Map Making Information and Questions Thread
Credits to Rodenticus who originally set up this thread on the old forums

In this thread you can ask any questions that relate to maps or the Transformice map editor. This post hopefully provides some useful information, knowledge and skills in terms of mapmaking. It is a recovered and slightly amended version of Rodenticus's thread on the old forums.

I'm still about to restore and reformat this thread, it's going to be incomplete and quite a mess for a while now. Please be patient. What's more, please don't submit any maps in this thread - thanks!

Table of Contents

• Getting to Know The Map Editor
• The Basics About Grounds
• Dynamic Grounds and Intermediate Settings
• Shaman Objects and Spawns Explained
• Gravity and Wind
• Map Settings
• Map Backgrounds and Scene Items
• Invisible Ground Methods
• Rype's Rotation Glitch
• Water Glitches
• Negative Mass
• Invalid Friction
• Teleportation
• Treadmill Grounds and Invalid Restitution
• Anchor Glitches and Information
• Other Miscellaneous Glitches
• The Art of Alignment and Placement
• Bad Maps and Crash Maps
• Who are The Map Crew?
• Getting Your Maps Protected and Understanding the P System
• Sharing Your Maps and Using the CFM Map Database
• Helpful Links and Tutorials

1. Getting to Know The Map Editor


The Transformice Map Editor is an invaluable tool for map makers to export and edit their own custom maps. It is found in the submenu of the Menu tab (to the right side of your avatar).

The Map Editor, while it may appear to be simple, is capable of many things! This is where innovative and artistic users go to create machines, statues, monsters and worlds for users to play.




Voting for Maps: After you export a custom map, users will vote for it, it may take several days to actually see your vote score. The vote score is displayed after there are 50 or more votes and can be viewed by loading the @code in the map editor.

You can edit your own maps by loading the @code in the map editor (Save / Load / Test) and then validating it and re-exporting, editing your map does not cost any cheese so you only have to pay to export it once and then any modifications you make are free.

You can only load your own maps in the map editor, to load someone else's map you must use the tribe house. (Command: /np @code)


Precise Map and Mice Measurements

Map Details Mouse Details
Width: 800px Weight/Mass: 20
Height: 400px Height: 30px
Visible Height: 380px Width: 30px
Direct Center: 400px
Direct Vertical: 210px



General Map Editor Details

In order to export a map: You must have at least 1,000 collected cheese (Go to your profile and view 'Gathered Cheese' stats).

The Cost of Exporting Each Map: 40 Cheese Per Map

Getting Protected Maps Reduces the Exporting Cost: For every P1 map you get the price for exporting will go down by 4, for every P3-P9 you will be discounted 10 cheese.
Example: If you get two P1 maps and have one P4 map then it will only cost 22 cheese to export. The most cheese you can save is 35, which means it will cost a minimum of 5 cheese to export.


2. The Basics About Grounds

Transformice offers a variety in ground textures so you can create many different looking maps and terrains. Most maps have default attributes set to them that determine how they function.
This means that users by default will depend on the way a map looks to decide how they want to interact with it, ie: users will not willingly run into lava if they can see it in plain sight, users will try to climb chocolate because by default it has plenty of friction.

You can edit the attributes of any ground (with the exception of water) and modify the friction (make it climbable or not) and restitution (make it bounce or not) by using the selector and clicking the ground. All of the available settings will show up on the right side. Remember that you cannot edit water grounds, it has no available options to edit.


Map Textures and Types:

T="0" - Wood: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0.2)
T="1" - Ice: Friction (0) Restitution (0.2)
T="2" - Trampoline: Friction (0) Restitution (1.2)
T="3" - Lava: Friction (0) Restitution (20)
T="4" - Chocolate: Friction (20) Restitution (0.2)
T="5" - Earth: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0.2)
T="6" - Grass: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0.2)
T="7" - Sand: Friction (0.1) Restitution (0.2)
T="8" - Cloud: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0.2) Mice Fall Through
T="9" - Water: Friction (0) Restitution (0) Mice Swim Through
T="10" - Stone: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0)
T="11" - Snow: Friction (0.05) Restitution (0.2)
T="12" - Color: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0.2) Flat Texture & Recolorable
T="13" - Circle: Friction (0.3) Restitution (0.2) Circular & Recolorable





Grass, Snow and Stone Grounds all have borders around them at 40px length. The border displays every 40px in length thereafter.

