1. Introduction
2. Sky and Lighting Gallery
3. Sky Usage List

Introduction

For information on how to make use of these examples refer to the tutorial below.

3.1 Creating your First Map from the Template File

Look through the slideshow to find a sky and lighting style that you like, the map name is on the tower and the sky name is in the description. You can also refer to the list below the screenshots to copy/paste the sky name into your map.

Sky and Lighting Gallery

Sky Usage List

• anzio – morningdew_
• avalanche – ava
• caen – grnplsnt
• charlie – killertomato
• chemille – st
• donner – jagd
• escape – rubble
• falaise – kraftstoff
• flash – rubble
• flugplatz – dashnight256
• forest – grnplsnt
• glider – kraftstoff
• jagd – jagd
• kalt – killertomato
• kraftstoff – kraftstoff
• merderet – sildom2
• northbound – killertomato
• saints – dmcw
• sturm – jagd
• switch – ava
• vicenza – morningdew_
• zalec – snowcliff

1. Introduction
2. Template File Layout
3. Create a New Save
4. 1 Environment and Flag Setup
5. 1.1 Choosing US or British Allies
6. 1.2 Environment and Ambience Selection
7. 1.3 Weather Effects
8. 1.4 Assigning a Sky
9. Recap

Introduction

By now you should have followed along with my setup tutorial to get J.A.C.K. ready to make maps.
You should also have downloaded the template file and learnt how to control the viewports to look around the mapping area.
If you haven’t you can find those tutorials below.

Template File Layout

Within the template file you’ll find 4 main categories of objects as shown below.
Your template file may have more within it than the image below as I add new content, but I will keep the overall grouping the same.

• First in the top left we have map set up entities, these control the sound and ambient lighting of the map, whether we are using US or British allies and the flags themselves.
• Second in the top right we have roads and walls.
• Third we have the collection of pre-made buildings to use.
• Fourth and finally we have clutter/detail objects like statues, fountains, craters and sandbags.

I’ve placed these objects in these groupings as it is my preferred order to create a map, and will be how we proceed within the tutorial.

What are the black boxes?

You will have no doubt noticed the black boxes around the objects by now, these are just put in place to make the objects easier to move and have them remain snapped to the grid and keep everything as neat as possible. We will be deleting the black boxes later when we have finalized the position of our map.

Create a New Save

The very first thing we need to do to make our map is create a new save file so that any changes we make do not overwrite the template file so we can use the template file again in the future.

So go ahead and with the template file open use File > Save As

If you have a name already in mind for your map that you would like to use that’s great, but don’t worry if you don’t, you might get inspired while making the map and figure out a name along the way. For now we’ll just save under the name dod_mynewmap_b1.

Make sure to use the beta affix _b1 so that if we make changes after release later on we can change to _b2 and so on so that people can see the different versions.

Now that we are saved to a new file we can start making decisions about the style of map we would like to create.

1 Environment and Flag Setup

The first step I like to do when making my maps is decide upon a style so that I know what I’m trying to achieve, I don’t always have a full layout or specific goals in mind, but knowing the general vibe you are trying to create really helps.

If you navigate your camera up to the first group of objects in the top left you should see something like this.

On the left in the small black boxes we have different environment setups based on the official maps and on the right we have two flag setups, one for the US allies and one for the British allies.

1.1 Choosing US or British Allies

If you want the allies soldiers to be British click on the black box labelled AMERICAN and your selection will change to a red colour. Then delete the AMERICAN flags.

Alternatively if you want the allies soldiers to be American, select the black box labelled BRITISH and delete it.

You’ve now got your preferred flag setup ready to go. Something to note is that the provided flag setups currently only support 5 flags, 4 touch cap and a single 2-man capture. I may add some different setups later and if so I will update this tutorial to reflect that.

Remember to save your progress by pressing CTRL + S. If you think you made a mistake you can always press CTRL + Z to undo any actions you’ve made.

1.2 Environment and Ambience Selection

Now that we have chosen our allies soldiers we can also choose what we want our map to look and sound like. I have pre-made setups of the environmental lighting and ambient sound based on the official maps.

