New housing rating system and the Lay-out editor..

[Ealthina]

<p>It's plain to see that the only people who will have highly rated houses for the new housing systems will be those proficiant with the Lay-out editor...  Sad really.  Lots of peopel do great work, but you can't match the editor...  Those breakout houses are fantastic...</p>

[The_Cheeseman]

<p>The obvious response seems to me to be, "Use the layout editor." I mean, it's free, why not?</p>

[Ealthina]

<p>The complexity of it...lol  I tried.  It baffles me to no end.  Plus, one should NOT have to use a 3rd party program to compete/play.  It sounds like, though, they are revammping the housing UI system so and editor may be inigrated I hope.</p>

[d1anaw]

<p><cite>Cheesers@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The complexity of it...lol  I tried.  It baffles me to no end.  Plus, one should NOT have to use a 3rd party program to compete/play.  It sounds like, though, they are revammping the housing UI system so and editor may be inigrated I hope.</p></blockquote><p>I agree. I also tried to use it and found it too difficult and complicated. I'm not a programmer. I'm strictly and end user.</p>

[CorpseGoddess]

<p>I'm terrifically bad at math--it's my nemesis; I have a broken part of my brain that deals with numbers.  That being said, I found that a lot of patience and a little bit of trial and error goes a long way with using the layout editor.  Also, try and find some mentors in the Norrathian Homeshow thread, or in the decorator's chat channel, or somebody on your server or in your guild that's comfortable with it and has used it a lot.  I found those things really helped me get over my trepidation at using it.</p><p>It's worth a try.  =)</p>

[Ealthina]

<p><cite>Streppoch@Guk wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'm terrifically bad at math--it's my nemesis; I have a broken part of my brain that deals with numbers.  That being said, I found that a lot of patience and a little bit of trial and error goes a long way with using the layout editor.  Also, try and find some mentors in the Norrathian Homeshow thread, or in the decorator's chat channel, or somebody on your server or in your guild that's comfortable with it and has used it a lot.  I found those things really helped me get over my trepidation at using it.</p><p>It's worth a try.  =)</p></blockquote><p>I may do that.  I am a Corrections Officer..  If you want a head dropped on cement I can do that, but that program was almost scary...  But I still contend one should not have to use a 3rd party app to excell in the game.</p>

[CorpseGoddess]

<p><cite>Cheesers@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Streppoch@Guk wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'm terrifically bad at math--it's my nemesis; I have a broken part of my brain that deals with numbers.  That being said, I found that a lot of patience and a little bit of trial and error goes a long way with using the layout editor.  Also, try and find some mentors in the Norrathian Homeshow thread, or in the decorator's chat channel, or somebody on your server or in your guild that's comfortable with it and has used it a lot.  I found those things really helped me get over my trepidation at using it.</p><p>It's worth a try.  =)</p></blockquote><p>I may do that.  I am a Corrections Officer..  If you want a head dropped on cement I can do that, but that program was almost scary...  But I still contend one should not have to use a 3rd party app to excell in the game.</p></blockquote><p>Well, if you have a toon on Guk, or have an extra spot to create one, go check out my Vamp Lair there (under Streppoch).  I used the layout editor to move exactly two pieces of furniture--both coffins.  It's not completely finished, about 98%, but it will give you an idea of what a dedicated decorator can accomplish---even without the layout editor.  =)</p>

[Roslyn]

<p>Quoted from EQ2Wire: "Be a Builder Dungeon Maps, Creater Spawners, Traps, Decorations you have to go out and quest, raid, tradeskill to get them Come back and build with the enhanced housing system. You teleport into the dungeon and you get an extremely advanced housing interface. <em>Housing will eventually get the new design system</em>."</p><p>About time too, really.</p>

[Katz]

<p>There are training sessions on testcopy that you could attend.  I haven't yet but plan on attending soon.</p><p><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=493517" target="_blank">Course in layout editor</a></p>

[Filly67]

<p>Just got back from my second layout editor class on the test server.  It is a must for mastering the layout editor.  I am a wreck at math but the instructor, Grayce is awesome and has the patience of a saint.  I am loving the editor.  I don't use it for fancy stuff yet but it makes decorating so much easier.</p>

[Cloudrat]

<p><cite>Roslyn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Quoted from EQ2Wire: "Be a BuilderDungeon Maps, Creater Spawners, Traps, Decorations you have to go out and quest, raid, tradeskill to get themCome back and build with the enhanced housing system. You teleport into the dungeon and you get an extremely advanced housing interface. <strong><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Housing will eventually get the new design system</em>."</span></strong></p><p>About time too, really.</p></blockquote><p>I am wondering where on the timeline this eventually lands hehe</p>

