Tilemap obscures objects behind it even when tiles aren't populated

Help
, , ,
1

Godot Version

v4.2.1.stable.official [b09f793f5]

Question

I am making a grid-based board game and using 2 tilemaps: 1 for the board itself and a selector tilemap with a translucent rectangle that acts as a highlight for the space the mouse is over. I have pieces that are control nodes with sprites that become reparented to a canvaslayer under the board. I want the highlight to display over pieces on the board, but when I order the files as such:

BoardUI (control)
-----BoardTileMap (TileMap)
-----Pieces (CanvasLayer)
-----SelectorTileMap (TileMap)

The pieces become invisible when placed on the board, even if they are behind a space on the selector tile map that is not populated with a tile. I have the selector above the pieces for now, but that does not look right since the highlight appears behind a piece on the board.

Things I’ve tried:

  • using 2 layers on the same tilemap to be selector and board, and changing the Z-indices
  • using 2 separate tilemaps with different z indices, with pieces behind the selector but in front of the board

Things I might do instead if there is no solution with tilemaps:

  • make the selector a colorect that snaps to the tilemap and displays over each tile the mouse is over, and make this at the top z index
2

I found that if I make the pieces node a container instead of a CanvasLayer that i get the effect I want. Still curious if there is another way to solve this, though, or why it didn’t work before

3

CanvasLayers draw either above or below the entire 2D scene, depending on their layer property. That’s literally what they’re for.