by multiple points.

• Right click to stop adding more points to the current path.

When using CTRL + R, you can set a number of properties of the currently edited map. Without a proper script of rule file only Mission Title, Map Size and Background Images are useful. Those are non-campaign maps. If you have a rule file and a script file, then you are able to create new missions.

Be aware: Changing the map size is not done immediately. It will only take effect after saving and loading the map anew (restart map editor).

The Map Title is shown in the map selection menu. The left side of the hyphen shows the actual file name, the right side the title entered here.

Here is a list of backgrounds that come shipped with Armada by default:

Naming a point in a specific pattern can be used to define the players starting locations. Double click on an existing point (or ALT + double click to create a new one) and name it Camera_1. This sets the starting position for the first player. Continue this step for subsequent players starting positions by incrementing the number, e.g. Camera_2 etc. The number of Cameras that are appropriately named will determine the number of players which can play on a given map. Do not leave any gaps (e.g. Camera_1 to Camera_3 and then Camera_5, leaving out 4) and do not add points with the same name twice (e.g. two times Camera_1). When placing two of the same name, only the first one created will take effect.

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