Click here for a sample XML with all ground types (except rectangle and circle).


Quick Tutorial: Editing the XML File - Changing Grounds

One thing every map editor needs to get used to is using an external program like notepad (which comes with your computer), or wordpad or even something like Editpad Lite. Transformice restricts certain symbols in the map editor, and some options have a character limit so this is why editing your XML outside of the game is vital.

In order to edit the XML code of your map, you need to copy-paste it from Transformice Map Editor. You can easily copy the code of the currently loaded map by clicking the button Copy map to clipboard under the tab Save / Load / Test.

Let's start off with something basic. The following code is one simple ground and a mouse spawn.

<C><P /><Z><S><S H="50" X="400" Y="210" T="0" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="50" /></S><D><DS Y="170" X="400" /></D><O /></Z></C>

Here is a reformatted version of this XML code that shows its structre more clearly:



Every ground has its own node in the XML. As our sample XML only includes one single ground, there is only one ground node in it (marked yellow). The ground is a default wood ground, no edited options, it has (0.3) friction and (0.2) restitution.

In the ground node, you can find several so-called attributes. Their structure usually looks like this:

AttName="AttValue"

If you wanted to change the type of a ground for example, you would have to edit the value of the attribute named T, which represents the texture of it. The T attribute of our wood ground in the sample XML is marked red.

If you replace T="0" with T="9", then the ground will turn into water, or turn it into ice using T="1". Just edit the code and then copy-paste it into the Transformice Save / Load / Test tab, to the left where it says Enter code below to... and then click Load.


Creating Art: Art Map Information and Recoloring Guide

When creating art maps, you need to make sure that grounds are evenly aligned and if it's art that has a contraption it must work properly in a regular room. It's good to test your maps in the tribe house after creating them to make sure there are no crash issues (if your map has no high restitution or dynamic grounds/objects then crashing won't be an issue).

Do you think your map is good enough for P5 (Art Category)?
Does it have amazing colors, wonderful art and fun game play?
Submit your art map for P5 in this thread.

Things to consider when making maps
Popular characters (e.g. Homer Simpson, Angry Birds, Pikachu, Nyan Cat etc) will be already well-known and exported often so try to be unique and creative in your map design. Distortion and proportion are also major factors in creating art maps, you need to make sure that if you recreate a cartoon character that you get all the sizing right, characters with messed up facial features might not go over so well with Map Crew or Public Voting.
Game play and replay value are very important in any map, art maps are no exception (try not to rely on your art and add something for better game play).

What makes a good art map?
A good art map has decent game play and impressive art and design. Clarity is also essential, if your art is hard to look at or figure out what it is then you may need to redo it.
Do you think you created an amazing art map that has a beautiful design and major replay value? Then contact someone in Map Crew with your code to see if they can help you protect it.



Changing Ground Colors
To change the color of circle and color grounds, you just use the selector, click the ground and then the ground options will be on the bottom right side of your screen. The color by default is a dark turquise (identical to the chat box).

To edit the color you simply click the preview of the color and a color wheel will appear, you will be able to pick any color using the color wheel. Alternatively you can type/paste an RGB color code into the text area as well.






Transformice RGB Color Codes
You can use these colors below to help you re-create solid colored default ground types, remember to distinguish your color grounds because nobody will know how much friction or restitution there is unless you give them a hint through map design and coloring.


6a7495 - Default background color of entire game
324650 - Chat Window Color

edc49a - Mouse Flesh
cd9c6d - Mouse Flesh Shadow
7c5a3a - Mouse Default Fur Color
4f3218 - Mouse Shadow
291d13 - Mouse Darkest Shadow

c91111 - Red FFFFFF - White
1fa1b4 - Turquoise DDDDDD - Light Gray
74159c - Purple 999999 - Gray
fd68c0 - Pink 444444 - Dark Gray
ffb3e0 - Light Pink 000000 - Black
b7dd34 - Lime Green
f2e232 - Yellow
fbac23 - Orange
95b8ff - Light Blue
174db9 - Dark Blue


Grounds and their color codes:



More color codes that relate to Transformice or these forums can be found here!


