Level Editor + TileMap Integration
by Rodney Rindels - Torqued · in Torque Game Builder · 05/12/2006 (3:08 pm) · 8 replies
I asked several times in the Beta 3 is live post, but didn't get a response.
Josh's post mentioned that there is no new functionality going to be added until Release, and the majority of work between now and then is going to be bugfixes, etc.
My question is there is a tilemap stub in the level editor now. But still its doesn't load tilemaps, and we dont have real tilemap integration, so is this considered something that will be fixed and working, or something that wont be? Since Its stubbed I assume its a feature thats going to be finished?
If not , it would be nice to know one way or the other, that was a major thing I think many people expected in Beta 3 according to responses in the beta 3 is live post.
Thanks
Josh's post mentioned that there is no new functionality going to be added until Release, and the majority of work between now and then is going to be bugfixes, etc.
My question is there is a tilemap stub in the level editor now. But still its doesn't load tilemaps, and we dont have real tilemap integration, so is this considered something that will be fixed and working, or something that wont be? Since Its stubbed I assume its a feature thats going to be finished?
If not , it would be nice to know one way or the other, that was a major thing I think many people expected in Beta 3 according to responses in the beta 3 is live post.
Thanks
#2
Maybe they should change the name to "Tile Layer Builder" then.
So? is there going to be better integration "before" relase , or is this on hold? Like my original question?
Or maybe better asked.. "What is the plan for Tile Maps going forward?"
So they show up, but dropping them on the form does nothing...
Rodney
05/12/2006 (3:41 pm)
Um ok thats interesting , layer denotes a layer not a map I dont get that,and I didn't see that in the release notes. Maybe they should change the name to "Tile Layer Builder" then.
So? is there going to be better integration "before" relase , or is this on hold? Like my original question?
Or maybe better asked.. "What is the plan for Tile Maps going forward?"
So they show up, but dropping them on the form does nothing...
Rodney
#3
05/12/2006 (3:53 pm)
So the plot thickens, a single layer loads and displays, anything with multiple layers actually locks my whole tile editor screen , neato.... 
#4
I quickly tried this out and works fairly well. The Tilemaps layers *don't* appear in the Tilemaps initially however, I needed to close and reload T2D to get it to show up but beyond that it seemed to work well
(as for "dropping them on the form does nothing" I can definitly see mine, I also can click a tiny EDIT button on the selected layer which directly launches the Tilemap Editor which is a wonderful feature)
I'm still a little confused about tile size + map size vs screen size. It appears a 50x50 map with tiles 4x4 is about 2048x2048 in physical screen real estate. Thought from that math it appears I can probably answer my own question :)
05/12/2006 (4:10 pm)
Oooooooo *lyr extension! So THATS how you do it!I quickly tried this out and works fairly well. The Tilemaps layers *don't* appear in the Tilemaps initially however, I needed to close and reload T2D to get it to show up but beyond that it seemed to work well
(as for "dropping them on the form does nothing" I can definitly see mine, I also can click a tiny EDIT button on the selected layer which directly launches the Tilemap Editor which is a wonderful feature)
I'm still a little confused about tile size + map size vs screen size. It appears a 50x50 map with tiles 4x4 is about 2048x2048 in physical screen real estate. Thought from that math it appears I can probably answer my own question :)
#5
For me it works far better the single layer. I plan on mixing and matching layers, reusing the same base layer with various overlays to give me different maps
05/12/2006 (4:13 pm)
Quote:So the plot thickens, a single layer loads and displays, anything with multiple layers actually locks my whole tile editor screen , neato....I imagine thats how we are supposed to use it. Perhaps you can create a multiple set of tilemaps in one multi layer file as original storage but then save out every layer singularly and use them inside the editor
For me it works far better the single layer. I plan on mixing and matching layers, reusing the same base layer with various overlays to give me different maps
#6
05/12/2006 (5:44 pm)
Come on Josh/Matt/Steven/Melv... let us in on the plan for tilemaps in the 1.0 release. =)
#7
Dropping the layers works for me, they show up as being previewed in the "TileMaps" list/control.
Looking through the levelbuilder source there doesn't seem to be any UI in there for loading entire tilemaps, but if you check the "Project" tab in the builder, you'll notice there's a t2dtilemap control with a number infront of it.
If you make a tilemap with more than one layer and then go into console and do (replace 1234 with the right number) 1234.loadtilemap("T2D/data/tilemap/whateveryoucalledyourtilemap.map"); it will load the entire tilemap into the editor, with all the layers you saved it as.
You can manipulate single layers by selecting them in the object tree. (ie, moving them around)
Hope this helps. :)
05/12/2006 (7:32 pm)
@Rodney: Yeah, it doesn't work if you save an entire tilemap as a .lyr, but if you just save each tile layer as a seperate .lyr, they will show up after you restart TGB.Dropping the layers works for me, they show up as being previewed in the "TileMaps" list/control.
Looking through the levelbuilder source there doesn't seem to be any UI in there for loading entire tilemaps, but if you check the "Project" tab in the builder, you'll notice there's a t2dtilemap control with a number infront of it.
If you make a tilemap with more than one layer and then go into console and do (replace 1234 with the right number) 1234.loadtilemap("T2D/data/tilemap/whateveryoucalledyourtilemap.map"); it will load the entire tilemap into the editor, with all the layers you saved it as.
You can manipulate single layers by selecting them in the object tree. (ie, moving them around)
Hope this helps. :)
#8
So I'll pose the same question a different way.
Since its in there as a feature, I hope there are plans to fix it before a production release, where its more intuitive than the console hack?
in either regard that was very helpful Matt, I appreciate you taking the time to respond with a thorough answer.
05/15/2006 (2:52 pm)
Ok, so it doesn't work with full tilemaps yet.So I'll pose the same question a different way.
Since its in there as a feature, I hope there are plans to fix it before a production release, where its more intuitive than the console hack?
in either regard that was very helpful Matt, I appreciate you taking the time to respond with a thorough answer.
Torque Owner Matt Harpold
Just save tilemap layers into ~/data/tilemaps (or T2D/data/tilemaps) with a *.lyr extension and they should show up in the Tilemap section in the levelbuilder.