Lancer Map Creation Tool
A downloadable Map Creation Tool for Windows
The Lancer Map Creation Tool allows you to create complex yet readable battlefields in minutes.
It features a plethora of sprites and assets that you can use to create your very own maps for Lancer.
If you have questions about The Map Creation Tool there is a Discord here: http://discord.gg/lancerrpg
The Lancer Map Creation Tool features:
- Editor to create battlefields by hand with an easy brush and paint system.
- Sophisticated Random Generator to create useable battlefields in seconds.
- Freely draw any Zones necessary for your Sitrep directly onto your map.
- Integrate your own assets. The MCT allows you to utilize any PNG file as a terrain asset.
- Supports Battlefield dimensions of up to 50x50.
- Wall Tool that intelligently draws wall features.
- Utilize custom images as backgrounds before drawing on any terrain you like.
- Create your own biomes for the randomizer to use.
- Export battlefields as PNGs with grids optimized for general VTTs or Roll20 specifically.
- All assets included separately, modify them as you see fit.
- Easy to understand manual explaining all of the program's features.
All images seen on this page are of maps created entirely with the Map Creation Tool.
Available Expansions for the LMCT:
Arctic Terrain: https://interpoint-station.itch.io/lancer-mct-arctic-expansion-pack
My previous terrain asset packs have already been updated to be useable with the new MCT, you can download the relevant install package on their respective Itch.io pages. (Though their style and scale clash quite a bit with the new assets)
You can find all my old Pixelart Assets packs here: https://itch.io/s/117077/old-lancer-map-assets-bundle
This program was coded by the very talented Markopolodev who you can check out at https://markopolodev.itch.io/
Sprites were created by https://ilmalikkoil.artstation.com/
The demo for this project are maps for Massif Press's "No Room For a Wallflower Part 1" which can be found here: https://massif-press.itch.io/no-room-for-a-wallflower-act-1. All maps were created using the Lancer MCT.
Purchase
In order to download this Map Creation Tool you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $25 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- Barrel Pile Without Size Marker FixFeb 24, 2024
Comments
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Can anyone recommend a less futuristic asset pack for urban buildings?
Greetings, I have been working on creating my own custom assets and I believe I have most of the workflow down. That said, is there any way to adjust the terrain markers?
I see that they have different states to denote hard/soft cover and other statuses, but the colors seem to be hard-locked. I have a colorblind player who struggles to see the flags at times. I've also had my non colorblind players say they're a little too hard to spot sometimes. I know I can adjust each location individually but that won't help with everything.
Is there a way to flip/rotate placeables 90 degrees?
Is there a way to turn off the little numbered icons for the terrain? I'd like to make the maps a little cleaner.
Any way to get the hexes into columns instead of rows?
does this map handle square tiles? My groups standardized on roll 20 and I can not for the life on me make hexagon tiles for size 2,3 or four that works with roll 20.
it does only do hexes, i play Lancer extensively on Roll20, its pretty doable, feel free to message me on Discord and ill send you my roll20 hex snapping tokens : )
When I try to place open gates it just puts a bunch of question mark symbols in-between the two halves of the gate. I haven't added or removed any sprites, how can I fix this? the wall configuration tool is not intuitive at all.
you have to attach them to a wall and then leave the spaces between the open gates empty
Software hardlocks if you expand the window too large. Apparently i'm supposed to make maps in 15x15 hex chunks.
Is there going to be a setting where we can switch it from hex to square grid?
Would it be alright to personally customize this system for my own map creation?
Stuff like expanding hex count to 100 x 100, adding more tabs for additional sprites, shadows, etc.
go right ahead!
I like the update. Is there any chance we can get a more in depth pdf on how to set up the maps for r20? I've seen your comments below but i don't know how big to make the r20 map and even playing around with it i cant get the hexes to line up even when i'm basing off of the top left corner.
ill see if i find the time to make a video on it!
