What is the best way to use map tiles?

[PellePlutt]

I have a bunch of map tiles that I found somewhere on the internet that are in a 6x6 format. I want to place design a map using these tiles but I can't load more than one tile when I use the "change map" command. OK, I thought. That makes sense... Let's use the "place object" command instead (but first moving the tiles to the correct folder, of course). This works well except that I don't have the same control to scale the tile as I have when using the "change map" command. I can't set the scale to be 6x6 using "set grid wide/high" command. I can only set a % on the "scale adjustment". Unfortunately, the perfect fit for the grid is a half-% setting and that is not available.

What is the best way to use map tiles? I am starting to think that I must use another application, such as Photoshop, to re-scale the tiles to 6x122 pixels. Is that the only option?

[heruca]

"Place Object" is indeed what you want, preferably after resizing the tiles in Photoshop or the like. If you want to avoid resizing, it's possible to set an object's scale more precisely (e.g., "42.37%"). There are two ways to do this.

1) Manually edit the scale parameter using a text editor. This can be done on either a Deployment file or an Encounter file.

2) Use the Chat window to resize a unit/s with decimal precision. See the section called "Resize Units" on pg. 95 of the BRPG User Manual.

[PellePlutt]

Thanks! Those options are best when it's one or two objects to re-size.
Photoshop seems to be best. I think there is a batch conversion option I can use. And I just need to do the conversion once.

[heruca]

Yeah, I generally resize in Photoshop because I like to minimize the RAM and MB usage, especially since in this case we're talking about a lot of largish map tiles.

But if I HAD to do it all in BRPG, I would:
1) Create a multi-token object containing all the tiles.
2) Use the "resizeall" command in the chat window to set the exact size I need for proper alignment with the grid.
3) Break apart the unit into many distinct objects.
4) Lay out all tiles end to end to create a complete square or rectangular map.
5) Optional: If I wanted to randomize the map setup, I would select all the tiles and then use the "Shuffle Locations" command. Bam! Instant random map.

[PellePlutt]

Very interesting!
And would you then save this as an encounter or a deployment?

[heruca]

Encounter, most likely. Though either would probably work, as long as you haven't set each Object to "Tile".

[PellePlutt]

I have finished resizing all the 6x6 tile so that they fit perfectly to the grid (resized to 6x122 pixels). Now when I place the object they will be offset by half a grid square (61 pixels) both vertically and horizontally since the tiles are 6x6 instead of, say, 5x5.
Is there a quick way to change the horizontal/vertical offset for multiple object?

(Suggestion: to be able to type in the offset numbers in the edit object screen instead of only be able to change those numbers with the arrow keys.)

[heruca]

Set the offsets for one piece, then copy and paste it many times until you have the number of tiles you need (or use the new Replicate command in BRPG v1.9). You can then use the "Replace Token" command to swap in the correct graphic for each tile. Not sure if this method saves much time, though.

I should just add a means to set the offsets for all the selected units by issuing a command in the Chat Window, much as you can set the Stagger Offset now (see pg. 95 of the BRPG User Manual).