Roads MUCH MUCH FASTER YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jeffs]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D It's not the illusive copy and paste, but it beats the hell of it laying it by hand.
I've been working on this damn island for days... segment by segment and after a gallon of diet coke and no sleep last night I just laid like 10k of roads in 30 minutes, all perfectly.  How you may ask...

I got some info from a few different posts, and played around.  You'll need the following.

EZ Macros by American Systems (Thanks Fragger)http://www1.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0%2Cfid%2C5209%2C00.asp
Microsoft Excel
WRP
And some basic math skills.

Set up excel to calculate all of the distances based of road length and angles (this is simple)
Set the macro up to ALT tab between the two and copy and past x, y and object values as well as the angle
Make sure you have excel move to next line and alt tab back to wrp edit
Save your macro
Then have it repeat, and adjust speed to fast.

Play your macro and watch the road segments (fences, forests, trees, or what ever you want) rapidly appear.

This is definably not instant, but all the work is in excel and with the macro… took me 10 minutes to set it up.

If you want I can post a tutorial.

Hope this helps you!!!

JeffS

[Maatz]

i dont understand, how it should work!
Sorry!
Can u make a tutorial pleez?

Maatz

[Sektor]

This would be great if you would make a tutorial for this because i tried with some other tools but i wasn t able to figure them out

[lis]

there is also a road tool thingo.. that you can tell how long you want it, what kind of road.. etc etc

i placed all my road peice by peice.. and it took forever and a day... so i see what you mean ;p

and you may wanna try coke with caffeine next time!  

[jeffs]

This is my feeble attempt to explain how this works.

What you will need:
WRP Edit
MS Excel
EZ Macros (The link for the trial is referenced in my first post)

We will start with laying a straight road segment.

Open up you island in WRP and choose a place to lay a segment of road.  Insert the segment of road at 90 degrees.

Now Open up Microsoft Excel.

Label Columns in row 1 the following.
A1: X Coord  A2: Z Coord  A3: Object  A4 Angle

Now go back to wrp and get the X and Z coordinates and input them into the row below the labels.  Do the same with the full object name (should look like this O\Road\sil25.p3d). and enter the Angle in.

Easy so far?  Good.

Now we want the road to go east to west so the Z axis will not change.  Copy and past the Z axis down the column for as many segments that you wish to lay (doesn't need to be exact, I just drag it a ways).

We know that the O\Road\sil25.p3d is 25 meters.  So we will make sure that the next segment is placed 25 meters away.  In cell A3 we write " =A2+25".  Now copy and past this cell down the row.

So We have a road, and all the Coordinates in MS Excel.  Now to EZ Macros.

Open up easy macros and choose add a new macro.
Check the option that says "remember mouse and keyboard events"
Then "Press a Hot Key" option.  This will be the combination you press to start the macro.  I use CTRL CAPS LOCK so I don't start it accidentally.
Choose the "This Macro works with any program option"
Then next.

Ok… we are almost there.  The macro will remember everything you do, so it has to be exact.  Make sure all that is open is the MS Excel Sheet and WRP Edit.

ALT Tab back to Excel and select cell A3.  (your cursor is now set so it will copy the right piece of information).

ALT TAB back to WRP Edit.  Now click on the macro program and press record.

These are the exact steps in order.

Double click on mouse
TAB (Selects the X axis)
DELETE (Deletes Data)
ALT TAB (Brings UP Excel)
CONTROL C (Copies Data)
ALT TAB (Back to WRP EDIT)
CONTROL V (Pastes the X Axis)
TAB
DELETE
ALT TAB
TAB (moves to next cell in excel)
CONTROL C
ALT TAB
CONTROL V
TAB
ALT TAB
TAB
CONTROL C
ALT TAB
CONTROL V
TAB
TAB
ALT TAB
TAB
CONTROL C
ALT TAB
CONTROL V
TAB
TAB
ENTER
ALT TAB (back to Excel)
DOWN ARROW
LEFT ARROW
LEFT ARROW
LEFT ARROW
ALT TAB

Press the Pause Break Key.  You are done.
Press next, choose a name and save it

Now test it out.

Press your hot keys and watch it work.  If all went well there is a new road segment.  If not, go back over instructions and try again.

Now choose your macro and edit it.  Adjust the playback speed to as fast as it goes, and the repeat option for as many times as you want it to repeat.

Note.  If you want to stop it once it's running, hit the pause key.  Just remember to make sure to have the A column in excel selected when you run it again, or it wont work.

Happy Editing.

[gunterlund]

Jeffs I tried this and this worked great. I built a huge road in a fraction of the time I would have needed to place each section indivudually. Good thinking. Fortunately most of the roads on my map are straight.