Changing Background Colors
I have a question. I've searched through the forums, and the only advice I find doesn't work. It's such a simple thing, it's driving me up the wall.
With Campaign Cartographer 3, how do I change the background color on a map?
I click Edit --> Change Background Color, and on the bottom bar it says "select new background color [dialog]". I click the color setting box at the top, pick a color, click OK, and ... nothing happens.
I have the Background sheet showing, everything else hidden.
There's got to be a way to do this.
With Campaign Cartographer 3, how do I change the background color on a map?
I click Edit --> Change Background Color, and on the bottom bar it says "select new background color [dialog]". I click the color setting box at the top, pick a color, click OK, and ... nothing happens.
I have the Background sheet showing, everything else hidden.
There's got to be a way to do this.
Comments
If a solid color, you did it correctly.
Since it didn't change, likely it is a bitmap fill. Most of the newer templates, when you first create a map, use a bitmap fill for the background.
Good luck,
Sven
For those who haven't seen freezing layers, it's Tools --> Set Properties --> Layers then you have check boxes for each layer, one of which is "frozen".
I have unfrozen & unhid all layers & sheets.. yet I still can not change the map background..
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The first block shows a check mark if that layer is active. The second block shows an H if that layer is hidden. The third block shows an F if it is frozen.
CC3 was telling you there is no such thing as 'freeze background', which there isn't.
Look for Background, and make sure there is a check mark in the left block. Hide all other layers by clicking Hide All. You can then select the background and change its color.
Necromancering an old thread here, but I have this exact same issue.
A old map with landmasses and lots of detail on it but that was drawn on a white background as a CC3 Overland map.
I am trying to replace the background white with the 'water dark bitmap' or any water really so I can see how the map will look.
But I can't get Campaign Cartographer to let me. I've opened up the 'Select layers' Left ticked Background and hidden everything else.
If I then 'Edit->Change background colour', I see the text in the bottom left tell me to select a new background colour [dialog]: so I click the colour part of the status bar, pop open the colour picker and just atm pick blue, I see Command[CHANGEC] in the bottom left, left click in the view area and I get the pop up.
There is no layer with this name: FREEZE BACKGROUND
Confused as hell really, does this mean it wants a background layer FREEZE BACKGROUND made so it can target it?
The advice from JimP above is how I got to this point.
Meanwhile I'll see if I can work out how to do a bitmap fill of the background and if that works.
This feels unnecessarily difficult to do and the error messages may as well be in a different language :/
Having said that, first of all open your LAYERS list and make sure that the TEMPLATE layer is frozen (I'll explain why).
Then open the SHEETS list, select BACKGROUND and then Hide All.
Now you should just have the BACKGROUND sheet visible, which normally contains two rectangles overlaid. One is your actual background, the other is a hollow green rectangle on the TEMPLATE layer - which CC3 uses to figure out where the edge of the map is (I think). That's why you need the TEMPLATE layer frozen before proceeding.
Click on either Change Properties or Edit Properties (I prefer the change version as selection is easier) and you'll get this (actual contents will match your current choices):
You can just change the fill style to a bitmap fill - or change the colour, but changing the colour won't have an effect once a bitmap fill is used.
Note that if you do the above steps without having the template layer frozen, then you normally end up editing the template rectangle by mistake if you use the Edit Properties button, as it only selects a single entity and will select the hollow green rectangle every time (I guess because it has a lower entity ID number).
EDIT: After reading @Monsen's reply to you in another thread, I think that I meant the MAP BORDER layer needs to be frozen, rather than the TEMPLATE layer (they're normally both frozen). You probably figured that out for yourself, but just editing in case someone else follows my advice.
The easiest is to follow the instruction @Raiko provided above.
But for some more context. The Change background color command is a legacy command from back when backgrounds were solid colors, before we started using bitmap fills. When an entity has a bitmap fill, the color won't be visible (because you see the fill instead), so this command will appear to do nothing. As such, just ignore it unless you work with a map with a solid color background.
As for the error message about "FREEZE BACKGROUND", the cause for this is that the macro behind the command attempts to freeze the background layer, so this is a command, not the name of a layer it looks for. However, if something goes wrong with the macro (like it can't find a background entity [not all maps have one]), that can lead the macro to interpret that line as input to the layer selection instead, thereby complaining it can't find a layer with that name.
Hi Folks,
So sorry for venting my initial frustrations here, I eventually stopped throwing my toys out of the pram and asked for help without all the grumpiness and this community has been great. The map I'm trying to clean up has poor layer discipline as past authors have struggled with how CC works but muddled along to get the visual results they wanted.
What I learned here was, as you say the bitmap fill selection trumps the colour picker, you need to turn the fill selection to 'Solid colour' to work with a simple colour.
My map also had a broken MAP BORDER layer, no 4 lines making up a rectangle, just 4 pieces of text arbitrarily in the middle of the map. Corrected that with @Monsen 's help in the other thread.
Third mistake, I was expecting there to be a background fill to extent button/feature like you get in GIMP, etc. The paint bucket which drops the colour/tiled bit map to the extend of the image. Instead I used the draw filled rectangle tool, with the 'sea' bitmap to create a large rectangle for my background, within the bounds of the box I had made on the MAP BORDER layer.
As a final tweak I also put 4 white rectangles around the outside of my Map Border layer to visually cover times when you need to work the other side of a map border. e.g. Fractal Ice tundra that you want to be snug against the map edge.
Having the same problem and i think it’s a sheets layers thing that I’m still trying to work with. A bit head exploding. At least there’s isn’t also blankets, quilts and pillows to worry about. 🤣
@mr.frodobaggins This is a really old thread and may not apply to CC3+ in it's current state.
It might be better to start a new thread and upload your FCW with more specific details relating to the issues you are having with your map.
The other advantage of starting your own thread is that you will get notifications when there are further comments on it.
I fixed the problem but it was entirely due to sheet effects. Not quite sure why sheet effects for roads would affect background. Thx Loopy. Noted
now to figure out how to change road colour 😆
Changec for change color. Follow the prompts on the command line. I'm on my cellphone so I can't give a detailed list.