hi, i really need to make an overview half an hour ago but i lost the link to the easy way or i think SSG posted howto do it, ive found plenty of bs crappy long assed ways of doing it but no im not after that, if anyone can explain the easy way or linkage id appreciate it uber urgent

Quick tutorial on overviews.

Open up steam, goto play games, hit day of defeat, now when you get the dod splash screen, STOP, dont do anything,

1 hit the tilde key, thats the one under esc, type in the console
(A) sv_cheats 1
(B) then type dev_overview 1
(C) then type map yourmapname

The game will load and go straight to the overview.
Choose spectator.
Then bring down the console type
(A) hud_draw 0 , to get rid of the flags.

While your in the console you will see this similar line running nonstop, scroll all the way to the top and highlight the line and right click and copy. The reason you scroll to the top of the box is the line is running nonstop, you try to highlight the bottom line and you will end up with dozens of the line getting highlighed.

Overview: Zoom 1.22, Map Origin (528.00, 16.00, 264.00), Z Min 561.00, Z Max -33.00, Rotated 0

That is what the line will normally look like.
This is the default set up for an overview text.

// overview description file for dod_coldfront_b2.bsp
// made by (4THIDUSA) SSG H. - www.4thidusa.com

global
{
ZOOM 1.22
ORIGIN 528.00 16.00 264.00
ROTATED 0
}

layer
{
IMAGE "overviews/dod_coldfront_b2.bmp"
HEIGHT 561
}


Ok, your text line was this

Overview: Zoom 1.22, Map Origin (528.00, 16.00, 264.00), Z Min 561.00, Z Max -33.00, Rotated 0

Zoom line is 1.22 add it to the zoom line of the text
Origin line is the three numbers in ( ) put those in the origin line, if it has a - in the number be sure to add it, ie -512.
Rotated was 0 add it to the rotated line.
Height is the Z min number, in this case it is 561 add it to the Height line.

Ok when you are looking at you overview you can adjust it, zoom in and out to get the right look you want if the default view isnt to your taste, the numbers will change.

Make a screen shot, default is F5.

Ok exit the game, find that shot in your DOD folder open it up with some paint program and add whatever you want to it, like your name and the map name etc... and this is important, you must save it as 1024x768 and 256 color .BMP or it wont work. put those in the overviews folder and check it out, hope this helps.
I think I have covered the basics, let me know if I skipped something or you need more explaination.

Tutorial by (4THIDUSA) SSG H.
www.4THIDUSA.com Custom Game Source

thanks for that :P bit late but It got done thanks to Neutrino....

on another note, sherman2 is now played in cal regular season week2

Nice clear instructions.

Even someone like me (seriously mentally challenged) can follow that :)

Pix

well ive done it. buthe wont show the map and in the console is an error.. this one-->Error parsing overview file overviews/dod_j4ftownb1.txt. (, unkown)

what did i do wrong?

It could be you have a syntax error in your text file.

When DoD tries to understand the file contents it has come across something that is unexpected (probably the ',' you mention).

Go into the text file and make sure you have all the bits and pieces in the right place. Use an existing overview text file as a guide, pay attention to the number of parameters you are providing and the way the code is written - this structure (with your own values substituted) needs to be duplicated exactly in your text file.

Hope that helps

Pix