The Sign Editor
The
sign editor is a tool for creating and modifying sign templates and sign overrides. It allows you to choose project which controls available properties and items. It has support for clipboard, history, reverting changes, saving etc. Most of the actions have keyboard shortcut. You can see them un Edit menu.
When you want to add a text object, select
Menu > Insert Text (or just press Ctrl+T) and create a text by dragging LMB (left mouse button) – this way you instantly setup area of the new text. If you don’t drag (and just click), the text area will have default size of 1.0×1.0 meters.
When you want to add an image object, you must open the Content browser, select "
Sign image" type and drag and drop the desired image onto the sign. To add an image, select an atlas and click on the picture you want to add. It will be added into the currently edited sign area. A similar technique can be used for adding frames.
You can select any item by just clicking it. The type of the selected item will influence the Properties tab. You may select multiple items and edit them in batch. The CTRL and ALT keys will respectively add and remove items from the selection. You may select items by dragging the mouse. Clicking on no items will result in deselecting all items.
The sign editor has several different screens and context menus. They are described in the section below:
Projects
A
project links associated assets of a certain signage style. For example, there may be a project that is sufficient for creating all of the navigation signs of Switzerland. Such project defines available fonts, colours, frames, atlases and also sign templates. In the sign editor you can choose a project and it will offer you its fonts when you are editing text. It will offer you its atlases, when you are adding image. Assets from projects are also stored in separate categories in the content browser.
There is a project editor so that you don’t have to bother with sii files. You can edit projects or add new ones if you select Add sign in game editor.
There you click
Add new project or select an existing project and click
Edit project. The project editor will open.
There you can add colours, frames, atlases fonts and templates into the project. You can add existing templates – they can be shared by several projects.
Definitions of projects are stored by default in
/base/def/sign/project folder in SII files*. If you want to edit project's sii file manually, you must specify:
- name of the project
- available fonts (their paths)
- available colours (their RGB hex values, eg. 0xFF0000 means red)
- available atlases (their paths)
- associated templates (their names)
The name of a template must match the name in the template definition file. For example if the template unit has name
sign_tpl.highw_nav_b, in the project there would be
sign_tpl.highw_nav_b. If you create templates in the editor, this will be handled by the editor and they will be added into the selected project automatically.
Just like map files, you need to repack the project definition files manually. The default location where these project definition are stored is
<your_ets2_installation_folder> /base/def/sign/project*. Copy the contents of this into its rightful location in your
DEF package in order to load the changed data again.
* This may differ if you use your own base for your sign templates, which is something we
STRONGLY recommend.
Sign template
A
sign template defines which sign boards are used for which editable area. Since patch 1.30, all functionality that was previously assigned to the sign templat items, have now been re-assigned to the sign boards, a new item type in that patch. If you want to create a new sign board, you must first save the template if you just created one. Right-click on the editable area and select "create new board". This will open up the sign board editor.
Definitions of templates are stored in
/base/def/sign/template folder in sii files, and all signs are enlisted in
/base/def/sign/templates.sii. In a definition there must be:
- template name
- category name
- model name (token name suffix)
- all of the items definitions
This definition is generated by the sign editor when you save the template. It should be edited manually only under specific circumstances.
Just like map files, you need to repack the template files definition files manually. The default location is
<your_ets2_installation_folder>/base/def/sign/template. Copy the contents of this into its rightful location in your
DEF package in order to load the changed data again. The main template definition file must also be copied. The default location for this is
/base/def/sign/templates.sii.
NOTE: for compatibility reasons, the templates can be stored in different templates.sii files. This also changes the location where projects and templates are stored. More details will be explained in Workflow Recommendations.
Sign board
A
sign board defines all of the sign components, their position and other properties in a single editable area. It defines full complete look of a single sign board for single purpose. It may contain texts, frames and images. Sign templates should be created so that there would be easy to create overrides from them. For example it is recommended not to fill text items for things that will be specified in an override (so that when creating override you don’t have to delete useless text). For example you may add frames and text items for road names even if you don’t know if all of them will be used. In override redundant items may be hidden.
