Last edit: 30 September 2008

New total A W E S O M E Version in Development (really)

Teaser Movies: (The Release will still last at least 2 weeks since i m going on vacation this weekend)

New way to perform River Placement (http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/MapView/mapview_river_placement.avi)
Add support for custom bonuses, features, units, terrains, etc. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15IWdT6Itb4)



I NEED YOUR HELP
I´d like to know about anything that nags you about creating scenarios. Whatever it is that´s soaking up your time. Tell me about it. Mayb i can provide a way to make your life easier.


Completed new Features

TOTAL CODE REWRITE!!!!!!
Support of all native Civ4 placements

You can specify *.xml files to teach MapView

You can now add grafics for new bonuses, improvements, features, terrains by yourself
Quick Terrain-Field preview by Right-Click
Quick Edit opportunity via Right-Click menu (might be taken out due to usability)
Convert grafics (bmp/jpg) to WBS files (similar to BMP->WBS Converter)
Made the FloodFill-Tool 100% working
Option to clear the Map from

Routes
Improvements
Bonuses
Improvements
Cities
Units
Features

Delete a specific aspect of tiles (e.g: just delete BONUS_COW)

Planned new Features

Warlords Support/General Custom MOD Support
Increase supported MapSize to 1000x1000
Crop and Resize your Maps
Create new Maps/Scenarios from scratch
Randomize Bonuses (optional depending on XML defined rules, that´s how Civ does it)
Ability to load a background image to allow "overpainting" a foto or whatever to create maps.
Undo
Redo
Ability to create an HTML description of a map
Delete a specific aspect of the whole map (e.g: just delete all BONUS_COW)
HotKeys to allow easier and faster work


And of course:
Anything else that helps you creating your scenarios in less time with more quality. I´m open for any idea!



8600+ Downloads (July 2007)

Hello fellow Civmen,

Version 0.2.3.1072 is out. Read the Changelog. (scroll down)

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE NEW VERSION: (edited for 0.2.3.1072)

Terrain can be write protected! So if nothing happens you probably try to paint on a write protected terrain type. (this protection is applied for terrain only, you can still place bonuses etc. on all fields)
You can still delete RailRoads even if you don´t see them yet
The StartingPositions are shown as dice since you can only add/delete those starting positions that are used when no special starting position is asigned for a particular civilization.


FAQ:

Q:MapView (0.2.3.1072) crashes when i try to load certain maps? Especially for maps created by other custom editors.
A: This is due to some syntax problems in the StartPlot-EndPlot Tag. Load and save the Map with Civ itself to fix the error.

Q:How can i create a new map?
A:You just can´t. Mapview is only able to edit existing maps. You need a working map to start using MapView. Use Civ or Junuxxs Atlas Project or something similar.

Q:Why can´t i place terrain?
A:That´s because you try to paint on terrain types that are write protected.
In the terrain selection toolbar you can right-click on a terrain type to toggle it´s write protection or or off.
EXAMPLE:
http://www.bindig.net/dunno/terrain_toolbar.jpg
Terrain editing is enabled, Tundra will be placed, desert and plains are write protected, coast, grassland and ocean can be overwritten.


Download/Versions
My main host will be down for an unknown time. I´ll provide the lastest release on my university mirror.
Pls excuse the downtime.


0.2.3.1072 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.2.3.1072.zip) Mirror (http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/MapView/MapView.0.2.3.1072.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/MapView/Screenshot.0.2.3.1072.jpg) (6218 downloads) (latest)
0.2.2.1048 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.2.2.1048.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.2.2.1048.jpg) (150 downloads) (was up-to-date 4d16h1min)
0.2.1.1002 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.2.1.1002.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.2.1.1002.jpg) (34 downloads) (was up-to-date 16h46min)
0.2.0.982 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.2.0.982.1.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.2.0.982.jpg) (47 downloads) (was up-to-date 1d6h12min)
0.1.5.589 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.1.5.589.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.1.5.589.jpg) (204 downloads) (was up-to-date 10d10h24min)
0.1.4.469 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.1.4.469.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.1.4.469.jpg) (105 downloads) (was up-to-date 2d17h33min)
0.1.3.452 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.1.3.452.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.1.3.452.jpg) (29 downloads) (was up-to-date 18h56min)
0.1.2.382 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.1.2.382.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.1.2.382.jpg) (39 downloads) (was up-to-date 16h25min)
0.1.1.349 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.1.1.349.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.1.1.349.jpg) (68 downloads) (was up-to-date 1d7h32min)
0.1.0.345 (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.1.0.345.zip) [ScreenShot] (http://www.bindig.net/MapView/Screenshot.0.1.0.345.jpg) (26 downloads) (was up-to-date 56min)

Total Downloads:6920 thanks-a-lot
People used the check-for-updates function 2539 times


Notes

My river parsing doesn´t care about floating direction yet so if you have ****ed up rivers they won´t be shown as ingame.
Rivers look horrible and have no deltas or sources, they just start and end and overlap and whatsoever. ;=) i´ll improve that, no worries.

http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/MapView/Screenshot.jpg


Planned Features (priority not in order)

Popup Menu with Terrain info on MouseOver showing terrain information (semi done)
Add the still not-shown stuff
Add ability to edit players/teams
Make it possible to create a new map
Mayb gather with "The Atlas Project" to a very comfortable Create+Edit program.
whatever you suggest (i m listening.. :) )



This project is inspired by the awesome "The Atlas Project" (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137749) by Junuxx

################################################## ######
CHANGELOG:


0.2.3.1072 (12.Dec 2005)

Added River placement and deleting (river creatin goes from source to mouth of the river)
Added neat river direction arrows for river crossing to keep track where rivers are floating to.
You can now add resources, forests/jungles and improvements without restrictions
Added "random" starting positions. Individual startpositions for Civilizations is not yet supported.
New Update Checker so you finally get links to access the download and the thread. Links are opened with the standard browser
Added an option to "allow/disallow editing of several categories at once". That way you can decide if you want only add or delete one item at once or if you want to be able to do several steps at once. Default is "disallowed" (one-by-one)
Added show/hide ice switch
Added snow to terrain edit functions. You can FINALLY place snow.
Changed the river-button icon.

