Tower Unite: Condo Building – Tower Glove

The Tower Glove is a powerful tool that can be used to speed up the building process. It is also an essential item for setting up I/O connections in your condo. This guide will go over the eight main functions of the tower glove, the extra settings for each function, and some use cases for each.

Let’s get started!

The Tower Glove is given to every player for free! It can be found in the equippable item inventory. Just hold the Q key, move your mouse to the hotbar at the top of your screen, navigate to the tools section, and drag the Tower Glove into a slot.

Once you have set the Tower Glove to a hotbar slot, simply press the number key for the slot you have chosen to equip the glove. Press a number key for an empty slot in your hotbar to dequip the glove.

Note: I typically like to keep the Tower Glove in my 2nd slot, and keep my 1st slot empty. That way, I can easily swap between having the glove equipped and dequipped.

With the glove equipped, press the C key to open up the tools menu. Here you can access all the functions and settings the Tower Glove has to offer. Let’s dive into each of the tools, and how to use them effectively!

The Copycat Tool is one of the most useful functions the Tower Glove has to offer. It allows you to copy the properties or textures of an item, or even duplicate an item or group of items.

With the copycat tool selected, you can Right Click an item to copy, and Left Click an item to paste. You can also press the R key to go into duplication mode after copying, but we will cover this later on in this section.

---

The copycat tool can copy an item’s color and texture settings! Just copy from one item and paste to another.

Fun fact: The copycat tool will also work for pre-existing walls in the condo layouts! You can copy textures to walls, and wall textures/colors to items.

---

The copycat tool will copy more than just the item’s texture/color settings! It will also copy over any applicable item properties that can be copied to the item in question. For example, the canvas hole and canvas tube items have a property that sets what division the item’s model is set to. Using the Tower Glove to copy from one item to another will also copy the item’s division property to those that have it.

Note: Notice that the canvas elbow piece did not change, but the canvas tube did. This is because the elbow piece uses a division property instead of a version one, so it did not paste over.

While the copycat tool copying properties can be helpful in some situations, it can be pretty destructive in others. For example, if you created a structure with many versions of divided canvas polygons and want to set their texture easily, you don’t want the glove to change all of the division properties you set up. To get around this issue, it is a good idea to place a canvas cube with the texture that you want first, then copy from that onto your other canvas items. Since the canvas cube only has settings for color and texture, only those settings will be copied. The division properties will remain the same, since nothing is being copied over!

Note: Notice that the canvas hole is on version 3, while the canvas tube is on version 1. In our previous example, the division of the canvas hole would be copied to the canvas tube, but since we copied from the cube, the version property has not been changed.

---

The copycat tool can also be used to copy an I/O module’s properties. This method WILL NOT copy connections, but WILL copy over the basic settings found in an I/O module’s edit menu.

In this example, we have two counter modules. The one on the right has all the default setting values, while the one on the left has different minimum, maximum, and show value settings. When I copy from the left module to the right one, the right one’s settings are all set to how the copied module was set.

---

You can also duplicate an item into a placable copy with the same properties. All you need to do is copy your desired item, and press the R key to enter duplicate mode. Then, just paste your item. The item placement works similarly to dragging items around while initially placing them, meaning you can rotate the item with the Scroll Wheel, and the item will orient around the side of anything its placed against.

You will only be able to place the copied item if you own enough items to place it. Otherwise, it will either skip placing the item you ran out of, or not allow you to place it at all.

WARNING: Please note that this method of duplication works very strangely when copying anything with an I/O connection. Please be careful when copying anything that includes I/O! (See section below for tips)

---

You can also use the duplication mode to copy I/O items. This method can get a little tricky for I/O items with existing connections, so I typically only use this method to copy modules with certain properties BEFORE making any connections. In simple I/O setups, copying already connected modules can help, but make sure to double-check your connections after copying to make sure it did what you wanted.

Note: If you don’t know about “connections” and “I/O” don’t worry, its a bit more of an advanced topic. I will cover a bit of the basics in this guide under the Connection Tool section, but something like I/O will probably need its own series of guides to cover fully.

Here is an example of duplicating an unconnected I/O module. The existing counter has some changed minimum, maximum, and show value settings, like in the previous example. Notice that when we duplicate the item, it also copies over the settings, so we don’t have to apply them again!

