Lode Runner 2

Editor FAQ

Version 1.1

  _______________
_/Version History\_____________________________________________________________

1.2: Correction regarding invisible triggers, another typo fixed, email updated
1.1: Spellcheck update, a few grammar fixes, some nasty glaring errors fixed.
1.0: First version.
  _________________
_/Table of Contents\___________________________________________________________

1. Legal Stuff
2. General/Common Questions
3. Overview
4. Tool-by-Tool
5. Hints, Special Objects, and other design techniques
6. Outro
  ______________
_/1. Legal Stuff\______________________________________________________________

Since I'm so nice, you have permission to duplicate and redistribute this FAQ,
in whole or in part, under a couple of conditions:

1. You give due credit to me, YakraXIII, and link back to the Lode Runner 2 PC
FAQs and Guides page on gamefaqs.com where this FAQ is shown,
2. The text is not altered in any way.

Failure to follow these simple rules is a violation of copyright law.
  ___________________________
_/2. General/Common Questions\_________________________________________________

Q. What is Lode Runner 2?

It is an incredible isometric action/puzzle game for the PC, that builds off
the roots of its prequel, Lode Runner. If you don't have it yet, a) you should
probably pick up a copy right now, and b) why the heck are you reading this?

Q. I can only move the cursor in two dimensions; how do I move it up/down?

The cursor is constrained to moving along the X and Y axes, because precision
with the Z axis is critical to building levels in LR2. To move the cursor along
the Z axis, hold the 'Z' letter key and move the mouse. Alternately, you can
press 'Q' to move the cursor one cell up the Z axis, and 'A' to move it one
cell down.

Q. How do I program Triggers/Monks?

See the 'Finger of God' section, under 'Tool-by-Tool'.

Q. When I play the level I built, I get nothing but an empty area with Jake's
spawning point in the middle! What happened?

You forgot to place a spawning point in the level. Do that and try again.

Q. The pieces of my level don't look like they've lined up right, and if I play
the level, I always fall off the stage when I try to climb up a ladder. What's
wrong?

Make sure that you're working with the blasted Z axis correctly. See the second
question; this is something I had trouble with when I started working with the
level editor.

Q. I want to work on a part of my level, but it's concealed behind a wall I
built. How to I look around things?

This is something I didn't find out until recently: Activate the Marquee tool,
select all of the volumes that are obstructing your view, and press 'H'. This
will render all the selected bricks invisible (editor only, they will still
be visible if you play the level in this state), allowing you to see what's
behind them. Be careful, they can still be altered and caught by shift-clicking
while invisible. To re-show them, press 'H' again.

Q. I have no idea where my cursor is on the Z axis!

For one, pay attention to the third coordinate shown in the upper-left; this is
the cursor's position on the Z axis. Two, hold 'Shift' and click on any volume
on the level; this will cause the cursor to snap to that volume, giving you a
bearing on the cursor's Z axis position.

Q. Is there any way to build a level with the tilesets used in the Credits and
World Hub?

Actually, yes! Fellow LR2 fan Stephen Appleby has extracted the Credits and
World Hub levels from the game and erased everything, for a blank canvas
you can use with the Credits and World Hub tilesets. Go to:

http://entropymine.com/jason/lr/nr/lr2/

and download "levels.zip". Extract the file, then fire up the editor and load
"Alphebet" for the Credits tileset or "WorldHub" for the World Hub.
  ___________
_/3. Overview\_________________________________________________________________

As with the game, the editor works in 3-D isometric space. The cursor can move
freely along the two horizontal (X and Y) axes, and you can hold the 'Z' key
to move it along the vertical (Z) axis.

The LR2Editor is an amazing piece of software; it is the best official level
editor I've ever used. It comes with everything the default stages do; if it's
in the game, you'll find it in the editor.

