Guide/housing breakout tutorial 1

==LAYOUT BUILDER TUTORIAL==
===Housing Layout Editor Guide===
__TOC__
~by Wilhelmina of the French EQ2Artisans, who kindly created an English translation for us! We received our version from EQ2 TC.
The Layout Editor is a tool that uses saved house layouts to manipulate furniture in many ways (rotating, flipping, precise alignment, etc.) that are not always possible with by-hand placement of your furniture.
The Layout Editor, created by Jesdyr, can be found here : http://www.eq2designers.com/
A tutorial, also created by Jesdyr, is also available on Youtube
Finally, this article has been edited to reflect changes made by version 1.7 of the Layout Editor. Any errors that you find are likely the fault of Mum while copying and pasting. :D
How does it work?
While in game, save a layout that we'll call "layout1". (Type /house while standing in the home, and there will be a "save layout" option) Give easy to remember, simple, easy to understand names and without spaces.
Install the layout editor program if you haven't already and launch it.
===Open a file===
Back to Top
In "File", choose "Open". Find your "saved_house_layouts" folder which is in your EQ2 folder and open "layout1".
In "File, choose "save as" and save as "layout1-work1" for example. Open the this file. Note that the currently loaded file is written at the bottom of the window after "Loaded File - " (or above in version 1.7).
Why do that? Because it'll allow you to retain a copy of your original layout in case you want to go back to it.
Main Window
You'll find there a huge number of columns corresponding to those of the file created by the game.
::ItemID : Number of the item in EQ2
::ItemName : Name of the item in EQ2
:::X, Z, Y : Location of the anchor point of the item in your house
:::Z (rotate), x (pitch), y (roll) : Those are the 3 values that'll let you rotate you items in new and interesting ways. A little plane at the bottom right corner of the window will help you understand the rotation moves.
::::rotate : rotation of the item around the Z axis (already in game)
::::pitch : rotation of the item around the X axis
::::roll : rotation of the item around the Y axis
:::Scale : scale of the item between 0.5 and 3 (6 for some tiles)
:::Crate : Box to tick to move the item in the moving crate. When unticked, the item will show in the house.
:::Notes : Field allowing you to put notes on the items, like "this is the bottom right chair", "second floor chair" and so on. If you load the layout in game, resave it and open it back in the program, your notes will be lost. Since version 1.7, you'll be able to save your notes in a separate file through the "Save/Export external notes data" option in the "Tools" Menu (it'll stay save as long as you don't take in inventory and put your item back in the house).
:::UID : Number of your item within the house (allows two of the same item to not be interchanged when the file is loaded, for example 2 mannequins)
===Scale note:===
Back to Top
A tile at .5 scale is a "ruler" that shows a single Norrathian unit of space. So if you want to know how much moving an item by "1" would be, put a tile down, shrunk as small as it will go, and you'll see. Or two tiles if you're moving by 2 and so forth, to give you an idea to begin with when trying to plan how much to move things. (Thanks, Enna!)
MultiEdit controls
The right panel is the place when a single item or several can be moved.
:::Select an item in the main window by clicking on the greyed part to the left (the whole line must be selected)
:::Type a value in "Move Amount"
:::Click on one of the buttons to move by the typed value
:::You can select several items and move all those items at the same time. It can be VERY interesting if you need to move a bunch of stuff by 3,14957 to the left.
:::To the right of "Scale" you have the text "set to" followed by a box. If you put 2 in the box, all your selected items will have their scale set to 2.
:::If you tick the box next to "Crate", all the selected items will be put in the moving crate.
:::If you click "Com", the selected lines will become greyish, which will allow you to locate them much faster. (This comments out the lines, however, meaning that the game will ignore those lines when loading the new layout, so make sure to uncomment them when you're done manipulating them!)
===Top and bottom buttons===
Back to Top
To the top and the bottom of the main window, you'll find buttons and text. Here is what they are :
:::Total Items loaded : number of items in the loaded file
:::Header : type of house you're in
:::Manifest : allows you to export the list of items in your house by type. For example, it'll allow you to see at a glance how many sumac bookcases you have in your house. The export is made as a .csv file with fields separated by a comma.
:::Del Crates : removes from the file all the items that are in the moving crate.
:::Filter : Allows you to filter the shown items. 3 filters can be made:
::::Find items by area : Allows you to seee only the items in a given area
::::Example : you have black tiles in the top room of your manor AND in your basement. As you're working on the basement and don't want to move, by accident, the tiles in the top room, you can set Z between -10 & 0 and you'll only see the tiles of the basement.
