Hammerwatch Forum
Custom mapping and Mods => Editor Discussion => Topic started by: FFSnipe on January 15, 2014, 07:01:56 PM
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Hello all. This is my first post here so please go easy on me. I have a question about the doodads and placements of them...
I am using the theme_c up ledges because i like the way the bookshelves fit into the theme of a few rooms i am building. BUT, the color is way off. so I thought about using theme_d down ledges overtop of the edge of the theme_c ones. will this work properly? will the theme_d ledges overlap the theme_c ones? so basically i would like to have the bookshelf visual, with the yellow edge color.
also, is there any priority to the doodads? like of 2 were placed at exactly the same point, would one be over the other?
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I have found placing doodads over doodads will occasionally give one priority, (This is based, I believe, on the layer that the doodad is present on [Layer being a thing in the xml that essentially dictates priority), but in game, moving around, they'll flicker obnoxiously.
You could try to attempt this by messing with the doodad's layers in their xml, however I would recommend just making a brand new doodad that uses a modified version of the sprite you like.
What are you trying to get it to mesh with? Which piece exactly?
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Doodad layer can be changed with using ctrl+1-9 then it goes up, and ctrl+alt+1-9 and it goes down.
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Doodad layer can be changed with using ctrl+1-9 then it goes up, and ctrl+alt+1-9 and it goes down.
Oh my, that is amazing to know. That changes... Everything.
Edit: Now I feel really stupid for how I've been making secret passages.
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Doodad layer can be changed with using ctrl+1-9 then it goes up, and ctrl+alt+1-9 and it goes down.
ahhhhh thank you. i have noticed there are a lot of things that are not mentioned anywhere and isnt mentioned in the editor itself. would be great if there were some sort of complete official editor tips + tricks read. I have looked over a lot of stuff on the wiki, and its very bare at the moment. also, I have noticed a few things about pathing in the editor folder. like an Examples folder etc. I have no folders in mine at all. is there something amiss here?
Sorry if that is a long post. I am just very eager to learn things. I have been editing maps/dungeons/levels/etc. for multiple games for the last 15 years, so anything like this is good stuff for me.
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ahh i know this screen looks crappy, but I havent seen this done anywhere? a 2 floor room. order of doodads is a wonder-freaking-ful thing. thanks again Hipshot. Was wondering if anyone else has tried anything strange and non-normal like this before?
SCREEN!!!!
(http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/688223874120978234/8F9D4EF430D7695B2ABAAAC360E3A859712D7BB3/)
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As a warning, be careful with that. I was trying to streamline some secret passage-y stuff, and ended up with random doodads going over my character's sprite, creating odd discontinuity errors.
If it works as expected, that's awesome! Would be fun to mess around with and see what the limits are.
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thank you for the reply. i will be careful and thuroghly test it.
a side question which will def help me with this, Can you disable collision/physics/hitbox/whatever-its-called-in-this-game on doodads via a script (i know you can HIDE doodads via a script)? disabling them on the tall pillars would be a plus so the character could walk around them. thus making it feel like its a second floor object.
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Via scripts? Not that I know of, but hey, this editor is still surprising me, apparently!
Via dropping this into your theme b doodad folder? Yep :D
Attached is a collisionless pillar xml. The shadow is a bit off at the moment, but I imagine I could fix it with some work.
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You can disable collision using the disablephysics entity =)
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thanks again to the 2 of you. ;D you all have been very helpful so far. If I have any other questions, I will be sure to ask here.
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You can disable collision using the disablephysics entity =)
Oh hey, more stuff I've overlooked. Jeeze, and I thought I was getting decent at this :D I think I'm going to go through all of the scripts and find out what they all do pretty soon.
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lol Enjay, you are learning as much as I am ;D (no insult intended)
Another question similar to the layer thing...
obviously you can have multiple layers of tiles. and the higher up on the list it stamps "over" anything before it. now... does the tiles UNDER the top layer still get rendered? does it decrease performance if you leave them there? say i have a large area of standard theme_c tiles, and I decide to put a large carpet over it. should i delete the tiles under the carpet to increase performance or do they not get rendered anyway?
sorry, just looking for anything to increase FPS and reduce lag on a very large labyrinth style map.
