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'''Flattening''' is the [[digging]] process of making a [[tile]] flat. Flatness A tile is considered flat when all four corners of the tile are of the same height, which can be defined two waysseen by examining tile borders. If all 4 borders around a tile are reported as "level", the tile is flat. == How to flatten a tile == You can go about flattening a tile using 2 methods:manual and automatic. While "automatic" sounds nice, it's actually quite a bit more complicated to get right than doing it manually until you get the hang of it. === The automatic way === The automatic way is to use the '''Flatten''' command by right-clicking on a tile with your [[shovel]] activated. If the tile is too steep to stand on, you can still use flatten successfully from an adjacent tile. '''Note''': You cannot flatten a corner which is shared with a tree tile (or other immovable object). If it says "some corner can't be raised" then this is why.

* All tile In a nutshell, the flatten command takes dirt from high corners are and and puts them on lower ones than the calculated average from the server zero-plane. The zero-plane is the lowest point possible in wurm, where digging further would result in you falling through the same height* All tile borders world. This plane is absolutely flat, and all dirt and rock heights are level (0 [[slope]])calculated from this plane by means of simple addition. This sounds a bit abstract, I know, but read on and all will be explained.

== Automatic flattening == An example ====Automatic flattening is an action Imagine that you are on the continent of flatland on flatten flats. This imaginary land has no slopes whatsoever, anywhere, and no water. You are standing in the middle of one tile in this land with a cart containing 40 dirts.You walk over to one of the 4 corners on that tile: right-click and drops 10 dirt on it from the cart. It now has a height of 10 dirt. Next, you repeat the procedure on the other 3 corners and suddenly you have a tile and choose "Flatten"that is elevated 10 dirts above the rest of flatland. The height of each corner is 10.

Some tile types prevent flattening. The most common are [[tree]], [[clay]]Ok, now imagine that you decide to mess things up by digging up 5 dirt from one of the corners and [[marsh]]put them on one of the 3 others. This could result in...

=== Flattening time ===*Corner 1: 5The action time is based on the height difference (in "dirts", as seen when examining a tile border) between the highest and lowest corners of the tile. The time is 9 seconds plus an additional *Corner 2: 10 seconds for every *Corner 3: 15*Corner 4 dirts difference. Examples:10

* 0 = "The ground is But you realize that doing this was a mistake, and want the tile flat nowagain.You ''could'' just dig up the extra 5 dirt from corner 3 again and drop them on corner 1 and it would be taken care of, but instead of that you position yourself on the tile and select "flatten"* 1..3 = 9 secs* 4..7 = 19 secs* 8..11 = 29 secs* 12..15 = 39 secs* 16..19 = 49 secs* etc

When In the flattening timer finishedinstance of case 2 above, there is dirt either missing or too much of it to make the tile is not necessarily completely flat. If As stated, if the sum of the heights of the corners is a multiple of four, then the tile can be flattened. Otherwise, there are 1-3 dirt extra that prevent it from being completely even. The different results are listed below:

== Manual flattening ==Manual flattening is the act of making an area flat through manually [[dig]]ging and dropping [[dirt]]. While the process requires more interaction by the digger, it is vastly superior when flattening areas of more than a few tiles.Flattening time ====

=== Procedure ===# Pick a single corner as your reference (you could place a [[small barrel]] or another [[container]] The action time is based on it so you know the reference corner).# Right-click on a [[tile border]] that adjoins height difference in "dirts" between the reference point highest and see which end lowest corners of the tile border needs to be dug.#* If the reference corner is the highest, then drop the required dirt at the lowest end.#* If the reference corner is the lowest, then dig the required amount from the highest end.# Repeat until area The time is flat9 seconds plus an additional 10 seconds for every 4 dirts difference.Examples:

* 0 ="The ground is flat now."* 1..3 =9 secs* 4..7 = Manual flattening example 19 secs* 8..11 =29 secs* 12..15 =39 secs* 16..19 =49 secsLets say you have a 4-tile area you want to be completely level. You stand in the center * etc Examples of tiles that area at reference corner 'x' would give 9 seconds flattening time (the number below, and examine is the tile borders leading to corners 'a', 'b', 'c', and 'd' showing how high or low each point is compared to yourself.height difference):

e 0---1 or 0----- b --3 or 0------ f0 | | | | +1 | | | | a 1-- -1 2 3-- X -3 0- +2 -- c3 | | | | -(2) (3) (3 | | | | g -------- d -------- h)

Remember that slopes ==== Flattening cave floors ==== The flatten option can also be used to flatten cave floors, but there are measured some differences: * When flattening cave floors, you have to stand on the tile borders, you are flattening. You cannot flatten from adjacent tiles.* The flattening option will not raise corners in caves. It will mine down all corners to match the lowest one. (Needs confirmation) Confirmed: The corners are lowered. === Manual flattening === Manual flattening is the act of making an area flat through manually [[digging]] and dropping [[dirt ]]. While the process requires more interaction by the digger, it is dug vastly superior when flattening large areas of land. ==== How to do it ==== # Pick a single corner as your reference (you could place a [[small barrel]] or dropped at another [[container]] on it so you know the reference corner if you wish).# Stand on this corner and right-click on a [[tile border]] linking to another corner you are standing nearest wish toadjust. The # If the message reads "Two the slope is <number of dirts > steep toward '''towards''' you (ie DROP), the other corner is higher than your reference corner, and you'll need to walk over to it and dig it down by the specified amount.# If the message reads " means +2 on this diagram; "One dirt the slope is <number of dirts> steep '''away ''' from you (ie DIG), the other corner is lower than your reference corner and needs to be filled up.# Once the tile border reports "level" means -1. The message has nothing , walk over to do with how the corner you are facing've adjusted and use it as your new reference corner. Since the level between it and your old reference corner is level, they're at the same height. Now look for a new slope to adjust and everything to do with where you are standing in repeat the tileprocedure as before.

Then you need to repeat Understand that the process for corners Aworld is made up of pillars, B, C, Dand that the tiles are merely thin textures stretched out from the pillar's highest points. E.g. for corner AWhen you dig or drop dirt, all you would need to level corners E, G and do is adjust the one left height of A the pillar (not in diagramie, a corner)you are standing nearest. Then for corner BWhen digging, all that matters are the corners. Tiles only matter when you level Euse the "flatten" command, F and in which case the one above B selected tile only decides which 4 corners (not displayedor pillars)should be compared to eachother and adjusted. Otherwise, ''forget about the tiles, only think about the corners''. If Also, never forget that when digging and dropping dirt, it doesn't matter where you levelled AE before then BE will already be flatclick, '''only where your feet are located'''.

(This Using a combination of manual and automatic flattening is obvious when considering weusually the best idea once you're adjusting ve gotten the heights hang of each corner. First we made sure A and B were how the same height as X. If we then make E the same height as Asystem works, but until you do you may find it's necessarily also the same height as Beasier to rely on manual flattening.)

RememberThe limitations of manual flattening is, donof course, that it may take more time and interaction to complete, and also is subject to dirt flow. Dirt flow is what happens when you try to drop dirt on a corner with a slope diagonally that exceeds 40 in steepness (For example: You're dropping dirt northeast, then slopes N+W or E+S shouldn't dig or drop on corners be higher then 40 together). When using the "flatten" command, dirt flow ''does not apply'' and you've already levelled!can use it to create extreme slopes by the use of a technique known as [[Guides/FlatRaising|flatraising]]