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Editor controls/hotkeys
By Janeator
A basic introduction to all of the editor's controls.
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Created by
Janeator
Offline
Category: Maps or Levels, Workshop
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
4 Feb, 2016 @ 1:02pm
11 Jul, 2022 @ 7:24am
384 Unique Visitors
20 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Quick troubleshooting/setup 
Basic controls 
Advanced hotkeys 
Thanks & notes 
Other guides 
External links 
Comments
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 documents\cobalt 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
Edit: I have since learned how to use tags, but since I haven't used them for a long time now I cannot remember the hotkeys. However if you've made it this far it shouldn't be too hard to figure out; I think left arrow key and right arrow key were some of them. I recommend leaving the tags menu open, as it is vital (despite being grossly formatted) to keep track of what you're seeing.
If you want to see examples of how tags can be used, please download one of my WASD Bomb Defusal maps[janeator.com] and open it in the editor.
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!
Everything here is the result of my going through the editor and figuring out how most of the stuff works, but some of the basic knowledge and my excitement for mapping got passed on to me by some of the original community members from back in the original Cobalt forums. I'd like to thank Burntcustard, Puffdot, Saibot, Seradin, Aconitin, Isogash, mkster, TP, mcpjb, Fuzzel, and many others for that. Thanks!

If you have any question, want to correct some mistake, or something else, please comment right away!
Hope this helped!
External links
My stuff
My maps[janeator.com]
My twitter
My videos

Community portals
Game Discord[discord.gg]
Game Reddit
29 Comments
< >
Janeator  [author] 8 Aug, 2016 @ 7:49am 
No idea then sorry, send the .dmp to oxeye. If you want to put a pic here upload it to Imgur or so then paste the link.
Raoul1808 5 Aug, 2016 @ 10:30pm 
même avec openal, ça ne marche pas.
Raoul1808 5 Aug, 2016 @ 10:29pm 
comment on fait pour mettre une image dans un commentaire ?
Janeator  [author] 1 Aug, 2016 @ 2:09am 
I don't think it's the case but have you tried installing openAL?
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=615773109

Also you should do as the error says & send the .dmp file to errors@oxeyegames.com
Raoul1808 31 Jul, 2016 @ 8:24pm 
Il crash quand je l'ouvre, avant, il m'affiche un ecran d'erreur et après il m'exporte un fichier .dmp à reporter à errors@oxeyegames.com
Janeator  [author] 30 Jul, 2016 @ 4:48am 
When does that crash happen? Just as the editor open? Or in a popup and the editor doesn't open at all? Or does it happen when you do some special action?
Raoul1808 29 Jul, 2016 @ 9:21pm 
Problèmes avec des fichiers en lua :
[Extraits de plusieurs lignes du log]
Lua: A Lua script error has occurred!
Lua: Press #4CTRL+R#7 to reset the script parser
Lua: (2) main chunk of [string "$GAME_RESOURCES$/daisyMoon/localized.lua"] at line 0
Lua: (3) main chunk of [string "$GAME_RESOURCES$/daisyMoon/resources.lua"] at line 0
Lua: (4) main chunk of [string "$GAME_RESOURCES$/daisyMoon/resourceStorage.lua"] at line 0
Lua: (8) main chunk of [string "$GAME_RESOURCES$/daisyMoon/main.lua"] at line 0
Lua: (6) main chunk of [string "$GAME_RESOURCES$/daisyMoon/lib/cache.lua"] at line 0
Lua: (7) main chunk of [string "$GAME_RESOURCES$/daisyMoon/lib/renderHelpers.lua"] at line 0
[Fin]
Et il y a plus de 40 FOIS l'erreur de ode avec le fichier renderHelpers.lua.
J'ai regardé dans les données du jeu et j'ai vu qu'il n'y avait AUCUN FICHIER LUA.
Pouvez-vous m'aider ?
Janeator  [author] 18 May, 2016 @ 1:20pm 
Why?
Raoul1808 18 May, 2016 @ 12:32pm 
Je ne peux pas ...
Janeator  [author] 18 May, 2016 @ 7:19am 
Hey Raoul1808 - please post about crashes on the forums, & provide crash logs!