[Liandra]

<p>as well as the classes already mentioned on testcopy there is a guide to the layout editor over on eq2traders <a href="http://eq2.eqtraders.com/articles/article_page.php?article=g459&menustr=070000000000" target="_blank">here</a></p>

[retro_guy]

<p>While I love EQ2 and housing, EQ2 housing isn't really meant to do what it does now and has pretty much been pushed to the limit.</p><p>Breakout houses just don't work like real zones. If I port from my front room to the back garden of my house (breakout in SQ) the furniture items/walls/floors take ages to load and basically ruin the illusion that you're in a real zone. Or if I teleport back to my front door, the eitire contents of my front room are missing for several seconds and even my front door is missing, allowing me to run out into darkness and fall into space.</p><p>The housing system just isn't designed to do what we do with it.</p><p>Hopefully the new revamp will fix this and lock all placed items in place like they are in the normal game zones (where you don't have items popping into existance a while after you walk up to them) and you have to switch to "decorating mode" to move things.</p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>retro_guy wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>While I love EQ2 and housing, EQ2 housing isn't really meant to do what it does now and has pretty much been pushed to the limit.</p><p>Breakout houses just don't work like real zones. If I port from my front room to the back garden of my house (breakout in SQ) the furniture items/walls/floors take ages to load and basically ruin the illusion that you're in a real zone. Or if I teleport back to my front door, the eitire contents of my front room are missing for several seconds and even my front door is missing, allowing me to run out into darkness and fall into space.</p><p>The housing system just isn't designed to do what we do with it.</p><p>Hopefully the new revamp will fix this and lock all placed items in place like they are in the normal game zones (where you don't have items popping into existance a while after you walk up to them) and you have to switch to "decorating mode" to move things.</p></blockquote><p>That has alot to do with assets loading from your computer since object outside of your view do not render. This is done to prevent massive lag.</p><p>I am doubt any change to a housing interface will do anything to it. Your best bet at reducing this is SSD harddrives that load faster.</p>

[IvyBlackrose]

<p>quite honestly houses are meant to be decorated within the constraints of a house, in all honesty I think one of the conditions of the housing leaderboard should be no breakout, while breakouts are cool for those that do it it takes away from the decor of the original house which is what is actually being judged, save your breakouts for the new housing plot that is coming our way......quite honestly I dont feel a breakout house is keeping within the spirit of a particular housing style decoration contest</p>

[Lalen]

<p><cite>Cheesers@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The complexity of it...lol  I tried.  It baffles me to no end.  Plus, one should NOT have to use a 3rd party program to compete/play.  It sounds like, though, they are revammping the housing UI system so and editor may be inigrated I hope.</p></blockquote><p>The layout editor seemed to be pretty strait forward... Not sure what is really that complex about it if you understand the windows file-system, xyz coordinates, and "pitch and roll".</p>

[SmokeJumper]

<p>Part of creating DYOD is to improve the housing creation interface so it's easier to use. We intend it to be more intuitive so more folks feel comfortable with trying their hand at either housing or being a DYOD builder.</p>

[Ealthina]

<p><cite>Lalen@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Cheesers@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The complexity of it...lol  I tried.  It baffles me to no end.  Plus, one should NOT have to use a 3rd party program to compete/play.  It sounds like, though, they are revammping the housing UI system so and editor may be inigrated I hope.</p></blockquote><p>The layout editor seemed to be pretty strait forward... Not sure what is really that complex about it if you understand the windows file-system, xyz coordinates, and "pitch and roll".</p></blockquote><p>Uhh...  No I don't.  Thank though..  I am not an IT tech.  I work in Law Enforcement.  Big difference.</p>

[msgnomer]

<p><cite>Cheesers@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's plain to see that the only people who will have highly rated houses for the new housing systems will be those proficiant with the Lay-out editor...  Sad really.  Lots of peopel do great work, but you can't match the editor...  Those breakout houses are fantastic...</p></blockquote><p>I quite disagree.  House snooping is a in-game hobby of mine, and I could easily see myself giving high ratings to houses that were decorated solely with manual placement of items.  It might all be in the choice of what to include and what not to include, where it's placed, and how well it conveys an overall style or effect.</p><p>Being able to edit the house layout file gives you some additional options to position items or to move things more efficiently.  You can find the thread on the layout file format if you want and edit the files directly or use the layout editor, but it's not required for making a nicely decorated house as far as I'm concerned.  You don't have to build a palace out of bottlecaps and toothpicks to get high marks from me, and I can't imagine I'd be the only one. </p>

