Celtic Minstrel
da00da261c
- This update is not comprehensive. It does not touch the appendices, and even in the parts it does touch, many details may still be out-of-date.
282 lines
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HTML
282 lines
17 KiB
HTML
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<title>Editing the Outdoors - BoE Scenario Editor Guide</title>
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<h1>Section 4 - Editing the Outdoors</h1>
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<p>When you press Edit Outdoor Section at the main menu, you will find yourself in the
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outdoor editing screen. Here, you can edit your outdoor sections terrain, special
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encounters, wandering monsters, etc.</p>
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<h2>The Outdoor Editing Screen</h2>
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<p>The areas of the outdoor editing screen are as follows:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><em>Terrain Editing Area</em> - This is where you view the terrain, items, and
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monsters you have placed, and place new things. To shift the view in the terrain area
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around, click on its border (click on the top border to shift the view up, etc.) or use
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the keypad. When placing a monster, item, etc., click on the appropriate space in the
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terrain area. To draw a spot of terrain, do the same thing. For more discussion of drawing
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terrain, read the Drawing Terrain section later in this chapter. One useful shortcut for
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moving around: Control clicking (or right clicking for Windows users) on the terrain
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border (or control pressing a keypad key) moves the terrain view as far as it can go in
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that direction.</li>
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<li><em>Terrain Selection Area</em> - To draw a certain sort of terrain, click on that
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terrain's icon in the upper right hand corner. For a list of all the default terrain types
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and what they do, look in the appendices. Many of the terrain types have small icons, each
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of which represents special property. These are described in the Special Icons section,
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later in this chapter.</li>
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<li><em>Current Location</em> - Each space in an outdoor section or town has a coordinate,
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a pair of numbers that uniquely identifies it. These numbers are the X coordinate, which
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is the column the space is in (0 the leftmost column, 47 the rightmost), and the Y
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coordinate, which represents the row the space is in (0 the top, 47 the bottom). For
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example, the upper left space is X = 0, Y = 0, and the lower left space is Y = 0, Y = 47.
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This Current Location area tells you the current location of the center space in the
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terrain view.</li>
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<li><em>Editing Buttons</em> - These buttons activate the many useful features the
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scenario editor has. To find out what they do, read the section Editing Buttons.</li>
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<li><em>Current Terrain</em> - The terrain type currently being drawn is shown to the
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right of the editing buttons.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Editing Terrain</h2>
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<p>In all probability, the bulk of your scenario editing time will be spent painting the
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terrain onto the empty canvas of a blank town or outdoor section. While this can often be
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painful, tedious work, there are a number of shortcuts available to aid in the task.</p>
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<p>Painting terrain works much like in any sort of painting program. To draw a line of
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walls, click on the wall icon to the right, move the cursor onto the terrain area, press
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the mouse button, and hold it down. Move the cursor in the shape of the desired wall, and
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release the button when done.</p>
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<p>if you click onto a spot of terrain which is the same as the terrain you are painting,
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the spot will be erased, and replaced with a spot of ground. This spot of ground will be
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either cave floor or grass (whichever one you last placed).</p>
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<p>There are two very important shortcuts available when drawing terrain, which make the
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job much less painful. First, the Blades of Exile editor will automatically adjust cave
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walls, mountains, hills, and water so that the edges line up properly (for example, if you
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draw a 3 x 3 square of cave wall, the editor will automatically place cave wall corner
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terrain in the corners of the square). Along similar lines, because mountains must be
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edged by hills to look right, when you draw mountains, ground around the mountains will be
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replaced by hills. Also, when you draw one half of a two space pile of rubble, the editor
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will automatically fill in the other half.</p>
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<p>The second shortcut is the customizable keyboard shortcuts available for the terrain