::::Find items by name : allows you to only show the black tiles and not the black, blue and red tiles of your layout.
::::Filter Crate by numbers : allows you to see only the items placed in the house if you have others in your moving crate.
:::Clear Filter : removes all filters
:::The following options were moved to the "Edit" Menu in version 1.7. * Duplicate : duplicates one of the lines. The UID field is set at the default 999999 value. You can then replace the UID by the real UID of the placed item.
:::Example: you had 5 black tiles in your house but you realize you need 6 for your floor. Click on "Duplicate" will allow you to add a 6th tile in the layout (don't forget to place one in your house too!) without having to save a new layout from the game.
:::Replace : allows you to modify a bunch of lines in a single click, if you want to replace one item by another or set 10 lines at a given height.
::::Example : you had 10 "black marble tile" (ItemID : 3934245563, ItemName : Black Marble Tile) set down at your floor height, Z = 0 and you want to replace them by blue tiles floating at Z = 3.
::*- Select the 10 lines of "Black Marble Tile"
::*- Click on Replace
::*- In ItemID, type 3125096850 (ID of the blue tiles)
::*- In ItemName, type Blue Marble Tile (new item name)
::*- In Z, type 3 (new height you want)
::*- Click OK: your 10 black tiles are now blue and floating
:::Mod Group : Allows you to move a group of items. Be careful, you may need to do a lot of tries before getting them all in the right place so save before trying!
::::Group point to point move : allows you to move a group of items in several ways at the same time.
::::Example : You have a fishtank around 4 2 18 and you want to move it in the room above, at 14 10 18 (so 10 degrees on X, 8 on Z and 0 on Y).
::*- Select every item of your fishtank and open "Modify Group".
::*- Type 0 0 0 in "start" and 10 8 0 in "Destination".
::*- Click "Move" = your fishtank will move to the required location
::::Rotate Group Around Point : moves a group of items around a point. The hardest part is finding the central point you need!
::::Example : your fishtank, centered around 4, 2, 18, is not where you want it to be and you would prefer to see it on the other side of the room.
::*- Find the middle of the room (for example X = 0 and Y = 14)
::*- In "Point to Rotate around", type 0 14
::*- As you want it to rotate fully, type "180" in "Angle to Rotate"
::*- Click on "Rotate" : your fishtank is now in -4 2 10, on the opposite side of the room.
::::At the bottom you'll find the line "Loaded file - ": gives the name of the opened file
::::Loaded Log - : gives the name of the opened log file (we'll get back to that)
::::Apply Edits : applies the edits (Apply Edits was added to encourage people to click out of the cell. All it does is forces any changes to be saved. If you already clicked out of a cell you were changing it is not needed.)
::::Save : saves your file
===Menus: File===
Back to Top
- basic options
:::Open : opens a file
:::New From Diff (moved to File menu in version 1.7): Allows you to create a new file by spotting the differences between two other files. You'll be able to spot more easily the items added in your house without having to filter.
:::You'll find an English tutorial on YouTube and an SOE forum post from Jazabelle full of helpful information and screenshots
::::options :
:::::.....+ Original file : original layout file
:::::.....+ Difference file : layout file after having moved or added some items
:::::.....+ Destination file : layout file which will show only the items that were moved or added between the two previous files.
::::How to use it in a good way?
:::::.....+ in game, create 3 macros: one to save the original layout (/save_layout temp1), one to save the modified layout (/save_layout temp2) and a third to load the final layout (/load_layout final-output)
:::::.....+ click on the first macro to save the temp1 layout
:::::.....+ move the items that you want to locate or add new ones. For example, move 2 tiles.
:::::.....+ click on your macro to save temp2
:::::.....+ in the layout editor, choose temp1 as original, temp2 as difference and final-output as destination file (if the file doesn't exist, just type its name and it'll be created)
:::::.....+ click ok: the layout file "final-output" will show, with in it only the files moved (our 2 tiles)
:::::.....+ move the items as you see fit and then load the file
::::using your macro /load_layout final-output
:::Diff (version 1.7): The new version gives you a "Diff" button that is a bit different from the old "New from Diff". The major change is that the editor will compare a file opened in the editor with a new saved file. er, isn't that the same? No. When using New From Diff, we were comparing file 1 saved in game with file 2 saved in game to make a file 3 created on the layout editor and overwriting any file currently opened in the editor. Now we have file 1 within the editor and file 2 saved in game and it produces a new tab added to file 1 in the "diff" tab. It doesn't override anything and the locations that'll show are taken from the opened layout and not from the game. So it'll allow you to find what items where moved without loosing the changes you may have made to said items. It will not take into account new items put in the house.
