Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...

Sy's mehish Mapping Tut


Sylexus44
 Share

Recommended Posts

This Tut was created for the purpose of teaching my mappers in my team how to tut, but WTH. Might was well post it here

Here are some examples i've come up with (pay attention to the things outlined in red, they're explained underneath in order):

The good:
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/example4.png)
1- roadside, good ground transition
2- vine technique on tree
3- Bird's nest adds detail
4- stuff on grass is good
5- adding small pebbles and dust is good detail
6- FUNGI DO GROW ON TREES
7- using a technique multiple times on a map is ok as long as it's not overused
8- tree coverings make forest effect
9- Yes, shrubs can grow on rocks
10- Somethings sticking out of the next map is fine as long you plan to make them transition properly

The bad:
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/example3.png)
1- COMPLETE CRAP!!! never have black spots like that. not to mention it's too repetitive and close to eachother
2- the definition of stupidity
3- no cliff transition
4- makes no sense, and tree is missing trunk
5- same old boring ground

The ugly:
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/example5.png)
1- Does this make sense whatsoever?
2- grass and shrubs on that road?
3- Road is too straight, and has no transition with the grass
4- WTH?
5- A beach? right there? NO
6- those shrubs are defying the laws of physics
7- This works. IF IT WAS A COLDER MAP!!!
8- This would be ok to place tents like that as long the map transition was proper, but they're too close together

Now for you to start learning everything, the maps above probably have provided you with good do's and don'ts but now you need to know how to do them.

Here's the mapping panel and the descriptions for each part of it:

![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/example1.png)
1- Tiles: these are what you use to give your map graphics
2- Clear: clears everything
3- Layers: explained below
4- Tile sheets: 0-9 have the graphics, 10 is only for lighting (you're not restricted to one tile sheet on a map)
5- Layers, Attributes, Lighting: talked about later
6- Screenshot mode: Nothing appears on the map except the tiles. press f12 in this mode to take a screenshot of only the map
7- Day/Night: change day to night or vise versa to check your lighting
8- Map Grid: Places a handy grid on the map (ALWAYS USE THIS IF YOU WANT TO BE PRECISE)
9- Eye Dropper: Copy 1 tile on the map for placement
10- Fill: Fills the map on the selected layer with the selected tile. Use this and select a pitch black tile on a layer to clear that layer
11- Properties: Maps adjacent to this map, Map music, Name, type of map, indoors/outdoors, NPC's, and spawning can all be changed here
12- Exit: NEVER DO THIS WITHOUT SAVING FIRST UNLESS YOU NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR MAP AGAIN
13- Save: do this often
14- X & Y coordinates: shows what coordinates your cursor is on

How to start out:

Press F1 then go to Edit and press Map Editor
The Editor will pop up, all you have to do is understand the basics of it that are taught above.
To place an Attribute, Lighting, or Tile just click it in the Editor then click on the Map

Now we'll talk about layers, as seen above there are 5 layers (they're listed below in order). Layers are… well... LAYERS!!!
all maps have different layers, every tile is placed at a layer, your character appears over every layer up to Mask2, and under both Fringes. Layers are important because they're what adds detail to your map. You can have up to one of every layer on one single tile, usually the best maps have every layer on every tile filled with something (not always of course).

(since animation is on the same layer as the layer it's animating, it just blinks the animated tile back and forth) ALWAYS REMEMBER pitch black turns up invisible on any layer except ground

Picture layers like this in a vertical view they would appear like so (ive given examples of what you would put on that layer):

Top
------------
Fringe 2 (example: Bird's nest)
------------
Fringe (example: tree limbs)
------------
Player stands here
------------
Mask2 (example: lower tree trunk)
------------
Mask (example: grass or shrubs)
------------
Ground (example: soil [mostly anything that doesn't have black on it])
–----------
Bottom

You can save yourself more layers to put detail on by using your layers wisely. Such as instead of putting grass on Mask2 just because you're in a rush, put it of Mask so you can put other things on top of it to add detail, otherwise you'd have to use fringe or higher to cover it but it would cover the player too.