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types. For example, when you press w repeatedly, the currently drawn terrain will cycle
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through the 3 different sorts of basic walls. See the chapter on Editing Terrain Types to
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find out how to change these shortcuts. The shortcuts for the default scenario are:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><span class="key">a</span> - Cave Wall</li>
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<li><span class="key">b</span> - Bed</li>
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<li><span class="key">c</span> - Cave Floor</li>
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<li><span class="key">d</span> - Doors (3 sorts, press <span class="key">d</span>
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repeatedly to cycle through them)</li>
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<li><span class="key">e</span> - Dresser</li>
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<li><span class="key">f</span> - Floors (3 sorts)</li>
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<li><span class="key">g</span> - Grass</li>
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<li><span class="key">h</span> - Hills</li>
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<li><span class="key">l</span> - Water, Dark Blue Water, Lava</li>
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<li><span class="key">m</span> - Mountain</li>
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<li><span class="key">p</span> - Pillars (2 sorts)</li>
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<li><span class="key">r</span> - Rubble (4 sorts: cave, cave 2 x 1, grass, grass 2 x
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1)</li>
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<li><span class="key">s</span> - Cave Stuff (4 sorts: 2 types of mushrooms, small
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stalagmites, large stalagmites)</li>
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<li><span class="key">t</span> - Trees (5 types)</li>
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<li><span class="key">w</span> - Walls (3 types)</li>
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<li><span class="key">x</span> - Windows (3 types)</li>
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<li><span class="key">y</span> - Chairs (4 types)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>When you place a sign, you will immediately be asked what the sign will say when
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someone looks at it.</p>
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<p>When you scroll to the edge of the outdoor section, you will be able to see one space
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of the next section. For example, if you scroll to the top of the view, you will see the
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bottom row of terrain spots in the next outdoor section to the north. You can't edit this
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row - it's just there to help you line the terrain up.</p>
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<p>Rectangles with special descriptions are marked in the terrain screen as red
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rectangles.</p>
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<p>Two terrain types that require special care are grass and cave walkways (near the end
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of the fifth row). The corners of walkways are rounded off when the game draws them. When
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cave walkways (the first of the two, marked with a C) are rounded off, it is with cave
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floor. When grass walkways (the second of the two, marked with a G) are rounded off, grass
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is drawn. Make sure to only use cave walkways around cave floor, and grass walkways around
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grass floor.</p> <!-- TODO: Didn't this get redone? -->
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<h2>Editing Buttons</h2>
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<div class="figure">
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<img src="../img/edoutbtns.gif" alt="Terrain Editing Buttons">
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<p>Figure 1: Terrain Editing Buttons</p>
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</div>
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<p>There are 23 different buttons for use while editing the outdoors (see figure above for
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a diagram of button positions).</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Draw Terrain: Press to draw terrain normally.</li>
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<li>Big Paintbrush: Draw a circle of terrain (9 wide).</li>
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<li>Small Paintbrush: Draw a small circle of terrain (3 wide).</li>
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<li>Large Spraycan: Spray a random sprinkling of terrain (area to spray on is a 9 diameter
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circle). The spray can will only place the terrain on ground. It won't spray onto walls,
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floor, etc.</li>
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<li>Small Spraycan: Spray a random sprinkling of terrain (area to spray on is a 3 diameter
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circle).</li>
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<li>Eyedropper: Click on a terrain spot to make that spot the current terrain.</li>
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<li>Empty Rectangle: Create a rectangle of the current terrain. Only the edges of the
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rectangle are drawn with that terrain. The inside is left alone. To place a rectangle,
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press this button, select the upper left corner of the rectangle (on the terrain area),
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and then select the lower right corner.</li>
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<li>Full Rectangle: Like Empty Rectangle, except that the rectangle selected is filled
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with the current terrain.</li>
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<li>Change View: Change the terrain view from zoomed in to zoomed out, and back again.
