Can someone explain to me the importance of North Markers? I've looked it up, but the info I found didn't really help. I've built a number of interiors, never placed North Markers in them, and near as I can tell, never had any problems arise from that.

Hmm... I thought (i.e. presumed) it had something to do with the orientation of the map. I, too, am curious about this.

It's a thing about the position of the player when he comes to an interior, I think :read:

It is as basic as it sounds...
A Northmarker points the Interior map in the correct direction that correlates with the Exterior.

For Exteriors, North is always "up"
But Interiors have no North direction unless a NorthMarker is used. Therefore, the Interior map will not match the design of the Exterior unless a Marker is used.

If the Player is paying attention, it can be very disorienting without one.

Use one. It is lazy not to include a NorthMarker for all Interiors.

North markers are even more important in interiors acting as exteriors since it determines from which direction the sun and moons will rise and set. And you usually want that direction to match with real exteriors.

Okay, so when I place a North Marker in an interior, which way should it point? Like, in relation to the door?

The easiest way I've found to figure out what direction to point the northmarker is to select the door in the exterior, then hit "T". This will put the camera just above the door, oriented so that "up" on the screen is north. Once you've done that, make a mental note of the angle of the door. Then go into the interoir and select the interior of the same door. Press "T" again to get right on top of the door, then turn the camera so that the door is at the same angle as in your mental note from the first step. Now you can place the northmarker to point straight "up" and it will be pointed in the right direction. It's actually pretty simple once you get your head wrapped around it.

Should you need a better description, let me know. If I have time, I might even do pictures.





KF

What I do when placing an exterior door that points to a newly made interior is I write down the door's Z rotation value, and then go into the interior space, place a north marker, and set its Z rotation to (360 - door Z rotation). It's quick and accurate.

All right, I think I got it. Thanks.

So let me get this straight - I can build a cell anyway I want to and the North Marker will slave the rest of the cell's models to that orientation? I have spent countless hours lining doors and entire cells so the orientation is correct. Kids - take this as the best example of why you should RTFM every time .

If I remember correctly then if you take the z-axis rotation of your exterior door subtract that from 360 and place your north marker's z-axis rotation to the result then the cell's interior will line up with the exterior. Building with grid snap on is a lot easier.