0.2.2.1048 (8.Dec 2005)

Added all Improvements for editing, still requires "ImprovementType=" line in the source file
Added language depending Hints for resources and bonuses.
Exchanged buttons by menu control.
Added an exit menu item (junuxx ;))
Map is now read automatically after selecting the file.
Changed names of resource icons.

0.2.1.1002 (7.Dec 2005)

Added all Improvements
Improved the help
Tweaked the navigation to avoid easy misstakes and help you understand the system
Removed the listbox on the left side
All TerrainTypes are not write protected per default
You can now zoom in editmode (rightclick drag and move like it has always been)
Little MapView note will appear on Screenshots (sry :D )

0.2.0.982 (5.Dec 2005)

Introduced editing functionaility
Edit all terrains but snow
Delete Resources
Delete Routes (even if Railroads are not yet displayed)
Delete Improvements (even if only Farms are displayed)
Delete Forests/Jungle
Edit Plottype (flat, hilly, peak)
Add Resources (requires an existing "BonusType=*" line for plot)
Add Jungle/Forest (requires an existing "FeatureType=*" line for plot)
Farms are now displayed
Oases are now display
Update check feature implemented
Splitters for custom resizing inside the program window
Graphical statistics for terrain occurance.
started coding on dynamic contents which should be ready for foreign ressources, terrain types and whatever once it´s done. (thinking of mods)
Added help

0.1.5.589 (25.Nov 2005)

Added console support. You can now set MapView to be the default program to be used with *.wbs files if you double-click on a *.wbs file. It will automatically load and display the map. Thx vadus for the idea.
Added support feature type jungle.
Added peaks.
Scrollspeed now depending of the zoomfactor to make viewing easier. thx Junuxx for the hint.
Changed limits to 300k lines and modified dimensions to maximum 250x150.
Worked on the performance. Only tiles inside the window will be drawn. Still needs improvement tho.
Added x and y position indicator.
Now showing line of "BeginPlot" of the tile when you click it.
Lots of code improvements.
First steps to make this beeing able to work as an editor.
Added a marker to emphasize the tile that is currently marked/under the mouse.
When you left-click on a tile the corresponding Plot info will be shown in a text field. (even if you can type, you can´t edit yet)

0.1.4.469 (22.Nov 2005)

Added Rivers.
Added Woods.
Made a few neat buttons.
Screenshots are now saved as jpeg files.

0.1.3.452 (22.Nov 2005)

Resources are now shown.
Added a button to toggle them.
Changed texture format to *.tga in order to use transparency.

0.1.2.382 (21.Nov 2005)

Fixed issue about suffixing spaces crashing the program
Fixed issues that crashed the program when clicking certain Error messages
After a map is loaded it´s displayed center
Added some logging
Supports file with 100000 lines now (formerly 50000), dimensions are still 200x200
Added screenshot feature (*.bmp)

0.1.1.349 (19.Nov 2005)

Implemented TerrainFeature support and realized it for FEATURE_ICE
Ice fields now visible as ice
Added Texture for ice to "MapView\Textures" folder

0.1.0.345 (19.Nov 2005)

View *.Civ4Worldbuildersave map by terrain type using Texture files
Added Move, Zoom, Scroll ability to the OpenGL window
View source file line by line
Added listboxes for Player information
Added listboxes for map informations
Added listbox for game information
Added some basic syntax error checks

BeginTag before EndTag (BeginPlot is allowed to start Units and Cities)
Some checks on the coordinates in zterrain plot




################################################## ######
Known Issues:


0.2.2.1048

none (issues listed above)

0.2.1.1002

none (issues listed above)

0.2.0.982

none (issues listed above)

0.1.5.589

none

0.1.4.469

none

0.1.3.452

none

0.1.2.382

Program crashes on files bigger then 50000 Lines
Program may crash when the file is corrupt or has syntax error at important passages (working on it)
Program may crash when loading maps greater as 200x200 (will be fixed in next version)

0.1.1.349

Program crashes when file contains suffixing spaces
Program crashes on files bigger then 50000 Lines
Program may crash when the file is corrupt or has syntax error at important passages (working on it)
Program crashses when loading maps greater as 200x200 (will be fixed in next version)

0.1.0.345

Program crashes on files bigger then 50000 Lines
Ice fields may not be displayed as ice but as the terrain the ice is covering (FEATURE switch not yet supported)
Program may crash when the file is corrupt or has syntax error at important passages (working on it)
Program may crash when loading maps greater as 200x200


http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.Signature.jpg (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141622)

Interesting. Something along the same lines as this was mad for Civ3 CRpSuite (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=52902). I was wondering if you are going to incorporate Replay function for the map view also?

Good work Gr3yHound. Looking forward to playing around with it. :goodjob:

One thing I find odd in the screenshot: What's up with Greenland? Why does it seem to have a lake in the middle?

Woah I'm totally interested in this. Looking forward to taking a look.

thx for your interrest, i sadly have to tell you i´ll probably need some more time since i m struggling with making it running on remote computers.