EDIT: also, is there anyway to copy/paste tiles? the way I am building this maze, i create 5x5 areas for the "rooms" and leave a 1 tile thick space between them. then I can connect the rooms according to the layout i want for the maze. works quite well actually, BUT making the 5x5x roooms is..... so tedious. using the brush at 5 only kinda makes it roundish so I have to go back and finish off each one anyway. is there a way to set it to square brush? or to be able to copy paste tiles?
here is what i am working on and what i mean. my god my hand is cramped. it has taken me forever to finish off every 5x5 room and connect them so far. i started this last night. worked about 2 hours on it so far.
(http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/688223874138195840/FCF726D1BB071BAAD0ABFA0404999FC73E41A722/)
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*Mother of Mazes*
Holy Maze! That's... Scary.
And no insult taken :D
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Tilemaps can't be copied around, but you can paint black 1x1 pixels in photoshop and then copy paste them into the editor.... easier to create layouts that way. Then change the theme in the xml to some other than _a if you want.
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Tilemaps can't be copied around, but you can paint black 1x1 pixels in photoshop and then copy paste them into the editor.... easier to create layouts that way. Then change the theme in the xml to some other than _a if you want.
hey that is great to know. i do know how to work in photoshop, and creating such a thing would be a breeze. I think I have seen a post with instructions on how to do it. even though I have been working on modeling/texturing/mapping/level editing for quite a long time, i have never had to work with xml files. and its slow learning. I have been looking at the xml files and i gotta say.... it seems confusing lol.
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well, i decided to continue my maze, i will do it by hand. i have already put so much effort into it, i dont want to take an easy route. next time i will use the pixel method though.
and concerning the doodad placement and layers, I have run into a huge problem that i hadnt thought of yet... shadows. i always edit with shadows off, and never noticed till i turned em on.
(http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/688223874168492615/5ECB4D9ECDC34C5A14F29C6E6D3F3F9CD7B85C12/)
THATS A 3 LEVEL ROOM BTW.
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You can copy and paste groups of doodads no problem but also if you select one doodad then hold ctrl and press a cursor key, it duplicates the doodad next to itself. This is really useful for building long stretches of wall for example.
I really think there is a great need for a tips and tricks/faq sticky post as there is so much stuff that is simply not documented. Does anybody want to volunteer with this? Do the guys who made the game ever post here?
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I had an editor faq in the beta, I should probably make a new one here with shortcuts and other things. My workflow is probably a lot faster than many others since I know it all...
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You'ld need to make your own copies of the doodads and give them their own shadow shapes, it looks great but issues like that do tend to pop up since a lot of things presume only 1 level high.
I did start a custom pack of edited doodads, maybe I should add a few and just release it for anyone to use since all the art work is from the game originally with slight modifications.
Actually what you could do is fake the shadows with invisible objects, but that's not a particularly good thing to do though.
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Hipshot that would be great. And NekoBaron and MrCuddles, thanks for the tips. I am currently working on my own custom doodads so the shadow corresponds to the height. Its a bit tricky getting everything right, but I hope it all works.
for a solution right now, I have changed the shadows to pure white(255, 255, 255) so they arent actually seen in-game. It is a good workaround, and wonderful if you want to get rid of shadows on purpose, but temporary. (not sure if this works on all graphics settings though). That could be a tip included in the FAQ perhaps?
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http://hammerwatch.com/forum/index.php?topic=1732.msg3600#msg3600
I created high pillars for a bit of a fun test, the smoothed shadows don't quite line up though but they wont give any overlap issue and the collisions are all set.
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I had an editor faq in the beta, I should probably make a new one here with shortcuts and other things. My workflow is probably a lot faster than many others since I know it all...
This would be so useful and would really help people get involved in making maps. I wonder how many people have tried and given up?
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http://hammerwatch.com/forum/index.php?topic=1732.msg3600#msg3600
I created high pillars for a bit of a fun test, the smoothed shadows don't quite line up though but they wont give any overlap issue and the collisions are all set.
sweet. thats actually exactly what i was working on. nice job. i guess im a bit slow ;D