[DavoX]

Teach me then xD

[Micky C]

Alright, a very general thing to do would be the following:

1. Include a.m32 and enable all events
2. select the sprites or sectors of which some you would like to change
3. write the following into the console: "do for i selsprites/selsectors ife sprite/sector.(some aspect like picnum, [i]lotag, height etc) XXX (e.g some value), set sprite/sector[i].(another aspect) XXX (some other height)"

The first time I used it was to create some 3D collapsible spritework without having to manually put hitags on all the sprites. I selected all the sprites with shift, and went "do for i selsprites, set sprite[i].hitag 100" for example.

Another example is when I wanted to create lots of different identical rotating sectors. Normally you'd have to change all the hitags of the SEs for every new rotating bit, which would normally take a really long time depending on the complexity of the sectors and how many you want to make. If only you could do it all at once eh? Well you can .
I selected all the sprites in the sectors, including speed sprites, and went "do for i selsprites, ife sprite[i].picnum 1 (i.e if it's an SE), set sprite[i].hitag 10". And when you do the next set of rotating sectors, when you press UP in the console, it brings back the last thing you typed in, so ALL you have to do is select the new sprites, press up, and since the last value is already there, just add 1. So change 10 to 11, and then 11 to 12. Soooo easy, imagine doing it the old way; it could easily chew up half an hour. Same with the collapsible sprites; now you can create lots of different sets of spritework, and have them each collapse separately to explosions with just a few seconds work instead of a minute or two per spritework.

It works for sectors too. So for example you could change the shade/pal/heights of just the floors, ceiling etc. I don't think there's a way to change things with that much precision normally within the editor. So you can see what a good thing it is.

Since mapster scripting is derived from con, you can use its documentation somewhat. Apparently the things after the dot are structure members, so for the full list of what you can control, see this page here (specifically sprite, wall and sector pages): http://wiki.eduke32....ructure_members

That's pretty much all I know about it. The next thing I want to learn is how to increment things in each iteration of the for loop, but I'm not sure how to go about that.

[Cage]

Micky C, on 27 January 2014 - 05:06 PM, said:

The first time I used it was to create some 3D collapsible spritework without having to manually put hitags on all the sprites. I selected all the sprites with shift, and went "do for i selsprites, set sprite[i].hitag 100" for example.

I'd love to use that, but I get errors. I'm completely new to this. I've double check I've typed it as in your example.

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[Micky C]

Did you include a.m32? I think that has a line or something that declares i as some sort of variable. Also you may need to type "enableevent all" but I'm not sure if that step is required.

[Helixhorned]

Micky C, on 29 January 2014 - 07:04 AM, said:

Also you may need to type "enableevent all" but I'm not sure if that step is required.

Nope. It's only after there was an error from an event that it's disabled so as not to spam the log.

EDIT: by the way, you can create an m32_autoexec.cfg that will execute every line contained therein at Mapster32 startup.

[Kyanos]

Is there a mapster command to delete sprites?

I'm looking for something like- do for i selsprites, GTFO

[Hendricks266]

do for i allsprites deletesprite i

[MetHy]

- Talked to someone who wasn't aware of that a few days ago : In 3D mode you can "lock" a sector that you're editing by holding right lick, which can for example be handy if you want to make it be relatively higher/lower. No matter what you'll be aiming at now, as long as keep holding right click, you'll be editing the sector you were aiming at when clicking.

- I just realized Mapster has an "undo" feature. it's in the main menu with saving, loading etc. A real time saver.

[Hendricks266]

MetHy, on 29 April 2014 - 08:14 AM, said:

- I just realized Mapster has an "undo" feature. it's in the main menu with saving, loading etc. A real time saver.

Ctrl+Z in 2D mode.

[MetHy]

In mapster in 2D mode, hold left shift on an activator/se/etc and it will show you all the other things those are linked to. What I mean is, it shows you all the effects-sprite sharing the same tag. By holding left-shift + pressing the two keys on the right of the "P" key (should be [ and ] on an american keyboard) you can even navigate between those linked sprites.

This can be very useful if you're making an effect that requires tons of effects sprite; or if you're checking a map and want to know what a switch does etc ; or, when you're making a map and you're not sure anymore if a tag has been used, just hold right shit on it and you'll know for sure if the tag is free or not.

The feature has its limits (don't do it on something tagged 0) but it can be very time saving.

[Helixhorned]

MetHy, on 03 May 2014 - 04:01 AM, said:

The feature has its limits (don't do it on something tagged 0) but it can be very time saving.

This can also be rephrased as a recommendation: don't tag anything with 0. Being a border case, it may behave subtly differently than any of the "linking numbers" in the recommended range [1 .. 16383]. There was even one regression around precisely this corner case (hitag of zero for fire extinguishers, or the like).

[Helixhorned]

MetHy, on 29 April 2014 - 08:14 AM, said:

- Talked to someone who wasn't aware of that a few days ago : In 3D mode you can "lock" a sector that you're editing by holding right lick, which can for example be handy if you want to make it be relatively higher/lower. No matter what you'll be aiming at now, as long as keep holding right click, you'll be editing the sector you were aiming at when clicking.

By the way, this can also be achieved by holding SPACE. There may be issues in combination with some of the a.m32 features, though.

[Daedolon]

I'd still kill for a way to list all the used hitags and lotags and hilight their sprites. After a few weeks of pause between editing maps, I can never remember the tags I've used. Plus using the text tag method seems to jump from low numbers like 52 to a completely arbitrary number like 334.

[Hendricks266]

Daedolon, on 03 May 2014 - 05:25 PM, said:

I'd still kill for a way to list all the used hitags and lotags and hilight their sprites.

Seems like some M32Script could do the job.

