Mapping 101
Hello! It"s Agunimon/PTD here! 
I"ve noticed that there has been no given instruction on mapping in the game, and the Forums isn"t such a big help either. I sometimes have to answer the basics of layers in a reply. This can get quite repetitive. People want nice houses, after all, people like me like to visit random houses and check "em out. Houses can be used for RPs, contests and whatnot too. It"s a show of a person"s mapping skills.
If you don"t know much about mapping, or are just trying to start, this is the right place! I"m going to explain the basics, and perhaps even show you guys how I do things!
This guide is about mapping basics, some descriptions, and tips! Happy reading!
Change Log
Changes will be dated and recorded here.
11/26/11 Started typing the guide, and finished it today. Waiting for a moderator to approve it.
11/27/11 Approved by a moderator, and added a link to Char"s guide.
Table Of Contents
Your House and Commands/Controls
How to get to your house, and some basic commands/controls related to it!
Layers
How the layers work, and how you can use them!
Tilesets
A summary of the tiles in a tileset, and what tileset is right for what.
The /edithouse Menu
A rundown on the options available to you there.
Tips and Tricks
A few tips and tricks from me and other avid mappers to you!
Your House and Commands/Controls
A house? PMU 7 is not like PMU 6 in the house perspective. You get a house for free! Yes for free! No cost to you whatsoever! The decorating is up to you too! You don"t need to buy tiles/stuff like in the Pokemon games. Express your creativity in your house! Mapping well for a long time pays off, trust me!
How to Get to Your House
Let"s start from Crossroads. Follow the path up to Grassroot Town, and hey! You see the giant, ridiculous-looking Pelliper house from PMD 1 over there? Go inside. The Pelliper is actually the Grassroot Housing Center.
After taking a step, some storyline occurs, and the Pelliper tells you some pretty important things, but I"m going to tell you those things. So shush, you Pelliper. :<
Step into the vine, and a menu will pop up, it looks kinda like this …
If you"d like to visit your house (which we are going to do), click the Visit My House button. (Duh!)
If you want to visit another player"s house, click on the dark orange bar in the middle of the menu, and type in their name. After that, click the Visit! button.
The Basic Commands And Controls
There are two basic commands in your house that you should know.
/leavehouse
This lets you leave your house. (Obvious.)
/edithouse
This lets you edit your house. It opens up a menu with mapping stuff. (Still obvious!)
And there is one awesome thing that you should also note. You can warp in your own house.
Just hold the Left Shift and then Right Click on whatever space you want to warp to.
Layers
Layers are a very important aspect to mapping. It might take some time to master how and when to use them, but learning the basics is very simple!
The Five Layers
There are 5 different layers, and they are listed below.
Ground
Mask
Mask 2
Fringe
Fringe 2
How Layers Work
It"s a relatively simple aspect. Layers are like clothes. They go on one another.
Let"s say it was a cold winter day…
If we had to give a name to each of the Layers relating of clothes,they would be…
Ground = Underwear (Lol?)
Mask = Shirt/Pants
Mask 2 = Sweater
Fringe = Coat
Fringe 2 = Gloves, Hats, ect.
Fringe 2 goes on top of all the layers.
Fringe goes on Mask 2, Mask, and Ground.
Mask 2 goes on Mask, and Ground.
Mask goes on Ground.
Ground is the lowest, and can"t go on anything.
You get the idea right?
The animation works by using the regular layer, and its animated layer. So … let"s say we have frame 1 of the flower in the Mask layer. We can click the animate check box, and use the same layer to put the second frame on the first frame. This makes it animated.
Tilesets
The tilesets are another important aspect to mapping your house. Knowing which tilesets have what tiles, and knowing which tilesets to use is a great skill. It"s quite essential in mapping your house. Every tileset has different tiles (mainly) and you should take advantage of the ones you need.
Tileset Descriptions
Tileset 0 A mix of tiles. Some from other games (Final Fantasy I think) and some from Pokemon. Don"t use this unless you"re aiming for somewhat of a non-Pokemon Mystery Dungeon like theme.
Tileset 1 Tileset 1 contains lovely backgrounds for your maps. Like a clear blue sky and some fluffy clouds, or a sunset near the sea. It"s all here.