Good work Gr3yHound. Looking forward to playing around with it. :goodjob:

One thing I find odd in the screenshot: What's up with Greenland? Why does it seem to have a lake in the middle?

that´s because all those fields are TERRAIN_COAST with the ice feature, i´ll change that soon, it´s really distrubing

I've been waiting for this thread to appear... way to go Gr3yHound! I shall patiently, but with much anticipation, await for its release (whether tonight or later).

Also, I noticed that you plan to "smooth" the map display. Would you consider making it an option? I prefer the blocky look myself, as it makes it easier to make out specific plots. It would be nice to toggle between a "blocky" and "smoothed" map though.

sure =)
you are the customer,

but anyway i m still developing the algorithm for it...i´ll start at the coast since coast interact with the fewest terraintypes.

First steps are to have all the info shown. it will probably take a while until hills, forrests and rivers work. Won´t do much before i managed this, at least if i m not getting 100 of requests for another point.

(btw. i´m pretty sure i managed the compartibility problems for remote users)

I know it´s not the purpose of this program, but it would be cool to make a map editor in 2D, so it would be really fast and easy to use...

I know it´s not the purpose of this program, but it would be cool to make a map editor in 2D, so it would be really fast and easy to use...

That´s of course the thing i hope to realise sometime.
I´ll immediately start on that once i m happy with displaying a finished map.

Most righteous! :rockon: This is the first step towards a bonafied map editor that won't take 30 seconds to add one tile on my computer...

:bump: because of the release, hf and report bugs and suggestions ;)

hf

Interesting. Something along the same lines as this was mad for Civ3 CRpSuite (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=52902). I was wondering if you are going to incorporate Replay function for the map view also?

I made a suggestion... or a suggestion in the form of a question. I am sure you could not have missed it considering I was the first one to post. :D

I made a suggestion... or a suggestion in the form of a question. I am sure you could not have missed it considering I was the first one to post. :D
ah yes sorry,
i didn´t really read what this replay program is but i think it´s something like the game summery where you are able to see when cities were founded or destroyed and stuff. If it´s like that i don´t think i´ll add something in the next time.

Top stuff.

So so impressed. Can you actually edit the WBS file with this or is it just a viewer of the WBS file?

Currently you can only view the map and the file, but an (at start only text based) edit option will be implemented quite soon. Just wait until i have a decent error checking system so a edit/fix option is necessary

thx for your interrest, keeps me motivated, no other replies yet?

Hey Gr3yHound!

I downloaded v 0.1.1.349. Looks pretty good! :goodjob:
Some things though:

* Very large maps don't fit on the screen
* Smaller maps aren't in the center of the screen
* What about an exit button? :)

Keep up the good work!

Gr3yHound, it looks really good. Several things I would hope to see in this.

1) What about a X\Y degree's(not so much degree's) but more like 10 20 30 40 50 and so forth for the graph points. At all edges of the map. ;)

2) How about the posibility to select and change civ's starting info. Like the technology or X/Y location.

Good work though :goodjob: , it's coming along nicely(once I figured you could move the map hehe)

Tbear2520

Hey Gr3yHound!

I downloaded v 0.1.1.349. Looks pretty good! :goodjob:
Some things though:

* Very large maps don't fit on the screen
* Smaller maps aren't in the center of the screen
* What about an exit button? :)


a) did you ever move the mouse while having the left or right mouse button pressed? this will zoom or scroll
b) yes i know, i ll center the maps after they were painted, but see a)
c) hm it´s a windows application..it should have the X button in the edge so you can close it like you close every program, do you really want a button?

Gr3yHound, it looks really good. Several things I would hope to see in this.

1) What about a X\Y degree's(not so much degree's) but more like 10 20 30 40 50 and so forth for the graph points. At all edges of the map. ;)

2) How about the posibility to select and change civ's starting info. Like the technology or X/Y location.

Good work though :goodjob: , it's coming along nicely(once I figured you could move the map hehe)

Tbear2520
1) like a ruler?
2) sure, but first i concentrate on displaying all aspects of the map, bonuses, ressouces, hills, forrest, there´s still much to do but i plan on supporting this point sometime

a) did you ever move the mouse while having the left or right mouse button pressed? this will zoom or scroll
b) yes i know, i ll center the maps after they were painted, but see a)
c) hm it´s a windows application..it should have the X button in the edge so you can close it like you close every program, do you really want a button?


a) Hadn't found the zoom function yet :D Still it would be great if the map was both centered and auto-scaled
b) well yeah, see a)
c) I think virtually every program has an in-application exit function. So not absolutely necessary, but sort of convention.

a) Hadn't found the zoom function yet :D Still it would be great if the map was both centered and auto-scaled

it´s like dragging in the View Window, Drag and move....i hope you´re just too dumb to get it so it means it´s no bug ;)

and btw. check your forum pms

Gr3yHound,

Yea like a ruler. Simple terminolgy. I guess I forgot the word. hehe And good to hear about my second point.

Sidenote: I passed out for a couple of hours and when I awoke I realized just how tired I am\was. LOL

TBear2520

I think that everyone who posts a map on this forum should from now on post an image of what it looks like in MapView! :cool:
Way better than a screenshot of the minimap, I'd say :)

I think that everyone who posts a map on this forum should from now on post an image of what it looks like in MapView! :cool:
Way better than a screenshot of the minimap, I'd say :)
:blush:
Don't know if off topic, But if one has a jpg, or GIF of great map is there a program that will convert it so it can be edited in Your great map view?

I think that everyone who posts a map on this forum should from now on post an image of what it looks like in MapView! :cool:
Way better than a screenshot of the minimap, I'd say :)

i can easily add the function to create a screenshot, will do that right now.

edit: done ;P

Map view is great but i wanna edit the map with Map View. So i can make some changes and stuff on it.