3. Dynamic Grounds and Intermediate Settings

Dynamic grounds are created after you place a ground and click the "Dynamic ground" button in the ground options. You'll notice a list of different options become available/editable after you enable it to be dynamic. The following is a list of all so-called ground parameters, as already mentioned, some of them are only available for dynamic grounds, though.

• Mass: This is how much the ground will weigh, 0 means it will weigh the default amount for it's size. You can add a ton of weight to make something incredibly heavy or a low amount like 5-20 to make a ground easy to push by one mouse (low mass comes in handy for buttons and triggers as well as traps).
• Friction: This determines if a ground can be walljumped. Friction: 0 is ice, you can't climb it at all, while Friction: 20 is like chocolate, everyone can nudge their way up chocolate without having to know how to walljump. Anything higher than about 0.04 is climbable.
• Restitution: This is how bouncy something is, a default trampoline is 1.2, lava is 20 and wood and earth are 0.2.
• Rotation: This is the degree at which your ground is rotated, the maximim number your ground can be rotated is 9999.
• Fixed Rotation: By entering a "1" here you are enabling fixed rotation, there are only 2 options for this area and that's 0 or 1. 0 is the default which means dynamic grounds can rotate in any direction while 1 means the rotation is fixed and it will not twirl.
• Linear Damping: This is a control that lets you slow down how fast dynamic grounds move. Linear Damping: 30 sticks your ground in mid-air until something pushes it.
• Angular Damping: This is the last control which controls how much a dynamic ground rotates, the more angular damping there is the harder it will be for an item to spin. This option can come in handy with mechanisms.
• Collision with Mice: This button is set by default to collide with mice which means mice can walljump, walk over and interact with the ground. You can make a ground act as a background layer by disabling collision with mice, this will let mice walk through the ground completely.
• Collision with Grounds and Items: This option enables grounds to touch other grounds and shaman items or not be effected by them at all. This is an option for using your grounds as background/scenery. By default all grounds will interact with eachother and items, you can make a ground untouchable by dynamic grounds and items by disabling this option.

XML Example of Dynamic Ground Settings
Explanation to the four dynamic grounds in this map:

Far Left: This is a regular dynamic ground dropping onto a rotated ground.
Second to Left: This is a dynamic ground with fixed rotation.
Second to Right: This dynamic ground has Angular Damping 10, which causes it to not rotate as much but it still drops at a regular speed.
Far Right: This dynamic ground has Linear Damping 10, which causes it to not drop as fast, the more linear damping the slower the ground moves.

<C><P /><Z><S><S Y="200" T="8" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="10" X="410" H="192" /><S Y="200" T="8" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="10" X="10" H="192" /><S Y="240" T="2" P="0,0,0,1.4,0,0,0,0" L="190" X="100" H="20" /><S Y="100" T="0" P="1,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="100" X="100" H="30" /><S Y="200" T="8" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="10" H="192" X="210" /><S Y="271" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="190" X="100" H="50" /><S Y="100" T="0" P="1,0,0.3,0.2,0,1,0,0" L="100" H="30" X="300" /><S Y="100" T="0" P="1,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,10,0" L="100" X="700" H="30" /><S Y="240" T="2" P="0,0,0,1.4,0,0,0,0" L="190" H="20" X="300" /><S Y="200" T="8" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="10" H="192" X="610" /><S Y="271" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="190" H="50" X="300" /><S Y="240" T="2" P="0,0,0,1.4,0,0,0,0" L="190" X="700" H="20" /><S Y="271" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="190" X="700" H="50" /><S Y="271" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="190" X="500" H="50" /><S Y="240" T="2" P="0,0,0,1.4,0,0,0,0" L="190" X="500" H="20" /><S Y="100" T="0" P="1,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,10" L="100" X="500" H="30" /><S Y="160" T="1" P="0,0,0,0.2,45,0,0,0" L="40" X="165" H="40" /><S Y="160" T="1" P="0,0,0,0.2,45,0,0,0" L="40" H="40" X="365" /><S Y="160" T="1" P="0,0,0,0.2,45,0,0,0" L="40" X="565" H="40" /><S Y="160" T="1" P="0,0,0,0.2,45,0,0,0" L="40" H="40" X="765" /></S><D /><O /></Z></C>


XML Examples of Ground Collision Settings

In this code the left ground has no collision with mice but does have collision with other grounds, the right square has no collision with mice and no collision with other grounds. They both have a dynamic ground on top of them, since the ground on the right has no collision with grounds the top dynamic ground falls through it while the other one keeps it on top.