A few things before we get into exactly how to build levels:

a) You always need a spawning point. If you're making a single-player stage,
place only one spawning point in the level; if you're making a multiplayer
stage, place 2-8.

b) I will term 1 "block" as an "object" or "volume", and one position on the
grid a "cell". This will make it easier on me, because 'block' just sounds
kinda weird to me.

c) The Lode Runner 2 Editor is very powerful; and as such, it will take a while
to get used to. Don't expect to shoot off a masterpiece right away; working
this thing takes a lot of practice.

d) I am not going to explain every object available in the Editor nor what they
do. It's mostly already covered in the FAQ/Walkthrough already at
www.gamefaqs.com.
  _______________
_/4. Tool-by-Tool\_____________________________________________________________

Alright, when you fire up the editor, you'll get a blank level, a set of tools
on the left side of the screen, and a small selection of volumes to use on the
bottom. Most tools are activated by clicking on them. Let's take a look at the
left panel, then I'll explain how each tool works:

 -------  |
|   a   | | a = Level name
 -------  | b = Cursor's X position
 -  -  -  | c = Cursor's Y position
|b||c||d| | d = Cursor's Z position
 -  -  -  | e = Paintbrush tool
 - - - -  | f = Eyedropper tool
|e|f|g|h| | g = Eraser tool
 - - - -  | h = Marquee tool
|i|j|k|l| | i = Finger of God tool
 - - - -  | j = Show Monk paths
| | | | | | k = Show level data
 - - - -  | l = Lock/unlock scrolling
          | m = Basic objects
 - - - -  | n = Additives (ladders, triggers, etc.)
|m|n|o|p| | o = Hand-over-Hand bars
 - - - -  | p = Special objects
|q|r|s|t| | q = Items/spawns
 - - - -  | r = Monks
|u|v| | | | s = Animated (scenery) objects
 - - - -  | t = Large objects
          | u = World select
 ---  -   | v = Backgrounds
|   ||x|  | w = Active object (This is the object you'll paint with)
| w | -   | x = Solidity/diggable display
|   ||y|  | y = Additive eraser
 ---  -   |


a: Level name

Simply displays the filename of the level you're currently working on.
---
b: Cursor's X position

Shows the current X position of the cursor. It increments from front-left to
back-right.
---
c: Cursor's Y position

Shows the current Y position of the cursor. It increments from back-left to
front-right.
---
d: Cursor's Z position

Shows the current Z position of the cursor. It increments from top to bottom.
---
e: Paintbrush tool

Works as you would expect; maneuver the cursor somewhere in the level and one
copy of the active object will be placed there.
---
f: Eyedropper tool

Maneuver the cursor to an object in the level, click on it, and that object
will become the active object.
---
g: Eraser tool

Does the opposite of the Paintbrush; Maneuver the cursor onto an object in the
level, click, and it will be removed.
---
h: Marquee tool

Activate this tool, and you can maneuver the cursor to places in the level,
click on them, and they will be surrounded by a red outline. From here, you can
do different actions with the outlined areas, by using the four new tools that
appear:

 - - - -
|1|2|3|4|
 - - - -

1: Click this, and all outlined areas will be filled with copies of the active
object.
2: Click this, and everything inside the outlined areas will be erased.
3: Click this, and everything inside the outlined areas will be copied to the
clipboard.
4: Click this, and you can paste in what you have copied, wherever you like.
---
i: Finger of God tool

This extremely powerful tool can select an object like the Marquee tool, then
manipulate it in two ways:

1. If it is a Trigger or Monk, you can program its behavior, or
2. While selected, choose another active object, and the selected object will
turn into the new active one. This is a bit flaky, I'll have to experiment with
this one.

Well, in the case that you select a trigger, you'll get a few new buttons at
the bottom-left of the screen:

 -
|1|
 ---
| 2 |
 ---
| 3 |
 ---  
     (4)

1: Object selector; can be turned on or off. When on, any objects you click in
the level will be outlined red; this means that they will be affected by the
trigger. Click an outlined object again to remove the outline. Turn the
selector off and you can continue normally. Note that you can select bombs (but
no other item), and they will detonate when the trigger is activated. The bombs
cannot be picked up if they have a trigger pointing to them. Furthermore, any
object classified as 'undiggable' (a 'cancel' sign in the solidity/diggable
display) cannot be made to disappear.