@All:
If you want to edit maps outside of Civ4 try YAME until a more sophisticated tool comes up: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141076

@Gr3yHound:
Good work. Hope you'll be able to edit the map soon. I'd be most interested in a replay function.

@panza105:
Have a look at the BMP to WBS converter: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=135740

hey,
0.1.3.452 is out.

finally added resources.

btw: is somebody actually using this? =)

hey,
btw: is somebody actually using this? =)

Whoa yeah, definitely :cool:
Resources do really look good :goodjob:

Me!

ngjfkldagnfkdla; <-ignore

Gr3yHound,

Yea like a ruler. Simple terminolgy. I guess I forgot the word. hehe And good to hear about my second point.

Sidenote: I passed out for a couple of hours and when I awoke I realized just how tired I am\was. LOL

TBear2520

i didn´t forget it =)

Hey!

It's even more rocking now! I like the forest sprite :)

3 things:

* Error checking doesn't seem to catch a lot of errors.. See the attached image for an example.

* If you're zoomed in quite close, the scrolls speed is really high.

* I was wondering.. Is it possible to make MapView accesible from the context menu of aa WBS file? I tried to open a wbs this way but it didn't work. Just look at the second screenshot, that should clarify what I mean/ It would be so cool and save a lot of time if you could add that.

:goodjob:

Junuxx

Jeeeyy!
I´m currently trying to make the performance better on Maps like 100x50 and higher where it starts to lag a bit on my maschine.



Hey!
* Error checking doesn't seem to catch a lot of errors.. See the attached image for an example.

yeah i know, it´s very basic. It´s pretty difficult to include all the things but i try to add things by the time. Working on it


* If you're zoomed in quite close, the scrolls speed is really high.

yeah, noticed that aswell. I´ll change that asap.


* I was wondering.. Is it possible to make MapView accesible from the context menu of aa WBS file? I tried to open a wbs this way but it didn't work. Just look at the second screenshot, that should clarify what I mean/ It would be so cool and save a lot of time if you could add that.

the feature is done, wait for the next release to use it.
And it doesn´t install the shell extension so you´ll have to set windows to open *.wbs files with mapview manually once.

When you say 100x50, do you mean a 80000 plot map or a 5000 plot map. Cause when I play over 45x30 it seems to lag a lot more. Like changing terrian take a long time and some times the map crashes. The largest map I made was 22000 plots total and was ok but crashed a few times.

Fenryial

100x50 means
grid width=100
grid height=50

so the maximum should be 200x200 = 40000 plots OR 100000 lines, whatever comes first. So the issues about your program crashing is most requently the amount of lines.
if it isn´t pls give me access to the file so i can see and debbug the program.
I´ll raise the linelimit in the next version and create checks on linecount so it wouldn´t crash anymore if you use uncompartible files.

i didn´t think about gridsize yet.

100x50 means
so the maximum should be 200x200 = 40000 plots OR 100000 lines, whatever comes first.

Each plot requires at least 5 lines.


BeginPlot
x=,y=
TerrainType=
PlotType=
EndPlot


So 20.000 plots alone would take 100.000 lines. Therefore I think that the 40.000 plot limit is rather pointless.

Btw: Great to hear you already adressed or noted the things I mentioned.

Each plot requires at least 5 lines.



So 20.000 plots alone would take 100.000 lines. Therefore I think that the 40.000 plot limit is rather pointless.

Btw: Great to hear you already adressed or noted the things I mentioned.

Jup you´re right. I´ll adjust that to equal up the limits. Until now i had more work with supporting basic stuff. And i still have to. But i´ll adjust those limits to match eachother and supply enought room for enought spaces.
I just learned something that will allow theoretical infinite support, but until this is implemented you´ll have to live with the limitations as they will in the next versions.

i m thinking of width*height*7 or something...i need to test that first.

thx for your thoughts

Jup you´re right. I´ll adjust that to equal up the limits. Until now i had more work with supporting basic stuff. And i still have to. But i´ll adjust those limits to match eachother and supply enought room for enought spaces.
I just learned something that will allow theoretical infinite support, but until this is implemented you´ll have to live with the limitations as they will in the next versions.

i m thinking of width*height*7 or something...i need to test that first.

thx for your thoughts

I'm not sure if 7 will be enough... Player and team info are more or less constant or at least limited, but unit info can grow pretty large. I think you might need to add a constant factor, or a multiplier for the number of cities and units on the map.

See this one plot from the American Revolution scenario:


BeginPlot
x=2,y=8
isNOfRiver
RiverWEDirection=1
RouteType=ROUTE_ROAD
TerrainType=TERRAIN_GRASS
PlotType=2
BeginUnit
UnitType=AMREV_UNIT_SPANISH_REGULAR, UnitOwner=2
Level=1, Experience=0
UnitAIType=UNITAI_CITY_DEFENSE
EndUnit
BeginUnit
UnitType=AMREV_UNIT_SPANISH_REGULAR, UnitOwner=2
Level=1, Experience=0
UnitAIType=UNITAI_CITY_DEFENSE
EndUnit
BeginCity
CityOwner=2
CityName=TXT_KEY_AMREV_CITY_NEW_ORLEANS
CityPopulation=2
ProductionUnit=AMREV_UNIT_SPANISH_REGULAR
BuildingType=BUILDING_PALACE
BuildingType=AMREV_BUILDING_TOWN_HALL
BuildingType=AMREV_BUILDING_CHURCH
Player2Culture=15
EndCity
EndPlot

Gr3yhound, we cannot thank you enough :)

However, I was wondering if you could set this to be able to view your maps in Civ3 graphics style? It shouldn't be that hard. Just change the current graphics set you have right now to the one in Civilization 3. if copyright issues are the matter, use one of the custom-made tilesets. Just a simple swapping thing, right? The isometric thing isn't hat much of a problem either, I think.

