Mapping Questions

[Sybell]

I am new to mapping, and I appreciate you guys taking the time out to answer some of my questions.

1) Is there a less time consuming way to drop buildings and structures down on terrain that is not absolutley flat? Is "snap to terrain", "snap to grid" used for this? It takes forver to find a site with level enough ground to put structures on that they will not be half buried.


2) Is there any way to cut and paste groups of structures that have taken you hours to create with the weapons configurations and such so that you can duplicate them somewhere else on your map?

[Uber-Pirate]

For your 1st question, you may try using a combination of the 3d wireframe function and absolute hight. thats the hight the item sits off the lowest part of the map (im prob wrong about that, but this does help alot for placing things on uneven ground), as apposed to the regular z-hights. Wich are how high the item sits off of the terrain where you placed it.

For your 2nd question, as you probably know, when you click on a item, it should turn yellow, after you have something selected like this, just click the edit tab in the upper-left had side of the screen, and click on the "copy" command. to paste simply click the edit tab, and click the "paste" command. to copy / paste multiple items, simply select all the items you want to copy (so they turn yellow), and do as directed above. I should note that theres another way to select multiple objects at the same time, simply hold the shift key, and click and drag a box around the items you want. The Control (Ctrl) key does the oposite, it de-selects all the items in the box you create.

[DC_Scout_67]

ALSO when you have your terrain on the screen zoomed out, click on the D button in the upper left part of the screen. The black areas you will then see are the level ground.

BUT I have to tell you, there is NO WAY to quickly make a great map. Be patient and take the time make it right the first time and you and those who play it, will find that all of that time was worth every minute. A good map takes many hours, and a great map can take two weeks or more. Fine tune all the glitches out, all of the flickering objects, and run thru ever yard of the the map, to find and lower trees floating in the air. I promise you, it is worth it!

[dave61]

To create a flat area, raize the water level to cover an area then "snap" the concrete center docks to the water and 16m grids.
Once the concrete center docks are in place, remove the water and you've got a perfectly flat area to place your buildings. (i usually keep the water untill I've finished the map cause I can continue to snap items to it).

[dave61]

Originally posted by Uber-Pirate
For your 1st question, you may try using a combination of the 3d wireframe function and absolute hight. thats the hight the item sits off the lowest part of the map (im prob wrong about that, but this does help alot for placing things on uneven ground), as apposed to the regular z-hights. Wich are how high the item sits off of the terrain where you placed it.

For your 2nd question, as you probably know, when you click on a item, it should turn yellow, after you have something selected like this, just click the edit tab in the upper-left had side of the screen, and click on the "copy" command. to paste simply click the edit tab, and click the "paste" command. to copy / paste multiple items, simply select all the items you want to copy (so they turn yellow), and do as directed above. I should note that theres another way to select multiple objects at the same time, simply hold the shift key, and click and drag a box around the items you want. The Control (Ctrl) key does the oposite, it de-selects all the items in the box you create.

Also ,in the wireframe, if you press 1 on the number pad, all items in the wireframe will light up and you can then move all items up, down , left and right together.