Point entities on the TEMPLATE layer were once used to fix sheets that were otherwise empty. If they weren't there the sheet would vanish next time you opened the map.

That's how it used to be, and quite a few of the older templates still have them in place.

Things have significantly improved over the years, so you can safely delete those points now. Just hide everything but the TEMPLATE layer and box select them to delete.

Hi everyone! :D

In this week's Live Mapping session Ralf will be using the new October Annual issue to create a quick and fun dungeon with sticky notes.

Come along and join in the chat - ask questions, etc, on Youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE_QWCbyZ4o

Or if you prefer you can watch it right here on the forum (though there's no live chat here)

You would need to put the blur after the cutout.

Well... you could move the "lights end" sheet up the list till the buildings are above the light effects altogether.

Then, given that they are now far too light and need to have that light dropped to 50% like the lit part of the map, you could add an RGB Matrix Process to each of the "Symbols Buildings" sheets, and set it up to give only half the unity colour. (Unity is a diagonal of ones)

Notice how I also moved the SYMBOLS Trees sheet up the list to keep it above the Lights - End sheet. That's because I'm not sure if an RGB Matrix Process will work on regular symbols (ie, not shaded symbols like houses and buildings)

The strange band across the map you describe may be down to the number of passes the render has to do to export the bitmap.

Use the command EXPORTSETMPPP to find out how big each pass is. The default value is 4000000 (4 million). If yours is still at the default, change that to 40000000 (40 million) and try the export again.

That looks like transparency acne, which happens when the pixels in overlying polygons are identical in colour to those of the underlying polygons. It confuses the rendering engine into thinking there is nothing there in that particular pixel space.

When you have sheet effects that modify the appearance of the edge, they will also affect the edge of all these 'pinholes' as well - hence the spotty appearance. Each pinhole gets a bevel.

The easiest way to deal with this is to change the texture in the WALLS sheet polygons to make it different enough from the background fill that this doesn't happen.

Or...

You can make a backing sheet to separate the two grey tones that are causing the problem using a third colour that isn't related to either of them. You do that by creating an exact copy of the WALLS sheet but with the texture turned to a solid unrelated colour (I used purple in the example below). I copied the Color Key across to the new sheet to cut identical holes in it.

When you make all the sheets visible again it looks no different to before because the purple is entirely hidden by the original WALLS sheet, but when you export it those pimples will be gone.

It will be easier for you in the long run to change the texture of the walls polygons to a different one so you don't have to mess with the BACKING SHEET every time you want to adjust the WALLS sheet, but in case you are fixed on those two greys you can have the one I made.

Hi everyone! :D

This week in live mapping, Ralf will be combining two different styles (Modern Floorplans and Cities of Schley) into one new kind of map.

Come along and join in with the chat with us live on Youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HowAqyzt00w

Or watch it on the forum here:

(There's no live chat on the forum)

Hi Cal :)

The colour palette has changed for some reason.

This is the palette attached to a new MD map:

And this is the palette attached to your map:

I saved the custom palette from the new MD map and reloaded it in your map. Then attached that palette to your map and here it is:

If you don't mind having to learn a new app, there's a free bitmap editor called Krita that can help with the seamless tiles. I once used it to draw all the seamless tiles in the Ferraris Style, but I've forgotten a lot of how to use it these days.

Basically, you open or create your square tile and press SHIFT+W for the tiled view, and then you can draw on it right across the tiled view disregarding the edges.

I wish more bitmap editors provided seamless tools.

You should be able to import the one you want by creating a new and temporary Mike Schley overland map, and then importing that dummy map into your own map - pressing the ESC key just before you actually paste it.

That will cause any missing Mike Schley fills to be imported, even though you never actually pasted the dummy map.

Doing it that way will also automatically scale the fill correctly for you.

Once you have imported the fills you can switch to the "Overland Mike Schley" drawing tools in the dropbox at the top of the drawing tool dialog and grab the correct drawing tool for the farmland.

EDIT: although looking at the names in my drawing tool list there seems to be a bit of a mix up on my system at the moment. I'm sure yours will be fine.