The editor allows you to browse and manipulate all files in your game project in an efficient manner. Editing files brings up a suitable editor and shows all relevant information about the file in separate views.
When you run the Defold editor, you are presented with a project selection and creation screen. Click to select what you want to do:
When you create a new project it is stored on your local drive and any edits you do are saved locally.
You can learn more about the different options in the Project Setup manual.
The Defold editor is separated into a set of panes, or views, that display specific information.
The center view shows the currently open file in an editor for that file type. All visual editors allows you to change the camera view:
There is a toolbar in the top right corner of the scene view where you find object manipulation tools: Move, Rotate and Scale.
If you have multiple files open, a separate tab for each file is shown at the top of the editor view. It is possible to open 2 editor views side by side. Right click the tab for the editor you want to move and select Move to Other Tab Pane.
You can also use the tab menu to swap the position of the two panes and join them to a single pane.
Double clicking a collection or game object file brings up the Scene Editor:
You can also select objects by:
Hold Shift or ⌘ (Mac) / Ctrl (Win/Linux) while clicking to expand the selection.
The selected object shows a set of manipulators (squares and arrows). Click and drag the green center square handle to move the object freely in screen space, click and drag the arrows to move the object along the X, Y or Z-axis. There arn also square handles for moving the object in the X-Y plane and (visible if rotating the camera in 3D) for moving the object in the X-Z and Y-Z planes.
This tool consists of four circular manipulators. An orange manipulator that rotates the object in screen space and one for rotation around each of the X, Y and Z axes. Since the view is peripendicular to the X- and Y-axis, the circles only appear as two lines crossing the object.
This tool consists of a set of square handles. The center one scales the object uniformly in all axes (including Z). There also one handle for scaling along each of the X, Y and Z axes and one handle for scaling in the X-Y plane, the X-Z plane and the Y-Z plane.
To create new resource files, either select File ▸ New... and then choose the file type from the menu, or use the context menu:
Right click the target location in the Assets browser, then select New... ▸ [file type]:
Type a suitable name for the new file. The full file name including the file type suffix is shown under Path in the dialog:
To add asset files (images, sounds, models etc) to your project, simply drag and drop them to the correct position in the Assets browser. This will make copies of the files at the selected location in the project file structure. Read more about how to import assets in our manual.
Command | Windows | macOS | Linux |
---|---|---|---|
Add | A | A | A |
Add secondary | Shift+A | Shift+A | Shift+A |
Backwards tab trigger | Shift+Tab | Shift+Tab | Shift+Tab |
Beginning of file | Ctrl+Home | Cmd+Up | Ctrl+Home |
Beginning of line | Ctrl+A | ||
Beginning of line text | Home | Home | Home |
Build | Ctrl+B | Cmd+B | Ctrl+B |
Close | Ctrl+W | Cmd+W | Ctrl+W |
Close all | Shift+Ctrl+W | Shift+Cmd+W | Shift+Ctrl+W |
Continue | F5 | F5 | F5 |
Copy | Ctrl+C | Cmd+C | Ctrl+C |
Cut | Ctrl+X | Cmd+X | Ctrl+X |
Delete | Delete | Delete | Delete |
Delete backward | Backspace | Backspace | Backspace |
Delete line | Ctrl+D | ||
Delete next word | Ctrl+Delete | Alt+Delete | Ctrl+Delete |
Delete prev word | Ctrl+Backspace | Alt+Backspace | Ctrl+Backspace |
Delete to end of line | Shift+Ctrl+Delete | Cmd+Delete | Shift+Ctrl+Delete |
Documentation | F1 | F1 | F1 |
Down | Down | Down | Down |
End of file | Ctrl+End | Cmd+Down | Ctrl+End |
End of line | End | Ctrl+E | End |
Enter | Enter | Enter | Enter |
Erase tool | Shift+E | Shift+E | Shift+E |
Escape | Esc | Esc | Esc |
Find next | Ctrl+G | Cmd+G | Ctrl+G |
Find prev | Shift+Ctrl+G | Shift+Cmd+G | Shift+Ctrl+G |
Find text | Ctrl+F | Cmd+F | Ctrl+F |
Frame selection | F | F | F |
Goto line | Ctrl+L | Cmd+L | Ctrl+L |
Hide selected | Ctrl+E | Cmd+E | Ctrl+E |
Hot reload | Ctrl+R | Cmd+R | Ctrl+R |
Left | Left | Left | Left |
Move down | Alt+Down | Alt+Down | Alt+Down |
Move tool | W | W | W |
Move up | Alt+Up | Alt+Up | Alt+Up |
New file | Ctrl+N | Cmd+N | Ctrl+N |
Next word | Ctrl+Right | Alt+Right | Ctrl+Right |
Open | Ctrl+O | Cmd+O | Ctrl+O |
Open asset | Shift+Ctrl+R | Cmd+P | Shift+Ctrl+R |
Page down | Page Down | Page Down | Page Down |
Page up | Page Up | Page Up | Page Up |
Paste | Ctrl+V | Cmd+V | Ctrl+V |
Preferences | Ctrl+Comma | Cmd+Comma | Ctrl+Comma |
