What this workflow produces

A RoadCraft project starts with imported terrain, imagery, and vectors. In the Editor, you prepare the working terrain, review mapped ground materials, carve and assign water, distribute stock trees, place stock buildings, author Deformation and Wetness where wanted, choose Ready Roads or Road Plan baselines, and place the gameplay start and recovery objects.

Export packages the current project as a RoadCraft source kit based on the selected native terrain template. It includes the generated scene, terrain and material controls, supported assigned objects, diagnostics, and a README. It is an editable authoring handoff rather than a publish-ready game mod; follow Export and Integration Studio after the MapToPlay work is complete.

The short plan

Use this order for a first complete RoadCraft map. Each link opens the detailed controls and review points for that stage.

• 1. Import DTM, imagery, and OSM, then prepare terrain and material coverage.
• 2. Correct vectors, prepare water, distribute trees, and place buildings.
• 3. Create and review optional Deformation and Wetness rasters.
• 4. Choose Ready Roads or Road Plans and place Start Spawn and Recovery Points.
• 5. Review the complete MapToPlay project and mark intentionally skipped checklist stations yourself.
• 6. Queue the RoadCraft export and complete the separate source-kit handoff.

Use the RoadCraft checklist in the Editor

RoadCraft projects show Checklist immediately to the left of Windows in the Editor header. Open it to follow the MapToPlay authoring sequence and see overall progress. Its stations cover imported DTM, imagery, and OSM; terrain review; vectors; tree distribution; water; road Buffer state; Deformation and Wetness; the Gameplay Zones layer; Start Spawn; Recovery Points; and final export readiness.

The checklist recognizes inexpensive saved state and selected actions, but it does not inspect every terrain sample, vector, water bank, building, tree, or raster pixel. Select a station to complete or reopen it yourself when a step is intentionally optional. Progress is stored in this browser for this project and does not change project data or export output.

When the Editor work is ready, manually complete Ready for export, wait for project edits to finish saving, return to the project page, and queue the source-kit export there.

Why the order matters

Prepare terrain and correct vector geometry before creating derived work. Depth and Grade change the working terrain immediately, while persistent settings such as Buffer, Height Offset, Object Distribution, and collection assignments follow their vector targets. Moving a source feature later does not move an earlier one-shot terrain edit with it.

Review material categories before generating Deformation and Wetness because those surface controls have meaning only in combination with the selected terrain material. Place gameplay objects after roads, water, buildings, and important terrain edits so their clearances and headings reflect the map you intend to export.

Required versus optional work

RoadCraft export is available only for a Project V2 map with imported DTM, imagery, and vectors. The chosen 500 m, 1,000 m, or 2,000 m terrain must fit both the project region and its playable area. If export reports a missing import, open the project in the Editor and import that processed source before trying again.

Deformation, Wetness, water assignments, tree distributions, buildings, Ready Roads, Road Plans, and Recovery Points are optional export inputs. Their absence leaves that authored feature out instead of inventing it. Start Spawn is also not required merely to create an archive, but a map without a valid player start is not a usable gameplay handoff.

Imagery is primarily a visual reference in the Editor, but it remains part of the current RoadCraft export-readiness contract and can supply texture context outside the central terrain. Do not delete or skip its import just because the final terrain materials come from the RoadCraft mapping collection.

Review the MapToPlay result before export

Inspect the map top-down and from a low angle. Toggle imagery, vectors, ground textures, water, and meshes separately. Check terrain relief, material boundaries, shorelines, forest borders, building foundations, road widths, Start Spawn heading, Recovery Point clearance, and the footprints of Deformation and Wetness.

Correct the owning source when something is wrong: edit vector geometry for a bad boundary, working terrain for a bad grade, collection assignment for a wrong asset, Buffer for road intent, or raster values for surface behavior. Wait for the saved state before leaving the Editor or starting the export.