tools not drawing where I want

Howdy, and really sorry that my first post here is a cry for help, but that's the way it is a lot of times. I also hope I don't screw up trying to post this.

I have had this issue with multiple tools, but for this example, I am trying to draw a river, but as shown in the picture, after clicking the river tool (red circle), I click to start my river and nothing seems to happen because where I am clicking to start the river (green square) is not where the river is actually starting (red square). The river line is the light blue line to the left of the red square. There seems to be a small invisible box that the tool will not draw outside of that is nowhere near where I actually want to draw the river.

I do not know why it is happening or why it stops (obviously, or I'd have no drawing at all). There's no consistency so I'm hoping that I've screwed up a setting somewhere without realizing it.

Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated and attempted, if possible, or lamented, if it turns out my hardware just can't handle things properly, which I sincerely hope is not the case.

Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Hello Zaecus - and welcome to the Profantasy forum :D

    I've never seen CC3 behaving so oddly, though it is more likely to be a setting than your hardware. CC3 isn't half as taxing on hardware as a lot of other graphics packages can be ;)

    I am, however, not an expert on software and hardware matters. Are you using CC3, or CC3+, and does it still happen if you start a new file with the same template?
  • Thanks for the welcome. :)

    I'm using CC3+, and I've had the problem on several drawings at this point. Sometimes it happens once and my wild flailing fixes it and it doesn't happen again for a while and sometimes it just keeps happening.

    I have found that it sometimes, but not always, stops happening if I right-click on the symbol catalog window to expand it, then right-click on it again to put it back to normal and then immediately use the drawing tool I am trying to use. This is obviously not 'fixing' the issue, but it can temporarily allow me to draw.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    How strange! Would you be able to upload an FCW file in which this is happening (doesn't have to be your map, but just an affected FCW file) so that we could have a look at it and see if we can replicate the problem on our own PCs?
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Additionally - can I just ask if when you installed the software you installed it as the administrator and deactivated your antivirus? Also - have you installed the latest update from your account page?
  • edited October 2016
    Before I do anything else, let me update my software because, no, I am not using the latest update apparently.

    However, I definitely installed the program as an administrator, but I do not believe I disabled my antivirus when doing so. Is that an issue, particularly enough of one that I should remove the program and reinstall it with the antivirus off (which seems odd, but ok)?
  • Okay, updating did not stop the problem, which seems oddly willing to keep happening right now for some reason. I am going to attach the FCW and pray I'm not breaking any forum rules by doing so.
  • And yes, I am reluctant to turn off my antivirus, not because of security concerns but because I switched to windows 10 a while back, and I'm not all that familiar with how it reacts to something like that.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Thanks Zaecus, and no you aren't breaking any rules. An FCW file can only be opened by someone with the correct software, which means it can only be opened by someone who has the same licence as you do. Any artwork in your file that isn't part of the Profantasy software (personalised symbols and bitmaps etc) would just appear to me as red crosses.

    Besides, sometimes when you are dealing with an amateur like me, I need to be able to see what's happening before I can even hope to be any kind of help.

    I'll get back to you when I've tried putting a few rivers on the map ;)
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Ok it looks like you may have enlarged the map from the original template size.... or something like that.

    Not sure how it happened, but the way I've fixed it for me is by changing the tool settings to allow rivers to go beyond the original edge of the map.

    There are a couple of other things you can do to the way the river tool is set up to make things a bit easier, since the default width is far too wide.

    1. Right click the river button, then click the Advanced button, then untick the "Restrict to map border" tick box.

    2. Click the Properties button.

    3. Set the width to use current width.

    This last action will give you more control over the river width without having to alter the settings again, since altering the line width by clicking the top bar where it says W: and entering a new value will do the job whenever you want to adjust the width of a new river.

    The settings for the tool as they stand seem a bit strange. I've not seen any of my own tools set up that way, but maybe things have changed since I started using CC3+

    Let me know if you are still having problems
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    edited October 2016
    Check entities on the MAP BORDER LAYER. Most drawing tools are made to only draw within the map border, and this is determined by entities on this layer. Rogue entities on this layer will cause this behavior.

    Edit: I opened your map, and you have a ton of entities on this layer. Use change properties to move everything to more appropriate layers, move everything except the actual lines defining the outer border.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Zaecus - I'd listen to Monsen over me - he really DOES know what he's talking about :)
  • Oh, wow. Thank you both very much!

    Nearly none of that should have been on the map border layer, and after moving it, I was able to draw a river with no problem whatsoever. The climate bands were the obvious problem, but everything except the map border is now elsewhere.

    Setting rivers to use current width is genius. Those things were hideously large for this map. :)
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    edited October 2016
    Your welcome, Zaecus (for the river width thing). You aren't the only one who's learned something this morning, thanks to Monsen ;)
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