Tiled 1.4 released

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At long last I can announce the immediate release of Tiled 1.4.0! The biggest change in this release is the support for projects and sessions, but there have been many other welcome improvements as well.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.mapeditor.org/2020/06/20/tiled-1-4-0-released.html
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Oh yesss, I’ve been waiting for the world tool! Thank you for adding it, now I can finally the World feature for my big mess of a game.
Tiled’s CPU usage seems to go up when switching maps via the world previews, more than it does when switching between the same maps using the document tabs.

The layer tint feature is one I can definitely see myself using in future projects, with tiles designed specifically with tinting in mind. Sadly it’s too late for my current one ;o;

Connections between objects seems like a useful feature, and I particularly like the way arrow colours are chosen. Unfortunately, for my engine, it’s more useful to refer to objects by their names rather than by their IDs. Is there any chance of an Export option that resolves object references to name strings instead, even in the case that multiple objects share names and this could lead to a loss of information? This way I could get the benefits of this feature (arrows, auto updates when the object is deleted or has its name changed) without having to completely change the way my importer works.

Some QoL feature requests:

  • Some sort of horizontally-oriented view option for projects. My maps are quite horizontal so to maximize space, I’d like to have the Project pane on the bottom, but that wastes a lot of horizontal space and requires a lot of scrolling. I don’t know if there’s already a standard for horizontal project trees, but maybe something like this would work?
    image
  • The ability to easily show/hide other maps in the World. Sometimes those other maps are distracting or get in the way, and it would be nice to have a View menu option to toggle them.
  • Prioritize the currently selected Object Layerwhen using Select Objects, rather than always prioritizing the layers above. Objects on other layers should be selected only if the current layer has no object to select in that spot (i.e. treat the current layer as if it were the uppermost layer). I think this behaviour should be optional, e.g. with the Alt key.
  • When renaming layers and objects, every new character creates its own Undo event. It would be nice if these got grouped into a single Undo event, as undoing a name change currently takes a lot of Ctrl+Z spam. It’s especially egregious if you backspace while typing and retype (which is the more natural reaction to making a mistake while typing than Undo).

A general request for future versions:

  • More attention paid to sidescroller tilesets and their specific challenges. Using tilesets with slopes is as much of a pain today as it was in Tiled 0.x ):
  • Edit: Or, if we’re going to be limited to using AutoMap to achieve anything resembling automation involving slopes, then some tools to make setting up AutoMap rules easier would be great. The feature currently feels impenetrable due to how it’s set up, requiring a bunch of rule map files and a rules.txt. It’s a shame for such a powerful feature to be underutilized because of its poor UX.
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@eishiya Thanks a lot for all the valuable feedback! While some things would be really tricky, like the semi-wrapping project hierarchy, many other suggestions are definitely doable short-term and I will get back to you about those.

I’ll also consider what we can do to make placing those slopes easier. I’m confident we can find something nicer than setting up Automapping rules. :slight_smile:

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The horizontal tree mockup looks weird in my opinion.

Some programs offer to minimize sidebars when they are not needed. An example can be seen here: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pq4G0.png. The right sidebar is closed (maven, ant build), left one has one open (project is open, structure and favorites are closed). Maybe that is an alternative solution?

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My mockup looks weird to me too, but I don’t have any better ideas xP

Tiled already makes it easy to close unneeded panels, the issue isn’t that. The issue is the projects panel (and most other Tiled panels) make poor use of horizontal space while requiring a lot of vertical space. So, while Tiled allows placing panels on the bottom underneath everything, most panels are impractical if placed there:

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Perhaps allowing panels to be docked under the editor view but surrounded by the side columns would be a happy medium, where at least less space is wasted, and the side columns can enjoy their full height?

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This is an extremely minor concern though, so if it’s difficult to come up with or implement a solution, don’t worry about it! While keeping the project view open at the bottom would be a small convenience, I don’t mind having it as a column and closing it when I’m not actively using it.

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Yeah, please try closing it and relying on Ctrl+P to open your files.

Unfortunately, the alternative layout you suggested is not possible with QMainWindow. I’d like to try replacing it with an alternative docking system (#2788), which would likely allow this.

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