Vine paths

The Vines tool makes a jungle vine swing where you want one. You click the point where a player grabs the vine and the point it swings to, and Creator places a vine tree at each point, turned so that a branch tip sits on the point and the two branches face each other. The server then builds a rope at each end, so the swing works both ways. The map carries nothing new: it holds two ordinary vine trees, so the swing works on any server, with or without a plugin.

The tool has a second look, No vine, for a swing with no vine and no tree to see. It needs Creator’s server extension: see A swing with no vine below.

Pick Vines on the tool rail or in the TOOLS menu. It has no key until you give it one in Preferences. The status bar then reads:

LMB grab point, then land point · Drag a point to move it · Enter applies · Esc drops both

Make a vine swing

1. Click where a player grabs the vine. That is the grab point.
2. Click where the vine swings to. That is the land point.
3. Read the VINES panel. It names the tree placed at each point and says whether both ropes will be built.
4. Fix anything it lists: drag a point to move it, or change a point’s height in the panel.
5. Press APPLY VINE, or Enter.

Nothing is written to the map until you apply. Applying places both trees as one step that one Ctrl+Z takes back. Esc or CLEAR POINTS drops the points and changes nothing. The right mouse button is the fly camera here as everywhere.

A point can be on the ground, on a rock or a cliff ledge, or in the air. Each point stands 2 m above what you clicked to begin with, because a rope that starts on the ground hits the ground. Change Grab point height (m) or Land point height (m) to lift a point higher, for a swing off a ledge or a course through the treetops.

A tree’s trunk may end up partly under the ground, or standing in the air, so that its branch tip lands exactly on your point. Both work on a server: the trees need nothing under them.

What the panel tells you

Section	What it shows
Vine trees placed	Which vine tree stands at each point, which of its branches lands on the point, how far it is turned, and how far its base is above or under the ground.
Vine ropes	The two ropes, grab to land and land to grab, and for each one whether the server builds it.
Other ropes the server will add	Ropes the server builds on its own once the trees stand: from a new tree’s other branches, or to and from vine trees already nearby.
Ropes this would cut	Ropes already on the map that the new trees would take away, or that the server might now drop.

When a rope cannot be built, the panel says why, with the number:

The panel says	What to do
The points are too close or too far apart on the flat	A rope is between 9 and 45 m long, measured flat with the heights ignored. Move a point.
The rope hits the ground	The rope sags below the straight line between the points, more on a longer rope. Raise the points.
The rope is blocked by a prefab	Move or delete that prefab, or move a point.
The server may drop the rope	The branch also reaches another tree whose way is blocked. The server then keeps or drops this rope differently each time it starts. Clear that way, or move a point.

APPLY VINE works only when both ropes will be built.

Caution

Do not scale a vine tree. A server keeps a vine tree’s scale only until it restarts, and a player beside a scaled tree gets stuck, because the game draws the tree at its normal size. The Vines tool always places trees at their normal size.

A swing with no vine

Under Vine look the panel offers two choices:

Choice	What you get
Tree vine (works on any server)	Everything above: two vine trees, and the game builds the ropes. This is the choice the tool starts with.
No vine (needs Creator’s server extension)	No tree and no vine. A player at either point presses the use key and swings to the other point along the same arc a vine follows, holding nothing.

A no-vine swing needs Creator’s server extension on the server. On a server without it there is nothing there: no vine, no tree, and pressing the use key does nothing. The swing is saved in the map file, so the map still loads on any server.

To make one:

1. Choose No vine (needs Creator’s server extension).
2. Click where a player starts the swing, then where it ends.
3. Set each point’s height. The path dips below the straight line between the points, 4 m on a short swing and up to 10 m on a long one, so two points over level ground need height, or a gap between them.
4. Read the line under the buttons. It says whether the path is clear, how long the swing is, how long it takes and how far it dips.
5. Press APPLY SWING, or Enter.

Nothing is written until you apply, and one Ctrl+Z takes the swing back. Nothing is placed on the map: the tool draws the path and a ring at each point. The ring is where a player can start the swing: within 2.5 m of the point, standing from 3 m below it to 2 m above it. The swing always works both ways.

Setting	What it does
End markers	Ticked to begin with. APPLY SWING also places an ordinary prefab (a bollard, a bollard with rope, or a post) beside each point, where a player stands, so players can see where the swing starts; it shows on any server, and you can move, swap or delete it like any other prefab.
Show the zipline handle	Draws the zipline handle in the rider’s hands during the swing. Off, the rider holds nothing.
Ride time (s, 0 = automatic)	How long the swing takes. At 0, a swing up to 45 m takes as long as a vine does, about 2.7 seconds, and a longer swing takes longer so that it is never faster than a 45 m vine.

A no-vine swing has no length limit and needs no tree in sight. The panel checks the path instead:

The panel says	What to do
The swing hits the ground	Raise the points, or move them so the path crosses lower ground.
The swing is blocked by a prefab	Move or delete that prefab, or move a point.
The path could not be checked	Part of the path is off the map, or there is no terrain to check against. Move the points.
The points are too close	The two points must be more than 3 m apart, and not straight above each other.

APPLY SWING works only when the path is clear. The ground is checked exactly; a prefab blocks by the box around it, which can be larger than the prefab itself.

No-vine swings on this map lists every swing the map carries, with REMOVE SWING beside each. Removing one is one step that Ctrl+Z brings back, and it also deletes the marker beside each of that swing’s points unless you untick Remove a swing’s end markers with it.

See every vine on the map

VIEW > Vine Links draws every vine tree’s ropes as the server will build them, in every tool. It is off until you turn it on, and it is always on in the Vines tool. Each line is colored by what the server will do:

Color	What it means
Green	Linked: the server builds this rope.
Gray	Out of range: no other branch between 9 and 45 m on the flat.
Lavender	Outside the cone: the nearest tree is more than 45 degrees off the way the branch faces.
Blue	Facing wrong: the other branch turns away.
Red	Blocked: something is in the rope’s way.
Amber	Early stop: a blocked rope in reach may make the server drop this one.

A no-vine swing is drawn too, as its path with a ring at each point.

A branch with no rope shows a short stub in the color of the reason it came closest to passing. The ground is checked exactly; a prefab blocks by the box around it, which can be larger than the prefab itself, so a red line past a rock may still be clear in game.