Interacting with and displaying objects in rooms

[Powerless Newbie]

I'm having trouble getting objects to appear and interact correctly. Case in point: I have a wooden signpost with a loose sign on it. I made the post itself part of the background, because it's a permanent part of the screen. However, the player can take the loose sign attached to it.

So, what's happening is:

1. When I place the loose board (object) over the signpost (background screen) in the room editor, it looks fine, i.e. the loose board is visually on top of the post for the correct 3-D effect. But when I test the room, the post appears in front of the object where they overlap.

I think this might have something to do with how I drew the walkbehind areas on the background screen? (Because the character sprite has to be able to walk behind the signpost with the board there and with it gone.) Help?

2. I'm finding it nearly impossible to get the character to pick up objects. I have to pixel hunt for the tiny hotspot on a large object. Is there a way to make the entire non-transparent part of the object clickable?

Thanks...

[Powerless Newbie]

I think this might have something to do with how I drew the walkbehind areas on the background screen? (Because the character sprite has to be able to walk behind the signpost with the board there and with it gone.) Help?

It just occured to me that I might need to make both the signpost and the loose board objects to get this to work right. Is it possible to set a walk-behind area over an object instead of over the background screen? Or am I making this way too complicated?

[strazer]

I've just tested it.
It works, just make sure that the object's baseline is below the walkbehind's baseline.

[Powerless Newbie]

I'm finding it nearly impossible to get the character to pick up objects. I have to pixel hunt for the tiny hotspot on a large object. Is there a way to make the entire non-transparent part of the object clickable?

OK, duh, this one I finally figured out on my own. I was selecting "pick up object" instead of "interact with object.

[Powerless Newbie]

I've just tested it.
It works, just make sure that the object's baseline is below the walkbehind's baseline.

Sorry... do you mean that making both of them objects, and then giving them each their own walk-behind areas, works?

[strazer]

Sorry for not being more specific.

I did like you said: The post is part of the background. I painted a walkbehind on top with its baseline at the bottom of the post.
The board is an object with its baseline just below the post's baseline. It doesn't need an extra walkbehind area since as an object it's a walkbehind in itself.

I'm using the latest beta, btw.

[bigrd32]

Strazer, I was just struggling with the same problem and your suggestion

"...just make sure that the object's baseline is below the walkbehind's baseline. "

worked great.  Thanks.