Your first Forge build

Build a raised courtyard, walk through it as a Spartan, then add the details that make it a playable space: cover, spawns, doors and a route back up. MJOLNIR exposes the game's native Forge editor and adds modular construction packs, a palette and keyboard controls.

This guide uses Foundry Wide 0.2 and MJOLNIRForge's placement controls. Forge editing is host-only. Use the matching maps and runtime together; the utility pieces require MJOLNIRForge 0.4.0, MJOLNIRLobby 0.19.2 and MJOLNIRLevelLoader 0.9.8 or newer.

Foundry Wide's modular construction and utility pieces, rendered in Blender

Blender render of Foundry Wide. The pack contains 38 pieces; their original heights remain player-sized while the larger floor and wall modules give you room to build.

Open the full-size Foundry Wide catalog.

Choose a place to build

After launching the game, press Enter at the title screen and finish sign-in. From Multiplayer → Host Game, choose a map and Forge.

For the example below, use Crossline: its palette includes all original Foundry and Foundry Wide pieces. Find a clear area for the build and leave its existing spawn points intact. Forge Canvas is the simpler 64 × 64 m blank starting deck, but its current palette contains original Foundry, not Foundry Wide. Roadworks Circuit is the place to try the vehicle kit.

A map must include a pack's pieces in its baked palette. Installing another pack does not automatically add its pieces to every map.

Press B to become the Monitor. Use your normal movement and mouse controls to look around. The target card beside the cursor names the object you are aiming at or holding; the palette appears on the right.

Learn the small set of building controls

Start with F4: 0.5 m and F10: 90°. These suit the rectangular kit. The position grid aligns an object's origin when it is placed or dropped; it does not pull adjacent edges together while you hold it. Rotation controls turn around the vertical axis only.

For construction, use F3 to choose Phased before dropping a piece. It stays in position and lets you overlap adjoining geometry. Fixed also stays in position, but contact while carrying it can resist the turn you requested. Normal uses the object's authored physics: a stock weapon can fall, while a structural model authored with fixed bodies can remain still. Phased construction still provides the intended player collision.

Check the final orientation after each drop. Native holding motion can settle slightly away from the requested angle; the grid is a placement aid, not an automatic model-connection tool. The HUD keeps your current settings visible.

Build a raised courtyard

This ten-piece exercise creates a 16 × 16 m courtyard whose walking surface is 2 m above the ground. The approach ramp adds another 8 m of length. The diagram uses north for the ramp's uphill direction.

Top-down courtyard recipe: a square raised deck, six walls, two front cover pieces and a broad approach ramp

1. Place the floor. Set it to Phased. Its origin is the centre of its underside, so an underside 1.5 m above the ground puts the walking surface at 2 m. The 0.5 m grid matches both heights.
2. Connect the ramp. Set its low end on the ground and turn its high end toward the courtyard. Its high edge meets the floor's near edge at 2 m. Keep both edges flush; raising the floor's underside to 2 m would create a 0.5 m step at the join.
3. Enclose three sides. Place two full walls along the back, then two along each side. Their bottoms sit on the finished floor. Turn the side walls by 90°. Keep their outside faces on the deck's outside edges.
4. Frame the entrance. Place one low cover piece on either side of the ramp mouth. They leave an 8 m-wide opening and give the courtyard a readable front without obstructing the approach.
5. Walk the route. Press B, approach from the ground and walk up the ramp. Cross the join in both directions, follow the wall edges and check that the entrance remains wide enough when you turn into it.
6. Save a working version. Press F5 before adding decorative pieces or experimenting with a different layout.

For a more exact plan, treat the floor centre as (0, 0) and ground as Z=0. These are relative planning coordinates in metres; the editor has no numeric position-entry panel.

The piece reference has dimensions for the smaller floors, stairs, corners and bridges. Use them to extend the same courtyard rather than guessing a piece's size from its thumbnail.

Give players a way in, out and back into the game

Place spawn point markers from the scenery palette on clear walking surfaces. K cycles the target's team between neutral, red and blue. Keep red and blue starts inside their own bases, with room for a standing Spartan and a clear first step.

If the map will support free-for-all Slayer, include neutral spawn markers. Red and blue starts alone do not cover that mode. Place several neutral starts around shared areas, away from vehicle traffic and the lift column. Team games prefer matching initial starts, but can also use neutral starts for ordinary respawns.

