Making maps in BYOND can be quite difficult when it comes to making NPC's.


1.)If I use "Generate Instances From Directions", it works, up until I choose/click another mob in the object tree, and go back, because the instances that are unused as of yet will disappear (requiring me to reuse "Generate Instances From Directions"). The problem with this is I've created unique instances of a certain mob that say different things (via a var called 'msg'), but have a certain direction, so if I click away, and click back, I'll have:
Mob
Mob Unique [facing east]
Since there's already a mob with the east direction, I can't use Generate Instances from Directions again because an instance with the east direction already exists, so I'll have to go through the extremely difficult Edit Instance prompt box, and change the message variable back to whatever the default message is; this is very annoying and makes scripting/creating NPC's take much longer

2.) Editting an instance on the map:

My assumption when I was preparing to edit an instance on the map was that only that one instance would change, however it changed all instances (which, made it more difficult when coupled with Generate Instances from Directions/Icon-states because I had to individually change those instances back in the pane labeled "Object".

I would like for it to work so that if I edit that instance on the map, it makes a new instance automatically, then changes that instance on the map to the newly created one, with new variables, rather than change every single instance of the same type, making me have to change each instance in the object pane back to normal.

3.) Better interface/more commands for Edit Instance prompt

The Edit Instance prompt is very, very, very annoying.

Now, I know the simple solution is to minimize the amount of variables an instance has to keep the list small, however, the default list is still long, because mobs have a lot of variables by default. So when I open it, I have to scroll all the way down (rather than search for it, or press the key of the first character in the variable's name, as in DM's input() box proc), then click a few times on the seemingly unresponsive variable's
entry, and then edit the variable, with a lack of some default/common hotkeys when dealing with text (i.e: Ctrl+A = Select all; I need this, because what if an instance has a very long "msg" var, and I want to change it, I now have to go all the way to the line, and select, and come all the way back, and delete the text, so that I can make new text.)

Perhaps the Edit Instance box should have a "globalize all vars" command, so I can change all the variables back to normal by default, or a search command, or even a variable filter Where you can make it so it only shows variables beginning with a certain letter, or certain variables from a list of variables. Something to make it not take an annoyingly long amount of time to create an NPC with a different message, when it should only take 2 seconds (plus the time it takes to type the text).

4.)More hotkeys in general
There's a LOT of commands that are quite out of reach when you're creating a new instance that I believe could be hotkeyed, like Edit Instance, Generate Instances From Directions, and Generate Instances From Icon-States.

5.) Multilining the label on in the Object Pane

In the object pane where it shows "Object's Type [tag]" could be multilined or something, because it doesn't allow a lot of text, and I see it being very useful when it comes to keeping track of instances

6.)Select All Atoms in Z-Level

It would be cool if I could select all of the turfs in a Z level, rather than dragging the very slow select box over a huge Z-level of 10000+tiles(10000 is the average; 100x100 Z-levels)

What if the world's turf is set to black, but I want the entire Z-level's turf to be grass?

7.) Lasso Select
8.)Flip-Icon
Now, this one may be a stretch, but it would be cool if we could flip icons on the map (preferably with a hotkey, kind of like shifting the pixel-y and pixel-x)


All-in-all, it to make a new NPC instance with an existing type, I have to press the New Instance command (when there could be a hotkey, as this is probably the most used commands when it comes to actually using Instances), then I have to go through the Edit Instance prompt, which is as unresponsive as using interface grids.

Not only that, but if the only NPC-instance of that type with the desired direction is a unique NPC, for instance, it has a different message, that is very long, I have to practically triple click in the very small space provided (hoping that I don't miss, and have to quadruple/quintuple click) and then select the very long message (it does't even have to be very long, it's just that the small space provided makes it take a long time to highlight it all without a Select All hotkey (of course I could left click and use Select All, but again, if I miss, I risk having to triple-quintuple click, yet again).

Though this all seems like small stuff, think about it, say I want at least 30 NPC's in a town, and 15 with different/unique traits (different message, walks around, etc...), it takes a very, very, very long time. In fact, My development progress has been delayed for days because I hate using DM's mapping tools.