Walk the map you're editing inside the editor, by the game's own rules, like RPG Maker U2U's Map Preview: arrows and click to walk, Shift to dash, no-clip, effect switches and character size. Nothing is saved.
Preview your map
Preview puts a character on the map you're editing and lets you walk it, right inside the editor, the way RPG Maker U2U's Map Preview does. You walk by the game's own rules: where the game stops a player, the preview stops you. Use it to check that paths connect, doors and bridges let you through, cliffs and fences hold you back and a looping map joins at its edges, without a publish or a Dry Run.
Where to find it#
Open a map in the World Editor and press Preview at the top left of the map canvas, first in the row of chips there. It is on the map itself, not in the toolbar.
How to preview a map#
- You don't have to save first: Preview walks the map as you see it, unsaved edits included.
- Press Preview. Your character appears on the map's preview start, or in the middle of the map if it has none. If nobody can walk from that tile (it is inside a part or on deep water), you start on the nearest tile you can walk from, and the panel says so. To choose where it starts, open the Events tab, right-click a tile and choose Set preview start here.
- Walk with the arrow keys. Hold two arrows to walk diagonally. Hold Shift to dash.
- Click a tile to walk there. Your character takes a route the game allows. If nobody can get there, it stays where it is.
- Click an event to start it, the same way Test on map does. Text, choices and the run log work the same.
- Change the switches on the Preview panel to see the map at another time of day, in the rain or without its parallax, or turn on No-clip to look behind something.
- Press Stop or Esc to finish. The editor view comes back as you left it, with the same camera, zoom and cutaway.
The camera#
While you preview, the map shows through its game camera: north up, the map's own camera angle and its Camera zoom (Map Properties → Atmosphere → Camera). This is the same view as the Player view button. The camera follows your character. The editor's cutaway is off, because the game never fades walls.
The Preview panel#
The panel on the right of the map has these fields. Everything on it is for the preview only and nothing is saved to your map.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| No-clip | Walk through everything: walls, water, cliffs and closed passages. The edge of the map still stops you, and a looping edge still takes you to the other side. Use it to look behind a building or reach a spot you can't walk to yet. Off by default. |
| Character size | How tall your character is drawn: 1 tile tall, 1.5 tiles tall or 2 tiles tall. It changes only the preview character, not your characters or the game. The character wears your project's default player look, the same one the Dry Run previewer wears. |
| Lighting | Shows the map's light and shadows at a time of day: the lights you placed and your atmosphere's sun. |
| Time of day | Which time of day the lighting shows: Dawn, Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Dusk or Night. Picking one turns Lighting on. |
| Weather | Off, or a weather (rain, snow, fog and more) drawn over the map. |
| Ambient effects | Shows the map's saved wind, dust, light motes and heat haze over the map (Map Properties → Atmosphere). |
| Parallax | Shows or hides the map's parallax background. |
The test player's gold, items, switches and the run log are under the Preview fields, as in Test on map.
What walks the same as the game#
- The same step rules. Every step is checked by the rules the game server uses: what tiles and objects block, Passage settings and Passage overrides, walls, block heights, stairs and slopes, and the rule that you can't cut a corner diagonally past something that blocks.
- Dashing. Shift dashes at the game's run speed. On a map whose Gameplay Rules turn dashing off, Shift walks.
- Diagonals. A map with Diagonal movement off walks in four directions.
- Looping maps. On a map set to loop (Gameplay Rules → Map loop), walking off one edge brings you back on the other, and a click across the edge takes the short way.
Ask an AI assistant#
AI assistants can ask about a map's preview with the zone-preview tool: where Preview starts and the rules it walks by (start), what stopping does (stop), the route a click on a tile would walk or why nobody can get there (walk-to), and the map's preview settings (state). The tool only reads your saved map. It does not move a character in an editor someone has open.
Gotchas#
- The game walks on painted floor. A map with no floor painted yet has nothing to walk on, so only No-clip moves, and the panel says so. Paint a floor first. Raised ground with no ramp, stairs or ladder is a wall here as in the game: walk up a slope, or use No-clip.
- The map's settings come from the last save. Dashing, diagonals, the map loop and the saved edge walls are read from the saved map; tiles, objects, Wall Blocks and passage overrides are what you see.
- No selected-tile cursor while you walk. The Build bar, handles and the part's card stay hidden until you stop. Space answers messages here; it doesn't change the view.
- No-clip and the panel's switches are preview only. They never change your map, your atmosphere or what players see. When you stop, the editor's own Time of Day and Weather preview come back.
- Keys. The arrow keys, Shift and Space belong to the preview while it runs, so editor shortcuts that use them wait until you stop. W, A, S and D don't walk. There is no key to start a preview: use the Preview button.
- The route may differ from the game's. A click takes a shortest route the game allows. The game may pick another route of the same length.
- Monsters, NPCs and other players aren't on the map. Preview checks the map itself. To try your content with everything running, use Dry Run or Playtest. See Playtest vs Dry Run.
- Changing maps ends the preview, and so does starting Test on map from an event.