The Driver Syndicate/Level Editor
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Main controls:
Holding SHIFT lets you control the camera
Drag with Left Mouse button: rotate camera
Drag with Right mouse button: camera dolly mode (move forward and back)
Drag with Middle mouse button: moves camera up-down and left-right
Rotating Mouse Wheel: changes camera movement speed
Other controls:
Ctrl + Z: Undo action
Ctrl + Y: Redo action
Ctrl + S: Saves the level.
Ctrl + N: Start new level.
Ctrl + O: Open Level
Ctrl + H: View heightfield tile helpers
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Header Controls:
File tab:
New - starts new
load level - loads a level
save level - saves the level
save as - lets you save the name of the level
exit - self explanatory
Edit tab:
Undo action - same as Ctrl - Z Redo action - same as Ctrl - Y
View tab:
-lets you toggle on fog, reset camera, and toggle different heightmap layers.
Tools tab:
Region editor - this lets you view your map.
{In Region editor
Right click + drag to navigate
Mouse wheel - zoom
N - switch between road view and aerial view
Ctrl + left mouse - toggle selection
Ctrl + A - select all
Arrows - move regions
Delete - delete regions
File tab, here you will generate your map. Level tab, here you can resize your map.
Warning, be mindful of cell size. 64 seems to be optimal for most big maps (see Victoria, Chicago, Havana, and Allenberg) }
Level tab:
Reload Environments - reloads the environment
Reload all materials - reloads all materials
Append other models file. Useful for map makers who do multiple maps, we can import models from another map.
Note: If a map maker is using .epk format please respect their creations and do not use their assets without permission.
Rebuild road textures - rebuilds road textures
check traffic lights - checks and tells you if your traffic lights are connected to roads properly
generate roads - generates new road IDs (see road editor), and tells you if your roads are invalid with a red rectangular error.
Note: New roads and traffic light light checking is also performed upon level save.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Height field editor:
Controls:
Space: rotate texture tile
Control + Mouse wheel: Changes radius of tool
Left mouse: sets tile texture and properties (see "What to set" and "Tile flags")
Right mouse: deletes tile texture
Middle mouse drag: draws a line and performs same as left mouse for each tile in line
///////////////////////////////////////////UI explanation:
Set Tile = Set or paint your heightmap tiles. Be mindful of power/height settings.
Texture Transition - Lets you transition between textures. (You must have a transition tile .mat set up)
Height Add - Adds to the set power/ height. Useful for making smooth hills or mountain ranges quickly.
Height Set - Sets the height.
Height Smooth = Smooths the heightmap, good for beaches, hills, bumps, etc.
Layer: Sets the layers. 1 though 4. Traffic calls are all Layer 1 for now.
Power/Height: Sets the height of your heightmap.
Radius: Set the radius. You can also so this with CTRL + Middle scroll
"LAYER": There is 4 layers of heightfields so you can create something like bridges, beaches with sand running under water etc.
Please note that AI Roads are forced to be at LAYER 1 for the time being. "View Heightfield Tile-Helpers" in the View tab shows you what kind of tiles are painted on region. Color shows what tile flags set.
//////Tile flags defines how geometry of heightfield is generated:
Detached - tiles will not be sloped to surrounding tiles of non-detached
Add wall - adds a wall to the detached tiles important for sidewalks
Wall collision - adds wall collision to set tile. (Not needed for sidewalks)
No collide - this tiles has no collision at all.
Flip UVs - Flip the texture uv.
///////////////////////////////////Level objects:
T changes placement mode. {tiled - sets object strictly limited to the grid
free - you can really move the object in any direction.}
Space: rotate 90 degrees for placement
Left click: places object
Right click: removes object (if it's placed on Tile)
Control + Left click: toggle selection
Control + Space: duplicate selection
ESC: cancel selection
DEL: deletes selection
G: movement mode
R: rotation mode
Ctrl + N: set the name of object (for scripting purposes like freeride_spawn on the spawn_point.egf)
Control + Right click: Brings up a properties window where you can rename objects, import over them, and select properties like is ground or drivable.
import: import your models with this. Formats are .esm .obj and .fbx
Replace: replace models with another model.
////////////////////////////////////////Object CTRL+right click editing
Select all of this object in the region: Selects them all, you can easily move or delete them.
Remove Object: As the name implies.
Refresh Preview: Refreshes the preview window
properties: shows the building properties, here you can select flags such as collide, drivable etc. rename model: you can rename the model.
import new model over this: Lets you import and replace with a new model.
Save as OBJ: for easy editing of the models if you lose the original model files.
flip mesh: flips the mesh. Useful for objects that sometimes bug out, but this is fixable in blender as well.
Block Tool:
Getting the block to appear
Click block tool, select a texture from the texture list, then click and drag a radius on the grid. Press enter and your starting block will appear.