:::Save As: save file with a new name
:::Settings:
::::Always on top: allows you to retain the program on top of your windows
::::EQ2LayoutsDir: folder where your layouts are saved
::::Item Group Dir: folder where your groups are saved
::::Auto detect Logfile : detects an active log file
::::EQ2 Log Dir : folder where your logs are saved
::::Current logfile : log file of your in-game character
::::Save Grid Sizes : saves the size of the main window grid if you have increased or decreased some columns sizes
::::Save Program Size : saves the size of the program window if you have reduced or increased it.
===Menus: Edit===
Back to Top
- basic options (1.7 version)
The 1.7 version of the editor moved some options from the main window to a new menu named Edit.
Note that in this version, the temp UID will have a negative value which will allow them to be put in groups.
:::Create new group: creates a new group with the selected lines.
:::To learn more about groups, check the section dedicated to the layout editor 1.7 at the bottom of the page.
:::COPY-PASTE OF DUPLICATE, REPLACE AND MOD GROUP (mod group is renamed group modify).
==LAYOUT EDITOR - ADVANCED OPTIONS==
Back to Top
We saw the "File" menu with all the basic options. The Tools menu has a lot of options that are not really that easy to understand. Get to know the layout editor before starting on these!
Menus : Tools - advanced options
:::Merge In: allows you to merge two layouts from the same house type.
::::Example :
:::::*- in your house, you have a file for your bar, in your dining room.
:::::*- you build a fireplace near it, and since both are in your dining room, you wish to create a single "diningroom" file.
:::::*- while being on your "fireplace" file, choose "Merge in" and select your "bar" file
:::::*---> the data from your bar will be added to the "fireplace" file and you can now save it under the "diningroom" name
:::Remove duplicates : removes the duplicated items
:::ReOrder removed with 1.7 version
:::Create Objects - Circles and Spirals: allows you to create automagically circular patterns in your house. You'll need a lot of trial and error to achieve it, so save often!
:::You'll find an English tutorial in several parts on YouTube: part 1 (circles), part 2 (cones) and part 3 (spirals)
::::Select the 2D plane : choose the plane of your circle
:::::*- If you want a spiral staircase, your plane is the floor
:::::*- If you want a rosette on the wall, your plane will be XZ or YZ
::::Center Point : center of your circle
::::Number of steps : number of items used in your build
::::total angle : total angle. Do you want half a circle (180), whole circle (360) or 2 circles (720)?
::::Start angle : the start of your circle. If it's a spiral staircase, the start angle will be the rotation value of your first step. 0 = facing north
::::radius : the size of your circle
::::Z increase : allows you to create a spiral on 3 axis. It's the height added to your original plane.
:::::*- if you want a staircase going up to 10 points in height, type 10
:::::*- if you want a staircase where each step is at 0.5 above the first one, type 0.5 and tick "per step".
::::Radius increase : allows you to create a 2 axis spiral. The radius of your circle will increase progressively.
:::::*- if you want your radius to go up by 10 total, type 10.
:::::*- if you want your radius to go up by 1 for each item, type 1 and tick "per step".
:::::*Item name : name of the item used in your spiral (not relevant)
:::::*Item ID : number of the item used
:::::*Item start rotations : Allows you to start a circle with tipped items. It allows you to create conical structures or ramps.
::::Item scale : scale of the items
::::Create : creates the structure you defined with a default UID. The items will always be added at the bottom of the list. Remember to delete the original items lines to avoid creating duplicates (if you make a circle with 10 tiles and that the 10 old tiles are still in the layout, you'll get 20 tiles. So remove the 10 old ones.).
::::It can be easier to remove the items from the layout before starting, which will cut down a bit on the risk of removing the wrong ones in the end. Anyway, do TONS of saves.
::::Beware: 1.7 version will allow you to create those structures within a group and will use the UID of items stored in the crate if there are some. The suppress and re-add and whatever above has become old news. Refer to the 1.7 version of the layout section below for more information.
:::Create objects - Tile and Area: Allows you to create a plane with items, usually tiles.
::::Select the 2D plane : select the plane you want to coat with tiles
::::Start point : starting X Y Z of your plane
::::End point : ending X Y Z point of your area if you know exactly how much surface you want to tile.