Gr3yhound, we cannot thank you enough :)

However, I was wondering if you could set this to be able to view your maps in Civ3 graphics style? It shouldn't be that hard. Just change the current graphics set you have right now to the one in Civilization 3. if copyright issues are the matter, use one of the custom-made tilesets. Just a simple swapping thing, right? The isometric thing isn't hat much of a problem either, I think.

tell me how!!! or more...where?
I was so busy adding stuff that i couldn´t examine the art package yet.
about the ressources, i m using the ones from the civelopedia to be sure ppl know what´s meant!

...and terrains pretty sucky screenshots of the actual ingame terrain atm.

you can help me a lot...i m a bit sad about the response anyways....i´m sure all of you already crashed the program yet and i only got 1 or 2 notifications....wellit´s probably the missing checks on the filesize that cause it but the more crashing files i get the earlier i see the need of fixes.

enjoy 0.1.5.589
read the changelog ;)

You say that your adding the ability to place resources. Does this mean that the Mapview will Write a saved file?

Hey tbear, seems you've missed the new thread about MapView becoming an editor: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144730

You say that your adding the ability to place resources. Does this mean that the Mapview will Write a saved file?
yes, in other words. You will be able to use it when you want to place the resources on the promised land. =)

I´ll give a list of the things that already work.

-Place all terrain types but snow
-overwrite all terrain types but snow
-terrain type write protection is user defined
-delete resources
-delete trees/jungle
-places trees/jungle on tiles that already have a FeatureType line
-delete routes
-delete improvements
-delete plottype (reset to 2)
-place plottypes (all but below sealevel, beloew sealevel is autoplaces for watterfields)
-a fill tool to replaces all terrain files of the same kind that are directly connected.

SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you like it!

PLEASE read the changelog and the release notes. It´s not idiot proof yet!

Gr3yHound, I downloaded your editor here to help finish my "The Promised Land" and I can't seam to place the resources. It should be working and ain't. I have only the write checked and the resources. Please review and advise. I can edit the terrain just the resources aren't working. The map does display a few resources I have put in through other means.

when editing the mountains for instance another check is put next to the mountains and it works. Yet with the resources no additional check is put in there. The resource does appear in the action box on the right top but the box of selecting the resource to edit doesn't put the check.:crazyeye:

Your editor looks very promising ;)

Also the edge seams to keep scrolling everytime I try to select a brush or what not. Keep battling for ground ;) I like the check for update. That rocks!

Gr3yHound, I downloaded your editor here to help finish my "The Promised Land" and I can't seam to place the resources. It should be working and ain't.

weird! I can easily add bonuses to the Map that can be downoaded from your Threads.

I just load the Map, check Pencil and Ressources and select a ressource, then Paint.

I have only the write checked and the resources. Please review and advise. I can edit the terrain just the resources aren't working.


In case you are absolutely sure you use the tools properly you should always have a look at the "current tile" tab and see if the line "BonusType=" is present in any way. Also for Forests and Jungles that require "FeatureType=". Atm MapView can only edit things if mapview doesn´t have to add lines, it can only modify atm.

currently there´s no extra check on the active ressource but you should see what will be done in the right upper edge..
You would require to have the pencil tool and the ressources you want to plant.


when editing the mountains for instance another check is put next to the mountains and it works. Yet with the resources no additional check is put in there. The resource does appear in the action box on the right top but the box of selecting the resource to edit doesn't put the check.:crazyeye:


I don´t really get what you mean.


Also the edge seams to keep scrolling everytime I try to select a brush or what not. Keep battling for ground ;) I like the check for update. That rocks!

Yeah the Scrolling is still a bit buggy and i´ll still see what i can do.
Basicly scrolling stops when you move the mouse on one of the 2 Toolbars. It looks like this procedure doesn´t work as good as we all wish.

I've tried it too but my problem is the opposite from tbear's.
I could place resources but couldn't figure out how to place or change terrain :(

The controls are a bit... confusing methinks. And the circle diagram doesn't appear like it should. See the screenshot.

But don't let this disencourage you! I think MapView is an awesome application and it sure promises to be a useful editor.

I've tried it too but my problem is the opposite from tbear's.
I could place resources but couldn't figure out how to place or change terrain :(

That´s very likely the write protection.
When you have terrain checked and you hover over the terrain button you´ll get a list of all currently supported Terrain tiles. At start all will show a red cross mean (as descriped in the help panel of the program).

When you select 1 type of terrain (let´s say grassland) you´ll have 1 terrain type showing a green check and all others have the red cross. This means you have grassland selected but since all other terrain types are writeprotected (red cross) you can´t place terrain.

To toggle the write protection of a terrain type go to the terrain panel and do a right click on all terrains you want to change the write protection for.

As example: Start Mapview, toggle on terrains, then do a leftclick on grassland and rightclicks on all terrain types but ocean and coast.
Now you´ll place grassland on all land terrain types.

(i´ll better change the default setting so you´ll overwrite all terrain types by default and can change that later on request)

EXAMPLE:
http://www.bindig.net/dunno/terrain_toolbar.jpg
Terrain is enabled, Tundra will be placed, desert and plains are write protected, coast, grassland and ocean can be overwritten.


The controls are a bit... confusing methinks. And the circle diagram doesn't appear like it should. See the screenshot.

Yep i already guessed that, but i worked a bit with it now and it really feels good and it can be very comfortable since you can do several things at once.
Basicly just take care of the tool you currently use and which of the main switches are on or off. (see action toolbar in the right upper corner).