Tileset 2 Contains a bunch of different colored mats and houses (Storage, Link Shop, Ect). It has some fountains and those twirly thingies (lol) too.
Tileset 3 Crystals, lilypads, and logs. What else do you need to know?
Tileset 4 Dungeon tiles are in here. (Traps too.) Mix some PMD Overworld (Non Dungeon) tiles with these for some awesome Combinations.
Tileset 5 Buildings Outside and stuff. Non PMD / Pokemon related things in here. Perhaps use these for a medieval look by combining them with Tileset 0.
Tileset 6 All sorts of Grass, Water, Snow, Plants, and Cliffs. Mostly Non PMD/Pokemon related.
Tileset 7 Surface (PMD/Pokemon Overworld) Tiles. I would have to say, the most used Tileset. I use it alot. This contains, cliffs, plants, and all the things you would see outside in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games.
Tileset 8 Houses (and House tiles from both PMD and Pokemon). There are those house decorations, and inside the house tiles in here. Awesome stuff.
Tileset 9 This is pretty much a combination of Tileset 4, 7, and 8. It doesn"t include all of the stuff but it might have something you find interesting.
The /edithouse Menu
Once you type in /edithouse, you"ll see that the chat menu has been replaced with a bunch of tiles, and the bottom of the screen has been replaced with a bunch of options. Here"s the rundown.
The Four Buttons
An explanation of the four buttons on the lower part of the screen.
Mapping
Music - This opens a new menu where there is a white bar in the middle. Click the bar, and choose shuffle through the music options given! (There are a lot!) Click play to play the music, stop to stop. Ok to choose that music, and Cancel to cancel.
Load Map - I don"t know what this does atm. Please comment and help me? D:
Save Map - Saves all the changes you made to the map.
Take Screenshot -Takes a screenshot of the map.
Exit - Returns to the regular PMU window, and does not save changes.
Layers
The five options, we already went over. Click the circles next to them to choose which layer you"d like to use. If you"re confused about the layers, go to the “Layer” section of the guide.
Click the animate box to help animate stuff. (This also gone over in the “Layer” section of the guide.)
Tilesets
Use the blue bar to scroll around the 10 different tilesets, and click load on the tileset you want to make it appear on the left side of the screen. (Where the chat box normally is.)
Settings
Map Grid - Uncheck this to take away the gray gridlines.
Attributes - Uncheck this to not show attributes. (The red B for Blocked.)
Drag and Place - Toggle being able to Drag and Place.
Terrain and Attributes
Terrain is the Tilesets.
The Attributes (there is only one option for regular players) are Block. This lets you make a tile be unwalkable by a player. Useful for setting up shops.
Tips and Tricks
Here are a few words from me, and a few avid mappers!
My Tricks
-
Use the Block option to block off a space so it is inaccessible to players, and warp in there. Place your items in there to make a shop!
-
Do not place items down and edit your map. THIS WILL MAKE YOU LOSE YOUR ITEMS.
-
Be creative in making your maps!
-
Imagine how your map will look like before using /edithouse.
Kiria"s Tips
“let the fingers/ your hand work, not the head
purify/cleanse your map(check that its no errors/mistakes
in it)”
“rate it yourself.
Ask others to rate it.”
“Map often, to get better ^^ Get experience,
get used to map a map :3”
“Don"t take the other player"s judgement to heart, but still listen, incase they
point out some “errors/mistakes” you have made ^^
It"s ALWAYS your own judgement that counts~”
Giniqua"s Tips!
Okay… like I said, I study the tiles and see how they fit with each other. It"s great to map by heart, spirit and inspiration. Take your time while mapping, no one"s going to stop you. Try to use up all your space–that"s what I do, include details. And, express the feelings you want to give to the viewer. And collaborate tiles! It"s okay to use tiles from one tileset, but try to use tiles from other sheets also! You"ll never know what you"ll find! You can be simple with your map, or just be fancy! (But not too fancy X3). That"s all the tips I could give you! Hope it helps!
-Your fluffy friend,
~Giniqua
Sorry if this was too long, I babble nonsensical stuff all day long. :3
Any suggestions and additions to the guide are welcome!
Hope this helps you, have fun mapping and thanks for taking your time to read this!
~Agun/PTD.
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Check out Char’s amazing guide to mapping! http://pmuniverse.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=6493