Map Forge BETA 001
 

As promised, here is the Dominions 3 Map Forge BETA.

Preview Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYh4RnSNuw

Preview Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-BuC1empHE

From the notes:
I will try to add more info as time allows. If you have questions on the use of Map Forge feel free to ask. If you have an answer to someone's questions, please share it with them. I will try to help, but responses may be slow.

Much effort has gone into preventing the loss of work due to bugs and crashes, but you can bet your bunny that I haven't thought of everything. Bugs happen. BACK UP YOUR WORK! :p

UPDATE:
Map Forge BETA 002 PATCH.zip attached to this post.

From the included ReadMe:
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and feedback! :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Bad news! Doesn't work on windows7 64 ultimate. I get an error with the comdlg32.ocx. I downloaded the control, put it in system32 and registered it. Still no luck /cry.

EDIT: After lots of fiddling around, I got it to launch. But now I get an error that says the program cannot find the entry point into the freeimage.dll file. It seems to make the whole program wacky and eventually it crashes with runtime errors.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Forgot to include a dll in the upload. Will re-upload with the fixed zip in a few minutes. For those that have already downloaded, I will attach the dll here. Simply unzip and drop the file in the directory with MapForge.exe.

@Foodstamp,
Thanks for the report. Try this:
Located the above at the following link:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-genera...dlg32-ocx.html

Not sure if that will help with Win7...

Edit:
FreeImage.zip attached to this post
Map Forge zip updated to include the missing dll.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Aye that is exactly what I did. And your version of FreeImage fixed the other problems I was having. It works perfect in win7 64 bit now! Thanks Ball

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Huge Thanks Ballbarian

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

When I open an existing map I've been developing it works fine except anytime I click on one of the commanders or sites for a province. When I click on one of the commanders inside a province it generates the following error:
Map file not saved!
Map file not saved! Map: Error: Path/File access error

Clicking OK for the error allows me to continue, but has me guessing I must not have something configured correctly. This is the location I've specified for my maps directory in WinXP64_bit: E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps

*Looks like it's not saving any map changes... I'll keep troubleshooting.



One other minor bug... when first running the program where the map forge options appear: Clicking cancel does the same thing as clicking ok

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

I have found one very minor bug. When I double click the upper boxes in the commander area, it does not take me to the commander wizard. When I click lower boxes it works fine.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Try adding a backslash to the path (in options):
E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps\

Failing that, I wonder if it might be a denied access issue.
As changes are made to a map file, MF backs up changes to a ".ore" file in the maps directory. You might try running MF as administrator.

Hitting cancel during the first run will still create a configuration file with default values. But it should not be saving changes to an existing config file. Let me know if that is not the case.

Thanks!

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Sorry for the confusion FS. Commander slot 0 is reserved for gods. I had intended to add help text or a message box to let the user know, but never got back around to it. If you edit a nation and add a god with a special start location (assigned to a province) the god will appear in that slot.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Well I relaxed permissions for the entire dominions3 directory and then shared the directory with everyone full control yet still the same problem. I also tried the directory change for E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps\ ... no luck.

I then used the run as command to run the executable using the administrator account, but still no luck. My original account is also only an administrator account. I'm able to use the map editor within Dominions_3 and save changes without any problem.

I'll keep trying... maybe my download was corrupted.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

What is the application path of Map Forge? Where is it installed?
If Map Forge happens to reside on C:\ and Dominions is on E:\ that might cause problems.

Future versions will include a robust logging system that should help resolve problems of this sort. Really kicking myself for not including it before release. :o

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

**Update: Well it seems the utility only has problems with maps I've created, the default maps from the game are not a problem. So my maps must either be using some map edit commands which is causing the map forge tool to choke or something else inside my maps.

I attached the most simple map file of all my maps in hopes a solution can be found.

image file now added

OKAY

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

**UPDATE: Think I found the problem... all previous times when I would install the map forge tool I would specify the map directory by cutting/pasting the path from windows explorer.

For my most recent installation I chose to browse to the directory and now its working for even my maps. After 4 installs at different locations on the same partition as Dominions_3 the browse option resolved the issue.

*** UPDATE: Still getting error related only with my map files. A new error reports just while browsing the map commanders.
Map file not saved!
Map file not saved! Map: E:\Program Files(x86)\dominions3\maps\Snow White.ore Error: Subscript out of range


** **UPDATE: It seems the same problem also occurs for the Shahrivar map file available for download... Hooray it's not just my maps. Ballbarian do you have the same errors when attempting to view Snow White OR the Shahrivar map files??

