Kunzite
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 28
Registered: 11-28-2004
IP: Logged

Hello everyone,

As you can tell, I'm new. I beat KDD about a week ago and promptly uttered the famous last words "Let's try that editor now!" A week later I have a short level and a half of rooms that are way too easy and will never be seen outside of my computer.

My question is a simple one, and perhaps one of the dumbest ones ever asked. But I searched the in-game help, online help, and forums and couldn't find anything about how to test your rooms as you make them, although it is taken as a given in many threads. I've been to this point loading the hold and playing through it, but there's a growing problem with this method. One of two things results from changing and reloading the hold. One, it resets to the beginning, and/or two, the restore function goes... wonky, for lack of a better word, and I simply can't change rooms or even start all over. The only thing that seems to correct this is re-placing Beethro and playing through all over again. This was fine with one easy level, but if I make it to ten easy levels, it could get tedious. What am I missing?


P.S.: I would like to thank DiMono for his Diabloii.net article, which brought D.R.O.D. into my life and gave me an alternative to escape to after killing Mephisto for the 5000th time with my woefully underpowered but endearing tri-elementalist sorceress... a frustrating, teeth-grinding, occasionally enraging alternative, but nevertheless a change of pace. :p

Doom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3226
Registered: 07-05-2004
IP: Logged

First of all, to the forums Kunzite.

I asked the same thing earlier
You can find that information somewhere deep within the help file (F1) but I can make your life easier by telling it.

Pressing F5 in editor brings you to playtesting mode. Now, you must click the square, where you want to begin testing the room. After testing, press esc to return to editor.

Kunzite
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 28
Registered: 11-28-2004
IP: Logged

Thank you for the welcome and the information! I'll now return to lurking and being woefully outmatched by tiny colourful sprites.

RoboBob3000
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1978
Registered: 10-23-2003
IP: Logged

One more thing...

When you choose a testing square, Beethro will point his sword in the same direction that is currently set for force arrow placement. You might want to place a test force arrow and remove it in order to see where you're pointing. Your direction can be changed in the editor with the scroll wheel or, I believe, the arrow keys.

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Doom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3226
Registered: 07-05-2004
IP: Logged

Actually not arrows. Arrows select rooms or tiles. You can rotate objects with your sword swinging keys. (Default Q and W)

Sim
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 90
Registered: 04-04-2004
IP: Logged

Wow, I never knew about that! All the time I've been wasting replaying my holds and making shortcuts
Shame I didn't know about that when I entered the Snoll contest

Doom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3226
Registered: 07-05-2004
IP: Logged

I promise that I'm going to read every single word in JtRH manual. That's something I've learned from AE. You'll never find all neat features by yourself.

Tim
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged

Why don't you just make an architect tutorial hold instead when JtRH comes? Besides, some of the real cool architect tricks were not described in the manual anyway... [ I mean in DROD:AE ]

By the way, does everyone also know how to copy, delete, cut and paste rooms, if not, should we explain that as well ?

-- Tim

[Edited by Tim at Local Time:11-30-2004 at 10:34 PM]

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Stefan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2119
Registered: 05-25-2004
IP: Logged

Alright, a concise tutorial on some tricks in DROD:AE:

Testing rooms: Press F5 and select the starting position for Beethro. You can change the initial sword direction with the Q and W buttons or with the mouse-wheel (if you have one). When you are done testing, press Esc.

Checking/changing the current direction: Select the force arrow. Click on an empty square (or span an area) in the editor and hold the mouse button down. Change the direction with Q and W (or with the mouse wheel) while holding the mouse button down. When done, click on the right mouse button.

Copying levels: Select the level you want to copy and press Ctrl+C. Pressing Ctrl+V will put the level in the end of the "Choose level"-list.

Copying rooms: Select the room you wish to copy (it's borders should turn light-blue if it is selected). Press Ctrl+C. Select where the room should be copied to; if a room doesn't yet exist in that place, create one and select it. Press Ctrl+V to paste the room to its new position.

Deleting rooms: Select the room you wish to delete and press Del.

Copying room sections: Select the area you want to copy by 'placing' an object (eg. a wall) there with your left mouse button down. Press Ctrl+C while holding the mouse button down. The area sould now change color. Release the left mouse button and click on the square where you want to copy it to. However, there are some restriction: You can't copy serpents, and orb-definitions are lost.

Deleting room sections: You could do this by spanning an area with your right mouse button on each layer, but if you have any free space in the room, you can also copy that space and paste it on the section you want to delete.

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Tim
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged

I will add some more advanced tricks then:

Pasting more than once: After you have copied sections of the room, press Ctrl+V again to paste on a different place, that you can select with your mouse.

Copying part of an object: Select only a part of an object when you want to copy and you have a partial exit, or one eyed tar monsters as well. Note that this should not be done with everything, as if there's something DROD does not like it, it will beep.

Copying across different levels or holds: Rooms can be selected and copied between levels, and even between holds! I usually make my holds in one general hold, then cut and paste the rooms into the final hold.

I will leave the most common bugs to a later post (hopefully not by me )


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The best way to lose customers is to let little kids running loose on a forum with too many mod points.

Kunzite
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 28
Registered: 11-28-2004
IP: Logged

I didn't know some of those other tricks, so thanks, you helped at least one person! I tried copying a section of one room and placing it in a different room before and it wouldn't let me, as well as trying to move whole rooms, so I guess I'll have to try again? I wonder what I'm doing wrong...

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Kunzite wrote:
I didn't know some of those other tricks, so thanks, you helped at least one person! I tried copying a section of one room and placing it in a different room before and it wouldn't let me, as well as trying to move whole rooms, so I guess I'll have to try again? I wonder what I'm doing wrong...

Copying rooms is fairly simple, except that it sometimes fails to work first time if you clicked on things in a certain order (I can't reproduce it regularly, but it does happen to me quite a bit). However, copying portions of rooms to others isn't possible, I don't think. If you tried to do it, only the area of the new room that you highlighted in the old room will get copied.

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