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How do I print a MegaMek Map for Tabletop

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Dave N edited this page Sep 1, 2024 · 1 revision

  1. Launch MegaMek and get an awesome map. I chose a 75x75 map because I had an allied aerodyne dropship and like having room to actually use the thing.

  2. File => Game => Board => Save as Image. Pick the folder, give it a name, hit save

  3. Open image in your favorite image application THAT CAN SAVE AS PDF. On a Mac, the 'Preview' app DOES NOT save single images to multi-page PDFs.

    Before saving / exporting, resize the image to be 115 - 125% of the size that MegaMek saved it as. By default, the MegaMek hexes are not big enough for old-sculpt based, let alone the larger new-sculpt bases. (I found that 115% was barely large enough for new-sculpt bases to cover the hex edges, 120% just fit new-sculpt bases within the hex edges, and 125% had a little space between the new-sculpt bases and the hex edges).

  4. Save the image as a PDF. On a Mac, the 'Preview' app DOES NOT work properly as it exports the image to fit on a single piece of paper. I used PhotoShop to "Automate" => "PDF Presentation": multipage document (instead of presentation, which adds automatic page-turning stuff that isn't needed)

  5. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Use the free version because it works fine. On a Mac, the 'Preview' app is UNABLE to do the next step.

  6. In Adobe Acrobat Reader, Print. Select "Poster", set the overlap appropriately, and send it off to print.

Some tips / notes:

  • I used 65# paper. It's essentially thin card-stock and feels great in the hand.
  • In theory, Adobe Illustrator could have tiled the image across multiple pages, but I don't own Adobe Illustrator. Unfortunately for me, PhotoShop does NOT have that ability.
  • You will have to trim the border off of two sides of every sheet you print so that you can line up the hexes.

From Vidarion - MegaMek Discord Feb 2022

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