::::Start rotations: start rotation of your first item
::::Item Name : name of the item
::::Item ID : number of the item
::::Item Scale : scale of the item
::::Number of tiles : number of tiles you want to use on the X and Y axis (for example 5 tiles long and 2 tiles width)
::::Tile Spacing : spacing between the tiles. It allows you to have seamless, overlapping or separated tiles.
::::Remember the magic number: for 2 tiles not to overlap, their spacing needs to be double the scale (if Item Scale = 3, Tile Spacing = 6)
::::Create : creates the structure you defined with a default UID. The items will always be added at the bottom of the list. Remember to delete the original items lines to avoid creating duplicates (if you make an area with 10 tiles and that the 10 old tiles are still in the layout, you'll get 20 tiles. So remove the 10 old ones.).
::::It can be easier to remove the items from the layout before starting, which will cut down a bit on the risk of removing the wrong ones in the end. Anyway, do TONS of saves.
::::Beware: 1.7 version will allow you to create those structures within a group and will use the UID of items stored in the crate if there are some. The suppress and re-add and whatever above has become old news. Refer to the 1.7 version of the layout section below for more information.
::::Groups : Allows you to save a group of objects in a separate file. The corner of the group will be put at 0 0 0 with the other items placed relative to it
::::The goal of the groups is to save, for example, the fishtank of your Qeynos manor to import it in your Neriak inn. Once your group is loaded in your Neriak layout, you'll be able to move it by using "Mod Group" until it's in the right place.
:::This way of seeing groups has changed in 1.7 version. Refer to the section below for more information.
:::Mini Controls: Allows you to show a very small window for moving objects without having to look at the big program window.
:::The benefit is that you'll be able to keep it at the front, in front of your game window, without having it eating the whole of your screen.
:::Replace temp UID : We saw that creating some shapes or duplicating was creating temporary UIDs. To get valid UIDs :
:::::*- while in game, place all the items used in your shape in the moving crate (for example 10 black tiles) and save the layout
:::::*- while in the editor, click "Replace temps UID", choose the file you just created and click "replace"
:::::*- the 10 black tiles with a 999999 UID will be changed to the black tiles with the valid UID from your new layout.
::::Save/Export external group data (version 1.7): Allows you to save or load your group data.
::::This will allow you to save or get back your groups. That data is using UID, so be aware that if you pick up and place back an item, it will not be retained within the group.
:::::*Save/Export external notes data (version 1.7): Allows you to save or load your notes data.
::::This will allow you to save or get back your notes. Those data are using UID, so be aware that if you pick up and place back an item, it will not be retained within the group.
==LAYOUT EDITOR - 1.7 VERSION: GROUPS==
Back to Top
Layout editor 1.7 is a major update. It adds a group notion and removes a bunch of boring manual changes.
We saw that it was better to only retain in the layout file the items that are neede or the room we're working on. It cuts down the chances of loading bugs, loading tme and so on. Problem was: if we wanted to add an item, or move one by hand, we had to re-load and re-sort the file to retain only what was needed. 1.7 version solves that.
===Main Window Tabs===
Back to Top
::: the main window has now 3 tabs :
::::Main : contains everything that is showing in your house. The "save all" button will allow you to save the whole house layout.
::::Crate : contains everything that is in the moving crate. The "save all" button will allow you to save the whole house layout.
::::Groups : contains all the groups datas. The "save group" button will allow you to save the group layout.
:::::what are the groups ? : It is groups of items you want to work on, for example your kitchen. A group is made of a list of some items UID of your layout. This means that if you pick up in your inventory some items and put them back, the UID will change and the item will not be retained by your group, so be wary.
:::Create a group : After highlighting the items you want to work on, your kitchen for example, right-click on the grey area to the left of the window and choose "Create Group". You'll be prompted to a window where you'll be asked the name of the group, for example "kitchen". You can also do that through Edit > Create new group.
:::If you find out you forget your towel rack, no problems. Select it, right click and choose "add to group". You'll have to choose between the existing groups and you'll be able to add it to your "kitchen group".
:::The group tab :
::::at the top, you'll be able to choose which group you want to see and add a colour to it (this will colour the ligne in the "main" tab). You can also remove a group or save the group data (so the list of items used in the group)
::::On the window itself, you can right click and remove an item (Remove from Group). You'll also find the replace, duplicate and group mod options that are also in the Edit menu (see above to see what it does)
::::at the bottom, you'll get the "save group" option. This will allow you to save the group layout (and not the whole one) and get a tiny layout file to load in the game instead of the whole layout.
