Most probably there is a problem opening the map. CC3+ loads the last map on startup, so if something goes terrible wrong doing that, symptoms like that can manifest.

Easiest way is to make sure all instances of CC3+ are shut down (use task manager to kill them if required, or reboot your computer), then instead of clicking the CC3+ icon to start the program, double click on any map file instead as that will start the program with that map instead (Obviously, don't try to double click on the suspected problematic map, but try something known good, like one of the example files that came with the program)

Whenever you have issues like this, it is almost always something on the wrong sheet.

Sometimes the easiest way is to go through the sheets one by one.

If you issue the command SAUTOHIDEON you put CC3+ into only displaying one sheet at a time mode. You can then go to the next sheet with the SNEXT command or previous one using SPREV command, or to a specified sheet by using the SSET SheetName command.

There is a small bug where the sheet indicator in the status bar says Common Sheet even if that is not the active sheet. Issuing a REDRAW command (or Ctrl +R) updates this to show the proper sheet.

Once you have identified what is wrong, which should be obvious when you work through the sheets like that, you can turn normal sheet display back on and show all sheets with SHOWSHTF *.

A good style can never have too many symbols.

• Symbol varity is always good. Just variants of some of the same symbols would be great, like variant bridges and castles and towers and more
• Different races and cultures, as you mention elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, but also culture-inspired like middle-eastern, far eastern, jungle tribes, aztec/maya inspired, bad/evil lands
• How about a mountain symbol with a dragon on top of it, and a volcano and a mountain with a mysterious cave
• Ships and sea monsters
• Windmills
• fruit trees
• a black cat pushing things off the edge of the map
• icebergs
• all kinds of ruins, cities, castles, towers, etc
• a snow and ice fill.

Yes.

Editing a landmass is done using the same drawing tool you used to create it. Start the drawing tool, and if you look at the command line, it should offer you the option of pressing E for 'Edit'. Doing this will allow you to add to or remove from an existing landmass, by basically drawing the coastline again between two nodes. Just follow the prompts on the command line.

To merge two landmasses, you should delete the black outline of both landmasses first, then use Break [BREAK] to remove the parts of the landmasses where they will join (This will remove the fill of the landmass, don't worry about it, it will be restored), then use combine paths [CMB] to combine the outline paths into one path, then use Path to Poly [CLOSEPATH] to close up the polygon again (This will return the fill to the landmass). Finally, use outline in Black [OUTLINEB] to give the landmass an outline again. Now, if this results in some long straight connecting lines between the landmasses because they were a bit apart, use the Edit functionality as mentioned above to replace the straight line with a better coastline drawn by the drawing tool.

Nice work so far.

I was looking at your .fcw files, and I noticed that some of the colors around your mountain regions were a very bright pink.  I am suspecting this is not intentional and is due to you having an non-default palette installed. If this is the case, I recommend attaching the palette to the drawing so it follows the file instead of having it in your CC3+ data directory as a separate file affecting all maps. You can attach the palette from the :CC2PRESETS: dialog.

Trim does this when operating on splines. The reason is that the shape of the spline is dependent on the positions of the nodes, including the following nodes, so if you simply cut it and placed a node at the end, the shape would change.

Since CC3+ is a CAD program, having the rest of the shape change shape isn't really acceptable, so instead when you trim a spline, it just hides the rest of the shape instead of removing the nodes from the entity.

You can just list out all the hotspots

LIST -> hit T (for entity type) -> check the Action: 2D Hotspot option -> Hit OK -> hit D (for do it)

The great thing here is that CC3+ remember the checked option in the entity type list between maps (in the same CC3+ instance) so the next time you hit T to go into that list, the 2D hotspot option will already be checked so you don't have to scroll through looking for it every time. (You still have to open that dialog every time though to add entity type as a criteria)

It shouldn't be hard to write an XP module that lists all the links in a map either, and combined with the MULTIFILESCRIPT command should allow all links in all maps to be listed.

You can't zoom to a specific % because that concept doesn't really exist in CC3+. CC3+ is CAD software, and the content is always rendered to whatever size you select, there isn't a "full", "print" or "actual" size.

With an image editor, zooming to 100% makes sense, because that means that each pixel in your image is being showed as the same size as a pixel on your screen, but CC3+ maps aren't expressed in pixels.

For print size, that really depends on what scale and paper size you want to print at. As with showing on screen, print isn't a fixed size, CC3+ renders the output to match your print settings.

Considering your screen is likely to be much larger than a sheet of paper (unless you are working on a laptop screen), zooming to show the same content that will be on your paper wouldn't really give a perfect view of how it looks on paper anyway, since the paper is so much smaller.

I think it is important to realize Steampunk is fantasy though. And with that I mean, they do fantastic things with the steam that isn't possible at all under real world physics. In many cases, you see them approaching semi-modern concepts (while still being in the Victorian age) but using steam instead of electricity and more practical fuels. So when drawing steampunk, it isn't "will this be possible using steam", but more "does this seem cool and somewhat plausible if we ignore actual physics?" all the way to "this doesn't seem plausible at all, but it is damn cool".

Many steampunk settings uses things like automatons, which are large steam-powered robots, both "human-like" and "this-is-a-big-machine" like. Sometimes intelligent, self-operating, in other settings controlled by an operator.

I like the city-building computer game Frostpunk for it's visuals. It' is basically Steampunk in the cold (concept art) (automatons)

Another interesting omputer game that takes the concept pretty far and some more, is Sunless Skies. Here you pilot a flying locomotive through the void between the remains of a broken world floating as islands in the void. Even the sun itself is an artificial steam-powered contraption.

For overland maps, I think the difference lies much in the symbology used. Steampunk likes to say, "Hey, here I am!". A typical steampunk map would be something in between a modern map and a fantasy map, and would use symbols and map decorations with a steampunk flair. Symbols would look more like the fantasy symbols, i.e. drawn from an isometric view, not the minimalist top-down symbols on modern maps. Instead of a caravan representing a trade route, you would see a train symbol, you may have dirigibles instead of ships, the city symbols would probably have some smoke stacks and visible pipework in the artwork, and so on.

One way you could approach it is to decide the size of the average house. A medieval or earlier house for commoners were usually a tiny affair, often no bigger than my living room. Then, based on your house size, so you can used that against the sketch to determine size.