Doodad priority (overlap)

[FFSnipe]

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.

[FFSnipe]

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.

THATS A 3 LEVEL ROOM BTW.

[MrCuddles]

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?

[Hipshot]

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...

[NekoBaron]

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.

[FFSnipe]

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?

[NekoBaron]

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.

[MrCuddles]

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?

[FFSnipe]

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