Section 4 - 'Climbing' Walls

If Lara takes a flying leap into the water before realizing she should have gone for the goodies on the opposite side of the room, she needs a way to climb back up to the ledge. Once back on the ledge, she will need a way to get up to the platform since it is too high for a jump. So, the rooms you just made are going to need some climbing surfaces.

NOTE: Climbing textures and climbing surfaces are two separate things. Climbing textures alone won’t allow Lara to climb walls! Climbing textures are used along with the climbing surfaces and serve only to let the player know where the climbable surfaces are. Climbing surfaces are assigned to a floor square but you must select the climb button corresponding to the wall you want to make climbable.

Adding a Climbing Wall to Your Stacked Rooms

1. On the PLAN VIEW grid, look at room “Stack2” in the demo model and note the location of the dark green square on the west ledge of the room (upper left corner) You can see a green line next to the gray wall square.

2. Go to your “Stack2X” room and with 2DMAP and FACE EDIT off select the same square from the model.

3. On the ROOM EDIT panel you’ll notice 4 dark green buttons with the word “Climb” in the middle of them.

4. Beginning with the left of the four buttons, click each button on and off and watch in the PLAN VIEW window as the green line changes position around the highlighted square.

The green line represents the climbing surface and it has to correspond with an actual wall in your room. If you made a column out of a floor square by clicking the WALL button and wanted to climb on all four sides of the column, you would need to select the four adjacent floor squares and assign the climbable surface to the same side of the floor square that touches the column. If you selected just the column square and assigned the climbable surfaces around the inside of it, Lara would not be able to climb it because the climbing surfaces would all be on the inside of the column.

5. Go to “Stack2X” and click on the ledge square (the floor of that room) next to the wall section you want to make climbable. Assign the climbing surface to the wall panel by clicking on the left CLIMB button. You should see the green line touching the gray square. When you look at your room in the EDITOR WINDOW the ledge floor) square will be the dark green color.

NOTE: A climbing “surface” must be assigned to the floor square in the room where it begins. In a line of stacked rooms it will continue upward in a straight line through the stacked rooms until a ceiling or floor stops it.

6. Check the “Stack3” room in the demo model for the location of the other climbing surfaces. By assigning the climbing surface to one square at the bottom of “Stack3” room, it makes the surface climbable all the way to the ceiling of “StackTop”! However, with the climbing texture applied, the player will probably only follow the texture since he/she doesn’t know the climbing surface continues. Sometimes it is necessary to construct a room in such a way that a climbing surface gets blocked, or Lara could end up in places she is not supposed to be!