Need help - couple of dumb questions

[Boozilla]

I feel like an idiot because I can't figure this out. It's probably super easy to do.

I have a map with a river running North-South approximately through the middle. There's a lake in the middle of this river. I placed these objects on top of an empty background (I simply changed the background color from ocean-like blue to a forest-like green).

So far all is good with my silly little map.

I want to create some rocky cliff-like regions on either side of the southern end of the lake, with a narrow gap in-between them. There's a dam between them, hence the lake. I've tried creating these with both the LandMass tool and the Region tool, doesn't seem to matter.

I can draw them just fine, but I can't get the lake to be on a layer underneath the rocky outcropping things. The lake is on top of the background, which is good, but it's also on top of my cliffs/outcroppings on either side, which is not what I want. I've tried moving objects frontwards and backwards on the layers to no avail.

Water is always above landmasses and regions, which actually makes sense, I understand why that is. But in this case I want cliffs above the water. I can't seem to put anything above the water layer other than buildings and rivers.

As an alternative approach, I also tried to figure out how to either get the lake shoreline to follow the path of the outcroppings or vice versa. Can't do it. I can't find the toggle anywhere in the UI to turn this option on, nor can I get the cool auto-generated squiggly line segments to line up while putting them down.

I'm open to using the Partition Tool but it wasn't really the workflow I had in mind, and so far it's just been worse for what I'm trying to do.

Thanks for any patient advice. I'm normally decent with software, just find myself a little turn-around with this.

[Kanchou]

I feel like an idiot because I can't figure this out. It's probably super easy to do.

Thank you for the question! It's actually a very good point and gave us some things to think about design-wise.

I want to make sure I'm following 100% what you are trying to do, so correct me if I'm wrong.

One thing you can do is use the lake tool in "Subtract" mode to carve out the areas where you want the lake to be "punched through." (from the Tool Options across the top). Would that give the effect you are looking for?

If not, the Dungeon Tool set and City Tool set always go on top of the Overland elements and several of the Overland Tools have a "Dungeon equivalent." So, for instance, you can try doing the same thing but using the zone tool, that way it will be on top of the lake.

Please let us know how it works out!

- Alejandro

[Boozilla]

Thank you. The Dungeon Zone tool was what I needed. I had to fiddle around with the point editing to get it to look decent along the shoreline of the lake, but it turned out OK. It would be a lot easier if the new object could follow the path of an existing object for an arbitrary number of segments, if that makes sense. But in any case, I was able to fix it.

[Kanchou]

Thank you. The Dungeon Zone tool was what I needed. I had to fiddle around with the point editing to get it to look decent along the shoreline of the lake, but it turned out OK. It would be a lot easier if the new object could follow the path of an existing object for an arbitrary number of segments, if that makes sense. But in any case, I was able to fix it.

The "Following" check box in the Tool Options being enable should let you do that. For instance, if you have the Zone Tool selected and Following is enabled, if you hover over the lake outline it will tell you "Click To Follow." After that, every time you click on another point in the outline it will follow up to that point.

- Alejandro

[Boozilla]

Where is the following checkbox? I have searched hi and low for it and can't find it.

[Kanchou]

Where is the following checkbox? I have searched hi and low for it and can't find it.

With the tool is selected, the Tool Options bar across the top has all the modifiers for the tool. Add/Sub mode, Pen type, etc. Towards the end there is a "Following" checkbox.

Thanks!

- Aleandro

[Boozilla]

Please see attached...I don't see anything after "Snap to Edge" on the Tool Options bar.

[Boozilla]

Nevermind, I see it for some of the other tools. It just doesn't exist for the Lake tool.

[Kanchou]

Nevermind, I see it for some of the other tools. It just doesn't exist for the Lake tool.

That is a good point. I was thinking for the zone/region tools. We'll try to add the following option for lakes with next release too. I'm sure we had a reason to not have it originally, but it makes sense to add it.

Thanks!

- Alejandro

[Boozilla]

Thanks for all the help. In spite of my difficulties (which are mostly my fault) I'm really enjoying the tool.