2: Type of effect; click to toggle between the two available options. On the
button is a picture of two blocks (one solid, one transparent) with an arrow
between them. If the solid block is on the right, activating the trigger will
make all selected objects appear. If the solid block is on the left, the
trigger will make them disappear.

3: Allowed use; click to toggle between the two available options, either
"once" or "many". If "once", the trigger may only be activated once, after
which it will have no effect. If "many", it may be activated as many times as
the player wishes.

4: Timer; Click the up/down arrows to set. When activated, the trigger's effect
will stay in place for the amount of time on the timer (roughly in seconds). If
the value on the timer is zero, the effect will stay in place either
infinitely or until the player comes along and deactivates it themselves, if
possible.

If you select a Monk, however, the display looks something like this:

 _ _ _ _
|1|2|3|4|
 - - - -
 --- ---
| 5 | 6 |
 --- ---
 (7) (10)
 (8) (11)
 (9) (12)

(13) (14)


1: Respawn point selector; works just like the object selector, except that you
can only select Monk respawn points. The Monk, if killed, will randomly select
one of the selected respawn points and regenerate there.

2-4: Path editor; when 2 is activated, 3 and 4 turn on. You will see a menu
showing a variety of arrows; these correspond to the direction the selected
Monk will take after stepping on them.  Activate 3, and you can erase paths
you've laid. Click 4 to erase all paths for the selected Monk. Click 2 while 3
is active to go back to laying paths. Click 2 while it is active to exit the
Path editor. Note that these will only work with Blind monks, or Wild Monks
before they see Jake.

5: Monk type; click to toggle between the three types of Monks: Wild, Death,
and Blind.

6: Leash; click to toggle between three options. A leash will set a boundary
that Monks will not leave. A red 'cancel' sign means no leash is active, a
leash with a break in it means that the Monk will leave the leashed area if
they see Jake, and a solid leash means that the Monk will never leave the
leash's boundaries.

7-9: Vision range; this is as far as the Monk can see, generally applicable
only to Wild Monks. You can set the individual X, Y, and Z axes.

10-12: Leash boundary; only visible if a leash is set. This is the boundary a
leash will keep a Monk in. You can set the individual X, Y, and Z axes.

13: ID number; I've never been able to figure out what this is for.

14: Respawn delay; roughly in seconds. If a Monk dies, this is the amount of
time it takes the Monk to respawn. A value of zero means the Monk will respawn
instantly.
---
j: Show Monk paths

Activate this to see all paths assigned to Monks via the Finger of God's path
editor. They will be color-coded, with each Monk following the same color paths
as his outline.
---
k: Show level data

Shows a few statistics about the level, including size, amount of gold,
tileset, number of Monks (Bungelings), etc.
--
l: Lock/unlock scrolling

Click to toggle the locked/unlocked status of the scroll field. When locked,
you cannot scroll through the level, and the camera will not move in gameplay.
---
m: Basic objects

Brings up the palette of simple objects such as floors, walls, and fences.
---
n: Additives

Brings up the palette of additives, which will attach themselves to the current
basic object selected. The mixture can then be placed as a whole.
---
o: Hand-over-Hand bars

Brings up the palette of h-o-h bars, which can be used to climb around a level
horizontally.
---
p: Special objects

Brings up the palette of special objects such as exits, invisble volumes, and
shadows.
---
q: Items/spawns

Brings up the palette of items and spawn points.
---
r: Monks

Brings up the palette of Monks. Nothing too exciting, just four different
starting directions. You can set their types with the Finger of God tool.
---
s: Animated (scenery) objects

Brings up the palette of animated objects. Usually undiggable and provide
only cosmetic addition.
---
t: Large objects

Brings up the palette of large objects, which take up more than one volume. The
yellow outline is the cursor, the red outlines are the volumes the object will
fill. After being placed, each volume of the object is treated as an
individual.
---
u: World select