Main controls
Selection tool:
CTRL + right click: Toggle face selection (each face will be adjustable when highlighted)
CTRL + left click: Toggle all faces
G-move
R-rotate
(when all faces toggled) CTRL+Space to copy/paste model/block
Vertex Manipulator:
CTRL + Left click - select vertex
CTRL + Double Click on face - select all vertices on the face
G-move
R-rotate
Clipper Controls: (highlight all faces with selection tool before selecting Clipper Tool)
CTRL + Mouse click and drag to draw a cutting line
SHIFT + X to select side (Side A, Side B, straight line to cut model but keep both sides)
Enter - Apply the cut
Polygon Tool:
Not yet ready
Grouping:
CTRL-G - group block objs together (useful when exporting block obj to blender)
ALT-G - ungroup block objs
Model Exporter:
Highlight your brush and right click. A properties window will come up. click export as .obj. In the next prompt name your new model, and hit save. You can now move your block obj to blender for texturing, uv fixes and more!.
Note: In it's current state block tool is best used for making low detail blockout meshes of the buildings you intend to create. You can add further detail to these meshes in blender, with the added benefit of your models already being the correct size and scale. What is a blockout? A blockout is basically the rough drafts of modeling.
Using block tool to make sound domains.
-do the same steps above to make a block, but this time use either phys_clip texture or occluder textures. {phys_clip - for making invisible walls occluder - for making sound domains}
when you have your block tool with occluder texture covering where you want a sound domain, highlight it, right click, and in the properties tab select Object def and you can choose between a few sounds. Make sure your levelname_objects.def references the required .def file, see default_objects.def for this.
VisGroups: On the right hand side you will see a toggle for "default objects" with two check boxes.
Vis - sets the group visible in the editor
Act - sets the group as visible and active in the game itself.
Click add to add a new VisGroup. To add objs to a VisGroup simply CTRL + N click to bring up the properties you'd use to name the obj, and under VisGroups select the group to add the objs too. You can now set them as visible or hidden. In a later update we will be able to call this in lua to have objs only appear in specific missions and game modes.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Occluder editor: This is important tool because you can seriously drop performance with your cities without occluders.
Manipulation: Control + Left click: toggle selection
ESC: cancel selection
DEL: deletes selection
Use the red, blue, and greed directional icon to move and scale the occluders.
Placing:
First left click: begins occluder
Second left click: sets end point
Third left click: sets the height of occluder and ends it.
////////////////////////////////////Road editor:
Holding Left Mouse: paints waypoints.
Right mouse: Brings up properties window. Here you can:
-Remove all road cells from the toggled road
-toggle one way or two way
-apply settings to all road tiles
-reverse
-Road properties {
-Traffic is disabled option. Disables traffic for the specified road ID
-Speedlimit. Sets the speedlimit these are in kph. Global default is 50kph/30mph
-Left bound parking
-Right bound parking
-No Left turn
-No Right turn
-Middle lane is disabled. (use this for large roads with center medians. Paint on the center median)
}
Holding Middle mouse: draws a line, with large roads this is faster than placing down cell by cell.
Space: rotate 90 degrees toggling between north, south, west, and east.
T: cycles between types. (straight road, junction, parking, pavement/pedestrian)
Note: For map remakers the speedlimits in D1 PSX/PC and D2 were:
Driver 1 all maps - 97 Kph / 60Mph
Driver 2
56 Kph / 34Mph - 4 lane roads or smaller
97 Kph / 60mph - 8 or 10 lane roads
138Kph / 85.7Mph - offroad
//////////////////////////Prefab manager:
Placement mode:
Double click in list to select prefab
Space: rotate 90 degrees for placement
ESC: cancel placement
Creation mode: Just select the region by dragging mouse with left button pressed, and press Create in the UI
Edit mode: Select a prefab and press edit to edit the prefab.
///////////////////////Path editor:
Path editor lets you add and adjust sound paths.
You can load your levelname_soundpaths.txt if it exists. If not you will have to make one.
First place down a soundpath box, and name it the same way you'd name a spawnpoint. for ex "beach_ambient001" and then reference that sound path box in levelname_soundpaths.txt, see default_soundpaths.txt for reference.
Editing your sound path -
Once you have your soundpath box named and referenced in the script, you can open the script file in path editor, and set down your path with path editor.
-select path name from the drop down
-double click on the heightfield, a box will appear, you can adjust it with the green, blue, and red axis controller. Once you adjust the first path you can lay down the 2nd one in the same manner until you have covered the area of your first soundpath. Once done hit save in the path editor.
Note: When making soundpaths via path editor, or sound domains with blocktool be mindful of region dividers, you can't have paths or domains that are too big between regions, you will need to separate them into separate paths/domains.
If anything is missing please reach out to Soapy, NikkiChan92, SwissCruiser, Sherbet, or Commando52Colton, we will be happy to assist you and update this page!