Documentation Docs/en/reference/map-format/baking.md

Map Baking And Runtime Loading

Generated reference. Do not edit directly. Update BuildTools/MapFormatInterface.json or the owning engine metadata, then run python BuildTools/docs_map_format.py --write.

Index

Syntax

Map containers are selected by Baking.ProtoFileExtensions plus at least one [ProtoMap] anchor; .fomap is a project convention, not an engine requirement. Each declared map emits <MapId>.fomap-bin-server and <MapId>.fomap-bin-client as a coupled resource pair.

The server payload contains placed critters and all items. The client payload contains visible static items; hidden static items contribute required string hashes but no client item record.

Item ownership

Ownership	Value	Map-supported	Reference/position	Meaning	Enum source
`MapHex`	0	yes	`Hex`	Places the item on a map hex. Static items must use this mode.	Source/Common/Common.h
`CritterInventory`	1	yes	`CritterId`	Creates a non-static item in the inventory of the placed critter identified by CritterId.	Source/Common/Common.h
`ItemContainer`	2	yes	`ContainerId`	Creates a non-static item inside the placed non-static item identified by ContainerId.	Source/Common/Common.h
`Nowhere`	3	no	`none`	Exists in the enum but is not a supported authored map-placement mode.	Source/Common/Common.h

Runtime split

Static MapHex items become immutable grid entries and may block movement or shooting, expose triggers, and occupy multihex cells.
Non-static MapHex items and placed critters are generated for each map instance; their authored ids are remapped to runtime ids.
CritterInventory and ItemContainer records are attached after their direct owners are generated. A missing owner mapping skips the child.
The client reconstructs only the visible static map layer from the client binary; dynamic entities arrive through normal runtime synchronization.