Next we talk about attributes:

here's the chart that shows each one:

![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/example6.png)

Blocked: Prevents Players and NPCs from walking on that tile
Warp: You enter an x and y coordinate and a map # then set it, when the player steps on it they warp to that location
Item: Places an item on a tile
NPC avoid: Prevents NPC's from walking on a tile, but players can still walk on it
Key: Places a key on the map
Key Open: A blocked tile unless a player steps on it with the key needed
Roof: Used on Fringe 2 tiles to make them appear normally until the player walks under a certain area with the same ID as the roof, then the Fringe 2 layer dissapears
Roof/Block: Same as roof but players cannot walk on it
Play Sound: <- self explanatory
Scripted: Can do anything depending on the chosen script
Class Change: Will change the player's class when they step on it
Notice: Gives a message in the chat bar
Door: not quite sure
Sign: press enter to read it, text will appear in chat bar
Sprite Change: changes the player's sprite
Shop: sets a shop on the map
Class Block: blocks up to 3 classes from stepping on the tile
Arena: bugged
Bank: sets a bank on the map
Player House: set on a tile, when the player steps there they will be offered the amount of currency for it, if they buy it, it becomes theirs
Heal: heals you 100% when stepped on
Guild Block: useless
Grapple Stone: allows grapple hook to work on it
WalkThrough: allows multiple players to be on the same tile
Kill: instant kill to whoever steps on it
Click: obvious
Minus Stat: it lowers your stats

Now we're on to the final thing: lighting

![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/example7.png)

Lighting is simple, it's like layering, you just lay down the light and at night it'll appear in game, dont mess up this tile sheet though since it also holds the level up and chat bubble graphics.

Some extra notes:

Make sure your maps properly transition and connect to eachother. Take screenshots and put them together to check if you placed things properly next to eachother on both sides.

THERE IS NO UNDO BUTTON

NEVER HAVE MORE THAN ONE PERSON WORK ON THE SAME MAP AT THE SAME TIME!!!, if one of them saves, then the other one's work is GONE!

Never walk or warp into another map while mapping (even by accident) anything not saved on your map will not be there when you get back.

Right click to remove attributes, lighting, or tiles on the selected layer

You can hold down on shift then press on the top left tile of multiple tiles and drag down to select multiple tiles at once

K, so now you know everything you need to know to begin with, so let's do this step by step:

Let's start with a ground layer:
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/Screenshot_0-1.jpg)

Now add the masks (Mask2 was forgotten by accident, but you can see them in the fringe one):
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/Screenshot_1-1.jpg)

Fringe (see how it goes over the character?):
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/Screenshot_2-1.jpg)

Fringe 2:
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/Screenshot_4.jpg)

Then go back and add detail:
![](http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/Sylexus/Screenshot_5.jpg)

WALLA!!! naw, it's not that great but it's for educational purposes.

I wish you all good luck now with your mapping, I hope this waste of my life is somewhat useful to you but I sorta doubt it.

GL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Nexus:

> lol, i laughed…
>
> But yeah, this may help some mapping newbies
>
> I'm not the best, but I'm not a newbie.

Lol so you read it? glad you laughed.

Hope it helped you a bit though

@Marsh:

> Good show of the basics.

thanks, I hope to make a more advanced one for 3.0 when that's released. This one could be considered global mapping.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
I just started with this today and am already about ready to give up.  :angry: The only way I can get ANYTHING to show on my map is to "Fill" the whole map with it, how do you go about adding other stuff? clicking doesn't work, "Eye Dropper" doesn't work. Nothing I try except "Fill" has any effect on the map at all!  :confused:  Help please! I don't need help getting stuff to look good, I just need help getting ANYTHING on there at all except a solid field of the same tile over and over again!
I used to use RPGMaker2000 and the map creation bit looks virtually identical but nothing except the Fill works that worked in RPGMaker2000\. Thats what makes this so frusterating.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
I'm new to Eclipse and have been fuming over maps for the last week. I get how to design it and everything but what I don't understand is…WHY MY MAPS WON'T SAVE?!?!?! Everytime I click save it closes the editor (like it's supposed to) them *POOF* my map is gone! It's so frustrating!

HAs anyone else run into this problem before? If so, PLEASE HELP ME!!!!  :O
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...