Markers are invisible gameplay objects. Aim close to their position to select them; V carries a marker and its properties, and N copies it. Leave working starts in place until you have tested replacements by hosting the intended game type.

Add a teleporter route

The animated green teleporter housing in the game

The green housing and pad make the route visible. Separate native markers perform the teleport.

Place a Teleporter Sender at the entrance and a Teleporter Receiver at the destination, or use two Teleporter 2-Way markers. Target each and press P until both show the same channel. Use another channel for another route. Turn the destination marker so arrivals face into the playable space.

The Wide pad is 0.5 m thick. Put its underside 0.5 m below the adjoining finished floor if you want a flush approach, then place the gameplay marker at the usable entrance. Keep the receiver and the space beyond it clear. Test both directions as a Spartan. Walk away from the arrival trigger before trying to return; native teleporters have a rearm distance.

Make a doorway open automatically

A vehicle door visibly raised above its frame

The frame and panel are separate pieces. Pair Wide Tall Doorway with Wide Door Panel, or Wide Vehicle Doorway with Wide Vehicle Door Panel. Place the frame on a continuous floor, then place the panel at its closed height. Align their horizontal centres and set the panel 0.75 m toward the frame's local front (−Y), so it sits just ahead of the frame.

Use F3: Fixed or Phased on the panel. Normal disables automatic movement. Leave clear space for the panel to rise: 4 m for the infantry door and 6 m for the vehicle gate. Static construction above it is not an automatic stop, so keep the whole travel path clear.

Return to your Spartan and approach. The panel opens, then waits two seconds after you leave before closing. A nearby player or movable vehicle can keep it open. Before editing the panel, clear the opening and enter Monitor mode; if the closing path is occupied, the panel stays raised and its edit waits. Other pieces remain editable. F5 saves the door's closed design position, even when the panel is currently open.

Connect a lift to a gallery

The lift station's walk-up ramps beside Crossline's raised gallery

Place Wide Lift Station on the ground with its central column open above. Its four shallow ramps lead to a deck 0.5 m high. A nearby gallery at 4.5 m above the same ground gives this preset a useful landing four metres above the lift deck.

Keep the landing beside the column rather than directly over it. Walk onto the centre as a Spartan and steer sideways onto the gallery during the rise. Staying centred can produce repeated rises. Crossline demonstrates a ground approach, ascent and controlled gallery landing; use its spacing as a starting point and test your own geometry. Keep a conventional ramp route available while you tune the landing.

Finish with glass, lights and the right scale

A transparent cyan glass wall in the game

Glass walls and glazed windows are transparent, solid and non-breakable. Use them where players should see a route without walking through it. Original Foundry's warm, red and blue pylons help distinguish entrances and team bases. Their lights follow the placed fixtures and currently cast no shadows.

For vehicles, use the dedicated Roadworks kit. Its 16 m clear roadway, 24/48 m straights and 40 m-radius curves give a Warthog much more space than a 4 m-wide pedestrian bridge. The stock vehicle's visual envelope is roughly 6.13 × 3.25 m; leave room to turn, pass and recover as well as fit through. Road connector positions are documented for authors, but Forge does not automatically dock them or provide checkpoints and lap timing.

The Roadworks road kit shown at a consistent presentation scale in Blender

Blender render. Open the full-size Roadworks catalog.

Save, reload and play

F5 saves one layout for the current map. F6 replaces the current objects with that saved layout, so use it to check that your build restores correctly. F2 returns to the map's authored layout and preserves the old save in history.

A saved layout also applies when you host that map as Slayer or another game type. Return through the lobby and try the mode you intend people to play: check its spawns, walk every join, use both teleporter directions and try the doors as a Spartan. Door layouts should be saved by the host; a session that changes host needs a rehost before door automation and saves resume.

Keep a layout's .mvar and .mvar.packs files together when backing it up. The companion records the pack identities the layout needs. Matching pack versions matter: changing a model or palette can change what an old placement means. The launcher dependency workflow handles declared pack requirements; copying a lone layout file is not a substitute for those assets.

For the full key and property reference, see Forge controls. To create your own models and submit a pack, continue with the community pack authoring guide. The utility reference describes door, lift and surface metadata; the validation record keeps the detailed test evidence separate from this building guide.