I built a little app that some of you may find useful. It is a tool that can be used standalone or as an external tool in the Spark Editor to replace the functionality of the 1-click map testing tool in the sticky thread. Here is what it will do:
Screenies:
![2o6vfkq.png]()
![AJ8tfPU.png]()
This goes in your %AppData%/Natural Selection 2/Editor/options.xml, though you'll have to modify the paths to suit your own personal directory structure:
As you can see in the screenshots above, you need to tell it where NS2 is installed and tell it whether or not you use Builder. I know it is kind of a silly option, but I'm old fashioned and I don't use Builder except to make material textures.
Download from https://ns2mappinghelper.codeplex.com/
- Overview creation
- Overlay a .png image of your choice on the overview map.
- Copy files from "source" to "output" (this part can be disabled in case you use the Builder)
- Copy files from "output" to "Natural Selection 2/Your_Mod_Name/"
- Launch NS2 and hotload your mod from "Natural Selection 2/Your_Mod_Name/"
Screenies:
This goes in your %AppData%/Natural Selection 2/Editor/options.xml, though you'll have to modify the paths to suit your own personal directory structure:
<external_tools>
<external_tool title="Test Map" command="C:\NS2Maps\NS2MappingHelper.exe" arguments=""$(ItemDir)" overviewlaunch"/>
<external_tool title="Fast Test Map" command="C:\NS2Maps\NS2MappingHelper.exe" arguments=""$(ItemDir)" launch"/>
<external_tool title="Overview Map" command="C:\NS2Maps\NS2MappingHelper.exe" arguments=""$(ItemDir)" overview"/>
<external_tool title="NS2 Mapping Helper" command="C:\NS2Maps\NS2MappingHelper.exe" arguments=""$(ItemDir)""/>
</external_tools>
As you can see in the screenshots above, you need to tell it where NS2 is installed and tell it whether or not you use Builder. I know it is kind of a silly option, but I'm old fashioned and I don't use Builder except to make material textures.
Download from https://ns2mappinghelper.codeplex.com/