About the screenshot. Between the Map and the upper area is a splitter that allows you to change the size of the elements. The same goes for the gap between the listbox to the left and the map window.
(you might have noticed my screenshot for the release didn´t look like your screen when you started mapview. That´s because i resized the Map Window to fill the whole area.)

And the damn circle diagrams ;) they just suck, i m definately not happy with them but i think they supply nice information so i think about keeping them. Just resize the field so the circles will fit.


But don't let this disencourage you! I think MapView is an awesome application and it sure promises to be a useful editor.


LIIIIES!! LIESSSS!! I AMMMMM ZIIIIMMMMM!!! ;)

nah, just kidding, it´s actually nice to hear that, thanks again.

I´ll always try to improve the handling of the program.
It´s just pretty hard to make a program have powerful features and still remain easy. I think it´s pretty strong that you can delete routes, improvements, bonuses, plottype etc. so it surely becomes a bit difficult but basicly it´s pretty easy. i´ll see what i can do to make things clearer.

Gr3yHound, well now my problems placing resources have changed a bit with the latest version you have out currently. MapView.0.2.2.1048.zip

It's actually pretty funny. Well the x now becomes a check when selecting the resource, but placing them is a little off. It places them at the correct X\Y location but only at locations where I already have a resource located(manually added using a bonus.bmp file during map creation). For instance it will change wine into gold. But not a empty sqaure next to the wine(which is now gold). hahaha. Lots of gold in there hills. LOL

Oh I also found the holding down the right mouse button to zoom in and out. Very nice :goodjob:

Tbear2520

great work this will allow others to create maps far easer and faster than befor meaning more fun stuff for everyone to get their hands on.

It places them at the correct X\Y location but only at locations where I already have a resource located(manually added using a bonus.bmp file during map creation). For instance it will change wine into gold. But not a empty sqaure next to the wine(which is now gold). hahaha. Lots of gold in there hills. LOL


As menitioned several times in the main thread, this is known and i hate it myself. It´going deep into my current parsing system so i need to take care when i change something.

good to hear you like

Add Resources (requires an existing "BonusType=*" line for plot)


Got-it. Sorry didn't see that at first

Tbear2520

;) Jup

My reply might sound a bit rude, don´t take it as such.

hello everybody,
i m just about to add ice and snow features and i m wondering what i should do with ice.
Ice is a feature but i think ice is some kind of bad terrain so i m thinking abot adding it to the same toolbar with all "other" terrain types.

what do you think?

Nobody interessted?

I´ve another question since i m just trying to add rivers.

I´ve an idea how to realize river placing:

You press the terrain field that should be the source of the river.
Then you navigate the river with the arrow keys until you ...

reach a coast
merge with another river
abort the thing by pressing enter (the river will end in a small lake that isn´t coast) (i could make an automatically created coast field be placed at the end of the river if you want to have it like this)

or

you do the same with 4 buttons somewhere that you press to create a rivertile floating in the pressed direction.


for both ideas (i´ll prolly end up doing both variants ;) ) i´ll make the riverfield be delete when you press into the opposite direction as you came from -><- = 0



i think about navigation like this worm game where you have to "eat" those little sqaures (this c64 game, you know?)

whatcha think?

btw: i already added full support for bonus, improvement, and forest/jungle placing so you can really start from an empty map and you don´t need any special source files anymore.

I agree that ice can better be grouped with terrain than with forest. Its a peculiar feature anyway. Ice on water can only appear on coast, on ocean it's ignored. Ice on land comes in two types:Terrain type Snow is called Ice in-game, and the feature ice sucks because it makes land impassable.

About rivers: I think that ideally, there wouldnt be dragging etc. Just click a square to make it a river, and it is automatically matched to the rivers in adjacent squares.

jup that´s how i tried to make it. like driving the river where it should go. YOu act as the river and move where you wanna go. Like the worm game...i like the idea. clicking fields suxx since it doesn´t make clear in which direction you wanna have the river

I just finished a very valueble update.

Most important new thing is the ability to edit any map, no matter what content it has. (well, still has to be a valid wbs file ;) but that should be no problem)

All changes can be seen here.

hf with the new version, it´s the first version with real power.

0.2.3.1072 (12.Dec 2005)

Added River placement and deleting (river creatin goes from source to mouth of the river)
Added neat river direction arrows for river crossing to keep track where rivers are floating to.
You can now add resources, forests/jungles and improvements without restrictions
Added "random" starting positions. Individual startpositions for Civilizations is not yet supported.
New Update Checker so you finally get links to access the download and the thread. Links are opened with the standard browser
Added an option to "allow/disallow editing of several categories at once". That way you can decide if you want only add or delete one item at once or if you want to be able to do several steps at once. Default is "disallowed" (one-by-one)
Added show/hide ice switch
Added snow to terrain edit functions. You can FINALLY place snow.
Changed the river-button icon.

Cool! I'll check it out right away.
Remember Civ's great start location disfunctionality though: you might want to add a reference to DefaultPlayersTweaker in the readme :D

Junuxx

Cool! I'll check it out right away.
Remember Civ's great start location disfunctionality though: you might want to add a reference to DefaultPlayersTweaker in the readme :D

Junuxx

hhee, hm i did try it. the "startingplot" thing in the plot does only make the field relevant for the auto placement if there are no special assigned starting positions. And if there are especially asigned starting positions for the civilizations there is no need of "startingplot" in the plot definition. (thx dale, the indepth look to a wbs file is MY reference)

i´ll probably add a nice link collection sometime when i don´t feel like doing something difficult BUT do feel like improving mapview ;)

Thx ainwood,
thread was moved to utilities and got a better name. Thx again.

LIIIIES!! LIESSSS!! I AMMMMM ZIIIIMMMMM!!!

