Toolbars: Map Operations

The Map Operations toolbar allows you to perform a number of operations on objects in your map as well as setting default behavior for some mapping properties.

Carve - When the Carve button is pressed, the selected brush will subtract its shape from the non-selected brushes around it.

Group/Ungroup - Group/Ungroup binds two or more objects together so they may be acted upon simultaneously. This is not the same as VisGrouping. The two functions differ in that grouping provides a way of physically binding a group of objects together, while VisGrouping enables you to organize objects into a group that may still be worked upon as separate objects. For more information, see Grouping and VisGrouping.

Ignore Groups - Ignore Groups allows you to modify individual brushes that are part of a group or entity by temporarily disabling "groups."

Hide Selected/Unselected, Show All - Along with the Filter Control dialog, these buttons are used to control what does and doesn't appear in the 2D and 3D space of the editor. Hide Selected and Hide Unselected both create new VisGroups with the newly hidden objects, and Show All will make visible any hidden VisGroup. For more information on VisGroups, see Grouping and VisGrouping.

Cut, Copy, Paste - These buttons follow the standard windows interface for cut/copy/paste.

Toggle Cordon State, Edit Cordon Bounds - These buttons allow you to "cordon off" an area of your map. When the cordon state is toggled on, a thick red line will appear around that area. When you compile, only the inside of that red area will be compiled, and a box will be placed around the area to seal leaks.

This is extremely useful when you are working on a large level and want to look at changes made in only a small area. Rather than wait a considerable amount of time for the entire map to compile, you can selectively compile only a small area by using the Cordon functions.

Note: Be sure to place a temporary player start within the bounds of the cordoned area before you test compile that section.

Toggle Select-by-Handles - When this option is toggled on, you will only be able to select objects by their center handles in the 2D view. To select objects by their center handles in 3D view, you must also be in wireframe mode. This is useful when there are several brushes overlapping in the 2D view, making the standard selection method (clicking on brush lines) awkward and inaccurate.

Toggle Auto-selection - When Toggle Auto-selection is toggled on, you can select multiple objects by simply clicking your mouse button and dragging a selection box around the objects. When this option is toggled off, you can also select multiple objects by dragging a selection box around the objects and then pressing Enter.

Texture Lock - This button toggles texture lock mode on and off. Textures will then stay correct when you move or rotate a brush.

Align to World/Face - This button toggles the texture alignment style between world alignment and face alignment. World alignment will align textures according to the world grid coordinates. Face alignment will align textures according to the brush face.

Run Map - This button brings up the current compile dialog. For more information on compiling you map, see Compiling and Running Your Level.