[Micky C]

I also think something like would be useful if it was added to a.m32 or some other included script.

[MetHy]

MetHy, on 03 May 2014 - 04:01 AM, said:

In mapster in 2D mode, hold left shift on an activator/se/etc and it will show you all the other things those are linked to. What I mean is, it shows you all the effects-sprite sharing the same tag. By holding left-shift + pressing the two keys on the right of the "P" key (should be [ and ] on an american keyboard) you can even navigate between those linked sprites.

This can be very useful if you're making an effect that requires tons of effects sprite; or if you're checking a map and want to know what a switch does etc ; or, when you're making a map and you're not sure anymore if a tag has been used, just hold right shit on it and you'll know for sure if the tag is free or not.

The feature has its limits (don't do it on something tagged 0) but it can be very time saving.

Also I just realized it doesn't link to walls sharing the same lowtag/effects. For example, if you have a switch disabling a forcefield, this feature won't show you that both are linked (even when trying it on the switch).

[MetHy]

What's anyone protips on working with SoS/RoR ? how to make it not annoying/painful or at least a little more convenient?
Do you build the sos part somewhere else in the map and then move it on top of the other part and connect it once everything is finished?

[Mark]

I have read MickeyC state a few times to plan ahead and put in the major TROR early in the map making process. Smaller bits of it as you go. I know that can make you get all googley eyed looking in Mapster when there are a lot of overlapping lines. The grey-out feature is handy for some of those times. I'm sure he will have more to say than I could.

[MetHy]

Grey-out feature?

[Kyanos]

Alt g
Automatic grey out of sectors outside the current TROR layer.

[Mark]

Thats odd. For me its LEFT CONTROL + A

[MetHy]

Oh I see; there has been a misunderstanding. I meant techniques to make work with build's natural sector over sector, not TROR. I find working with sector over sector pretty painful as it's hard to focus on one layer, and the mapping gets confused with the other layer(s); so I was wondering if anyone had techniques for that.

It would be nice if there was a way to "lock" a layer of SoS so that any work you do can't affect the other SoS layer. It could ask you which layer you want to "lock" kinda like now in mapster, if you want to join sectors with J in a part with SoS, it asks you inside which layer you want to join the sectors.

[High Treason]

I always just use teleporters for this, then build the seemingly above/below area somewhere else... Also I'm usually approaching the sprite limit anyway, so it gets around that too. I could then move the sectors later if I wanted to.

[Jblade]

MetHy, on 11 May 2014 - 11:20 AM, said:

Oh I see; there has been a misunderstanding. I meant techniques to make work with build's natural sector over sector, not TROR. I find working with sector over sector pretty painful as it's hard to focus on one layer, and the mapping gets confused with the other layer(s); so I was wondering if anyone had techniques for that.

It would be nice if there was a way to "lock" a layer of SoS so that any work you do can't affect the other SoS layer. It could ask you which layer you want to "lock" kinda like now in mapster, if you want to join sectors with J in a part with SoS, it asks you inside which layer you want to join the sectors.

That already exists, select a sector or a bunch of sectors and press CTRL+R to lock editing to those sector's Z ranges (and press it again to remove that lock)

[MetHy]

Really nice, thanks a lot! I've always wanted to make more use of SoS but it was always too much of a pain to work with. This should make things easier.

[Kyanos]

Mark., on 11 May 2014 - 11:20 AM, said:

Thats odd. For me its LEFT CONTROL + A

Yep, I had it wrong.

Methy, have you looked at mapster 2d mode 3d view. You can see your map from the side and other angles. From memory I think its F3 in 2d mode to enter 3d view. Q &W to rotate view angle

[MetHy]

Drek, on 11 May 2014 - 01:18 PM, said:

Methy, have you looked at mapster 2d mode 3d view. You can see your map from the side and other angles. From memory I think its F3 in 2d mode to enter 3d view. Q &W to rotate view angle

Yeah I know about it. It's pretty cool but, I just couldn't get used to it, like, from most angles, what LOOKS like the place your 'character' cursor is isn't actually the real place ? Starting from that, it's pretty hard to get any building done... then again I have to admit I didn't really try very hard at it.

I have found some good use to it though, like when I want to select a sector in particular and it's not possible in the normal top down 2D view (because due to the shape or angle of the sector and due to how you can only select things using a rectangle selection, you'd be selecting sprites or vertices next to the sector etc), then it can be possible from a certain angle to select only that sector I want using this new viewpoint; so that's convenient.

btw - I also made a good use of the feature showing textures and sprites in 2D mode (=backspace in 2D mode). It made me gain a lot of time when looking for particular sprites in maps not made by me in a certain project.

[ck3D]

James, on 11 May 2014 - 12:23 PM, said:

That already exists, select a sector or a bunch of sectors and press CTRL+R to lock editing to those sector's Z ranges (and press it again to remove that lock)

thanks for sharing, that's a good tip. for years my solution to differenciate between several overlapping layers of room-over-room had been to insert vertices (in 2d mode) onto the outer white walls of the sector i wanted to work within the boundaries of, then build things so that any new inner sector i would create from then on would be connected to the corresponding vertices somehow, starting from the vertices, to ensure that the engine would recognize the new sector as part of the correct bigger sector. not sure of how hard it is to picture if you haven't done it yourself before but basically it (obviously) often resulted in a waste of ressources due to the unnecessary creation of invisible sectors (as ways to link up the various elements) and splitting of walls. needless to say my solution wasn't working too well with spritework either.

[MetHy]

Just found out by accident, Shift + enter pastes the shade value (and just the shade value) of the texture you have stored with Tab

[Micky C]

You should really look at the key commands list on the wiki. All these things you've discovered have been around for a while, and most if not all are documented.