<C><P /><Z><S><S P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="800" X="400" H="40" Y="229" T="0" /><S P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" c="2" L="50" X="300" H="50" Y="183" T="0" /><S P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" X="500" L="50" H="50" c="4" Y="183" T="0" /><S P="1,0,0.3,0.2,0,1,3,0" X="300" L="50" H="50" c="1" Y="133" T="0" /><S P="1,0,0.3,0.2,0,1,3,0" H="50" L="50" X="500" c="1" Y="133" T="0" /></S><D><DS Y="196" X="401" /></D><O /></Z></C>

Using Ground Collision Settings and Layering, you can create secret paths. Please remember that covering the cheese or hole (hiding them with grounds) is not allowed and your map will most likely be deleted by a moderator in this case.

In this XML code below, there is a secret path below the stone stairs.

<C><P F="0" /><Z><S><S Y="314" T="5" P="0,0,1,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="121" H="16" X="382" /><S Y="306" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,90,0,0,0" L="200" X="776" H="47" /><S Y="281" T="5" P="0,0,0,0,-20,0,0,0" L="160" X="606" H="10" /><S Y="279" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="121" X="502" H="47" /><S Y="330" T="10" P="0,0,0.3,0,0,0,0,0" c="4" L="480" H="50" X="560" /><S Y="380" T="10" P="0,0,0.3,0,0,0,0,0" c="4" L="600" X="500" H="50" /><S Y="280" T="10" P="0,0,0.3,0,0,0,0,0" c="2" L="360" X="620" H="50" /><S Y="229" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="121" H="47" X="622" /><S Y="337" T="7" P="0,0,0.1,0.2,-60,0,0,0" c="4" L="109" X="676" H="40" /><S Y="230" T="10" P="0,0,0.3,0,0,0,0,0" c="2" L="240" H="50" X="680" /><S Y="310" T="7" P="0,0,0.1,0.2,0,0,0,0" c="4" L="68" X="718" H="211" /><S Y="392" T="7" P="0,0,0.1,0.2,-10,0,0,0" L="220" X="649" H="54" /><S Y="408" T="7" P="0,0,0.1,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="136" H="52" X="486" /><S Y="393" T="7" P="0,0,0.1,0.2,6,0,0,0" L="260" X="289" H="50" /><S Y="398" T="7" P="0,0,0.1,0.2,-14,0,0,0" L="170" H="50" X="88" /></S><D><DS Y="290" X="378" /><P Y="254" T="6" X="589" P="0,0" /><P Y="385" T="6" X="108" P="0,0" /><P Y="209" T="6" X="603" P="0,1" /><P Y="226" T="5" X="603" P="0,0" /><P Y="368" T="5" X="318" P="0,1" /><P Y="254" T="5" X="561" P="1,0" /><P Y="404" T="5" X="762" P="1,0" /></D><O /></Z></C>


4. Shaman Objects and Spawns Explained

The following list provides brief explanations for all existing shaman objects and spawns. Not all of the former are available on every map, trampolines can only be spawned by a shaman on vanilla maps for example, and portals only appear if the map maker has changed the appropriate setting under the tab Map settings. Spawns function as markers and are available in map editor only.

1. Balls
These are circular objects with 0 friction, up to 0.9 restitution and about 8 mass.


2. Trampolines
Trampolines are powerful bouncing items, they are not commonly used in maps however. Trampolines have about 1.5 restitution and 0 friction on top but a small amount in the green base.


3. Balloons
These colorful objects can lift up items, and mice if cast by the Shaman. Balloons can lift about 600 pounds each (2 balloons can lift 1 anvil). Balloons will pop if there are enough mice on them (ranging from 3-10 mice depending on how much pressure is put on it).


