Well Howdy folks! I get the sense that this is a guide that people have really been waiting for, so without further ado I give you: The Advanced Tools.
A refreshing challenge
Visiting a large number of houses that have been made public is a favorite hobby of mine. It is usually quite obvious which folks have figured out the advanced controls and which aren’t quite there yet. It is the difference between a cozy hideaway and a cozy hideaway at the top of a crazy jumping puzzle. Or between a quiet reading nook in your bedroom and an entire 2nd floor library. Curious how to work this magic? Let’s get to it!
If you’ve looked through my previous Housing 101 posts, you’ve hopefully had some practice placing objects. The default tools limit you to placing your decor on top of the ground or other objects. Time to break free from gravity! As an example I’ll show you this silly jumping puzzle I made during beta, out of beer signs and other random decor I had laying around my crate. (Those beer signs are a possible reward from making moonshine. Just sayin’).
First things first: Make sure you’ve toggled edit mode on! The game should turn it on by default when you open your crate, but double check! Then open the crate and place your chosen object down on the ground. That way we can close the crate and free up some screen real estate to make life easier. Select the object, and then choose to open the Advance Menu. Yikes. It looks a bit intimidating, but there’s only a few things you need to know to make some fancy upgrades to your house.
Make friends with the advanced tools!
One of the first things that may grab your attention from this menu are the brightly colored arrows. The straight arrows adjust the x, y, and z position of the object in space, while the curved ones allow you to control the roll, pitch and yaw. Those 3 fancy words mean the amount the object is rotated on each axis of the 3 dimensions. By using the big green arrows at the top you can move things in mid-air and they will stay, solid as a rock. You’ve bested gravity!
You’ll note that all of the arrows have a small part and a larger part. These will move or rotate your object in smaller or larger increments. So use the big arrow to get close to how you want things to look, then switch to the smaller one to fine tune. The numbers for coordinates as well as roll, pitch and yaw can also be edited manually, if you really want a light touch or if you want to duplicate settings from another object.
Freeform adjustments
The last important thing I want to touch on for today’s lesson is the Advanced Mode button near the bottom of the Advanced Controls. Toggling this will switch the on-object controls to include all 3 axes of rotation and movement. Doing this prevents you from just dragging the object around in the world. Instead, there’s a series of red, blue and green arrows that you can use to pull the object in one direction at a time. Lately I’ve been using this method almost exclusively, since it gives a ton of control without the complicated interface of the advanced menu. When moving things this way, you may still need to open the controls to hit the “Place” button and lock in your work.
The advanced controls really open up the possibilities of what you can do with housing, and for me, help turn WildStar’s housing from “fun diversion” into “all-consuming frenzied addiction.” I hope you have fun playing with these controls, let me know if you’ve made something you’re proud of! And if you happen to be Exile side, Evindra-NA, why not be neighbors with ol’ Gracie, and come visit Moonshine Mansion in game!
Moonshine Mansion 
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