... I got that reference :P

Also, will you be adding a resize feature to this tool anytime soon? I need to crop/resize a map in order to take advantage of its awesomeness... but no go apparently... *sigh*

i can add the resizing functionailty pretty quick.
Total creation of a new map will follow aswell, just not so quick.
After you can place ice can be placed and railroads are shown i can go deeper into the editing pleasures you are all seeking.

Oh please please please add the resize!

I'd love to be able to change this map to just a section of it!

Quick Grr, ride the pig!

done, at least the part of making it smaller. You can define the first plot and x and y size. So if you´d like to pseude resize it to the same size enter
"value of grid width"
"value of grid height"
"0"
"0"

does that sound good? Mayb i´ll add something neat like a scissor later so you could even copy paste parts of the map and move them arround for duplication purpose or so. But as i write i lose the mood since it sounds difficult ;D

Haven´t done the checks for the player starting positions yet. But you´ll have to wait at least until tuesday night (GMT) to access it, sry ;|

I love this show!

http://www.bindig.net/MapView/misc/resize.jpg

Haha, my little brother and I bought all the episodes and watched them marathon style. It was the best thing ever. Thanks so much for doing this so fast!

Now its time to fix that map... BOOOOOORIIIIIIIITOOOS!

err... htf do you do that? ...oh, you must not have included it yet... bugger a walrus, thats annoying.

Two things I noticed with version 0.2.3:

- At some zoom levels, hills and mountains disappear. More rarely, forests and jungles vanish too.
- Resources obscure underlying features. I.e., silk on grass+hills+forest is displayed as silk on grass

For the rest: Good job :goodjob:

Wow, this is a great program! I've been fooling around with it for a few hours and you've shaved litterally DAYS of build time off my map project. I do have a few questions and suggestions, though.

Does the current version support the painting/erasing of Flood Plains and Oasis features? I can't find that anywhere. If this is something to be added in the future, may I suggest renaming the Tree/Jungle tool to Terrain Features and adding Flood Plain and Oasis buttons there?

It's nice to be able to see the text windows at the top of the screen, but is there a way to edit that text directly in MapView? That would be a lot more convenient than switching back and forth between MapView and Notepad.

A mild annoyance is that the Save function adds redundant file extensions. It appends another ".Civ4WorldBuilderSave" to the end of the filename, even it it's already there. There are several ways to work around this, but it would be nice if that get's fixed once you get all the important stuff out of the way. :p

I've also seen the vanishing act mentioned by Junuxx, but only on my laptop with a GeForce Go 460 chip (and somewhat older drivers). I don't experience it on my desktop with the 6800GT (and current drivers).

Anyway, you've done great work on this program. Thanks a ton!

Two things I noticed with version 0.2.3:

- At some zoom levels, hills and mountains disappear. More rarely, forests and jungles vanish too.



I've also seen the vanishing act mentioned by Junuxx, but only on my laptop with a GeForce Go 460 chip (and somewhat older drivers). I don't experience it on my desktop with the 6800GT (and current drivers).

Anyway, you've done great work on this program. Thanks a ton!

yep, unfortunately i´ve no idea why the layers disappear, i already tried double buffering but it couldn´t get better ;/
I´ll see what i can do.


- Resources obscure underlying features. I.e., silk on grass+hills+forest is displayed as silk on grass



hm? I don´t understand what you mean. grass+hills+forest is displayed as grass+hills+forest for me.


Does the current version support the painting/erasing of Flood Plains and Oasis features? I can't find that anywhere. If this is something to be added in the future, may I suggest renaming the Tree/Jungle tool to Terrain Features and adding Flood Plain and Oasis buttons there?

Yes, that´s correct, FloodPlains are not supported yet, and an Oasis can only be shown atm. I´ll probably put all Features together in 1 Toolbar.


It's nice to be able to see the text windows at the top of the screen, but is there a way to edit that text directly in MapView? That would be a lot more convenient than switching back and forth between MapView and Notepad.


Yup can be done


A mild annoyance is that the Save function adds redundant file extensions. It appends another ".Civ4WorldBuilderSave" to the end of the filename, even it it's already there. There are several ways to work around this, but it would be nice if that get's fixed once you get all the important stuff out of the way. :p


Yeah annoyed me aswell, i already fixed it for the new version.

Ah, nevermind about the resource 'problem'.
As you can see in the accompanying screenshots, resources seemed to appear only on featureless squares.
But after closer examination it turned out to be specific to this map, it's definitely not MapViews fault :lol:

good to hear ;)

Gr3yHound, It's so good to see resources working now. I haven't been around much lately but it's good to see this. I reimaged my PC this weekend and installed your app. It warned me that I didn't have Civ4 installed. Never saw that before, but I like. Well got to go. Good Job :goodjob:

;)
haha, nice to hear from you tbear. Me like.

I haven´t found much time to add more stuff in the meanwhile but i certainly plan on keep on improving. Especially since there´re still some very essential things to do like proper FeatureyType control and some Features in general.

greetz

i'm very pleased to find your work! amazing!!!!
very usefull!

a sugestion : what about adding a copy/paste?
what for is the menu "language"? do you need translation?

:goodjob:

i'm very pleased to find your work! amazing!!!!
very usefull!

a sugestion : what about adding a copy/paste?
what for is the menu "language"? do you need translation?

:goodjob:

when you hover over the buttons in the improvement/bonuses toolbar you get language depending hints.
I´ll see about copy paste. Currently doing something pretty similar.

when you hover over the buttons in the improvement/bonuses toolbar you get language depending hints.


thx but the language doesn't change. i did not found any file with any languages
:crazyeye:

thx but the language doesn't change. i did not found any file with any languages
:crazyeye:

MapView is looking for the Civ4 registry entry and if present, navigating to /Assets/XML/Text/cant_remember_xml and reading the corresponding names of the bonuses and improvements. It only appears when you hover over a specific item in the Improvement/Bonus toolbar in pencil mode.
http://www.bindig.net/MapView/misc/MapView.languagehints.jpg

Is it really not working?

