Terrain overlay handling

[Yalnin]

Hello!

I am programming a module that uses several combined map boards (terrain) and also double sided terrain overlays. So far all is working fine, I have my maps and overlay terrain pieces, and the overlays have the correct shape and are turnable - so far so good.

The problem comes when I want to set up the scenario. In edit mode, I drag my maps onto the playing area turn and arrange them as I need them, and then I take and drag a terrain overlay onto a certain place on the maps. I release the mouse button, and the overlay appears quite fine on the mapboards. But: As soon as I move the mouse away from the overlay along the screen (e.g. to deactivate the edit mode), in the instant where it crosses the map area the overlay disappears behind the mapboard. This makes placing several overlays onto maps a real pain.

Am I doing something wrong? Is this a bug?

Help would be greatly appreciated.

[Jerome]

Am I doing something wrong? Is this a bug?

You're doing nothing wrong.
It is caused by the way ZunTzu is designed.

When the mouse cursor is over a piece, that piece is displayed on top of all other pieces of the same layer. It was meant to give the user some feedback of what piece was 'selected'.
That behaviour becomes a problem when the piece hides another smaller piece supposed to be enclosed by the larger one.

As a result you must setup the bigger pieces first, than the smaller overlays. You must setup each overlay correctly with a single drag and drop! If you miss, click Undo or press Ctrl+Z and try again.
I you need to position an overlay in relation to another overlay, than it's even trickier, because that overlay will disappear temporarily during the drag and drop: use your finger to visually mark the target position on your screen before doing your drag and drop.

Another possible solution: extend your overlay graphics with a 'handle'. The handle doesn't need to be visible: make it transparent except for a small grabbable area at the end of the handle which needs to be at least semi-transparent.

I agree it's a bit annoying. I will consider if the default behaviour should be changed for terrains.

[tycho216]

I agree it can be a bit annoying, but I see no real way around it. It just requires a bit of foresight from me in terms of the order in which I place terrain.

[Yalnin]

I agree it's a bit annoying. I will consider if the default behaviour should be changed for terrains.

Thanks for the quick reply. Indeed the key setup is bit problematic while setting up terrain pieces/overlays. It becomes especially difficult to place the smaller overlays perfectly on the first try since you can not zoom in/out and in the same time scroll up/down/right/left at the same time while you have the terrain overlay on your mouse pointer. Better would be if you need to (double?)click on a certain map to highlight it and be able to do things with it.

This different handling could be activated automatically by activating the terrain edit mode, so that while you play you have the original handling. Alternative, you could even place it into the program settings so everybody can choose if he wants automatic or manual terrain tile selection.

Would be great if you could consider it for the future updates.