Map Generators
The GM-only Map Generators launcher embeds six Watabou generators and can capture their current output into a Foundry Scene.
Click the map-location icon on the SDX Tray. Choose:
| Generator | Best for | Structured import |
|---|---|---|
| Realm | Regional coastlines, terrain, and settlements | Scene background |
| City | Walled cities, districts, roads, and rivers | Scene background |
| Village | Small settlements and farmland | Scene background |
| Cave / Glade | Caverns or natural clearings | Aligned square grid and walls when geometry is available |
| Dungeon | One-page room-and-corridor maps | Aligned grid, walls/doors, and map notes |
| Dwelling | Houses, taverns, manors, and towers | Multi-level v14 Scene, per-floor background/walls, stair Regions |
The generators and credits remain Watabou's; SDX supplies the Foundry wrapper, local bundled builds, capture, alignment, and document creation.
Use the embedded generator normally:
- Randomize or adjust its settings.
- Wait for the map to finish drawing.
- Close any open generator context menu.
- Click Import Scene in the generator window header.
Import captures the state currently visible in the generator. It does not later remain linked to that generator window.
Foundry cannot read or capture an external cross-origin iframe's canvas and geometry. For the six import-capable types, SDX therefore serves the bundled generator from the Foundry origin.
The Settlement Maps: Use Local Maphub setting remains for other/view-only source choices, but these six import workflows are local regardless: without the bundled files, SDX refuses a misleading external fallback that it could not capture.
Realm, City, and Village normally import as a new Scene whose background is the captured map. Add Foundry walls, lights, notes, and tokens afterward.
The new Scene receives a unique timestamped name. The original generator remains unchanged.
When live geometry and its render transform are available, SDX:
- captures the current map;
- rescales/crops it so a generator cell equals an integer Foundry grid size;
- anchors cell zero to the Foundry grid origin;
- transforms the cave wall coordinates through the same mapping;
- creates the Scene and walls.
If the generator geometry is unavailable, SDX warns and may fall back to the image-only path.
Before capture, SDX asks the bundled One Page Dungeon generator for its current JSON. That keeps the wall/note data synchronized with the displayed map.
Import then:
- temporarily forces an axis-aligned render;
- captures and normalizes the image/grid;
- parses walls, doors, and room notes from that current JSON;
- maps every coordinate through the same scale/crop;
- creates the new Scene.
Wait until the dungeon is fully loaded. If JSON export or the render transform cannot be read, reopen the generator rather than importing a partially initialized window.
The Dwelling generator has the richest import. When its live controller is available, one Foundry v14 Scene is created with:
- Basement, Ground Floor, and numbered upper-floor Levels as applicable;
- a background per Level;
- per-floor room walls;
- regular doors at room connections;
- open passages left as gaps;
- change-level Regions based on the generator's actual stair connectivity;
- an Up/Down chooser for spiral stairs;
- the round tower enclosed correctly.
The importer normalizes every floor to the same building coordinate system. If structured dwelling data cannot be read, it can degrade to a generic image-scene import and warns that walls/levels are missing.
Review the Scene before activating it for players:
- Grid type, size, and scene dimensions.
- Background visibility on every elevation Level.
- Wall/door alignment at 200–400% zoom.
- Stair Region destinations.
- Token size and movement.
- Notes and journal links.
- Lighting and player vision.
Duplicating the imported Scene before manual cleanup gives you a clean recovery point.
Capture uploads an image into Foundry's user-data storage. The GM client needs file upload permission and a writable data source. Browser download settings do not replace Foundry upload permissions.
Generator is blank. Confirm the bundled files exist, hard-refresh, and reopen it. City/Village/Dwelling use the bundled raw builds.
Import Scene is disabled or absent. Only the GM can import. Wait for the window to finish rendering.
Dungeon says JSON could not be exported. Reopen the generator and wait until the dungeon canvas is interactive.
Walls drift from the background. Update SDX; current Cave/Dungeon imports normalize the cell size and origin together. Do not change the imported grid size afterward.
Dwelling has one image but no Levels. Structured dwelling geometry was not available and import fell back. Check the console, then reopen and regenerate.
Foundry cannot save the captured image. Check the GM's file-upload permission and the server data directory.
Related: Hexcrawls & Dungeons · Canvas & Table Tools