If you look at the black boxes down the left side of the flags you will see they are all labelled with the official map names. So if you would like your map to have the lighting and sound of a specific official map, you can pick that one. Keep in mind that some of these maps have snow or rain (more on this later), or in the case of charlie have loud beach invasion ambience.

For examples of what each of these lighting styles look like refer to the page below.

3.1.1 Ambience and Sky Examples

For my map I am going to choose the dod_donner ambience and lighting as I enjoy a dark map with a rainy aesthetic. So what I’m going to do is with the Selection Tool active, click on the black box labelled donner.

And then with the Snapping grid set to 128 units. You can see what your snap is set to in the bottom right corner.

If your snap doesn’t say 128 you can use the Curly Bracket keys on your keyboard { and }, to the left of your enter key. To increase and decrease the grid.

Once your grid is set to 128. We are going to move the donner ambience over the top of the flag setup, to move an object in the world once it is selected all you have to do is click and drag it in a 2D viewport. The template is designed so that most of your movements will be done in the top-down (top right) viewport.

We are going to drag our selected ambience box to the highlighted red square over our chosen team flags.
You don’t have to put the ambience with the flags as long as they are within the map bounds they will work, it’s just neater to keep them together like this.

Once in position you should be able to see that the lighting and ambience entities slot nicely with the flag setup entities.

With your chosen ambience in position we can now group the ambience and the flags together so that they move as one. To do this I would advice using the 3D viewport as the black box of the flags will stop you reselecting the ambience. So select the large black box for the flags.

You now have both the flag setup and ambient setup selected. To group them you can either right click within the 3D viewport and press Group or press CTRL + G.
You can deselect everything by pressing the Escape key, and you will now notice if you select the big black flag setup box it will also select the smaller ambient setup box.

As before make sure to save your progress with CTRL + S.

Now we are going to clean up the extra black box and labelled that we no longer need.
Remember the Ignore Groups toggle button from earlier? We are going to turn it on now so that we can delete individual objects from the big group we have made. The blue highlight means it is on.

There is also another useful toggle option that we can use at this time. The 3D auto-selection by dragging toggle allows us to drag our mouse selection in the 3D viewport to select multiple objects in one movement. It is to the right of the Ignore Groups toggle and has 3D written on it, so go ahead and turn it on now. As with the Ignore Groups toggle a blue highlight means it is on. You don’t have to use this tool but it means you don’t have to select each object one by one.

Once you have ignore groups and 3D drag selection turned on we want to make sure everything we had selected before is deselected so press the Escape key.

Next we want to delete the ambient label. So follow the same steps but for the smaller label.

Now we need to delete the small ambient black box, earlier we moved the 3D camera inside the larger black box so that we could select the smaller box within. This time we are going to Hide the large black box instead. So select the large black box now.

Now that the large box is out of the way we can freely select the smaller black box and delete it.

Now to get the hidden box to reappear we can press U on the keyboard or press the Unhide button on the top toolbar to the right of the Ignore Groups toggle.

Once you press the Unhide button the large black box should reappear.

At this point we want to turn the Ignore Groups toggle back off, so that we can select the full groups again.

Next we can delete all the remaining ambient setup boxes down the left side as we won’t be using them. You can either select and delete them one by one or use the drag select method we talked about earlier.

1.3 Weather Effects

If you chose a rainy environment (chemille or donner) like I did, or a snowy environment (kalt, northbound or zalec) you will probably want to turn on the weather effects for your map.

To do this we need to make sure the Ignore Groups toggle is On again.

This is so that we can interact with the info_doddetect entity within our large black setup box.

Once you have finalized your weather select you can go ahead and close the Entity Properties window. Don’t forget to unhide any objects you might have hidden with the U key.

So as usual go ahead and save your progress CTRL + S

1.4 Assigning a Sky

Now the final step of the ambience setup is to pick which sky texture you want to use. You can either match it to the official map style you chose earlier or pick a completely different sky that you think looks good.

To change the sky texture we need to open the Map Properties page. This can be found on the very top toolbar under Map > Map Properties

When you press this a properties window will open that looks very similar to the entity properties window we used with the info_doddetect earlier.

