Apocalypse
Member
for map making? or are there better tools these days? i always end up coming back to this games so im here to get the skinny on everything lately... What did i miss?! 
- Thread starter Apocalypse
- Start date
Yeah...CentrED+ has an interesting learning curve. Don't let your curser lurk in the statics list for too long or the client will give you an error message. Also, if you plan on building structures above 117, dragging your curser over these structures can give a similar message. If you get this message...you CAN still run the client...just be aware that you'll need to restart the client at some point in the near future.
And don't do any large scale map functions...like deleting all statics in an area or moving parts of your map around...you won't like the results. And for some reason, you can't move statics more than 8 squares at a time.
Always backup your maps and then periodically while you're working on them. Fixing a large scale OOPS can be challenging and your map may never be the same after. Once I was deleting a small area and got my range mixed up and ended up deleting a large stretch across my map. I hunted down an older copy of the map and used UOFiddler to try to place the deleted section back where it was removed...but the older version was too old (the differences were obvious) and I spent hours trying to fix it. CentrED (both) saves as it goes so any changes you make happen instantly.
If you can, you should get CentrED too for these large scale functions. It's also more stable. Its UNDO function is more simple though...you can only undo the last action. CentrED+ has a nice UNDO function. Can go back 10 actions, I think. But because of this, there's a slight delay when you're laying a large area of land tiles. I typically use CentrED for placing land tiles because of this.
But CentrED+ has a few nice options. Like you can adjust or add to the static lists (TilesEntry)...like if you're wanting themes for different areas. You can also assemble multis together so rather than placing a Yew tree, one piece at a time, you place the whole tree all at once (TilesGroup). The author included examples on how to do this. It's a little tedious at first, but once you get your multis put together, the time it saves you makes up for the time it took to put them together. The xml files are found in the program folder in the LocalData folder and the ones you'll probably want to edit most are TilesEntry and TilesGroup. The statics list is also nicer in CentrED+ than CentrED, as it displays more objects at a time.
I also like filtering roof tiles, walls, water, etc... so I can plate objects without these blocking my view. The See option is nice...where you can lower the layers that are displayed. This is helpful when you're placing items on the first floor but have a second floor in the way.
Anyway...there's more I could probably say about it....from a person who's gotten a lot of use out of both....but if you're ever lost, just post and I'll jump in and offer any help I can.
And don't do any large scale map functions...like deleting all statics in an area or moving parts of your map around...you won't like the results. And for some reason, you can't move statics more than 8 squares at a time.
Always backup your maps and then periodically while you're working on them. Fixing a large scale OOPS can be challenging and your map may never be the same after. Once I was deleting a small area and got my range mixed up and ended up deleting a large stretch across my map. I hunted down an older copy of the map and used UOFiddler to try to place the deleted section back where it was removed...but the older version was too old (the differences were obvious) and I spent hours trying to fix it. CentrED (both) saves as it goes so any changes you make happen instantly.
If you can, you should get CentrED too for these large scale functions. It's also more stable. Its UNDO function is more simple though...you can only undo the last action. CentrED+ has a nice UNDO function. Can go back 10 actions, I think. But because of this, there's a slight delay when you're laying a large area of land tiles. I typically use CentrED for placing land tiles because of this.
But CentrED+ has a few nice options. Like you can adjust or add to the static lists (TilesEntry)...like if you're wanting themes for different areas. You can also assemble multis together so rather than placing a Yew tree, one piece at a time, you place the whole tree all at once (TilesGroup). The author included examples on how to do this. It's a little tedious at first, but once you get your multis put together, the time it saves you makes up for the time it took to put them together. The xml files are found in the program folder in the LocalData folder and the ones you'll probably want to edit most are TilesEntry and TilesGroup. The statics list is also nicer in CentrED+ than CentrED, as it displays more objects at a time.
I also like filtering roof tiles, walls, water, etc... so I can plate objects without these blocking my view. The See option is nice...where you can lower the layers that are displayed. This is helpful when you're placing items on the first floor but have a second floor in the way.
Anyway...there's more I could probably say about it....from a person who's gotten a lot of use out of both....but if you're ever lost, just post and I'll jump in and offer any help I can.
