posted 02-10-2001 08:19 PM               

Size your room by highlighting the appropriate number of squares in the "plan view" grid (top left of the screen.) Now click on BOUND ROOM, and room will be sized.

Now adjust the height of your ceiling. Lara is 3 clicks tall, so keep that in mind. The default room height is 20 clicks... way too big in most cases. Highlight the room again in the PLAN VIEW grid and click on CEILING (-) to lower the ceiling (you'll see the height being adjusted in the grey text window at the lower part of the screen. For now, lower the ceiling to a height of 6.)

Use the 2-D Map button to toggle between an overhead 2D view of the room, and a 3-D model of the room. You can customize your room by viewing it as a 3D model and clicking on individual squares. As you pointed out, both the ceiling and the floor will be highlighted in red when you do this, so use the CEILING +/- and FLOOR +/- buttons to adjust everything. If you left click on a particular square several times, you'll notice a white arrow. You can create slopes this way... if the arrow is pointing to the right, for example, and you click FLOOR +, you'll get an incline to the right. Lara can run up a slope that is one or two clicks steep.

To texture your room, click on FACE EDIT, and start applying textures (make sure you loaded a texture set first-- select LOAD TGA from the menu at the top of the screen.)

To join two rooms, place the rooms next to each other so they are just touching. Now select the square (or several squares) that are on the border with the room you want to connect, and select the DOOR button.

And since everyone has this question when they first start, I'll answer it now-- HOW DO I MAKE LEDGES?
You can't make outcroppings from a wall. If you want a balconey (or whatever) to go around your room, you'll need to create another room above the one you're currently working on (use ROOM +/- to change room elevations.) For now, make this new room the same size as the old one. Now, place the new room above your old one, select the squares on the floor that will form the pit between the two rooms (remember to leave some squares unclicked, as you'll need a floor for your balconey) and click on the DOOR button. Since you probably don't want the balconey to have a paper-thin floor, click on those squares and raise them by one click. Oh yeah, you'll also want to use the DRAW DOORS button so you can see the rooms as they join together.