If you accidentally click on another block in the 3D viewport while you have this open you will have to re-open it through Map > Map Properties

Now that you have it open you need to select the environment map (Sky name) property and then enter the name of the sky you wish to use. Refer to the page below for example pictures of the different skies and for a list of the sky names which you can copy/paste from.

3.1.1 Ambience and Sky Examples

With the sky name entered we can now close the Properties window.
Don’t forget to save your map again CTRL + S.

Recap

In this tutorial we achieved the following

• Saved the template file under a new name, with beta affix (_b1) for any future changes.
• Chose if the allies should be British or American troops.
• Decided upon an ambient style for our map.
• Cleaned up the unused assets and grouped our flags with our ambience entities.
• Picked the weather of our map, None, Rain or Snow.
• Assigned a sky texture.

In the next tutorial we can begin work on a basic layout of the map, which is where the real fun begins. So please keep going!
(COMING SOON)

1. Introduction
2. Template File
3. J.A.C.K. Display
4. Viewports
5. 2D Viewport Control
6. 3D Viewport Control

Introduction

By now you should have followed along with my setup tutorial to get J.A.C.K. ready to make maps. If you haven’t you can find that tutorial below.

1. Mapping Setup

If you have completed the setup tutorial and managed to compile and run the provided map with no errors you are ready to move onto making a map of your own.

Template File

In this tutorial we’ll be using a template file that I have made which contains everything you need to make a map. So go ahead and download the template file below and extract it to your C:\DoDMapping\Maps folder that you created in the setup tutorial.

Download Mapping Template

I will be periodically updating the file with new content as I make it so don’t worry if your template file looks slightly different to the one in the screenshots, all the information provided will still be applicable.

You can also find the Mapping Template in it’s own post with updates here.

2.1 Mapping Template File

Extra information

I made the template file with the intention of making it quick and easy to jump into making maps without having to learn everything there is to know about mapping. Using the template file brings DoD mapping closer in style to modern game engines where you mainly place premade models where you want them and you’re good to go.

That’s not to say that traditional mapping techniques aren’t useful to learn, they’re very valuable skills to have when making a map and allow you to make maps which are truly unique and intricate. They just have a relatively steep learning curve compared with what we will be doing in this tutorial.

J.A.C.K. Display

Now that you have the template file we’ll be using, go ahead and open it within J.A.C.K.

You might find that when you first open the map it displays in a small window. Just press the fullscreen button as highlighted below to make it take up the whole workspace.

The next steps are completely optional but are how I prefer to setup the windows of J.A.C.K.
We’ll discuss the contents of the template later.

First we can close the messages panel at the bottom of the screen as we won’t really be making use of it. This frees up some extra screen space for your viewports.
You can either press the small close button at the bottom right of the screen, press ALT + F3 or on the top toolbar press:
Window > Messages.

Next we can also close the FilterControl window on the right bottom of the screen as we won’t be using that either.
You can either press the small close button, press F8 or on the top toolbar press:
View > Screen Elements > Filter Control.

Finally I like to move the Map Render Bar below the other bars so that it is quickly and easily accessible, I’ll explain what this bar is used for as and when we need it.
You can find the Map Render Bar at the right side of the top toolbar. As shown below.

Drag this bar by clicking and dragging the four small dots on the left side of it and place it just below the main bar and a new second bar will be created.

That’s it, we’re now ready to start doing the fun stuff.

Viewports

As you can imagine one of the most important parts of making a map is being able to see your work. So you’ll need to know how to move the camera in the four viewports.

As you have probably noticed there is a 3D viewport and three 2D viewports.

• The ‘Camera’ viewport is in the top left and let’s you see a view of what you are creating, without the lighting applied. You can also change this view to only show wireframe or display a grid, but we won’t be making much use of these features.
  
• The ‘top’ viewport is in the top right, which let’s you see everything from the top down.
  
• The ‘front’ viewport is in the bottom left and let’s you see everything from the right (east) side of the map pointing towards the left (west).
  
