Noobie Questions - Walls not connecting, weird selections going on, etc.

Amerisun

Hello, I just purchased CC3 and DD3 a few days ago and have been watching the excellent youtube videos and really am excited to make some maps but having some troubles with some of the tools and how they work. I have noticed the + version of the product helps a LOT with the text help as you're doing things to show you ALT and CTRL and the alternatives to an option and I have to say it's a great addition to what I see on the videos as watching the videos I hear "clicks" or "double clicks" and not entirely sure if he is right clicking, keyboard clicking or left clicking while also holding down other keys which I am unfamiliar.

To pre-face I am making dungeons using DD3 and a custom sized and created map with a 10 foot grid.

1. Wall selection problem.
If I create a floor and put a wall on it, and I go to erase the wall and click on the wall edge, it selects the floor and the wall. This doesn't seem to happen in the tutorial videos, so I am curious if I am doing something wrong? I can solve this by freezing the other layers besides walls and then walls are only selected, but perhaps something else I am doing incorrect here? I checked the tools, options and selection method and it's set to "Dialog or Popup" as I found that in the FAQ and other places but I still have to lock other layers when selecting items as it seems to select anything with an edge close to each other? (hope I am even saying the right terms here)

2. Weird Wall Issues, how can I connect them right?
I place down a floor, I then place down a wall on one side of the floor, and if I click around the corner and then right click at the next intersection it has nice connected corners as below (nice corner) but if I do each wall separately I get a broken corner as per below. How do I make those two walls connect properly to have a nice smooth corner? I have tried to just lay the whole dungeon down first and then do all the walls in one go.. but that's maddening and I am sure there is a better way?

Nice Corner


Broken Corner



I am sure I will come up with some more after this, but so far it seems like such a powerful tool that has come a long way to help noobies (with all the tool tips, etc.).

Thanks ahead of time, hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Amerisun

Monsen

1. This is normal, when multiple entities have their edges in the same spot, they will all be selected. You'll ned to either freeze/hide layers/sheets, or use various selection tricks, like only selecting entities of a spesific color. For these, see the Editing chapter in the manual.

2. This happens because these are individual lines, corners only appear when a single line "bends" like in your first picture. To fix this, I usually use Combine Paths on the walls, combining the two individual lines into one continuous path. You can find the combine path command by right clicking on Explode. It is usually easiest to do this at the very end when you are done with the dungeon and ready to clean up.

Amerisun

I was looking for something like a combine in the node editing tools but it only broke things apart so I knew I was missing something. Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed!

Amerisun

How would I do this for floors as well? I have created multiple hall ways that meet up in the middle. But because they are all separate "floors" the textures do not line up where the two floors meet. I assume I have to somehow connect those floors to "become one" so that the tiling of the floor texture becomes uniformed? I tried to use the Combine Paths but I don't believe that is the one to use?

Monsen

There are two options here.
If none of them are overlapping in any way, simply combine them using multipoly. Note that when you multipoly something, it takes on the currently active properties from the status bar, NOT the properties of any of the involved polygons, so use extract properties on on of the floors first.
The second option is a bit more involved. You need to use BREAK on the polygons to remove the part where they meet (This will turn them into paths instead of filled polygons), then combine these paths, then finally use Path to Poly (Right click Explode) to turn them back into filled polygons. There is a step-by-step tutorial ("Complex Rooms") in the Tome of Ultimate mapping if you own it that describe this process.

LordEntrails

On the floors, could you also start by making the entire background the floor tile fill, and then rather than draw in the rooms, instead draw in the "black-out" areas? Other than the admittedly strange workflow, is this possible and what would the pros and cons be?

Monsen

That's perfectly fine. I've done that on multiple occasions, especially with natural caves.
One of the great things when doing this is that if you put a bevel effect on the entities you draw, it is very easy to give a sunken look to the dungeon, where it looks more like it is dug into the background, rather than sitting on top of it.
You'll usually need to plan effects a bit differently when doing this, and be a little aware of the behavior of smart/cutting symbols.