Pathing Maps

What are pathing maps

Pathing maps are basic .tga images made up of basic colors. They are used to tell Warcraft where a unit/building can go/be placed and where not. Pathing maps can be used on:

• Buildings
• Doodads
• Destructibles

The beauty of them is the fact that you can give them any shape you like, and make a precise pathing map for a custom model.

Creating a pathing map

To create a pathing map, you will need an image editor which handles .tga files. Paint shop pro, Photoshop or anything else will do. Each basic color in the tga file represents a behaviour to pathing. The link to colors and behaviour is listed below:

As we can see here:

• The red channel is used for walkability.
• The Green channel is used for flyability.
• The Blue channel is used for Buildability
• A full channel (255) means the subject will be denied.
• An empty channel (0) means the subject will be granted

Next thing to know is that 1 pixel in the image will represent 32 gridunits in the world editor. 32 Grid units in the editor is exactly 1 grey gridsquare (hit “G” 3 times in the editor to see it).
When you’re done making the image, save it as .tga and import it in the editor. After that, simply change the pathing map of the doodad/destructible/building you want to change and restart the editor to see the effects. A usefull tip to check the pathing in the editor, hit “P”.

Final words

Creating a pathing map is easy to do and will give you amazing results. Blizzard usually uses a square pathing map for round objects (like a orc barracks). You can make the pathing maps of a barracks alot better by making it abit more round. This will enhance gameplay alot in some situations and “Pathing size” of units will really come in handy.

Good luck!

Excellent to have this is a good reference finally.

You may want to mention how to view pathing maps in WE (p key), and include some example images ( a tga, a screenshot).

simply hell dam nice!
plenty of thanks!

Cool, I didn't know all that. Thanks a lot.

Willdo when I get some time.

Well done, approved!

This tutorial rocks!!!! +rep

Why I can't place building on red if this one is buildable?

WorldEdit appears to ignore the buildable bit (blue), and doesn't let you place a building on anything that has a pathing map - In game you should be able to build fine, though.

I'm not sure how to get around this - I ran into it when I was trying to make "no fly zones" in one of my maps. You might want to try placing the building via triggers, that may work


+rep to iNfraNe, too - this is probably one of the most visited posts by me :P

Why would you want to read it more than once, there's just 3 things to remember :)

thx tho.

Heh :P Dunno, I guess I'm lazy, but I do keep coming back to refer to the table

Is there any way to do naval pathing? I would like to place a doodad in the water that is possible to walk over, but not to swim over.

@sagan can't you change the swimming units into flying movement type? you will get line of sight issues then though.

Love your guide, have a problem though maybe you can help me. I made a pier witch is walkable over water all works great when it's horizontal or vertical But I have 2 problems when I do it diagonal.

1. Pathing map is not always turned along with the angle
2. Pathing map is different in the editor as in game

Is this something just fucked in the editor or can I do something to the pathing map?
If someone could look at it that would be awesome.


ps. dyslectic not native English sorry if there are anny mistakes =/

THis tutorial is the same as the longer version of it, the one I posted a reply in.