• The ‘side’ viewport is in the bottom right and let’s you see from the bottom (south) side of the map pointing towards the top (north).

You can move in each viewport independently by hovering the mouse over the viewport you wish to interact with. However, when you move the 3D camera the 2D viewports will move to follow the camera’s position.

2D Viewport Control

You can zoom in and out on the viewports by scrolling the mouse wheel on the viewport you want to zoom.
In the 3D camera view scrolling the wheel will move the camera backwards and forwards in the direction it is already pointing.
In the 2D viewports the camera will zoom out and in towards/away from the position you are hovering your mouse over. You can use this to quickly and easily reposition your 2D viewport on parts of your map you would like to focus on.

For example, if I want to get a better view of the building highlighted in red below. I can hover my mouse over the building and scroll in until it is closer in my viewport.

The building highlighted in red below is the same building as above just with the camera closer so we can more easily make changes.

You might notice when you move through the viewport using this zoom method that it doesn’t quite get you in the right position that you want, as you can see in the above screenshot the building we wanted to look at is to the left of the viewport.
In this situation you can use the scroll bars at the right and bottom of the viewport to reposition your view more accurately. You can also use your screen wheel while hovering over the scroll bars to move them without having to press the buttons.

Finally you can also move your 2D viewports by hovering over them and pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Here is a quick recap of the different ways of positioning the 2D viewports.

• Hover mouse over viewport to interact with the viewport you want
• Zoom in/out with the scroll wheel.
• Zoom in on areas you wish to get a closer look at
• Use the scroll wheel while hovering over the scroll bars to reposition more accurately
• Use the Up/Down/Left/Right arrows on your keyboard to move the viewport

3D Viewport Control

The 3D viewport is where you can get a feel for how your map is going to look in-game. You also apply textures from this viewport (more on that later).

The controls for moving through the 3D viewport are very similar to free look spectator mode from in-game.
With the mouse hovered over the 3D viewport you can move the camera with W/A/S/D keys just like in-game. So W moves the camera forward, S moves the camera backwards, A pans (strafes) the camera left and D pans (strafes) the camera right.

You will notice when doing this that the camera remains pointing in one direction and you can’t turn to look at things.

There are two main ways to rotate the camera. One is to use the arrow keys on the keyboard. Left will rotate to the left, right to the right, up will rotate upwards and down will rotate downwards.
I find that the combination of moving with W/A/S/D and rotating with the arrow keys can be useful for when you are trying to move through the world precisely. These controls also don’t require you to have the camera tool selected so can be useful if you don’t wish to switch tools.

Feel free to fly around the template looking at the pre-made buildings and getting a feel for how the camera moves. Don’t worry about the black boxes for now, I’ll explain those in a later tutorial.

As mentioned earlier you’ll probably notice that when you move the camera in the 3D view the 2D viewports will move aswell. The 2D viewports will follow the position of the 3D camera to make it easier to work out which blocks you are looking at in the 3D viewport.

You’ll probably notice the little blue icon with the red line in the 2D viewports as shown below.

This shows where the 3D camera is in the 2D world. The red line pointing out of it shows which direction the 3D camera is pointing.

As in the pictures above I am looking at the small anzio sniper tower in the 3D viewport and the 2D top viewport displays the camera pointing towards the blocks of that tower. We can use this information to reposition the 2D viewport to bring the tower into focus using the 2D viewport methods listed previously.

As a recap here are the methods for moving the 3D camera through your map.

• Hover mouse over viewport to interact with the viewport you want
• Use the W/A/S/D keys to move your camera.
• Use the Camera tool on the left toolbar and hold the left mouse button to rotate the camera with your mouse movements
• Use the Up/Down/Left/Right arrows on your keyboard to rotate the camera.

Now that you have your J.A.C.K. display set up and you know how to move through your map we can move onto actually using the contents of the template file and making something of your own.
So proceed to the next tutorial and continue your mapping journey.

3.1 Creating your First Map from the Template File

Here you can find my mapping template file to help making maps as quick and easy as possible.
It has buildings that I’ve recreated from the official maps and a selection of clutter objects like sandbags etc.
The black boxes are to help keep the content snapped to the grid. More info on this in the tutorials.
I’ll keep the file updated whenever I add any new content.

