[Alpha 0.606] FA Forever Map Editor

[Lionhardt]

just had a look at the editor. Really impressed with the progress. Looks like it can actually be used now. Great!

I have a request though: Can you make map scrolling with WASD keys possible?

Edit:

Actually, could you or somebody who has already figured out the editor make a few tutorial videos on it? I am having a hard time understanding you decal tool with the resource browser and the decal type field right now. (But on that note I really like the fact that you can stretch decals rather than only scaling them!)

Edit2:

Suggestion For the move, rotate and scale tool: Currently you have to select the tool, select the object and then click ON the arrow/ ring/ box to manipulate the object. That is bad for work flow speed. Better make it like in the official editor: Holding down the hotkey for the tool activates a mode. You can now manipulate the object in that mode without having to place your cursor onto the object.

Do you know what I mean? Kind of hard to put into words. If not just open the official editor and compare how for example decals manipulation works there compared to your editor.

My suggestion: If W is held down make it act like M is held down in official editor (which would be pressing on the yellow box in the center of the decal in your editor). If E is held down make it act like R is held down in official editor (which would be pressing on the green ring around the decal in your editor). If R is held down make it act like S is held down in official editor (which would be pressingon the yellow box in the center of the decal in your editor).

Notice I am distinguishing from selecting the mode by pressing W,E,R and holding down the respective key.

[ozonex]

Hey Ozonex, I love the editor and I had a small suggestion. I noticed that with the changes between .514 and .515 the needed strength for the blur tool in the height map function has increased dramatically. It would be awesome if you could keep the strength and size settings for each function so you don't have to switch the strength each time you move between Blur and Standard. Thanks for taking the time to make such a great tool.

Thanks!
Thats not possible to have same settings for Blur and Standard. Blur right now works the strongest at it can be. But that speed for standard will be too slow. All brushes now works more correctly and the range of strength is the richest

just had a look at the editor. Really impressed with the progress. Looks like it can actually be used now. Great!

Thanks for donation!

Actually, could you or somebody who has already figured out the editor make a few tutorial videos on it? I am having a hard time understanding you decal tool with the resource browser and the decal type field right now. (But on that note I really like the fact that you can stretch decals rather than only scaling them!)

Nobody made tutorials yet. Somebody will do it for sure when it will be in beta.
I'm slowly writing Wiki page about editor, but still many topics are missing > https://wiki.faforever.com/index.php?ti ... Map_Editor

I have a request though: Can you make map scrolling with WASD keys possible?

No, W key is now used for Move Tool. But I can add it for arrows. You can also pan camera using middle mouse button.

Suggestion For the move, rotate and scale tool: Currently you have to select the tool, select the object and then click ON the arrow/ ring/ box to manipulate the object. That is bad for work flow speed. Better make it like in the official editor: Holding down the hotkey for the tool activates a mode. You can now manipulate the object in that mode without having to place your cursor onto the object.

Thats actually a good idea. Added to TODO list for next build


There are no build lately because Unity 2018 Beta has been released and I'm experimenting with new features. There are few that can improve map editor:
- IL2cpp windows build - Better code performance
- Scriptable rendering pipeline - Beter performance and rendering more simmilar to Supreme Commander
- Jobs system - Better multi-threaded code

If someone has some issues with last official build I can send him work in progress build with some fixes. You can also download Unity 2018.1 beta and get sourcecode from github to be always up to date, or just wait for official build

[Egon]

hi ozonex i have to second that, truely awesome editor u have here.

some bugs i found and an unimportant wishlist:

elevation overlay dosnt match passable/buildable terrain
strenght 0 still paints
symetry brush (terrain) does not rotate shape correctly
army spawn ids doesnt match real army_n
saving as v60 results in map not loading
loading brush set (Props) dosnt save/restore set percentages
undo and redo function sometimes get messed up skipping steps
play map doesnt work: application load error 5:0000065434
editor got stuck with all brushes selected and unable to paint at all
could only proceed with removing registry entry
downscaling creates sharp steps in the terrain

wishlist:
props statistics updating in realtime
drag and drop selecting single/multiple props
make windows like resource browser movable to 2nd monitor
army unit number cleanup function
more and higher resolution brushes
costumizable hotkeys (go with offical editor as default?)
hotkey for selecting decals beneath other decals
ability to open maps from other locations (steamlibary)

[ozonex]

hi ozonex i have to second that, truely awesome editor u have here.

some bugs i found and an unimportant wishlist:

Thanks. Most of that is already fixed in upcomming build.

elevation overlay dosnt match passable/buildable terrain

That's know issue. Every unit have different size and behave differently. There are some ideas like different presets for some units (engi, tank, commander, experimental, factory etc.) Same issue is with official editor.

undo and redo function sometimes get messed up skipping steps

Do you know what steps it skipps? I can't find what can be wrong so feedback how to reproduce that is needed.

play map doesnt work: application load error 5:0000065434

Do you have steam or not-steam installation? For non-steam it don't work for some people, but I don't have working CD so I can install only from steam.

editor got stuck with all brushes selected and unable to paint at all

Please send log when this happens (but remember log is cleaned everytime you open editor) > https://wiki.faforever.com/index.php?ti ... Editor_LOG

downscaling creates sharp steps in the terrain

Can you explain this more? Not sure what you are talking about.

make windows like resource browser movable to 2nd monitor

Unfortunately that's not possible. Limitation of Unity engine

more and higher resolution brushes

Everyone can make own brushes > https://wiki.faforever.com/index.php?ti ... om_brushes

costumizable hotkeys (go with offical editor as default?)

As default editor uses Unity/Autodesk hotkeys. Maybe somewhere in beta i will give customable hotkeys.

[Egon]

i have steam install atm.
about the overlay, i always thought the offical editor matches 100% for building on green and unpassable for red but i could be wrong.
undo skipped to the very first/last saved value when changing terrain, i was then unable to redo again, this happend 4-5 times however i cant exactly reproduce.
the brushes became stuck problem only happend once (was probably me multimonitoring and hotkeying too hard, most likely a unity thing even).
i will keep an eye on it and try to save to log however.
about the downscaling:

Spoiler: show

1024x1024 aka 20kmx20km map orginal

downsized to a 10x10km map with Scale Height option set to def 0.5

"Terrace effect" on every slope

[Lionhardt]

I have another request for a feature that would enormously boost productivity: Height Sampling. In the official editor you need to manually read the height under the elevation cursor and then type the height into the field "Target" under the brush for plateau elevation (the red square with the blue circle in the center). I would suggest doing it like Photoshop dos it. While having the plateau brush selected, press and hold ALT then press LMB over the map of the map the height of which you want to sample. That height value will then be copied into the variable that holds the height for the plateau brush.

Also what would be great would be on the fly brush size adjustment. Like holding down ALT and LMB and then moving mouse will resize the brush. Could do the same for brush strength for normal elevation brushes and the smooth brush and for setting height for the plateau brush.

[ozonex]

I have another request for a feature that would enormously boost productivity: Height Sampling. In the official editor you need to manually read the height under the elevation cursor and then type the height into the field "Target" under the brush for plateau elevation (the red square with the blue circle in the center). I would suggest doing it like Photoshop dos it. While having the plateau brush selected, press and hold ALT then press LMB over the map of the map the height of which you want to sample. That height value will then be copied into the variable that holds the height for the plateau brush.

Also what would be great would be on the fly brush size adjustment. Like holding down ALT and LMB and then moving mouse will resize the brush. Could do the same for brush strength for normal elevation brushes and the smooth brush and for setting height for the plateau brush.

Good idea. I was thinking about it when target height was added.

About changing size when you hold B and drag brush size will change. For strength do it with M key.


I experimented with some new features of unity 2018.1 and they are still not in state to be used anywhere. Only il2cpp (c++ build) works correctly and it should increase code performance. I'm returning to developing editor itself. I made big Todo list for next build.

[Freedomfighter]

Firstly I want to say that this is an amazing tool, it has really opened the door for people like me, who don't have that much time to learn the old editor or people who just want to make small changes or the odd map. Thank you so much for making it!!

Secondly I have the error where all the brushes are selected when I load it up, and it seems that it is happening every time I open it I tried uploading a map to FAF last night and I think it happened then.

Is there a way to fix it or should I wait for a hotfix?

[ozonex]

Secondly I have the error where all the brushes are selected when I load it up, and it seems that it is happening every time I open it I tried uploading a map to FAF last night and I think it happened then.

Is there a way to fix it or should I wait for a hotfix?

Please open editor, go to where that bug is (because log clean everytime you open editor) and then send me the log file. Few people told me it happend to them, but I can't reproduce it.

Here is where can you find log
https://wiki.faforever.com/index.php?ti ... Editor_LOG

[Zorg56]

Hello,
i have strange problem.
i created map, and its lower parts covered with strange dark fluid.