[Anestacia]

<p>I am a huge decorator.  Have been since the beggining and is still my favorite part of this game.  I have the editor and I have struggled through it in a few projects.  That being said, its an anoyance to me as I hate any number based systems and I also hate all the windowing in and out I have to do to use it.  I also do not like being at the mercy of non official tools as you never know when they will stop working or being updated with no gurantee of a fix.  Now, I do very much appreciate the work that the creator put into it and in no way downing them, its a great tool for those that use it! </p><p>Prior to the editor I could have boasted that my houses were some of the best I had ever seen and had many other random people /telling me the same thing.  I am not a vain person; far from it actually but I had great skill and took great pride in what I decorated.  I have since pretty much stopped posting my work on the forums as it can not compare with the brilliant pieces people with the editor are doing.  Every since the editor was released theres really no way for a non editor user to even compete, which before now was just fine but apparently we ARE now in a competition w/ a rating system.</p><p>I for one dont think the editor or break outs in general should be banned from the rating system but I do hope this new housing interface will give us an officialy supported way of doing everything the editor allows us to do.  Looking forward to the new features coming and hope they come through as great as they sound.</p>

[Writer Cal]

<p>It seems pretty simple to me.</p><p>If they can consider the request from FF of having something like a "slob" category, then they could also consider adding more categories.</p><p>Instead of saying "people should only be able to decorate X way or it's not fair"...add categories such as Best Use of Existing Architecture (those who mostly leave the existing walls/ceiling/floor intact), Best Internal Original Architecture (for those who stay within the house but make it look entirely different), and Best External Architecture (breakouts and the upcoming TT Island house.)</p><p>Inclusion of different kinds of decorating projects.  Not exclusion.  More fun and possible rewards for all.</p><p>PS - If I can learn how to use the editor, anyone can.  I suck at all that math and programming stuff.  Seriously.  It's way more scary and confusing looking than it really is.  But I'm glad a better decorating interface is coming to the game itself.</p>

[Katz]

<p><cite>Daenee@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It seems pretty simple to me.</p><p>If they can consider the request from FF of having something like a "slob" category, then they could also consider adding more categories.</p><p>Instead of saying "people should only be able to decorate X way or it's not fair"...add categories such as Best Use of Existing Architecture (those who mostly leave the existing walls/ceiling/floor intact), Best Internal Original Architecture (for those who stay within the house but make it look entirely different), and Best External Architecture (breakouts and the upcoming TT Island house.)</p><p>Inclusion of different kinds of decorating projects.  Not exclusion.  More fun and possible rewards for all.</p><p>PS - If I can learn how to use the editor, anyone can.  I suck at all that math and programming stuff.  Seriously.  It's way more scary and confusing looking than it really is.  But I'm glad a better decorating interface is coming to the game itself.</p></blockquote><p>Those are some good categories, I hope the devs see this and add them or equivalents in. </p>

[illaria]

<p><cite>msgnomer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Cheesers@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's plain to see that the only people who will have highly rated houses for the new housing systems will be those proficiant with the Lay-out editor...  Sad really.  Lots of peopel do great work, but you can't match the editor...  Those breakout houses are fantastic...</p></blockquote><p>I quite disagree.  House snooping is a in-game hobby of mine, and I could easily see myself giving high ratings to houses that were decorated solely with manual placement of items.  It might all be in the choice of what to include and what not to include, where it's placed, and how well it conveys an overall style or effect.</p><p>Being able to edit the house layout file gives you some additional options to position items or to move things more efficiently.  You can find the thread on the layout file format if you want and edit the files directly or use the layout editor, but it's not required for making a nicely decorated house as far as I'm concerned.  You don't have to build a palace out of bottlecaps and toothpicks to get high marks from me, and I can't imagine I'd be the only one. </p></blockquote><p>I have to agree as well.</p><p>Creativity and execution is what makes a house amazing.</p><p>Yes, some of the most amazing houses I have seen were built using the layout editor but they were already decorators who did amazing work even without the editor.</p><p>The editor is a tool and a powerful one but it does not make a decorator</p>

[SisterTheresa]

<p>I am a full no layout editor person and I think I got some nice things for my New Halas mansion.</p><p>Granted, I've seen some awesome houses out there with things that boggle my mind.</p><p>But don't be discouraged if you decorate but don't use the editor.  There are lots of people in Homeshow and these forums that can possibly give ideas to you!</p>