Invisible Platforms

[Knight of Arsford]

What are invisible platforms and what kind of tricks can you do with them? I tried playing around them a little bit but I'm still not sure what they are for.

 

[Nichilus]

makes unpathable region pathable. If you increase/decrease its height, your unit will actually fly in air when it gets on the platform (you can make invisible stairs like that).

Check pathing of your map (default P key) - you can notice that purple regions become blue when you place invisible platform there.

 

[Shadow Fury]

When you select them, press Ctrl + Page Up so that they can act as platforms. Units going on the blue region created by the platform will stand on it according to its height. If you place them on the terrain without raising, it's like doing nothing.

 

[Veritas 117]

You can also set them to an angle to make an incline. Use pitch and roll angles and set them to a negative number by holding shift when you select the field. I would suggest making some invisible platforms that have a visible flat plane model. Then once you get the correct angle you can replace the flat plane model with the invisible platform model again. Common angles are -0.78 or -1.57 (they are in radians rather than degrees)

 

[jonbon29]

Although their not kinda smooth to walk with when they are not equally in height together. I found them really hard to adjust when I use them for a custom bridge that isn't flat surfaced.

 

[Veritas 117]

You can select them all and press Y and it will set them to a uniform height that you can move up and down.

 

[jopi]

Well, it is also important to know that the initial height of placing matters.
What i mean is, that when you place two platforms next to each other on a steep area, it's nearly impossible to bring them to the same Z-Height.

Thats why I started to use 'building areas' in my terrain. This are areas in the map which are flat and have a fixed height. Now when I want to create a building from multiple doodads or place invisible platforms, I pre-place them there increase their Z-Height at least once and move them to their final place adjusting their height there. Important to note here is that you should uncheck the 'reset Object height' in the advanced settings of your editor, or the doodad will reset its height to the ground everytime you move it.

 

[Knight of Arsford]

Thanks! I'll keep all these in mind when I try to use them.

 

[Veritas 117]

Well, it is also important to know that the initial height of placing matters.
What i mean is, that when you place two platforms next to each other on a steep area, it's nearly impossible to bring them to the same Z-Height.

Thats why I started to use 'building areas' in my terrain. This are areas in the map which are flat and have a fixed height. Now when I want to create a building from multiple doodads or place invisible platforms, I pre-place them there increase their Z-Height at least once and move them to their final place adjusting their height there. Important to note here is that you should uncheck the 'reset Object height' in the advanced settings of your editor, or the doodad will reset its height to the ground everytime you move it.

This is true. But pressing Y with all of your platforms selected will set them all to the same height regardless of whether you placed them on different heights or not. You can then move them all up or down together to keep them at the same height.