:::I forgot an item ! If you find out you forgot 3 white marble tiles in your house, no problem. You can save your layout through the editor and load it (if it wasn't the same that was loaded), put the tiles in your house, save another layout and load it back to the editor. You groups won't change as the items in the house are the same, but the 3 tiles will be added to the main tab. You can then add to your group the 3 tiles without having to take hours croping back your layout to get down to only the kitchen items!
:::Circle, spiral, tile and duplicate tools : that's where it becomes really nice. Until now, the structures created were created with temporary UID. Now, by default, the UID used will be those of the items of your moving crate.
::::Example : I want to create a 50 books spiral. I'll start by placing my 50 books in the house, save the layout, open it in the editor. Then I'll select the books, tick the "crate" box to the right, click crate. Here are my 50 books in the crate.
:::::*- I open the spiral tool, in group name I'll type "books" which will be the name of my group. I'll then create my spiral and a new group opens. I can then save the group layout (save group), under the name "books" for example, and load "books" in game.
:::::*- not what I wanted? no problems. I can select my whole group, tick "crate" to the right, apply "crate" and poof, everything is back in the crate. I can then remove my group and start the spiral from scratch.
:::It is also possible to create the spirals in an existing group and only chose "remove from group".
:::If I want to duplicate a structure, for example my 50 books spiral, I can add another 50 books in my house, crate them and when I'll duplicate, it'll take the UID from the books in the crate.
:::Save/Export external group data : allows you to save or load your group datas.
:::This will allow you to save or get back your groups. Those datas are using UID, so be aware that if you pick up and place back an item, it will not be retained within the group.
===Layout editor - Tips===
Back to Top
:::Logging : we saw previously that we could choose a log in the file options. THis is something very useful! Everywhere n the program where there is a manifying glass, you can use the /loc command.
::::In game, activate your log by typing /log
::::At any time, you can type /loc to see your current location
::::clicking on the manifying glass in the program will populate the location values entered through your last /loc command.
::::Anchoring point : Every item is anchored in the house by a single point, usually :
::::at the bottom in the middle for floor items
::::in the middle for wall items
::::at the top in the middle for ceiling items
::::Most of the items don't like having their anchor point within a wall or within the floor. This means that, if you sink a divider within the floor, next time you'll enter your house, the divider will have disapeared (the item is still there but invisible). The only way to stop items from disappearing is to put the anchor within the house and not in unreachable areas. For a divider, you'll have to roll it by 180° first (to put the anchor in the top part) then sink it in the floor to see it really sink and staying sunk..
::::Putting 2 items at the same place can create the same problem. Some places in some houses are visible but not accepting floor items either, like the basement of Kelethin houses: you can't put items within the last 2 points below the ceiling (which means you won't be able to tile the ceiling).
::::To see if your items are disappearing or not, leave your house and go back in.
::::Pitch and Roll bugs: If you put round values in pitch and roll (for example 90), you're at risk of seeing items starting to spin in an uncontrollable way. leaving the house and going back in will allow you to see how you really put them. To avoid items spinning, put approximate values in those fields, like 89,98.
::::Flickering : if you put two overlaping items with the same texture, you may see a flickering effect that is not really nice to the eye. It happens a lot with tiles. How to fix it?
::::Move your item a bit on one axis. For example, if two tiles are overlapping on the XY plane, move one of the two by 0,01. It should put them just enough apart for the flickering to disappear (the minimal moving value to stop the flickering depends on the scale of the tile)
::::Change the scale a bit on one of the items: the texture of the two items will not be the same at the same place anymore and the flickering will disapear.
::::Go for seamless: For placing tiles, new the magical values! The pace between 2 tiles is double the scale of the tile.
::::Example :I have 4 tiles with a scale of 2 and I want to create a square:
::::First is at 0 0 0
::::Second will be at 4 0 0
::::Third will be at 0 0 4
::::Fourth will be at 4 0 4
::::Use the cardinal points! If you want to create a complex structure, for example a chimney or a bar, if it's possible, put it along a North-South or East-West axis. It'll allow you to move the items by simple values along a single axis. If your structure is "a bit crooked", you'll end up having to move items by 0,457 on X and 0,678 on Y when you want to move an item by half a point to the right, and other not-so-easy values.
::::Isn't it easier to move by 0,5 on X and 0 on Y to move an item to the right? So, put your structure on a NS or EW axis and then rotate the whole group of items to put it in place. You'll save tons of time.
: 
 
Created: 2011-06-30 02:00:52 
: Last Modified By: Councellor
: 
Last Modified on: 2011-10-29 20:07:15