Skip to main content

Dungeon Tool

The Dungeon Tool (keyboard shortcut U) lets you paint conceptual dungeon structure in a top-down grid view and generate normal map geometry from it.

It is intended as a faster workflow for blockouts such as:

  • rooms
  • corridors
  • shafts
  • door openings
  • connected floor levels

Instead of placing vertices, linedefs, and sectors by hand, you paint structural tiles and let Eldiron build the matching floor, ceiling, wall, and door geometry.

Concept Workflow​

The Dungeon Tool edits a conceptual dungeon layer stored on the map.

That conceptual layer is used to generate normal map geometry:

  • sectors
  • linedefs
  • surfaces

This means the generated result can still be refined later with the normal editor tools.

Dock Layout​

When the Dungeon Tool is active, the lower picker area shows the Dungeon dock instead of the Tile Picker.

The dock has two parts:

  • a scrollable palette of structural dungeon tiles
  • a TOML settings panel on the right

Painted Tiles​

Dungeon tiles describe the structure of one grid cell.

Typical examples are:

  • floor
  • single wall edges
  • wall corners
  • multi-edge wall cells
  • oriented door cells

Rooms are built by combining many painted tiles.

Settings​

The Dungeon dock settings are edited as TOML.

The main sections are:

[dungeon]
floor_base = 0.0
height = 4.0
floors = true
ceilings = true
standalone = false

[tile]
door_width = 2
door_depth = 0.5
door_height = 2.25
open_mode = "Auto"
item = "Door Handler"

[steps]
floor_delta = -1.0
steps = 4
tile_id = ""
tile_mode = "Repeat"

[render]
transition_seconds = 1.0
sun_enabled = false
shadow_enabled = true
fog_density = 5.0
fog_color = "#000000"

dungeon​

  • floor_base: base height of newly painted tiles
  • height: wall height and ceiling offset above floor_base
  • floors: whether generated dungeon geometry creates floor sectors
  • ceilings: whether generated dungeon geometry creates ceiling sectors
  • standalone: keeps newly painted cells separate instead of merging them into larger generated pieces

tile​

These settings apply to the currently selected dungeon tile when relevant.

For door tiles:

  • door_width: width of the generated opening in tiles
  • door_depth: thickness of the generated door panel
  • door_height: height of the moving door panel
  • open_mode: how the runtime door opens
  • item: item handler attached to the generated door sector

steps​

These settings apply to stair tiles.

  • floor_delta: relative floor-base change across the stair tile. Negative values go down.
  • steps: number of generated steps inside the tile.
  • tile_id: default source applied to generated stair geometry.
  • tile_mode: how the stair source is mapped. Repeat is the normal mode, Scale stretches the source across the stair assembly.

render​

These settings override the normal region or game [render] settings while the player is inside dungeon-generated geometry.

  • transition_seconds: smooth blend duration when entering or leaving the dungeon space
  • sun_enabled: override sun lighting inside the dungeon
  • shadow_enabled: override sun shadows inside the dungeon
  • fog_density: fog density, using the same percent-style value as normal [render]
  • fog_color: fog color override

The global game or region [render] settings remain the source of truth.
Dungeon Tool only overrides the keys you specify in its own [render] block, and normal rendering is restored automatically when the player leaves the dungeon geometry.

Tile Types​

The palette is not room-based. Each icon represents the structure of one tile.

That includes:

  • floor
  • single-edge wall tiles
  • corner and multi-edge wall tiles
  • oriented door tiles
  • oriented stair tiles

You compose rooms, corridors, and shafts by painting many tiles together.

Dungeon Tool switches into the top-down authoring view and uses the normal map HUD.

While active:

  • the conceptual preview is always shown
  • a hover rectangle shows the target cell
  • the map subdivisions strip is hidden
  • subdivisions are temporarily forced to 1

When you leave the tool, the previous editor view and subdivision setting are restored.

Painting​

  • Click / drag to paint dungeon tiles
  • Hold Shift while painting to erase
  • Hold Cmd/Ctrl while dragging to lock the stroke to a straight horizontal or vertical line

Door tiles can stamp wider openings based on door_width.

Reference Geometry​

The conceptual view can show nearby existing world geometry as a weak reference layer.

This is useful when:

  • continuing walls toward an existing staircase or shaft
  • aligning a dungeon blockout to already authored geometry
  • connecting generated dungeon spaces to hand-built world structures

Doors​

Dungeon doors generate real geometry, not only billboards.

That means:

  • door panels are paintable in the editor
  • split doors can use two moving leaves
  • jambs and lintels are generated as normal geometry
  • the generated door can still be driven by an item handler such as Door Handler

Door panels support the configured open_mode, including:

  • Auto
  • Slide Up
  • Slide Down
  • Slide Left
  • Slide Right
  • Split Sides

At runtime, the generated door geometry is animated from item state.

Stairs​

Stair tiles generate editable stair geometry directly into the map.

This includes:

  • stair treads
  • risers
  • optional stair ceilings when dungeon ceilings are enabled

Because the result is normal geometry, it can still be painted and refined with the existing tools.

Generated Geometry​

Dungeon output is written as normal map geometry and tagged with provenance metadata.

That generated geometry can then be:

  • painted with tiles
  • detailed further with normal tools
  • connected to the rest of the world

Door panels use real geometry and can be painted like normal sectors.

Stair assemblies can also receive a shared source through the stair tile settings.

Texturing Workflow​

Dungeon geometry is often hidden under terrain, roofs, or other authored world geometry.

For texturing and detailing, use the general Filter Geometry action:

  • All: normal editor view
  • Dungeon: show only dungeon-generated geometry
  • Dungeon No Ceiling: hide dungeon ceilings as well, so interior spaces stay visible

This is especially useful when painting dungeon walls, doors, and stair assemblies in 3D editor views.