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Best way to create maps? Displaying 1-15 of 15 total.
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ErayMan
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What is the best way to create large and detailed maps?
I used to create them via maped2 then load them in maped3 and add obstruction and all
But this is far from efficient with large or complicated maps.
Here's some of the things I tried:
- Make a map in maped3 (can't edit tiles, and tiles are only 16/16 (i'd like 32/32)
- Make a map in photoshop then import it in maped2, then maped3 (not efficient as it repeats identical tiles, so a 10x10 map with the same tile will end up with 100 tiles instead of 1 if I would have done it manually with maped2)
- having a large size image that I load in memory and I crop the 320/240 part of where I actually am on the map, and blit it on screen (well, that's heavy on memory and slowww)
What are you guys using to create map? I sure could use some help. I'd really like to have them 32x32 :/
(btw, I tried Tiled, seems like a VERY good map editor, is open source and saves in xml, wouldn't that be great if someone wrote a pugin to convert Tiled maps to verge's map? ;) If only I knew Java... :( )
-ErayMan
Posted on 2007-01-09 01:41:59
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Arkhan
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A little off topic from you, but from what I read it sounds like Maped2 doesnt duplicate tiles if you import a picture that would indeed have duplicates. Is that true?
Ive been using maped3 all the way. I crafted a world map, and the exterior of all the towns for my game...havent got the tilesets for the dungeons yet..
Posted on 2007-01-15 00:10:19
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mcgrue
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Maped2 does indeed have a smart import.
Maped3 is somewhat unstable.
Tiled looks interesting, and I happen to have aen's verge-format loader/savers here...
Posted on 2007-01-15 04:42:22
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Kildorf
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Tiled does look pretty nice.
...
Man I need to finish up some of the stuff that's been monopolizing my free time ._.
Posted on 2007-01-15 08:47:40
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Ioachim
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I'm working on Maped3 (I hadn't had internet for a week, anyway), I'll check Tiled to try to add support for it's format to Maped3
Another way I like is to use psd2map, nice utility. Does anybody know if there is any source code of that, or else I'll make a new program with the same idea, or add the feature in Maped3
Posted on 2007-01-16 11:06:00
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ErayMan
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loachim:
it sounds like Maped2 doesnt duplicate tiles if you import a picture that would indeed have duplicates
Oh cool! I'll have to check into that!
And I can't wait to hear from your progress with maped3 and/or tiled :)
McGrue:
I happen to have aen's verge-format loader/savers here...
Hehe well that's handy ;) Is there a way that a common mortal like me could get a hand on it, you know, to check it out?
Posted on 2007-01-17 13:24:46 (last edited on 2007-01-17 13:25:13)
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ErayMan
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Oh, and psd2map looks rad. I'll be using it a lot.
Thanks for the tip.
Posted on 2007-01-17 13:27:38
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mcgrue
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Aen's loader/savers in java:
http://choosetheforce.com/files/jan10_07/gcsio.zip
Posted on 2007-01-17 18:09:39
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resident
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I vaguely recall that a bmp image with a width of 320 can be imported directly into the mapeditor as tiles without messing up their order. If you import from the same edited BMP every time, and overwrite the existing tiles, it means you can edit your tiles in a _real_ image editor.
The only catch, iirc, is that the maped import stuff tends to be a bit flakey, occasionally crashing, so it pays to save. I haven't used any of the most recent verge stuff, either, so it may be more stable.
Posted on 2007-01-18 00:52:09
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Kildorf
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resident is correct, though here's a couple of extra things to add:
- It's a lot more reliable to import via the clipboard, in my experience. Just select all and copy inside your painting program, then switch to maped3 and set the import source to be the clipboard. It tends to crash a lot less.
- Don't use just "Save" (or ctrl+S). It sometimes just... doesn't save. It's pretty great. On the other hand, Save As always saves. Just save over the previous copy. It's an extra dialogue box to go through but hey, you know it actually got saved.
- I just want to repeat resident's suggestion to save often. I've run maped3 for days straight without it crashing before (with frequent use over that time, even) but I've also had it crash a half dozen times in twenty minutes. It's really not very stable. Save asing as often as you can is just a good idea. (Now if only I could follow my own advice...)
Posted on 2007-01-18 10:07:28
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Overkill
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Actually, from my attempts, clipboard import always says there's nothing in the clipboard. So I opt for Source Image. Whenever the import crashes, I just ignore it and try again, you don't need to close MapEd.
Yeah, saving's wonky unless you do "Save As", but you don't need to save THAT often unless MapEd freezes for you when you draw outside the map region with a tool. Since I moved from Windows 98 to Windows XP SP2, these sorts of problems sort of vanished. Curiously, MapEd says something about an auto-backup feature in its Preferences, is this actually used?
Posted on 2007-01-18 12:55:33
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Kildorf
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Quote:Originally posted by Overkill
Actually, from my attempts, clipboard import always says there's nothing in the clipboard. So I opt for Source Image. Whenever the import crashes, I just ignore it and try again, you don't need to close MapEd.
Yeah, saving's wonky unless you do "Save As", but you don't need to save THAT often unless MapEd freezes for you when you draw outside the map region with a tool. Since I moved from Windows 98 to Windows XP SP2, these sorts of problems sort of vanished. Curiously, MapEd says something about an auto-backup feature in its Preferences, is this actually used?
That's really weird - I use the clipboard import exclusively and I've never had a problem with it. I have found that when imports crash, sometimes nothing will import afterwards.
Yeah, I've never noticed the auto-backup feature do anything.
I think this whole conversation is kind of highlighting the need for a better map editor and/or an update to maped3. It's kind of ironic that I'm the one saying this, I know, considering how I attempted and failed to produce an alternative, but it does seem to be a real need. Has anyone made any headway with Tiled importing/exporting? I'd love to do it myself, but I have been crazy busy and will be for another while now.
That said, I'll take a stab at it when I've got free time again, if no one else has, but there must be someone with either the Java knowledge to build a Tiled plugin, or even just someone with the time to write and test a commandline converter. I've got verge map loading functions for Ruby, and there are some floating around for Java and C#.
Who can take up this torch, or already has and I just don't know? :D
Posted on 2007-01-18 13:16:07
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ErayMan
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Well what I learned in this conversation, is that one could make a map with Tiled, then "Save as Image", and save the whole map in a .png format, then load it in photoshop and do that for every layers and then use aen's psd2map converter to make it a map!
That is what I think I'll be doing, at least for the time being. It's more troublesome than a simple converter from Tiled to verge, but it'll do hehe! :)
It's all theorical, but I think it'll work great. As soon as I have a little time i'll let you guys know.
Posted on 2007-01-18 18:27:22
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mcgrue
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That'll only get you one layer og map, though. And you'll still need to use maped3 to lay down obstructions and zones and fil in zone data, sadly.
Posted on 2007-01-18 19:32:11
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CrazyAznGamer
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I have an hour everyday in computer science. I don't have anything better to do now, because thanks to previous programming knowledge from VergeC and then C, that class has been nothing but blowoff.
I don't promise anything, but if anything, I can try to help out. ^_^
The code looks daunting though, and I don't know anything about TileEd, so I doubt I have the ability to do anything though.
Posted on 2007-01-18 21:06:47
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