Question regarding connecting Catalogs and Templates

brandor

Hello,

I am currently somewhat confused... until now, I thought that the catalogs (the files) were entirely independent from the templates. However, if I see it correctly, some kind of relationship between the template and the catalog files seems to be required after all. For instance, when importing new PNGs for the symbols in the catalog file, I can select a layer directly during the import process. However, not all (new) layers from my template appear in the dropdown-list.

Do I understand correctly that structuring the template with layers and sheets first, and creating the catalogues based on that structure afterwards might be important?

However, how can I know in advance what layers I will need later on?

Or am I misunderstanding something or making a mistake somewhere?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Brandor

PS: I hope the translation software will make it possible to translate the sometimes very difficult details of the question well ...

Loopysue

There is no way of specifying the layer within a symbol catalogue.

Layer specification occurs at a later stage when you create a new catalogue setting and filter for the catalogue when attaching it to a button. This process is explained on page 103 of the Tome of Ultimate Mapping, or in this blog by Remy Monsen (which also includes a link to a section of a live mapping session he did that may be more useful than trying to read reams of text in English).

Layers cannot be set for individual symbols, but they can be set for the entire catalogue. That is why the symbols of most styles are carefully separated into catalogues that reflect their type and the layer they should end up on, such as Structures.FSC, Vegetation.FSC, Traps.FSC, etc.

Whatever translator you are using is working very well - better than Google Translate... unless they've massively improved Google Translate since I last attempted to read an article in a language foreign to me :)

...

This is just a personal observation here, but you do seem to be placing a huge emphasis on the importance of layers. They really aren't that important, as can be seen from the way there are generally fewer controls and settings for them wherever you look. Far more important are the sheets and effects.

JimP

You can use many different symbols. I tend to browse via the symbol selector to load different symbols if I want a different house, tree, etc.

brandor

@Loopysue  Yes, I am familiar with the blog and live mapping from Remy Monsen :) Ah! You are right, there was an option to set the layer under catalog settings. There are just so many things to adjust and keep track of in so many different places that I often lose overview ;)

Yes, I may be overestimating the importance of layers. I am still not very experienced in building maps, which is why I start off with the difficult part. Creating my own templates and my own symbols. On the other hand, I need my own style for the maps to match the style of my game.

Okay, the fact that layers cannot be set per symbol but rather per catalog wasn't quite clear to me yet. But ultimately, it makes sense. Thank you for explaining it to me :)

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As a translator, I tried using both Hugging Face Chat and DeepL. It works out fairly well. (Sometimes I have to correct some things manually.) It is reassuring to read that coherent English comes out at least halfway :)