If you are running Windows XP, the unzip process is easy.

1. Download the file to a folder of your choice on your PC.
2. Using Windows Explorer, go to that folder so you can see the .zip file (example tomb.zip)
3. Double click on the file and another window will open as in the image below for tomb.zip, displaying the contents of the .zip file.
4. Within that window, select File, and Extract All as shown in the image here and just follow the default settings, pressing Next.

The extract process will create a new folder with the same name as the zip file.  In my example here, the zip file was tomb.zip, you can see the contents of the file was tomb.pk3 only.  The folder is created within the same directory so it is easy to find it. 

To Install within Medal of Honor

Go to the new folder for the map that was created with the unzip process, and copy or move the .pk3 file to your mohaa\main folder.  For a default install, it is usually C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main. 

If the game or server is running when you installed the map, you must quit and restart so that the computer loads the map.  When you first start the game, all of the .pk3 files in your main folder are read and loaded by the game.

To try out the map on your PC.  Start the game, go to in-game hosting and select the map to run and try it out on your own machine (if you don't know how to do this, see the guide on this site).   If you do not like the map, you can just delete the .pk3 file from the mohaa/main directory.   

  INSTALLING CUSTOM MAPS

Custom maps are usually .pk3 files.  Some sites will be set for you to download a .zip file which contains the .pk3 file inside such as this site.  Other sites may have you download the .pk3 file directly.    Pk3 and zip file are compressed files, meaning that they hold multiple files inside (a custom map is made up of multiple files, and therfore, compressed in a .pk3 for the game to read and load).

Downloading Maps...
When downloading from any site, use caution because sometimes the file being downloaded is only .pk3 file and not a zip and in other cases, the zip file does not have a .pk3 file enclosed in the .zip

Downloading .pk3 files directly
With Windows XP,  I have noticed that when I download a .pk3 File, the extension is automatically set to .zip instead of .pk3, and other times I have noticed that .zip was added to the end of the file.   Even though the file you want to download may be something like mohmap1.pk3, you may end up with mohmap1.zip or mohmap1.pk3.zip   

Therefore, before you unzip anything with a .zip extension, check the contents first!  If there is a .pk3 file inside, you can unzip the file to get to the .pk3 file, and copy it to your mohaa/main folder.   However, if you see the contents has a maps folder, and possibly several other files, do not unzip this file but use the instruction below. 

Downloading map files.
If you have downloaded a .zip file that contains a map folder, and possibly other files, you do not want to unzip this file to distribute all of the contents manually.   Usually, the contents from map builders are all there in the .zip already.  It is possible that this was originally a .pk3 file that got renamed. I suggest that you rename this .zip file to a .pk3 file.   For example, if the file name is mohmap1.zip, just rename it to mohmap1.pk3 if it has the map folder and other files in it (no .pk3 is enclosed).  

When I download maps, I test them all!   Take the .pk3 file and place it into your MOHAA/Main directory and test it locally.  Launch the game and use the in-game server launch option.  Select the game type, click on the map button, and search for the map name from the list.  If you find it there, select and test the map.   If you do not like it, or if it fails to launch properly, you can exit and just remove the .pk3 file from your mohaa/main directory.   If you do not see the map listed, test other game types.  Sometimes a map is only DM/TDM or only Objective.    I suggest that you test all maps, and test allies and axis before moving a map file to a dedicated server.

I have tested all of the maps that are posted for download on this site, and they all run in Medal of Honor Allied Assault, and they are all available on my MOHAA Server for play.   Again, all maps downloaded from this site are .zip files that contain the .pk3 file you need.

For custom maps, it works the exact same way as with standard, and you can mix custom and standard maps in your rotation.   The rotation for standard maps in deathmatch read like this...  dm/mohdm1 dm/mohdm2 dm/mohdm3 etc.  Each map name has the prefix of dm/    For custom maps, the key is to know the proper map name to load because using the pk3 file name will not work.

On my maps page, you will notice that I have the title, but there is also another name in brackets.   For example, with the map Africa Back Streets, you will also see the title of (mp_africabackstreets).   To run this map in the rotation, you put in dm/mp_africabackstreets in the config.

The easiest way to find the proper map name is to try it out from within the game on the server launch screen.  Load the map (pk3 file) in your MOHAA Main directory first, and then launch Medal of Honor.  Go to multiplayer and screen to start your own server, and on the setup screen, you will see a field at the top for map.  There is a button there that if pressed, you see the listing of maps on your machine.   Find the custom map you want in the listing and select it.  The way the map name is displayed in this setup screen is the exact way it needs to read in your config file.   If running death match, place DM/ in front of the name and your set to go.

If the server allows for voting, you can call for a vote to change maps during a game.   You will need to use the console (MOHAA Main Menu,  Options, and Advance Settings, place an X next to console).   

To change the map to tomb, in the console you  type  callvote map dm/tomb   This will start the vote, but if you are alone in the server, the map will change immediately.   The exact file name needed for voting is the same as you would put in the server to host it.  The name is shown in parentheses, within the description for each map on my downloads page.  When calling for a vote or hosting the map yourself, remember to add the dm/ in front of the file name.  

Map voting is enabled on my custom maps server, and all of the maps that I provide for download on this site are loaded on to the server.   However, you must have downloaded and installed the map on your computer in order to play it or you are immediately disconnected from the server..