You may edit boards and templates that are already used by sign overrides. This way you may change the look of whole class of signs without changing them one by one. Changing a board will change all signs using that board. However, you must be cautious when doing such thing. For example it is not recommended to delete items in boards that have overridden information; this will get lost. It is safe to resize items, change their colours, fonts, adding new ones etc.
TIP: You can unhide and hide objects by leaving text boxes empty and by setting the transparency of objects to 0. Since these properties can be edited in the sign editor, you can take advantage of this property to reduce the number of required templates.
An example of a sign board:
Definitions of boards are stored in
/base/def/sign/board folder in sii files, and all signs are enlisted in
/base/def/sign/boards.sii. In a definition there must be:
- board name
- category name
- model name (token name suffix)
- all of the items definitions
This definition is generated by the sign editor when you save the board. It should be edited manually only under specific circumstances.
Just like the sign template files, you need to repack the board files definition files manually. The default location is
<your_ets2_installation_folder>/base/def/sign/board. Copy the contents of this into its rightful location in your
DEF package in order to load the changed data again. The main template definition file must also be copied. The default location for this is
/base/def/sign/board.sii.
NOTE: for compatibility reasons, the templates can be stored in different boards.sii files. This also changes the location where projects and boards are stored. More details will be explained in Workflow Recommendations.
Templates and boards are edited in the sign editor in the
template mode. In this mode you can add/remove/resize/move items. You may change all of their properties.
TIP: For model and frames, please fill in the sizes manually in the dimension field. Stick to sizes that are rounded to 5 cm. Manual input gives a better result.
TIP: There are alignment tools in the sign editor. If you select multiple objects, the alignment tools will align them to the object that was selected first.
TIP: All items are stacked on top of each other. You might want to re-arrange them by moving them forward or backward.
TIP: If you have symbol images on the sign, it's recommended to set "overridable" to "true". This allows you to replace the image in the override mode of the sign editor.
Creating a new sign template
Creating a new template can be done in the new sign menu. To access a the new sign menu, press 5 on your keyboard (signs) and then press
E (new item). Select the project you want to add the sign to and click on “
Add new template”.
You have two options for creating a new template:
- Create a template from scratch. You have to select the editable sign model you want to put your template on.
- Open the base template you want to base your sign on and use "File > Save As" to make a new template with a new name. You will have to use the same editable sign model as the base template. This trick also works for creating new boards out of existing ones.
TIP: You can use a different sign model in the second option, but this requires some manual SII editing. Be cautious with this type of editing.
You need to give your template a template name. For the template name, use something that’s descriptive (and preferably systematic), so you can easily find it again. An unit name will be automatically generated. When done, click on OK and edit your sign in the sign editor. The same applies to sign boards
TIP: You can copy elements from one sign template to another, which saves a lot of work.
TIP: To avoid conflicts, please use custom sign template paths. See Workflow Recommendations.
Sign override
A
sign override is an actual instance of a sign in the map. Sign overrides use sign template for their look and they add concrete information, eg. name of the city. They can be imagined as a link to the template with the list of the changes.
An example of a sign override:
Sign overrides are stored in the map. There are no sii files definitions.
In the
override mode of the sign editor you have limited options. You may not add or remove items and you may resize or move them neither. You can change limited set of their properties.
In this mode there a list of nearby cities is loaded on the left hand side of the screen, so that you don’t have to write the names manually. If you select text item, you may double click the name of the city and it will be appended into the text. You can also RMB click (right mouse button) on the city and select "Copy", which copies city name into the clipboard and paste it manually. This way you don’t have to even touch your keyboard and you may configure the sign just by using the mouse.
Note: As sign overrides are stored into the map, for the changes made in sign editor to be permanent you have to save them in the sign editor and also you have to save the map. (Sign templates do not require the map to be saved.)