Prev word | Ctrl+Left | Alt+Left | Ctrl+Left |
Proposals | Ctrl+Space | Ctrl+Space | Ctrl+Space |
Quit | Ctrl+Q | Cmd+Q | Ctrl+Q |
Realign camera | Period | Period | Period |
Rebuild | Shift+Ctrl+B | Shift+Cmd+B | Shift+Ctrl+B |
Rebundle | Ctrl+U | Cmd+U | Ctrl+U |
Redo | Shift+Ctrl+Z | Shift+Cmd+Z | Shift+Ctrl+Z |
Reindent | Ctrl+I | Ctrl+I | Ctrl+I |
Reload stylesheet | Ctrl+R | ||
Rename | F2 | F2 | F2 |
Replace next | Shift+Ctrl+H | Alt+Cmd+G | Shift+Ctrl+H |
Replace text | Alt+Cmd+F | ||
Right | Right | Right | Right |
Rotate tool | E | E | E |
Save all | Ctrl+S | Cmd+S | Ctrl+S |
Scale tool | R | R | R |
Scene stop | Ctrl+T | Cmd+T | Ctrl+T |
Search in files | Shift+Ctrl+F | Shift+Cmd+F | Shift+Ctrl+F |
Select all | Ctrl+A | Cmd+A | Ctrl+A |
Select beginning of file | Shift+Ctrl+Home | Shift+Cmd+Up | Shift+Ctrl+Home |
Select beginning of line | Shift+Ctrl+A | ||
Select beginning of line text | Shift+Home | Shift+Home | Shift+Home |
Select down | Shift+Down | Shift+Down | Shift+Down |
Select end of file | Shift+Ctrl+End | Shift+Cmd+Down | Shift+Ctrl+End |
Select end of line | Shift+End | Shift+Alt+Down | Shift+End |
Select left | Shift+Left | Shift+Left | Shift+Left |
Select next occurrence | Ctrl+D | Cmd+D | Ctrl+D |
Select next word | Shift+Ctrl+Right | Shift+Alt+Right | Shift+Ctrl+Right |
Select page down | Shift+Page Down | Shift+Page Down | Shift+Page Down |
Select page up | Shift+Page Up | Shift+Page Up | Shift+Page Up |
Select prev word | Shift+Ctrl+Left | Shift+Ctrl+Left | Shift+Ctrl+Left |
Select right | Shift+Right | Shift+Right | Shift+Right |
Show last hidden | Shift+Ctrl+E | Shift+Cmd+E | Shift+Ctrl+E |
Show palette | Space | Space | Space |
Split selection into lines | Shift+Ctrl+L | Shift+Cmd+L | Shift+Ctrl+L |
Step into | F11 | F11 | F11 |
Step out | Shift+F11 | Shift+F11 | Shift+F11 |
Step over | F10 | F10 | F10 |
Stop debugger | Shift+F5 | Shift+F5 | |
Tab | Tab | Tab | Tab |
Toggle breakpoint | F9 | F9 | F9 |
Toggle comment | Ctrl+Slash | Cmd+Slash | Ctrl+Slash |
Toggle component guides | Ctrl+H | Ctrl+Cmd+H | Ctrl+H |
Toggle pane bottom | F7 | F7 | F7 |
Toggle pane left | F6 | F6 | F6 |
Toggle pane right | F8 | F8 | F8 |
Toggle visibility filters | Shift+Ctrl+I | Shift+Cmd+I | Shift+Ctrl+I |
Undo | Ctrl+Z | Cmd+Z | Ctrl+Z |
Up | Up | Up | Up |
Up major | Shift+Up | Shift+Up | Shift+Up |
Zoom in | Ctrl+'+' | Cmd+'+' | Ctrl+'+' |
Zoom out | Ctrl+'-' | Cmd+'-' | Ctrl+'-' |
You can customize keyboard shortcuts by creating a configuration file (e.g. keymap.edn
in your home directory). Then go into File ▸ Preferences, and set Path to custom keymap to the created file. You need to restart Defold after setting this setting, and every time you edit the keymap file.
You can see and download keymaps for: Windows, MacOS and Linux
If you run into a problem with the editor and need to report an issue it is a good idea to provide log files from the editor itself. The editor logs files can be found here:
C:\Users\ **Your Username** \AppData\Local\Defold
/Users/ **Your Username** /Library/Application Support/
or ~/Library/Application Support/Defold
~/.Defold
You can also get access to editor logs while the editor is running if it is started from a terminal/command prompt. To launch the editor from the terminal on macOS:
$ > ./path/to/Defold.app/Contents/MacOS/Defold
A: The editor will use up to 75% of the available memory of the system. On a computer with 4 GB of RAM this should be enough for smaller Defold projects. For mid-sized or large projects it is recommended to use 6 GB or more of RAM.
A: Yes. The Defold beta editor checks for an update at startup, just like the Defold stable version does.
A: This error is related to problems with Java assistive technology such as the NVDA screen reader. You probably have an .accessibility.properties
file in your home folder. Remove the file and try launching the editor again. (Note: If you do use any assistive technology and require that file to be present then please reach out to us at info@defold.se to discuss alternative solutions).
Discussed here on the Defold forum.
A: Check if there are spaces in the path leading up to the Defold application. For instance, if you put the folder Defold-macosx containing the macOS version of the editor in your Applications folder, then you should be ok. If you rename the folder Defold macosx the editor might not start anymore. On Windows, putting Defold under C:\Program Files\ can trigger this problem. This is due to a known bug in the underlying Eclipse framework.
A: This exception occurs when the editor tries to make an https connection but the certificate chain provided by the server cannot be verified.
See this link for details on this error.
Did you spot an error or do you have a suggestion? Please let us know on GitHub!
GITHUB