This is where it gets complicated. Copying items with existing connections follows a set of specific rules. I typically steer clear from using this method for the sake of simplicity, but it is useful in certain situations.

The basic rule to remember is that duplicating I/O items with existing connections will duplicate the connection FROM the copied item TO an existing item, but will NOT copy a connection FROM an item TO your copied item. That was a bit of a mouthful so let’s look at an example:

In this example, I have a button that is set to toggle a light. Here is what happens if I duplicate the button:

Copying the button copied all it’s OUTGOING connections, so BOTH buttons will toggle the light, even though we never touched the light with the copycat tool. Now let’s try copying the light instead:

We copied the light, but the button doesn’t toggle the copy. What happened? Well, since the duplication only copies OUTGOING connections, it didn’t copy the INCOMING connection from the button.

What happens if you duplicated BOTH items in a group? Well this is where it gets tricky. Remember: the duplication method ONLY copies the OUTGOING connections. So, if I grouped and copied the light and the button, we would still see the same results in the first gif. Both buttons will trigger the first light, and the second light will not be triggered by anything. The duplication copied EVERYTHING about the connections in the button, including which item it is connected to!

So the big question, when can this be useful? Honestly, only in a handful of cases. One case I can think of off the top of my head is something like setting up multiple light switches. If you have a button set to toggle a large amount of lights in one room, you can duplicate the button and place it somewhere else. Both buttons will toggle the lights, and you only had to manually set up one of them.

---

The Copycat Tool has a few extra settings you can use that can help you copy items in different ways. You can access these settings by pressing the C key with your glove equipped. The settings menu will be located in the bottom right corner of your screen. Let’s quickly go over what each setting does.

The grid snap setting will snap your duplicated items into a defined grid. You can change the size of the grid using the grid size field in the settings menu.

The copy rotation setting will copy the rotation settings of your copied item, and apply them to any item you paste.

Note: Notice in this example that the cube will align to a surface if this option is not selected. Once the copy rotation setting is turned on, the rotation of the duplicated item is locked.

You can also copy an item’s rotation values to an already placed item by copying from one and pasting to another. (Just like copying an item’s texture)

The copy scale setting will copy the scale settings of your copied item, and apply them to any item you paste.

Note: Using this setting will NOT change how the copycat tool behaves when duplicating an item. By default, an item’s scale will be duplicated when placing a new copy. This setting is only really used for copying scale into an existing item.

You can also copy an item’s scale values to an already placed item by copying from one and pasting to another. (Just like copying an item’s texture)

The always upright setting will force any duplicated items to stop aligning to the surface you are pasting to.

The Locker Tool is used to lock and unlock items. Locked items cannot be edited with the Tower Glove, or by right-clicking. You must unlock the item to edit it again. Left Clicking an item will lock it, and Right Clicking it will unlock it.

Locking an item is great for making sure you don’t delete or edit something accidentally. When creating custom room layouts, its usually a good idea to lock the walls and floor once you’re done setting them up, to make sure you don’t accidentally move them while editing other items.

The Stasher Tool can be used to stash (put away) items quickly. Just Left Click an item to stash it.

An item must be unlocked to stash it with the Tower Glove. Locking items is a good way to protect your build from accidental misclicks.

Note: On laggy condos, or multiplayer condos, the stasher tool can sometimes trigger more than once per mouse click. This can result in accidental deletion of items. It is a good idea to either lock items (like custom floors or walls), or position your camera so you won’t be looking at any items behind the one you want to stash once it is stashed.

The Connections Tool is essential to setting up I/O! It allows you to form logic connections between items, modules, volumes, and more! We will not be diving into I/O too much in this guide (that’s gonna need its own set of guides), but let’s go through what you can do with the glove, and how to set up some simple connections between items.

To connect an item, Left Click the input item, and then Left Click the output items. You can continue to click as many items as you want after selecting your first input. The glove will connect all of those items as outputs for that original item. If you want to deselect your input item to choose another, simply Right Click to clear your selection.

As you can see in this simple example, the button does not change the light at the beginning. However, once we connect the button to the light, a connection is formed, and the button turns the light on and off.

Items have many connection types and values that can be changed with I/O. Now you could connect items this way and enter each item’s connection menu to change the values, but there is a way to set the type of connection you are making with the glove! Once you have clicked your input item, before Left-Clicking to set your output, use the scroll wheel. As you scroll, you can change what type of connection you are setting.

