1 - Beginner Modding Tools Tips & Tricks

[moonsense715]

Author: danpaul88

Skill level: 1

 

This topic is intended as a handy reference for useful tips and tricks in the W3D modding tools... I decided it would be nice to have one since I recently was told by moonsense715 about a new LE feature I had no idea existed and made adding multiple copies of a preset 2000% easier... if only I had known about it sooner! So, I will start off with a few off the top of my head and will update this post with more content as I think of it... also, if you have any tips or tricks you would like to share, please post them in a reply and I will add them to this post.

LevelEdit

 

Change Z height

You can hold shift on the keyboard to alter the height of an object (or group of objects) whilst dragging with the mouse or using the up/down arrows on the keyboard. This is quicker than selecting the Z axis button on the toolbar every time you want to change an objects height.

 

Clone Object

You can create clones of an object (or group of objects) using the standard ctrl+c, ctrl+v keyboard shortcuts for copy & paste, but the location of the new objects is somewhat arbitrary depending on where you are looking. dtrngd recently told me about a better method;

 

Select the object (or objects) you want to clone, press and hold the mouse button down (as if you were dragging the object) and then right click on the mouse. Voila, instant copy. You can also drag an object (or objects) around the map and right click at any location you want a copy created, allowing you to create lots of clones roughly where you want them really quickly.

 

Propagate Changes

When you have multiple variants of a preset that contain the almost the same settings, such as camo variants for a vehicle, you can clone any changes to the common settings by clicking the OK and Propagate button on the parent preset properties. This will open a dialog box allowing you to tick checkboxes to indicate which settings you want to copy to all child presets of the preset you are editing. No more manually editing the same value in 4 different camo variants of the same preset.

 

Lock Camera height

While moving around with the camera, just press CAPS LOCK to lock the camera's Z movement axis. This way you can look downwards and fly around without GOING downwards.

 

 

W3D Viewer

 

Move Light Source

Hold down ctrl and drag your mouse around the screen to move the light source, this is useful for lighting your model from different angles (since the default top-down scene light doesn't always illuminate everything very well, especially when it's untextured)