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Upon loading Snow White I receive the following error report:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1257223680

In province #323 (land name "Land of the Giants") contains a magic site called "Land of the Giants". Map Forge is reporting that this is not in it's list of valid sites. I cannot find it listed anywhere. Is this a typo or a mod site?

Anyhow, when I click on the province containing this site, I get the cannot save .ore file message. It is basically complaining because it sees the site as invalid.

I will try Shahrivar next.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

The version of Shahrivar that I downloaded generates the following map error log:

#nonamefilter is listed in the mapedit.pdf as not working correctly, so Map Forge sees this as an unsupported map command. If I click OK, the editor is allowing me to edit and save the map normally. It just drops the unsupported command as it should.

If you are not seeing the warning screen upon loading a map, let me know.

Thanks!

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

It's from a mod... I feel so bad for overlooking conflicts with mods. Any clues why the Shahrivar map has trouble?

Nevermind... I see your previous post. :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Working on the graphic for my map. As soon as it is done, I will put Map Forge through it's paces and report any bugs!

BTW, is there an upper size limitation to the targa you can use for the map image?

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

In theory 16383 x 16383, but there could be other limitations (such as system memory) that might lower the ceiling. Latus is a really big map (5000 x 4000) and Map Forge seemed to handle it with no problems.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Mostly for Foodstamp I gave Map Forge a spin in Wine under Linux and it works MUCH better than RanDom does. Looks perfect even the config stuff worked correctly. I opened up Cradle of Dominion but didn't try anything else. Good job Ballbarian.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Excellent! That's the cool thing about linux; with enough tinkering anything is possible :).

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Any other updates planned with this tool?

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Oops, Sorry NT. Somehow I missed replying previously. :o

No updates in the near future, but I have not written it off entirely.

A few questions:
Are there particular features that you are craving or sorely missing?
Which item would you consider most in need of attention?
Have you found it useful in its current state of incompleteness?

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

@ Ballbarian - Please can you add this great utility to your signature for people who have crappy search-foo, like me :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Mind-reading plugin. :)

Handling of provinces that have distant connections. It's very cumbersome, and doesn't seem to be a way to easily zoom out from the selected province.

Actually, UI "smoothness" in general would be most in need of attention (not that I'm complaining or that it's bad, but the functionality itself, at least that I've used, seems solid, thus leaving UI to improve on.)

YES! Especially for "proofreading" maps, e.g. those modified by SemiRandom - not that SR spits out bad data, but a lot of the GAN/GOD files have formatting issues.

Also have used to re-allocate terrain/special sites for maps where the underlying map is good, but "bland".

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Does the feature - 'Custom Tools' - 'Mark All NoStart', work or not? I've just tried using it, and it seems to work fine in the map forge program itself. But when I save the .map file and load it up using the Dominions map editor, all the 'NoStart' tags have been erased. Is this user error somewhere by me, or....?

Also, I'd find it very useful if I could scroll through the list of provinces in the navigator using the cursor keys, while at the same time be able to click the terrain tool menu options with the mouse without it de-selecting the navigator as the window I wish to respond to the cursor keys. Since as it stands now, if I click on any of the features in terrain tool menu with the mouse, this then selects the terrain tool menu as the active window, and means I have to select the navigator again using the mouse in order to resume scrolling through the province list with the cursor keys. This makes it kind of pointless to use the cursor keys if doing heavy province-by-province map editing.

This is an awesome tool though Ballbarian. First time I've used it, and very impressed. Many thanks for the considerable time and effort you must have put into it.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Done! :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

:p

Initially I was going to use the middle mouse scroll for zooming in & out, but turns out there is no support in VB6 stock events for this. A solution exists, but it is via the Windows API which I was trying to avoid in hopes of gaining some compatibility for linux users using wine. In case you were not aware of it, the function keys F5, F6, F7 & F8 will set zoom to 25%, 50%, 75% & 100% respectively. Next iteration I will try to implement page up / page down keys for a smoother zoom.

Glad to hear that it has been helpful. I too noted the buggy GAN/GOD files. Just haven't been motivated to make the time to fix them. If anyone wants to tackle the clean up, I would happily update the collection. :D

Thanks for the great input. :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

I think you have found a bug. :doh:
Just tried it and all appears well in memory, but the nostart values are not being properly applied to the output for some reason.


In the wonderful world of windows, this is a feature called 'focus' and I will try to address it in the next version. I agree that it is reducing the usefulness of the navigator.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Hurray, one bug down, ??? to go........