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When zoomed out, you can't see monsters or items, but you can get an overall look at your
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work. Also, you probably only want to use the large paintbrush in this view.</li>
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<li>Eraser: Replace a 3x3 square around the area selected with the current ground (cave
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floor or grass, depending on which you last drew).</li>
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<li>Edit Sign Text: Change the text on a sign. Press this button, and then click on the
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sign to edit.</li>
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<li>Set Area Description: Each outdoor section can have up to eight rectangles with brief
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area descriptions, which appear on the text bar in the game when the party enters the
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rectangle. To place a description, press this button, click on the upper left corner of
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the rectangle to place, and finally click on the lower right corner. You will be asked for
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the area's description. To change the description or delete an area, select Edit Area
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Descriptions in the Outdoor menu.</li>
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<li>Place Wandering Monster Location: There are always four spaces in an outdoor section
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where wandering monsters can appear. To set these locations, press this button, and click
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on the four spots in your terrain. Be careful not to place these spaces in water,
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mountains, or other inaccessible spots.</li>
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<li>Replace Terrain: You can have the program go through your terrain and randomly change
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spots of one terrain type to another (for example, to make a forest, you can change grass
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to trees). To do so, press this button.</li>
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<li> When you do, a dialog box will come up. Enter the number of the terrain to change in
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the first box (to select a terrain type, press the Choose button), the terrain to change
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it to in the second box, and the chance of any given spot being changed in the third box
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(0-100, 0 being never and 100 being always). Press OK to do the replacement.</li>
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<li>Set Town Entry: Set the town that is entered when the party walks into a
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town/dungeon/tower space in the outdoors. To place a town, draw a town spot in your
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outdoor section, press this button, click on the town, and enter the number of the town to
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be entered.</li>
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<li>Edit Item: Not used in outdoor editing.</li>
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<li>Duplicate Item: Not used in outdoor editing.</li>
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<li>Erase Item: Not used in outdoor editing.</li>
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<li>Place/Edit Special Encounter (Advanced) : To place a special encounter on a space,
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press this button and click on the space. To edit a special encounter, press this button,
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and click on the special encounter. To find out about special encounters, read the Special
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Encounters chapter in the next section.</li>
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<li>Copy Special (Advanced) : If you want several copies of the same special encounter in
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your outdoor section, you can copy and paste it. To copy a special, press this button, and
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click on the space with the special encounter.</li>
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<li>Paste Special (Advanced) : To paste a special encounter you've copied, press this
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button and click on the new location for the encounter.</li>
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<li>Erase Special (Advanced) : Removes a special encounter. Note that this doesn't delete
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the special nodes the special encounter called. It simply removes the encounter from the
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terrain, so that the nodes aren't called when the party steps there.</li>
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<li>Set Special (Advanced) : Selects the outdoor special node called when the party steps
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on a space. When you press this button and click on a space, you will be asked for the
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number of an outdoor special node. The node you give will be called when the party steps
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on this space.</li>
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</ol>
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<h2>The Outdoor Menu</h2>
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<p> The Outdoor menu also has a number of important features.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Outdoor Details - </b>Select this to set the name of your outdoor section
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and a few other details (see below for more information).</li>
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<li><b>Outdoor Wandering Monsters -</b> You can have four different outdoor wandering
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encounters created when the party walks through this section. For more on outdoor
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wandering encounters, read the section later in this chapter.</li>
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<li><b>Outdoor Special Encounters (Advanced) - </b>You can also have 4 outdoor special
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encounters, which are created by special encounters. These are edited in the same way as
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wandering encounters.</li>
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<li><b>Frill Up Terrain -</b> This randomly changes some grass spaces to grass with rocks
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or grass with flowers and some cave floor spaces to cave floor with small mushrooms, to
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give the terrain a little more varied appearance.</li>
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<li><b>Remove Terrain Frills - </b>This changes grass with rocks or grass with flowers back
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into ordinary grass, and cave floor with small mushrooms back to cave floor.</li>
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<li><b>Edit Area Descriptions -</b> Select this to edit the eight rectangles with brief
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area descriptions (to find out how to place these, read Set Area Description, above).
