Editing Controls and Courses

In Catching Features, controls that you see in the terrain and the control rings you see as courses on the map are two completely different mechanisms. This gives a flexible approach to course making (you can use any control sticks of any shape in the terrain), but can also lead to problems (when the control ring isn't centered exactly on the control stick).

Courses and control sticks are stored in different files. The control sticks are usually stored in the map file, so to save them use File/Save Map. (Control sticks can also be stored in object files, but I'll not go into that here.)

Courses are stored in an separate object file, which are loaded with File/Open Object File... (the default course file is usually located in the events/yourmapname/day1 subfolder to your map's folder). Save the course file with File/Save Courses. If the course should be uploaded as a competition, make sure to also use File/Save Object File while the course file is loaded (otherwise there might be an error during upload.)

In the sections below, the control object the runner see in the terrain is referred to as the control stick. The control seen on the map is referred to as the control ring.

Preparing a control texture

If you have converted an OCAD map and added the control sticks to the terrain (and your course mainly takes place in the woods), you also first place a version of control.jpg in your map's folder. Also do the following in CF Edit:
1. Press the F3 key to open the texture list. (If control.jpg is not listed in the texture list, close the texture list and add the file it to the list by using File/Insert Texture... After that, repeat step #1.)
2. Press the Select None button
3. Select the line in the list that says control.jpg
4. Click on the Properties button
5. Check both the IsShadowed and 1/3 View Dist check boxes. (The 1/3 View Dist is very important to use for controls, otherwise the controls will be too easy to detect in the woods.)
6. Click OK button
7. Select All button
8. Close the texture list and save the map

Place a control stick

1. First, make sure that the file control.jpg is copied to your map's main folder (make a copy from the CatchingFeatures/maps folder)
2. In CF Edit, make sure that you see the map in 2D view
3. Zoom in on the area where you want to place the control (use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom)
4. Hold down the Shift key and right-click with the mouse at the location where the control should be placed
5. Select File/Import 3DS...
6. In the dialog box that now appears, select controlstick.3ds and press the Open button
7. If you have an old version of CF Edit, one more dialog box appears where the texture should be selected. Here select control.jpg.
8. Now the control should appear in the terrain and the should say top left corner of CF Edit "48 pts selected". Switch to 3D view by pressing the Space key. Press the down arrow key to move backwards in the terrain. Make sure that the control appears in a good spot (not in a tree for example). If you need to move it, look at the Move a control stick section below
9. Select Edit/Shade Selected Pts to shade the control stick
10. Press the q key to make the control stick in to a texture region (this will improve the game speed)

Place/Add a control ring

1. Make sure to be in 2D view
2. Select Courses/Edit Courses
3. Select Courses/Insert Control
4. Click where the control should be
IMPORTANT! Now it's extremely important that the control point gets perfectly centered around on the control stick!
5. Select wireframe mode (for example by pressing F2)
6. Zoom in (use the mouse scroll wheel) on the control so the outline of the control stick is clearly seen
7. Make sure the control ring's "center dot" appears exactly in the middle of the control stick (see screenhot). If not, unselect Courses/Lock Control Locations and move the control ring/center dot.

Select a control stick

To accurately select a control stick (if you for example want to move or delete it) do like this.

1. Press F3 to display the texture list window
2. Press the Select None button
3. Select control.jpg in the texture list window (now only control objects should be visible/selectable on the map)
4. Drag-enclose the control stick (drag a rectangle around it) by using the left mouse button. In the top left corner of the CF Edit window, it should now say "48 pts selected"
5. If needed, press F3 to display the texture list again
6. Press the Select All push button (to display all the objects on the map again)
7. Close the texture list window

Move a control stick

1. Make sure the control stick is fully selected. If not, see steps above.
2. If you need to move the control sideways in the terrain, press 1 (which is the same as selecting Edit/Move XZ). Drag the handles to move the control stick. (Works in both 2D and 3D view.)
3. If you need to move the control up or down on the same stop, press 2 (which is the same as selecting Edit/Move Y). Drag the handles to move the control stick. (Works only in 3D view.)

Move a control ring

1. Select Courses/Edit Courses
2. Make sure Courses/Lock Control Locations is unselected
3. Be in 2D view
4. Drag the control ring to its new position
5. Select Courses/Lock Control Locations again to avoid any accidental movements of other controls later on

Delete a control stick

1. Select the control stick (see steps above)
2. Select Edit/Delete Selected Tris

Delete a control ring

1. Select Courses/Edit Courses
2. Click in the middle of the control ring so it appear with appear with a different red color than the rest of the control rings
3. Select Course/Delete Current Control

Control descriptions

Every control on the course should have proper control, so there will be no guesswork on where to find the control. Unfortunatelly, the random courses created by the Randomizer in CF will not create fully correct control desccriptions (they don't include information such as what side of a boulder, which part of the marsh, and so on), so these control definitions should be corrected if they are going to be uploaded as a competition.

Do like this to add a description for a control:
1. Select Courses/Edit Courses
2. Make sure Courses/Lock Control Locations is checked (so you don't accidentally move the control ring while adding control descriptions)
3. Click in the middle of the control ring so it appear with appear with a different red color than the rest of the control rings. The grid for the control description will now appear in the top right corner.
4. Click on a square in the grid to change the square. Make a selection from the list that appears. To clear a square, select the "empty symbol" that appears between the selected square and the list.

If you're unsure about how to use control desciptions, please refer to the IOF document available at:
http://www.orienteering.org/footo/pictsymb.htm

Create a new course

1. Select Courses/Edit Courses
2. Select Courses/Add new course... Give the new course a name.
3. Select a control ring. Select another one to create a leg between the control rings. Continue until the course is completed. Right-click on a ring to remove a control ring from the course.
4. Unselect Courses/Edit Courses

Insert a new control into an existing course

1. Select Courses/Edit Courses
2. Select the course where you want to make the change from the bottom of the Courses menu
3. Make sure no control rings are selected
4. Select the control ring before the new control
5. Click on the new control ring to insert the leg into the course