Download Mapping Template

Updates

Last update 9th October 2025

For information on how to set up J.A.C.K. see the tutorial linked below.

1. Mapping Setup

For information about how to make maps with the template file see the tutorial linked below.

2.2 Preparing to use the Template File

1. Introduction
2. Extracting Files
3. Compiling the Test Map
4. Playing the Test Map

Introduction

In this tutorial I will provide everything you need to get you setup and ready for making Day of Defeat maps as fast as possible.

First you’ll want to download the J.A.C.K. hammer editor from the link below. This is my map editor of choice. This tutorial will only be applicable to the windows version as it’s the version that I use.

The version from the link is free but they also have a paid version available for purchase through steam which has some more advanced features that we won’t be using.

Download J.A.C.K.

Once you’ve got J.A.C.K. installed you’ll want to download the files provided below which has the config and compile files needed to get you mapping ASAP.

Download Mapping Files

Extracting Files

Next you’ll want to extract the DoDMapping folder inside the zip to your C:/ drive.
The config files provided point directly to this location so if you don’t place them in C:/ they won’t work. They also assume your Day of Defeat and Steam is in the C:/ drive.

Inside the C:/DoDMapping folder you will have the above files/folders. You can ignore the FGD and vhlt folder competely. The FGD tells J.A.C.K. how to handle all the entities needed to make dod maps and vhlt is the compilers used to build the map into a playable BSP.

IMPORTANT – You must do the steps below otherwise the build settings for J.A.C.K. will not be automatically setup for you and you’ll have to do it manually. I won’t be providing a tutorial on how to do this as the provided config files do it for you.

We need to copy VDKGameCfg.ini and VDKRunCfg.ini from this folder and into the J.A.C.K. settings folder. I’ve made these files so that you don’t have to do any setup within J.A.C.K. itself and you should just be able to get straight to the fun stuff.

So navigate to C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\J.A.C.K.
On windows 10 you can just open Documents on the This PC screen and navigate to the J.A.C.K. folder within.

Now copy and overwrite VDKGameCfg.ini and VDKRunCfg.ini. You can make a backup of the old files if you would like.
If the C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\J.A.C.K. doesn’t exist you might have to run J.A.C.K. once to create them.

Compiling the Test Map

Now that you have the files all in place J.A.C.K. should be set up and ready to go.
So go ahead and launch J.A.C.K.

When you launch J.A.C.K. you’ll probably get an advert for a game that the developers have made so just tell it to not show it again and press close.

Our next step is to open the basic map file that I’ve provided.
File > Open > C:\DoDMapping\Maps\dod_test_map.jmf

Once the map has loaded you should see something like the image below in the 4 viewports.

All we’re going to do now is tell J.A.C.K. to run the map so we can check that everything is set up correctly.

So go ahead and press the button with a little gamepad on the top bar as shown below. You can also press the F9 shortcut key.

This will bring up the run/build options screen. Your options should match those shown below. I like to click Don’t run the game, and handle launching/loading the map myself directly.

And then press the OK button.

You may see this message pop up, just press No.

J.A.C.K. will now begin the compiling process for the map, you will see a few different black popup boxes as the process is completed, they look like the screenshot below.

Once the processes are completed the Compile Process Window should read END hlrad like below. Depending on the speed of your PC this should be pretty quick as we’re only compiling a very small map.

Lights are compiled last which is what the hlrad function is. So once it has ended you know the map is compiled.

Hopefully at this point the console won’t be displaying any error messages, if it has shown an error message feel free to comment below this post and I’ll try and help you out.

Playing the Test Map

Now that the map has compiled, we can now launch Day of Defeat and play it!
So go ahead and launch day of defeat, press new game and find the map called dod_test_map in your list of maps and press Start.

Feel free to have a run around, capture the flags and make sure everything is working as expected.

In the next tutorial I’ll be providing a template file to help making maps quick and easy, so I hope to see you there!

2.1 Mapping Template File