Overview
A basic introduction to all of the editor’s controls.
Quick troubleshooting/setup
This guide is dedicated to nothing else than the hotkeys, so don’t expect explanations on functions, menus, how to hook up triggers, map design, or anything else like that.
However I feel these issues should be addressed here as they haven’t been fixed yet:
- If your editor crashes on launch or you can’t open it, install OpenAL. There’s another guide with a link to that.
- If your editor starts off in a small window, you’ll have problems later on, like the tiles menu getting cut. For this there is a simple solution: Go to your documentscobalt folder and edit the daisymoon file. In there you’ll find options for resolution, fullscreen and VSync.
Basic controls
Please note that there is some functions that have no hotkey (such as remove/rename layer) which can be found in the menus in the tabs at the top of the screen in the editor which won’t be listed here.
Basic functions
Hotkey
Function
Ctrl + N
New map
Ctrl + Z
Undo
Ctrl + Y
Redo
Ctrl + C
Copy selected
Ctrl + V
Paste
Ctrl + S
Save
Ctrl + O
Open
Ctrl + W
Workshop menu
Esc
General cancel/exit key for some menus and brush modes
Camera
Hotkey
Function
Move mouse around window edges
Move camera
Space + left click (Drag)
Drag camera
Space + right click (Drag)
Move camera
Scroll
Zoom in/out
Space + wheel-click
Reset zoom
G
Quick zoom out and in
M
Toggle minimap
Selection
Hotkey
Function
Left-click
Select tile
Shift + left-click (Drag or click)
Select multiple tiles/uneslect a tile (click only)
(Select a tile first) Ctrl + E
Expand selection to related tiles
Pressing it multiple times will keep expanding the selection to more semi-related tiles.
Ctrl + A
Select all
Pressing it multiple times will expand to all layers.
General
Hotkey
Function
R
Quick set editor render
Note that the ingame render doesn’t simulate 100% how it will look. Also note that bitsquid has different render, so some stuff (like the sun/sunrays) will look different in the game than it does while testing it in the editor. Hopefully once all issues are fixed the only thing that will be different is the sun.
Shift + R
Editor render menu
D
Theme options menu
I (that’s “i”)
Auto generate AI pathing
Tile placement
Hotkey
Function
T
Tile menu
Left-click with tile in hand
Place tile (hold and drag to place multiple)
Double-click placed tile (without tile in hand)
Pick tile
Right-click
Tile properties
Right-click with tile in hand while hovering a tile
Remove tile
Q (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick set grid size
Shift + Q
Grid size menu
W (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick set scale snap
Shift + W
Scale snap menu
S (Hold and scroll)
Scale selected tile(s).
If you have multiple tiles selected, they will each individually shrink or grow relative to their own central point, however if you hover one, it’ll all act as one big tile and shrink or grow relative to the center of the tile you’re hovering.
E (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick set angle snap
Shift + E
Angle snap menu
A (Hold and scroll)
Rotate selected tile(s).
If you have multiple tiles selected, they will each individually rotate relative to their own central point, however if you hover one, it’ll all act as one big tile and rotate relative to the center of the tile you’re hovering.
F
Flip tile (Selected/in hand)
If you have multiple tiles selected, they will each be individually flipped relative to their own central point, however if you hover one, it’ll all act as one big tile and flip all tiles relative to the center of the tile you’re hovering.
X (Hold, move mouse, move mouse and release)
Quick switch to tile from same family
C (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick switch to tile of same shape from same family
Ctrl + Up arrow
Move selected tiles one layer up (and change layer)
Ctrl + Down arrow
Move selected tiles one layer down (and change layer)
Layers
Hotkey
Function
Z (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick layer change
L
Layer menu
Ctrl + L
Create new layer on current layer group
P
Layer properties menu
Wheel-click
Switch to clicked tile’s layer
Up arrow
Move one layer up
Space + Scroll up
Move one layer up
Down arrow
Move one layer down
Space + Scroll down
Move one layer down
Testing
Hotkey
Function
Shift + F5
Testing settings
If nothing shows up here, make sure you have assigned a gamemode to your map, saved it, closed the editor, and reopened it again for it to successfully detect the assigned gamemode.
F5
Test stage
8
Toggle autoteleport
When autoteleport is on, instead of playing the map like you would, you’ll spawn an actor you can control at the center of your current view. Known issue: If you’re testing a challenge map with autoteleport you might have no control over the character at first. Press X (attack/confirm key) to gain control over it.
