Draw - [EBPEdit Help Contents]
Map elements that appear between mileposts are considered "drawings". This includes rivers, lakes, ocean coastline, and the other items listed on the Draw pull down menu. The mileposts themselves can be thought of as a grid of dots, but actually EBP's grid is finer than that: each milepost is embedded within a 4x4 fine grid at which drawings can be placed.
But even this 4x4 grid is not very finely detailed and, consequently, drawings will have something of jagged, plotter-like appearance. If this concerns you, remember you can include more detail in the (optional) background image you supply with your map. However, even if you put the rivers and coastlines in your background image, you must still create (trace over) them in EBPEdit via the Draw features described below so that EBP knows where they are for the purposes of calculating the proper build costs, washing out bridges over flooded rivers, etc.
RIVERS, LAKES, ETC.
Most drawings are created by pointing the mouse to the desired non-milepost location and pressing the corresponding letter key:
r for river - event cards can cause bridge washout
l for lake - often set to be more expensive for players to build track across
o for ocean coastline - can disallow building across
y for yellow border - use as you wish, optional: you can set a price to build across
g for green border - use as you wish, optional: you can set a price to move across
b for barrier - disallows building track between adjacent mileposts
Then slide the mouse to an adjacent fine grid location and press the key again. EBPEdit will automatically draw a connection. To remove a drawing element, point to it and press Shift+(letter). To remove a drawing in a large area, select the area (point to one corner of the area, click and hold down the left mouse button, drag the mouse to the opposite corner, and release the button), and press Shift+(letter).
VOLCANOES
Drawing and removing volcanoes works as for the items above, except EBPEdit does not draw a connection. Press v for volcano, or Shift+V to remove a volcano. Volcanic eruptions are a type of event.
POINTS
Drawing and removing points works as for the items above, except EBPEdit does not draw a connection. Press p for point, or Shift+P to remove a point. Points, which are triangular shaped, are general purpose and left for the map designer to employ as desired, such as with events.
CHANGING DRAWING TYPE
If you wish to change a large segment of drawing, for example, change a yellow border to a green border, first highlight the area containing the drawing to convert by clicking and holding the left mouse button then dragging the mouse across it, then use the Edit, Convert/Copy pull down menu. In the Convert/Copy window, within the Drawings frame select Yellow border in the From drop down, select Green border in the To drop down, then click Convert.
DRY RIVERS AND LAKES
Rivers and lakes can be made desert; during game play such dry rivers and lakes turn into normal ones upon a Rainy Season event and revert back via a Dry Season event. You can point to each river/lake segment and press d, but the easier way is to drag your mouse to select the area with the river/lake, and use the Edit, Convert/Copy pull down menu. In the Convert/Copy window, within the Drawings frame select River in the From drop down, select Desert in the To drop down, then click Copy. Repeat if needed for Lakes.
APPEARANCE WHILE EDITING
By default, rivers, lakes and ocean coastline are displayed at a higher resolution than you can edit. This makes those drawing elements appear to have more detail than they otherwise would. EBPEdit automatically chooses from a variety of built-in jagged drawings; the choice is based on the location on the map plus the location of other drawing elements. Thus, as you add or remove river, lake and ocean coastline, the appearance of those elements elsewhere on the map may change as the display refreshes. This is normal; only the jagged appearance is changing, the function and endpoints of those drawing elements is remaining unchanged.
If you prefer lower-resolution, less-varied drawings, use the Prices window to change the JaggyDraw setting.
SHOW COSTS
To check how your drawings impact the cost of building from one milepost to another, in the Show list left of the map, click on one of the items, such as Build cost NE. EBPEdit will then display on the map the costs of building that direction from every milepost.