I can't seem to get the hexagons to align on roll20. Changing the pixels to match don't work and aligning a 3 by 3 on a hexagon does not really work. Maybe I am just doing something wrong but I keep getting close but slightly off which makes the outer layer of the map really off grid
set the roll20 map to 100% zoom, drag the png file into the browser window
align the top left of the map
press and hold shift+alt, grab the bottom right of the map and drag it around until it aligns to the roll20 gird
Still just desperate for the ability to add elevated ground
Seconded! This would be a really nice feature to have.
i cant seem to get this to fit in roll 20 at all can someone help me?
like at all the pieces dont fit even when using the old maps map tutorial, im using 31x20
set the roll20 map to 100% zoom, drag the png file into the browser window
align the top left of the map
press and hold shift+alt, grab the bottom right of the map and drag it around until it aligns to the roll20 gird
This worked pretty well, some of the map is cut off but that i can live with that thanks so much!
Love the app, will there be a future expansion for *ship interiors*? I'd like to use this in conjunction with Battlegroup.
Yeah interiors would be much helpful in making this app comprehensive
Loving this, and the free wallflower maps too
Is there a way to up the scaling of the menu and app in the program as my screen is 4k
Right now I have to:
Right click > app - Properties - compatibility - Change High dpi settings - Check box > Override High DPI Scaling behaviour preformed by: - Dropdown > System
there will be an update this week that lets you scale the font of the program!
how would we go about updating it? From this website? another source? update coming from the app itself?
Can't seem to make the maps made by the tool fit in foundry? Any suggestions for grid size or offset? The hexes seem to be of a shape that doesn't fit the foundryt hexagonal rows
In Foundry…
- Grid Type: Hex Rows - Odd - Grid Size: 76 - Image dimensions: (same as image itself) - Padding Percentage: 0.25 - Offset Background: Horizontal 38, Vertical 2 (you may need to play around with this depending on your map's dimensions) - Turn Grid Opacity all the way down so that it's hidden.
The larger your map gets, the less accurate these settings get, as the offset gets more pronounced towards the edges of the map. With as much room for variation as the MCT allows for, I strongly doubt there's one universal set of settings for all possible maps. But these settings should work just fine, for the most part.
Mine dosent line up at all with this. Please help me.
No matter what I do I cant get it to line up at all with any base maps. It all just gets skewed. Please help me, I did buy it.
Hey, I've been testing this out a bit, and maybe this will help you: If you're using Foundry VTT, make sure when you save your map, you change the hexes in the map creator from "Roll 20" to "Normal" in the dropdown near the top of the screen. This will change the size of the image, so make sure to get the new size in pixels, and then follow the directions Interpoint Station posted above. Worked a charm for me.
If you're still struggling, try leaving the background of the Foundry scene blank and dropping in the map image as a tile. You can then drag and drop to resize it to the grid (hold Shift so it won't snap to the grid).
Just bought this when someone recommended it on discord. Very easy to use so a lifesaver for me. Would hope to see some more assets added for the price tag though . Also would *really* appreciate the ability to place ground at elevation.
Im struggling to set this up. I just bought it but theres nothing in the assets and the whole thing dosent seem to work? What can I do to fix this? Please let me know.
This is an incredible tool. I can't imagine trying to run custom games of Lancer without it.
does this work for tabletop simulator
the program outputs PNG images which should work everywhere? I am unfamiliar with tabletop simulator but if you can upload PNGs there it should work.
is this compatible with Mac OS?
only if you run it through a program like wine
Can you upload an image/import an image and place it on the map?
you can after you import it via the metadata editor, check out the manual
Is there a way to resize custom sprites from retrogrde minis to fit one hex in the metadata editor?
I'm struggling to get this map to line up with roll20. Is there some sort of setting I need to check other than the roll20 hexagon style to get it to line up properly? I feel like the pixel per hex is wrong.
I recently exported a map that was 38x21 in the editor and had to use a 41x21 Roll20 Page size to get it to properly fit.
Very good for rapid map creation with randomization + some light touchup. I was able to get effective maps into the VTT in under ten minutes, five if I'm in a hurry.
The one major flaw is that there's no way to change the size of the UI or text in the UI, which makes it difficult to use for some people (I am some people) if you have a larger monitor. Its not completely unusable, but the tiny text size is a bit of a pain, and some people might find it worse.
Hey, I may be blind, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to export the maps I make. How do?
"File" at the top left > "Export."
This is detailed in the manual on page 2.