4. Runes
Items that pushes with the force of 120 mass.
When connected to a dynamic ground or item with a yellow anchor, the rune will push the item in the direction it is connected to and the connected item will be able to move. If connected with a green anchor, the rune will have freedom to spin and the connected item will be able to move. If connected with a red anchor the rune will not be able to move anywhere but will be able to rotate itself.


5. Small and Large Boxes
Wooden boxes of two different sizes with some friction to them.
Measurements: 28x28px / 60x60px - Weight: 30 / 160


6. Anvils
Anvils are the heaviest shaman items available. They have very little friction and about 1000 mass.


7. Small and Large Planks
Small planks can come in hand in map building, they certainly do for shamans. They are 100px wide and 10px tall and contain about 0.3 friction.
Large planks are great for holding together dynamic grounds. Longer planks are about 200px wide and just as small ones, 10px tall.
When ghosted, either of these items can be very helpful in map creation.


8. Anchors
Anchors are mostly used for dynamic items or grounds to interact with each other. There are three types of normal anchors: red ones, yellow ones and green ones.
Red anchors will hold dynamic grounds and items in their place and will allow for the item to rotate around the dot while staying in the same location.
Green anchors will connect two dynamic items to each other and will give them the freedom to move around.
Yellow anchors will connect two dynamic items to each other but will not give them the ability to rotate or be as loose as green ones.


9. Rotating Anchors
There are two types of rotating anchors: red ones and green ones. Either kind is available both rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise.
Red rotating anchors will hold dynamic grounds and items in their place and rotate them in the selected direction.
Green rotating anchors will connect dynamic grounds and items together and rotate them in the selected direction.


10. Hole Spawn
The hole spawn is an essential part of any exported custom map, you cannot export without having one. The hole, of course, is where the mice go once they acquire cheese. A map can contain multiple holes, if there is no mouse spawn on the map then by default all mice and shaman characters will spawn at the hole with the lowest Z layer number. The minimum to have on any exported map is 1 cheese and 1 hole spawn.


11. Cheese Spawn
The cheese is the item in the map that the mice are required to find, when making a map the placement of the cheese is one of the most important factors to consider. A map can have multiple cheese spawns placed around it.


12. Mouse Spawn
The mouse spawn is an optional item that lets you, the creator, determine where the mouse players will spawn when the map loads. You can only place 1 mouse spawn per map, if you do not place any mouse spawns then the mice will spawn at the hole.


13. Shaman Spawn
The shaman spawn is an important item that can be used to change how a map is played, it can make things harder or easier as far as gameplay and actively being shaman on the map. It is not required that you place a shaman spawn, but if you do place a mouse spawn then the shaman will also spawn there so if you want the mouse and shaman in two different places then a shaman and mouse spawn will both be needed.


14. Portals
As of Update 1.30, portals are part of the map editor system. Orange and blue portals are available for the shaman to teleport to unbuildable areas if the portal map setting is enabled.

Get more details and calculations from Temple's Blog.


5. Gravity and Wind

Gravity and Wind are available under the 'Map Settings' part of your map editor.
The more gravity your map has, the harder it is to jump (mice feel heavier). The less gravity your map has, the easier it is to jump around. (mice/items float more).
If you add 0 gravity to your map then mice will only be able to go in the direction they are pushed, and if they jump (and are not blocked from the top) or are pushed down without being able to jump up then they will perish.

The gravity and wind settings are extra (optional) settings that should only be used when thought is put into the map first. Randomly added or modifying either of these elements without basing your map around the physics probably won't get your map past public voting. There are many good types of anti-gravity and wind maps, these settings work well with shaman and racing.

6. Map Settings

In the map editor there are a few listed settings but by tweaking the XML outside of Transformice you can enable some other options (scrolling maps, night mode, hiding items in fullscreen outside the boundries).


