Turning a large map into sections

khamles

I've been attempting to figure out how to take my large landmass and cut it up into smaller scale pieces to use to interact with my players. The first problem is simply cutting it out and saving it as another fcw file so I can manipulate it on a kingdom level scale (adding smaller towns and such). If I can get this done I think my next question would be preserving/translating the scale from the initial map to the smaller sections. I've tried to search the forum, but have only found something from 2010, which seemed somewhat involved (freezing/thawing layers and other things that are confusing to this noob). Has this been simplified since that time? I have not had much luck with youtube either. I would really appreciate any assistance.

If this has been covered before, apologies, please just point me at the forum post/youtube link/whatever.

Thank you for your time,
khamles.

Monsen

The 'Tracing' section in the 'Editing' chapter of the manual has the basic steps. A more detailed tutorial can be found in the Tome of Ultimate Mapping.

Basically, the steps are to create a new map of the appropriate size, copy over all entities that should be included in the map, then use the editing tools to remove the parts of the entities that go outside the map border, edit the remaining entities to add extra details consistent with the new view, then add any additional details you need.

khamles

Thanks, I went through the tutorials (it was less dense and confusing than I initially thought), but can't seem to complete the tracing tutorial correctly. The tracing will often attach to a node or something that is not where my cursor was when I clicked. It seems to sometimes send the line the wrong direction around the landmass, or I end up drawing something rather than being able to send what I intend to the back (I have been successful with some entities). An example of this is step 5 in the manual on page 41. When attempting to click on the border of the desert to trace (below "A" in the lesson), the cursor will grab to something to the right of the desert on the map border. I've used info>list to investigate, but didn't find any hidden desert for the cursor to grab to. Is there a tool other than the tracing route on 40-41 to erase drawn sections of land? I keep feeling like a command to truncate everything outside the border would be great, or just a big dumb eraser that simply obliterates everything it touches.

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious. I feel like I'm very close to getting what I want done.
Khamles

Monsen

Posted By: khamlesThe tracing will often attach to a node or something that is not where my cursor was when I clicked.

Make sure snap (in the lower right corner) is turned off. Sometimes, it also helps zoom in to ensure you hit the correct entity.

Posted By: khamlesIt seems to sometimes send the line the wrong direction around the landmass

This is because the trace always will go through the point you used to select the entity to be traced. It is therefore important that you select it by clicking somewhere on the line segment that should actually be included.

Posted By: khamlesIs there a tool other than the tracing route on 40-41 to erase drawn sections of land?

Yes. You can use Break on an entity to cut out a part you don't need (This will also change it from a polygon to a path, so expect the fill to disappear and the entity to go hollow.) You can then use trim to cut off more parts if needed, then finally use path to poly (right click on the explode button to find the command) to close it up again and restore the fill style. You can also do note manipulations if needed with the Node Edit, add node and remove node functions. (You'll find all of these commands at the bottom of the right toolbars.)

khamles

Thank you very much. I'm having better luck using the break/path to poly route. I have to experiment more with the trace command, but it seems like some of the problem was likely what you said, but also the fact that I was initially drawing in fractal for the landmass (on my own personal map) and accidentally made some unintended secondary circles as the fractals crossed/overlapped in areas where sharp turns happened (hope that makes sense, not sure how to say it better). I think with the node editing you mentioned, I may have also been able to disentangle the secondary land sections where the fractal lines crossed over one another, but need to experiment more. Anyway, I was able to shrink one land portion down successfully so far to my kingdom scale, so thanks again.
Khamles