The layout editor has changed. It is now more powerful and works more like other editors.

It now uses a CUT / COPY / PASTE system using the standard Windows keys CTRL+X/C/V

This is different from the old editor style which was based on a select / duplicate / move type of logic which had some limitations and caused some problems.


The problem:

The problem in the old system was that when you selected some objects, they were selected in two ways simultaneously.
1) Visible 'in hand' where your mouse was pointing, ready to be placed in the world
2) The original objects you had selected were still selected

This caused some confusion. For example, if you had some blue tyres and you wanted to place some red ones, you might click the colour and that would change the object in your hand as well as the one on the ground, previously placed or selected.

There are various other examples such as modification of concrete object heights and rotation of objects that could be confusing or annoying because of the old selection method.


The solution:

The updated editor moves to a different editor logic that should be more familiar because of its similarity with other editors. You can cut, copy and paste.

The real improvement now is that there is a complete separation between the world objects that have been selected, and a selection of objects 'in hand'. Only one of these types of selection is active at any time, so if you make any changes to their colour, dimensions, heading, altitude then it only affects the one active selection.


How to use it:

You create a real world selection, as before, by clicking on object selection buttons. There are two ways to select multiple objects.

1) Hold CTRL and click on object selection buttons
2) Hold CTRL and draw a selection rectangle using the left mouse button

After making your selection you can adjust it in various ways using the on screen buttons or keys.

Maybe you would like to duplicate the selected objects. Press COPY and you will see a live selection in hand. Point to where you would like to place the objects and press PASTE or O to put the new objects there.

Maybe you would like to move your selected objects. There are two ways to do this.

1) Press CUT. The original objects are deleted and you will see them as a live selection in hand located at the mouse cursor. You can now make modifications to the selection as required before pasting or placing it in a new location.
2) Press COPY. You will see a live selection in hand while the original objects remain in the world. Make any changes to the selection then press M to move the original objects to their new position.

You can paste a copied selection in two ways:

1) O key: Place objects and keep a selection in hand to be placed again
2) PASTE: Paste the objects and the new objects will be selected, not leaving a selection in hand

Note: you can switch between the two selection styles by pressing COPY.

1) Real world objects selected -> press COPY -> now you have a selection in hand
2) In hand selection -> press COPY to UN-COPY the selection, i.e. reverts to the world object selection

Note: new PGUP and PGDN keys to adjust height for concrete and other floating objects.


Test patch download: EDIT: This is now in the official version 0.6T

How to reset the selection of objects?

C to clear

Thanks

I actually liked the old track editor, and I'm frustrated with the new one. There are some changes to the new editor that I find very annoying. There are old habits that I have that worked with the old editor that doesn't work anymore.

First is the fact that when you place down an object, and you move your mouse to move the object, you don't have a preview of where the object is going to be anymore. If you don't have an object selected, that's when you get the preview of where to place an object. That used to be a feature in the old editor, gone in the new one.

Another annoying fact with this new editor is that when you have an object selected (or many objects in some cases, which makes it even more annoying), and you hit space to clear the HUD, it deselects the objects you have. Thirty objects deselected instantly because I hit space to get a better view of the layout I'm making.

It would be greatly appreciated if these small, but important features comes back in a newer patch, because I find layout creating very unenjoyable currently because of this.

Are you on R21, pop? The not-having-a-preview thing was early in the test patch, and lots are more changes later - one of which is the preview behaving how you like it again. Also ctrl-drag to select objects, which is handy if you drop a big selection

Quote from PopnLochNessMonster :

I actually liked the old track editor, and I'm frustrated with the new one. There are some changes to the new editor that I find very annoying. There are old habits that I have that worked with the old editor that doesn't work anymore.

As Racon said, please make sure you are on the R21 version. I'll try to answer your individual points below.

Quote from PopnLochNessMonster :

First is the fact that when you place down an object, and you move your mouse to move the object, you don't have a preview of where the object is going to be anymore. If you don't have an object selected, that's when you get the preview of where to place an object. That used to be a feature in the old editor, gone in the new one.

The preview is still available.

If you placed the objects with the O key, as in the old editor, then the preview (for the next objects to be placed or where to move the current selected objects) is available just as it was in the old editor.

On the other hand if you placed the objects with CTRL+V then the preview isn't immediately visible but you can make it visible by pressing CTRL+C.

You can hide or show the preview for the selected objects at any time with CTRL+C.

Quote from PopnLochNessMonster :

Another annoying fact with this new editor is that when you have an object selected (or many objects in some cases, which makes it even more annoying), and you hit space to clear the HUD, it deselects the objects you have. Thirty objects deselected instantly because I hit space to get a better view of the layout I'm making.

You can hold SHIFT to keep objects selected when exiting edit mode.

So for the case you are talking about that is now SHIFT+SPACE.

For the record, in R22, ALT key now temporarily hides the outlines of selected objects. (just to make sure anyone heavily involved in making layouts gets to know it )

hi , i am glad of the new editor functions TY ! but the page-up/page-down for height is odd , before i didint need to leave the mouse to go push those bottons , the height was good in the right menu along with the pitch and positions x-y ... also glowing outline on parts make it difficult for placement , pressing shift every time is kind of annoying , maybe just make the part glow but not underground or behind unselected object ?

control shift to see the object , move it and rotate it dosent really work when you only want to replace its position , why cant we always see and move the selected object weather we paste new one or changing its position just like before ?

just a side note , the misalignment when rotating multiple ramps still occur . this is the thing that consume the most time , as we cant duplicate ramp assembly, we have to place them 1 by 1 to make sure they fit right ..

i like the new copy paste and select option as well as zero diameter people , but every thing else just ruined it , not to speak of thing that should have been addressed long ago and are still not why we cant tilt triangular slabs ? , why only 30 object selection max , why misalignment with ramps on rotation , why no grass or dirt or trees , why concrete as to be super slippery compared to normal road , why lines do not conform to the ramps angle ..

@Scawen I know over the years the layout editing has gotten better and better, highly appreciated since the last few years specially us drifters we been able to create our favorite real life tracks on AU, Westhill, and BL parking. Couple suggestions: apex objects, stop signs, grass (I know that one might take years) street lights, trash cans, benches, more chalk options, allow chalk to be inclined (pitch angle) for when putting on concrete ramps etc. In general more real life track objects. Lately I’ve been on a mission to make Japanese drift tracks 1 a month. Thank you for all the hard work you been putting into this game

Hi, I wrote in another thread Question proposal. Didn't get into the topic. I will repeat myself here. If possible, please give an answer.

"Hey! I would like to ask for one addition to the autocross auto editor. There are concrete blocks, you can add gravel texture to concrete block and make gravel physics. I love rallycross very much, but there are very few rallicross tracks. With this object, you can lay new sidewalks everywhere. And arrange a stage in the parking lot similar to the Global Rallycross.
Sorry for bad english (google translate)"

If something is not clear, ask me, I draw well, I can show you my proposal for an autocross editor in illustrations.