Hiding Everything Past the Game Borders

One of the newer updates (April 2012) is a setting that lets you hide everything past the game borders so that nobody has a fullscreen advantage. The code for this is below:

If you want to add this setting to your map, you need to edit the XML of the map manually (more detailed explanation in chapter 3). The beginning of the XML will look like this:

<C><P

All you have to do to enable the hide-offscreen setting is adding these few characters after P:

<C><P Ca=""

Here is a simple example XML using this setting:

<C><P Ca="" L="1600" F="1" /><Z><S><S Y="373" T="6" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="1600" X="800" H="53" /></S><D><T Y="347" X="801" /></D><O /></Z></C>


Part 1 - Collision Mode Explained

Collision mode gives every mouse its own mass and lets them jump on top of each other. Collision can be a fun map mode because the winners are usually at random. A good collision map has some type of trap/collision advantage, you have to put thought into the design for it to be successful. You need to also make sure there is loads of space where the mice spawn, and lots of space throughout the map for there to be room for mice to run around and jump on top of each other. If you do not give there reason to be collision and space to play the map then you should expect your map to be deleted through the voting system quite fast.

Examples of Good Collision Maps: @163833 by Ninguem | @142311 by Deityexe


Part 2 - Soulmate Mode Explained

Soulmate maps are a special map type that give you a partner when the map loads. A good soulmate map should give soulmates the advantage, rather than mice without partner. Soulmate maps can be difficult to make, if you decide to make one then you shouldn't feel discouraged to ask a moderator or a Map Crew member to play the map in a public room so you can test it properly.

Note: At the top left of soulmate maps you will see a heart icon.

Examples of Good Soulmate Maps: @141301 by Kenoriga | @382746 by Icemouce


Part 3 - Night Mode and how to enable it

This map mode was enabled in the map editor for a while up until 2011, most users don't know what to do with it and they rarely make it through voting. There are very few permanent nightmode maps and most people don't have patience enough to play them on a regular basis.

Nightmode is created by adding N="" to the first <P section in the XML, analogous to the above explained hide offscreen setting.

Sample XML:

<C><P N="" /><Z><S><S Y="230" T="0" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="130" X="400" H="20" /></S><D><DS Y="204" X="400" /></D><O /></Z></C>

Examples of Good Night Mode Maps: @327447 by Temple | @330950 by Voidmoon


Part 4 - Portal Map Mode

As of update 1.30 you can create portal modes which means that portals are given to the shamans if this map setting is enabled. Portal maps basically involve getting to map areas that are impossible to do or is much more difficult without portals.

In this XML the cheese is in a boxed in area that absolutely requires portals to get to.

<C><P P="" /><Z><S><S Y="235" T="12" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,90,0,0,0" L="100" o="163341" X="400" H="30" /><S Y="285" T="12" P="0,0,0,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="300" o="75deee" X="400" H="12" /><S Y="271" T="12" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="300" o="163341" X="400" H="30" /><S Y="100" T="12" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="300" o="163341" X="400" H="200" /><S Y="5" T="12" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="800" o="324650" X="400" H="10" /><S Y="213" T="12" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,90,0,0,0" L="100" o="163341" X="265" H="30" /><S Y="218" T="12" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,90,0,0,0" L="100" o="163341" X="535" H="30" /></S><D><DS Y="241" X="330" /><F Y="239" X="466" /><T Y="399" X="400" /></D><O /></Z></C>


Part 5 - Map Length (How to Create Scrolling Maps)

You can change the length of your map so that it scrolls horizontally. If not otherwise specified, the default map length is implicitly 800.

In order to change the map length you have to manually insert L="Desired length" as an attribute in the parameters section in the XML of your map.
Assigning the map length a value less than 800 will result in death lines being moved into the playing area, therefore this should be refrained from.
The maximum map length is 1600. If any value higher than the maximum is specified, this is effectively equal to specifying 1600.

Sample XML:

<C><P L="1600" F="0" /><Z><S><S Y="343" T="2" P="0,0,0,1.2,30,0,0,0" L="88" X="49" H="40" /><S Y="374" T="5" P="0,0,0.3,0.2,0,0,0,0" L="1600" H="71" X="800" /></S><D><DS Y="112" X="69" /></D><O /></Z></C>


7. Map Backgrounds and Scene Items

A. Map Backgrounds

By default your map will have a blue background, alternatively there are some backgrounds provided. New backgrounds are added every so often to celebrate a new season or holiday.