Pretty much knew it was a Windows thing, since it is the cause of all evil. I mean cause of all problems. I mean it is the cause of this one problem in this one program, and is entirely blameless for all other problems that exist in any area of world society.

Hope you can find a way around this Windows 'feature' though if you update the program :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

When I try to run mapforge.exe I get comdl632.ocx file missing or invalid.

Thanks

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Are you sure it's not COMDLG32.OCX?

The control can be downloaded here.

Just unzip and drop the control (file: COMDLG32.OCX) in the Map Forge folder with MapForge.exe. This should fix your problem without having to mess with the one in your system32 folder & without having to fiddle with your system registry.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Yes that is the one. Time for a new pair of glasses. Ok Mapforge running. I prefer not to play with the registry so I appreciate your posting the file.

Thank you

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Hey, Ballbarian, I'm loving the program. Much appreciation for it. And a suggestion.

Would it be possible and worthwhile to implement a shortcut key for having it go to the next province in numeric sequence? (I.e., I'm on province 15, and want to simply press a key to have it go to province 16 without having to use the mouse too much.) Would save a lot of clicks and allow me to just plod along naming and designating provinces without having to quadruple-check if I missed any.

Either way, beautiful work! Thanks much.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

When I load a map, and switch between views (province editor etc)
only the top half of the map updates.

I also seem to have problems switching back to the map view, so the cursor keys can scroll. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

A master 'Next Province' key would also conveniently solve the issues I mentioned above :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

You lost me on the first problem. Do you mean that the map graphic is not drawing completely? Or edited provinces are not updating?

On the 2nd problem, it sounds like the 'focus' issue that I posted about before. A single click on the map will give the map the focus and then cursor keys will begin scrolling the map. If the focus is on the navigator, it will scroll the navigator and switch provinces on the map (without returning the focus to the map).

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Would a function key or something like CNTRL+N suffice?
Any preference?

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

I'd be more than happy with either Ballbarian, but if there's a choice, I'd opt for CNTRL+N to make it easy and logical to remember :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

That would be perfect, Ballbarian. I'm staring at having to redesignate my 700-prov map from the ground up (I am too perfectionist to accept the auto-map-generator's poor centering of province marker pixels, and have shifted them all en masse) a second time (my hard drive crashed after I completed it the first time -- ugh), so that would be a beautiful thing, worth much gushing appreciation.

As for which key, I'm thinking a single keypress would be nice. Tab, or Z, or something close to the natural resting place of the left hand, maybe? Again, though, I'm in agreement with Calahan -- I will gush whatever key you assign.

Thanks, Ballbarian!

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Should this have a thread in the map forum? I can imagine people searching for it there.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

+1.

I know I was searching in the map forum for it a few weeks ago (to obviously no avail). I only managed to find this thread in the end by filtering for threads started by Ballbarian (although he has since added this thread to his signature to make it easier to track down)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

On the subject of shortcut keys, I also noticed one other thing. Is it just me, or is there no shortcut key to assign a province as Sea? I thought about pressing d (Deep Sea) twice, but d doesn't work unless the province is already assigned as Sea (which does make sense). If it is not just me missing something obvious, a shortcut key for assigning the Sea flag would be very helpful, if you have the time and are so inclined.

Again, much thanks for your work here.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Moved to maps forum. :)

Globu,
The shortcut key should have been 'u', but looks like it was missed. Good catch.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Ah, good. :)

Just finished re-designating the Anastasia map from the ground up. Your visited provinces feature alone is worth its weight in gold -- very, very handy, in fact almost indispensable.

More gushing.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Map Forge BETA 002 PATCH.zip added to the first post.

From the included ReadMe:
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and feedback! :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 002
 

Works great, though there is one little glitch that occurs if you press the next-province shortcut key without having first selected a province (hoping to have it automatically find and go to province 001). It produces a Run-time error '9': Subscript out of range, then terminates.

Aside from that little bit, love it! Big thanks for the update (and for doing it so promptly).

EDIT: I actually just discovered another possible concern (I think?). In its reparsing of custom god information, I noticed it leaves out national scale designations that are zeroed out. If I understand correctly, this means that that particular scale will be left as the game randomly determined it before for the pretender that is being overriden by the map settings. If this is correct, then it should be leaving entries like "#scale_death 20 0" in the file.

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

Thanks for the heads up. I will try to address those in the next patch. :)

Re: Map Forge BETA 001
 

I just want to advertise this fine tool. I just used this to make the map for the Legendary Ordeals II game. I had no previous map modding knowledge and this great tool helped me a great deal.

My sincerest thaks to Ballbarian for making this.