Brings up a menu where you can choose which tileset to work with. It's usually
best to choose before you start building; if you build a level then change the
tileset, it usually won't look too pretty, or even work anymore.
---
v: Backgrounds

Brings up the palette of backgrounds. Alternately, you can cycle through these
anytime with the 'B' key.
---
w, x, y: Active object, solidity/diggable display, additive eraser

When you select an object from the palette, it will show up in the active
object window. The solidity/diggable display will show which of the six faces
of the object are solid, and show a red 'cancel' sign if the object is
undiggable. If you click on any face of the object in the active object window,
it will be outlined in white. You can then click the additive eraser to remove
any additives on that face. Alternatively, you can click in an empty area of
the active object window to select the whole object, and click the additive
eraser to erase the whole object.
  ______________________________________________________
_/5. Hints, Special Objects, and other design techniques\______________________

a) List of keyboard shortcuts. These come in mighty handy:

ESC: Open/close main menu
Ctrl-N: New level
Ctrl-L: Load level
Ctrl-S: Save level
Ctrl-A: Save level as
Ctrl-Q or Ctrl-S: Exit editor
Tab: Cycle through editor tools
Shift-Tab: Cycle through editor tool backwards
B: Cycle through backgrounds
P: Activate paintbrush tool
C: Activate eyedropper tool
E: Activate eraser tool
M: Activate Finger of God tool
S: Activate marquee tool
X: Constrain cursor to X axis
Y: Constrain cursor to Y axis
Z: Constrain cursor to Z axis
Q: Increase cursor position in Z axis by one volume
A: Decrease cursor position in Z axis by one volume
H: Show/Hide marqueed volumes
` or ~: Deselect marqueed volumes
W-Click: Select rectangular prismatic areas with marquee
Shift-Click: Snap to clicked object
Ctrl-Click: Copy clicked object
Shift-Ctrl-Click: Erase clicked object
Shift-F2 through F6: Set bookmark
F2 through F6: Go to bookmark
Arrow keys: Scroll
Alt: Allow scrolling with mouse
F1: Bring up list of keyboard shortcuts
Home: "Go to first entry". Not sure what that means yet.
---
b) I find branched levels are more fun than linear ones; that is, it's better
if you let the player complete a number of tasks in any order rather than an
enforced route.
---
c) Special objects: These are some of the objects you can't see when playing
in-game:

1. Invisible volume; shaped like a large "V". In the "Special Objects" palette.
In-game, these are invisible.
2. Spawn points; electric clouds with either Jake or a Monk emerging from them.
In the "Items/Spawns" palette. Spawn points for Jake or respawn points for
Monks, respectively.
3. Invisible trigger; Shaped like a large "T". In the "Additives" palette. As
the name implies, it's a trigger that can't be seen. Activated when a player
passes through the volume that it occupies. Undiggable and not solid. Monks
cannot activate these triggers.
---
d) While the only enemies you'll see in the game are Monks, I'm working on a
theory for "boss battles". I'll update when I find something. Also, be
creative! I find it fun so set up Blind monks to walk over paths of Plate
Triggers to automatically make things happen, my favorites being walls that
close in or tanks filling up with water/whatever other substance. Experiment!
The editor can do some pretty neat things if you think outside the box.
  ________
_/6. Outro\____________________________________________________________________

Well, thanks for reading, and I hope you found this guide useful. If you have
any further questions, go ahead and email me at:

dreamingnightopian & gmail # com

(replacing & and # with their proper symbols, of course.)

To repeat the legal stuff:

Since I'm so nice, you have permission to duplicate and redistribute this FAQ,
in whole or in part, under a couple of conditions:

1. You give due credit to me, YakraXIII, and link back to the Lode Runner 2 PC
FAQs and Guides page on gamefaqs.com where this FAQ is shown,
2. The text is not altered in any way.

Failure to follow these simple rules is a violation of copyright law.

This document is copyright 2006-2009 YakraXII.

--END OF FAQ--