F7
Return to editor
Advanced hotkeys
Basic functions
Hotkey
Function
Shift + B
Clipboard
Tile placement
Hotkey
Function
1 (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick placement options
Usually you always want this on “normal”. If your map starts looking like it has random tiles somewhere, check it’s set to normal.
Shift + 1
Placement options menu
Tile properties actions
Hotkey
Function
(With selected tile (Usually a trigger)) 2
Set action
(With selected tile with action) 3
Set target (click on target tile)
Brushing
While in brush mode, you can paint tiles with colors, also their opacity. Note that the color is not absolutely opaque on top of the tile. You paint tiles given their 4 corners.
Hotkey
Function
.
Brush colors
,
Enter brush mode
You can restrict which tiles you paint: It’s restricted to those you have selected.
(While in brush mode) Left-click
Approach
(While in brush mode) Right-click
Erase painted color
(While in brush mode) Wheel-click
Pick painted color
(While in brush mode) Shift + left-click
Smooth color transition (between various corners)
(While in brush mode) Shift + right-click
Paint
(While in brush mode) Shift + wheel-click
Add random coloured noise
(While in brush mode) A (Hold and scroll)
Modify the brush’s alpha
No, it’s not the same property as in the . menu. This has to do with how fast the brush paints. Usually it’s normal to have it at 100%.
(While in brush mode) S (Hold and scroll)
Brush size
(While in brush mode) Esc
Exit brush mode
Horizons
First of all go into one of the horizon layers.
Hotkey
Function
Double-click on horizon
Enter horizon brush mode
(While in horizon brush mode) Left-click
Approach
(While in horizon brush mode) Right-click
Adds vertical noise. Better make your brush big and alpha low.
(While in horizon brush mode) Shift + left-click
Smooth. Alpha is significant as well.
(While in horizon brush mode) Shift + right-click
Set. “Pull” the horizon
(While in horizon brush mode) A (Hold and scroll)
Modify the brush’s alpha
This modifies how fast you “pull” the horizon.
(While in horizon brush mode) S (Hold and scroll)
Brush size
(While in horizon brush mode) Esc
Exit brush mode
Right-click on horizon
Horizon options
Brings up a right-click menu with options: Generate (random), smooth, level, average, increase, reduce, offset left, offset right, match behind, match sibling, match ahead.
Locales
(Other “screens” of your map)
Hotkey
Function
Ctrl + M
Create new locale
V (Hold, move mouse and release)
Quick switch locale
Shift + V
Switch locale menu
Wires
(Electricity stuff)
Hotkey
Function
Tab
Toggle Wire/Tile editor mode
(While in wire editor) Right-click
Exit wire editor mode
Left-click on input/output
Set target/origin (click on it)
Physics
(a bit buggy)
Hotkey
Function
(With tile selected) 4
Activate physics
IMPORTANT NOTE: Physics work while editing too. Pressing 4, unlike right-clicking a tile and pressing “Activate physics”, will make it so the physics are already resumed and active. If you don’t want it to have physics on the editor view as soon as you click it, right-click and activate physics from there. For some reason though, toggling the in-editor physics for a tile with 5 and then turning them back on won’t make it have physics in editor view anymore.
5
Toggle resume physics
(With tile selected) 6
Deactivate physics (removes physics for the tile both in editing mode and ingame, just in case it wasn’t clear)
Tags
Originally I started writting this section about tags, noting that the feature was a bit buggy. While I was writting it I had to test it more to really see how it worked since I had never used it before, and thus I’ve come to the conclusion that it is way too buggy and dangerous to be used. So, no section on tags.
Thanks & notes
I’d like to thank Oxeye for the fantastic job they’ve done, and for creating such a powerful editor allowing for huge freedom and letting me make a ton of maps.
Also thanks for adding some of my maps into the game!
If you have any question, want to correct some mistake, or something else, please comment right away!
Hope this helped!
Other guides
How to upload your maps to the workshop
How to set up elevators
External links
My stuff
My maps[janeator.com]
https://www.youtube.com/user/JNewgat/videos
Tweets by Janeator
Community portals
Steam group
Forums[forum.cobaltvault.no]
IRC[webchat.esper.net]
https://www.reddit.com/r/cobalt/