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Press the Delete buttons to remove rectangles, or edit the text in the text areas.</li>
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<li><b>Set Starting Location - </b>You need to set a location in the outdoors for the party
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to be at when they leave the town they start in. To set this, select this option, and
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click on the appropriate space in the outdoors.</li>
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<li><b>Edit Special Nodes (Advanced) -</b> This moves you to the main screen, where all of
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the outdoor sections special nodes are listed to the right. Click on a node to edit
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it.</li>
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<li><b>Edit Outdoor Text (Advanced) -</b> This moves you to the main screen, where all of
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the outdoor section's text messages are listed to the right. Click on a message to edit it,
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or command click (right click in Windows) to clear it.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Outdoor Details</h2>
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<p>This dialog lets you set a few important details about this outdoor section.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Name:</b> You can change the area's name here.</li>
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<li><b>Ambient Sounds:</b> The sound selected here will be played occasionally while the
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party is in this outdoor section. If you select Drops or Birdsong, the game will select
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between two or three distinct sounds at random. If you select Custom, you can choose any
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single sound to play.</li>
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<li><b>Backgrounds:</b> You can set the background to appears behind the game interface
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when the player is in this outdoor section, and a separate background to use when they
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enter combat mode in this outdoor section. You can also set default backgrounds for towns
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and dungeons in this outdoor section (a town is considered to be a dungeon if its light
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level is anything other than fully lit). The combat background will be shown for both town
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and outdoor combat, unless an individual town overrides it. If any of these are left at
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-1, the game uses the defaults set in the scenario details.</li>
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<li><b>Comment:</b> This is a space for you to add notes to yourself.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Outdoor Wandering Encounters</h2>
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<p> No outdoor travel would be complete without a few fights. Your main tool for providing
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action outdoors is the outdoor encounter editing windows (accessed by selecting Outdoor
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Wandering Encounters or Outdoor Special Encounters from the Outdoor menu). You can have 4
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wandering and 4 special encounters.</p>
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<p> When you select these options from the Outdoor menu, the encounter editing window will
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come up. Use the arrow keys to select different encounters to edit. An outdoor encounter
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can have 7 sorts of hostile creatures and 3 sorts of friendly ones. Press the Choose
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button to pick a monster. Note that an encounter must have at least 1 hostile monster
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before it appears. Each slot has a different number of monsters that appear, listed to the
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left.</p>
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<p> Other options:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Monster Can't Flee Party:</b> If selected, the encounter will not flee, no matter how
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strong the party is. This should always be set for special encounters.</li>
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<li><b>Encounter Is Forced:</b> The party will fight the encounter as soon as it appears,
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even if it isn't anywhere near the party. This should always be set for special encounters,
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but almost never for wandering encounters.</li>
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<li><b>Special Called When Encounter Starts (Advanced):</b> The number of an outdoor
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special node to be called when the encounter begins. Press Create/Edit to set and edit the
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special. One warning: if this encounter follows the party into a different outdoor
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section, the special node in the new section, not the old section will be called, probably
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causing a problem. To get around this, only use this for monsters with Encounter Is Forced
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set, or with encounters that can only be fought in the outdoor section they're placed in
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(like in a 1x1 outdoors).</li>
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<li><b>Special Called When Party Wins (Advanced):</b> The number of an outdoor special
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node to be called when the party defeats the encounter.</li>
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<li><b>Special Called When Party Flees (Advanced):</b> The number of an outdoor special
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node to be called when the party escapes the encounter.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Special Icons</h2>
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<div class="figure">
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<img src='../img/editorsymbols.gif' alt="Display Symbols">
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<p>Figure 2: Meanings of the Display Symbols</p>
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</div>
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<p> The terrain icons to the right and the terrain spaces in the terrain editing area
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often have small icons, which represent special properties of the spaces/terrain
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types:</p>
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</div>
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