I exported a map with Roll20 hexes and they still aren't aligning. I'm somewhat new to this, is there a set of settings I am missing?
the easiest way to align them is to align the top left hex (activate the grid on the page for that), then grab the bottom right of the image, hold shift+alt and drag and wiggle the map until it fully aligns
Hey, I might be blind but, I do not see the load directory button when trying to get the new randomization in. Any suggestions on where to look?
Have you tried consulting the manual? You shouldn't have to load any directory in.
Is there a way to place 'one and done' assets overlapping each other, instead of any overlap deleting the existing asset, and, if there isn't, is that something that could be added in the future?
I tend to make quite tightly knit urban maps, so I'd like to be able to place structures that blend together into a single street or complex.
There is no way to achieve multiple assets overlapping each other with the usual workflow. The closest I think you could get would be to edit assets together (in another program) into new premade overlapping assets, then configure those in the lmct, but that’s not necessarily quick and easy.
Awesome stuff, immediately bought. Can't see any Size 3 terrain from the old asset packs anywhere, am I missing those?
I have made the old asset packs compatible with this new program but you'll have to download their install packages from their respective Itch.io pages.
I have done, but the old asset install packages only have size 1 terrain as far as I can see.
oh you have to switch over to the "One and Done" terrain, you are likely currently looking at the paintable terrain.
Foundry VTT Grid Alignment Settings
EDIT: Splitch0 in the replies to this comment offers a different method that may be both simpler and better than mine! Check it out if you don't have any luck with my method.
1. First, set the MCT’s Hexagonal style to Regular instead of Roll20. (This setting reverts every time you restart the MCT, or navigate away from the Map Editor screen!)
2. Verify that your version of Foundry is v11 or newer. It made a big change to how hexes are measured in an earlier version.
3. Set up your scene in Foundry, select the exported map image as the background, and configure the settings as follows...
- Grid Type: Hex Rows - Odd
- Grid Size: 76
- Image dimensions: (same as image itself)
- Padding Percentage: 0.25
- Offset Background: Horizontal 38, Vertical 2 (you may need to play around with this depending on your map's dimensions)
- Turn Grid Opacity all the way down so that it's hidden.
The larger your map gets, the less accurate these settings get, as the offset gets more pronounced towards the edges of the map. With as much room for variation as the MCT allows for, I strongly doubt there's one universal set of settings for all possible maps. But these settings should work just fine, for the most part.
I can't for the life of me get the grid to fit in foundry vtt. Was there a specific map size used to get the right result using those settings?
I find it way easier to leave the background of the scene blank and drop the map in as a tile. You can then drag and drop to resize it to the grid. Just remeber to hold SHIFT to disable grid snapping.
This is something I have never even thought to do before but wow, what a simple and effective solution! I'll edit my comment with this suggestion because it probably works even better this way. (Just make sure to send that tile to the back layer before adding any new ones, I guess.)
Hey there, you might want to take a look at my comment and try again. I just updated it with new settings discovered by a member of the Pilot NET Discord community, and they seem way better than my initial suggestions.
Thank you soooooo much , this was so frustrating. I almost gave up and grabbed a different map. Your help saved my map and my sanity.
Heya! Thank you for providing these. They didn't seem to work for xe, though. Perhaps something changed in the app? Xe ended up with:
Grid Type: Hexagonal Rows - Odd
Grid Size: 77
Scene Dimensions: 2310 x 1426 (the image itself is 2280 x 1408; don't know why this differs)
Offset Background 39 x 3
There is a very, very minute difference between your measurements and mine with a map that I just tested with. Mine has differing dimensions from yours, as well. Combined with the fact that the variation here is so small, I'd say this example falls under the umbrella of what I meant when I said "With as much room for variation as the MCT allows for, I strongly doubt there's one universal set of settings for all possible maps." I'm glad these settings work for you though!
Also, re: "Scene Dimensions: 2310 x 1426 (the image itself is 2280 x 1408; don't know why this differs)," I would wager this is because when you set up the scene in Foundry, you used an image with 2310 x 1426 dimensions, *then* replaced the background image with your new map image. Foundry doesn't automatically update dimensions for scenes when you switch the background image (after the first time).
That's entirely possible, yes. First-time Foundry user so that wouldn't surprise xe. Thanks!
And you were right! Your original settings worked just fine once we started with a fresh scene. Thanks again.
Adding onto this, 50 by 50 runs perfectly; Going to see what ratios work and what don't.