The numbers below refer to their XML indices, which will appear in the XML code like this:

<C><P F="0" /><Z><S /><D /><O /></Z></C>

F="0" - Daylight: Blue background with some clouds, sometimes makes it hard to see ice and lighter scene items.
F="1" - Dawn: A pastel sunrise scene ranging from orange to violet hue.


F="2" - Twilight: An orange and yellow map with a glaring sun.
F="3" - Full Moon: A dark blue map with some clouds, a moon and stars. Not recommended for longer maps due to the moon flattening.


F="4" - Halloween: A long background that displays fully with no map length edits, or with a map length of 1600. This background also slightly darkens grounds that are in the map.
F="5" - Christmas: A seasonal/winter map with lots of snow, trees and mountains.


F="7" - Storm clouds: A light gray/blue map with some cloudy weather.
F="8" - Storm clouds 2: A stormy weather map with puffy clouds and a very dark sky.




7b. Scene Items and Decorations



Spawn Items
The spawn items (cheese, mouse, shaman and hole) are available here. You can only place 1 mouse spawn and 1 shaman spawn, you can have multiple cheese and holes. Spawn items count as map objects so you may only have up to 30 altogether.

The minimum a map can have are 1 cheese spawn point and 1 hole.

Scene Items
All of the scene items are located in this scroll box. Just click the item to select it, and click again somewhere on the map to place it.

You can place a maximum 40 scene items, they will not count as map objects.


Scene Item Options and Recoloring
To get the options for scene items you just use your selector and click the item. Not all items are recolorable, you can view the list below and see which items are recolorable (in pink). To recolor an item you just simply edit the HTML color code that is displayed. I personally recommend ColorPicker.com, you can also use these same color codes for your shaman.

Background, Foreground and Reverse Settings
These settings can come in handy, the 'Reverse' option will let you flip any selected scene item horizontally so you can randomize placement (ie: placing many trees to create a forest). The 'Background' is the default placement for scene items, this means when you play the map the mice characters and grounds will display in front of them. If you want your scene items to display in front of mice or grounds then you just change it to 'Foreground'.




Nature and Beach Scene Items
1) Fence 2) Fern 3) Bush 4) Shovel 5) Sand Castle 6.Bucket 7) Umbrella 8) Grass Puff 9) Blue Flower 10) Red Rose 11) Sign 12) Palm Tree 13) Tree 14) Thorns



Tribe House Scene Items
1) Window (Recolorable) 2) Bed (Recolorable) 3) Table 4) Chair 5) Lamp 6) Fishing Posting 7) Bookcase 8) Couch (Recolorable) 9) Armchair (Recolorable) 10) Vase with Flowers (Recolorable) 11) Teddy Bear 12) Wordrobe 13) Refrigerator 14) Bottle 15) Cooked Poultry 16) Small Plant 17) Radio 18) Bedside Table 19) Plant 20) Television 21) Background (Recolorable)





Halloween Scene Items
1) Torch 2) Broom 3) Pumpkin 4) 2010 Halloween Poster 5) Ghost Garland 6) Pumpkin Garland 7) Pointy Fence 8) Brick Torch 9) Autumn Tree 10) Jack-O-Lantern 11) Skeleton 12) Balloons 13) Spider Web 14) Cemetery Scene 15) Bats



Winter Holiday Scene Items
1) Icicles 2) Festive Lights 3) Wreath 4) Candle 5) Gift 6) SnowMouse 7) Winter Garland 8) Santa Mouse 9) Winter Tree 10) Christmas Tree 11) Mistletoe 12) Ribbon 13) Ornament 14) Milk and Cookies 15) Presents



Valentine's Scene Items
1) Romantic Candle 2) Bouquet 3) Decorations 4) Heart Balloon 5) Rose in Vase 6) Romantic Window 7) Valentine's Umbrella 8) Valentine's Gift 9) Cafe Sign 10) Heart Decoration 11) French Chair 12) French Table



April's Fishing Scene Items
1) White Shell 2) Pond Plants 3) Starfish 4)Coral Rock 5) Rocks 6) Coral [color=#ff6bb4>(Recolorable) 7) Sea Sponge (Recolorable) 8) Treasure Chest 9) Clay Artifact 10) Long Grass 11) Lilypads