The Connections Tool is also used to set up movers. Setting up an item to be moved with movers is similar to setting a normal I/O connection. Just Left Click your mover, and then Left Click the item that you want to move.

Note: For setting up a group of items on a mover, the item you click with the glove will become the item that is attached to the mover. Treat this item as your center point for the mover. I will explain this in more detail in its own guide sometime in the future.

The Targeter Tool is used to set the target property for different items. FX items and teleporters use this to determine a position for the item.

For FX items like light strings, you will need to right click the FX item, then left click once to set the starting position, and left click once more for the end position.

For teleporters, you will need to right click the teleporter, and left click to set the teleport destination.

The Quick Scaler tool allows you to adjust an item’s scale value. Every Left Click will increase an item’s scale by the amount set in the Scale Factor field. Every Right Click will decrease an item’s scale by this amount.

In this example, every click adds or subtracts 0.05 to each of the x y and z scale values.

Turning the Set Manual Scale option on will allow you to set any item to the scale that you define. In this example, we set the cube to a scale of 10 in one click.

The Transformer Tool can be used to change the position, rotation, and scale of items easily. There are a lot of values involved with this tool, so it can be a bit intimidating. Lets go through what each of these settings change.

The Position values determine what numbers you want to add to the X, Y, and Z position values of the item you click on. Left Clicking will add this amount to the item’s position, while Right Clicking will subtract.

The Rotation values determine what numbers you want to add to the X, Y, and Z rotation values of the item you click on. Left Clicking will add this amount to the item’s rotation, while Right Clicking will subtract.

Note: In this gif, I forgot to clear out the position values from the previous example. This is why the item is moving as well as rotating. Just goes to show, though, you can change all 3 attributes at the same time!

The Scale values determine what numbers you want to multiply to the X, Y, and Z scale values of the item you click on. Left Clicking will multiplythis amount to the item’s rotation, while Right Clicking will divide.

Note: You can swap between multiply/divide and addition/subtraction using the Multiply Scale setting. It is set to multiply/divide by default.

The Add Transform setting is enabled by default. If you turn off this setting, the glove will set the item’s position, rotation, and scale, instead of adding to it. While the rotation and scale attributes are pretty self-explanatory, setting the position values can cause some interesting results.

When setting the position values, it will set the item’s position on the global grid to whatever is in the glove’s settings. In this example, we set the cube’s x position to -8000, which moves it to that location in the condo.

The other settings in the Transformer Tool are pretty easy to explain, so I will just write a quick description here for the sake of saving on typing and editing gifs (haha)

The Position in Item Direction option essentially swaps between global and relative mode for the position, rotation, and scale values.

Note: Please check my Condo Building Basics guide for an explanation on Global vs. Relative if you need it~

The Rotate Before Positioning option decides if the glove will apply the rotation first or the position first. This is good to use if you are changing an item’s position in the local mode. Think of it this way: Do you want to move the item 50 units forward then rotate it 90 degrees, or rotate it 90 degrees, then move it forward 50 units in that new direction that its facing?

The Multiply Scale option just determines if the glove adds and subtracts to the scale value, or multiplies and divides.

As of right now, the Use Oriented Item Slot As Origin option is not available, so there’s no need to worry about that one~

The No Collider Tool allows you to enable and disable collision for items. Simply Left Click an item to turn off its collision, and Right Click to re-enable its collision.

Phew- that was a lot. The Tower Glove has a very wide range of tools that can help speed up condo building in certain situations.

Now in my own experience, I only really find myself using the Copycat Tool, the Connections Tool, and the occasional Stasher / Locker Tool. This is just how I have learned to build in condos, and gets the job done. The Copycat Tool can get things done pretty efficiently even without messing with any of the advanced settings, but I’m sure one’s life can be a lot easier if you properly utilize the settings. What I mean by all of this is, don’t feel too pressured to memorize and use every single one of these settings. The Tower Glove is here to help with condo building, and forcing yourself to use every little feature is not necessary if its gonna make things harder~!

Hopefully some of these tools can help streamline your condo building process!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through all of this, and let me know if I missed anything or need to clear something up.
Also, please let me know of anything specific you would like future guides on!

See you next time~!