I keep getting an error when loading a map: Externe exception EEFFACE

Is this 1.52 patch related?

i think this could occur if the map has more lines then MapView reserved for storing. Am i right that the map is huge?
I guess the file has 250 000+ lines and thatfore the program crashes.

Unfortunately there´s nothing you can do atm.

I fixed my problem. It wasn't file size... I was using another map editor, and the plot types were written thusly:

BeginPlot
x=62,y=17
PlotType=2
TerrainType=TERRAIN_PLAINS
EndPlot

Whereas yours (and other programs) list as:

BeginPlot
x=62,y=17
TerrainType=TERRAIN_PLAINS
PlotType=2
EndPlot

So PlotType being in a different order of listing for the plot causes it to be unable to load the map into your program.

I fixed the problem by loading the save file into Worldbuilder, and saving it... it reconfigured the plot info to the normal sequence which your program could read.

All ok now.

hmm, that´s an unnecessary error, i´ll see if i can fix that

Gr3yhound,
I've been using your editor for my map project and my question is, are your map coordinates correct for game purposes of starting locations? If I crack the worldbuildersave and put in the civs will the coordinates of the map view be correct to use?

Hi,
as i understood it there are 2 kind of starting positions.

a) spots that will be used for random assigned starting positions, that´s what you can currently place with mapview. If you create such a starting location with mapview a random civ will spawn at one of those. That´s why i chose the dice symbol for those starting locations since you can never tell which Civ will spawn on which position.

b) Explicit starting positions, those are no supported by MapView atm. They are defined in the team or player region of the worldbuildersave file. You can manually add them with wordpad and this fields doesn´t require one of those starting positions that can be placed by MapView

I hope i could help.

Great work.

Requests:
Clear all resources button. (Useful for redistributing resources on say... an earth map.)
Support for oasis/fallout/flood plains (but I'm sure you were already gonna add that in.)
Ability to edit all the info that comes up in the tabs, as if by text editor (and then have the changes reflected in the map if necessary.

good stuff!

What my question was...
If I see a location in MapView and I copy those Coordinates, and then I open the worldbuilder save document.... Are the coordinates that I copied going to to be the correct ones that I place in the worldbuildersave document?

sure ;)
the coordinates in the upper left corner are the actual coordinates in civ coordinates. You can also see the content of this plot in the "Current Tile" Tab.

Great utility and very helpful for doing maps.

I'd like to suggest an enhancement that you might want to consider...

I do maps pixel by pixel... I generally resize maps to a size... say 1000x800 pixels, for example, and set the grid so every 10 square pixels equals one civ map square. I use your utility to make maps, and it does that very well, only I'm running into a little difficulty due to the fact that the civ coordinates run bottom to top, while the pixel coordinates in paint programs run top to bottom. Therefore, in order to create maps that are right-side up, I've got to flip my map upside down so that the pixel coordinates read the same as civ map coordinates... this is cumbersome to say the least, and makes matching the finished map to the original template difficult.

I don't know if other people make maps this way. Anyway, if there were an option to display coordinates top to bottom it would make my life, and possibly other's easier, and certainly simplify mapping.

Thanks again for the great utility.

Craig,
I use Paint Shop to View my 1000 x 1000 maps. I put on the grid to show segments of 10 x 10 grid. So when I view the maps with the grid turned on , I get a 100 x 100 map.

What I do is copy the map to large sgheets of graph paper, so I can correct any changes with a pencil. Then I just copy that map into the mapview, so Coordinates are not at issue. No need to turn the map upside down. Just copy by hand as you would see the map.

hi,
unfortunately i haven´t done anything in the last weeks because a lack of motivation and time. I already thought about features that would make map-creating easier....

my idea was a feature where you could load any picture into mapview and it becomes streched to fit the map size. It would be 50% transparent or something (mayb a toggle key etc.) and you just had to over paint your template to create a matching civ map.

I hope i can find a few hours to still include some very essential tools and features that can help mappers to save a few hours of work.

That would be perfect for the way I make maps, anyway. I know another utility on this forum does the transparent bmp thing too, and I've used it to good effect. As it uses NET, I've run into some bugs for some unknown reason, with the program, and can't use it anymore due to errors of some sort cropping up. I hope you can implement it in your utility as well.

Are you doing anything in the direction of expanding your map utility to editing functions? I know that was your intent... any hints as to possible features?

Thanks, Flash, for your advice on mapping. Your method is a little too labour intensive for me, although I'm sure it produces great maps. I prefer to forego paper mapping, and go directly from bmp/jpg to map, and am too used to this method to change. I don't see how the use of graph paper solves the coordinate problem, except for allowing labeling of coordinates on the paper... it seems a lot of work, though, and I'll keep flipping my map until something better comes along... I'm a little dense/obtuse I guess :).

Once again, though, great utility, and I hope continued improvements are in the pipeline.

Thanks

Are you doing anything in the direction of expanding your map utility to editing functions? I know that was your intent... any hints as to possible features?


yeah, i can´t run the program neither, i don´t even know how good it is compared to mapview etc.

But nice to heat the transparent picture idea seems to be "perfect" as you say.


Once again, though, great utility, and I hope continued improvements are in the pipeline.


Yep, we´ll see, currently i m kinda busy finding myself a new university so i get a weird feeling when i do things that are "leisure" stuff.

Works grreat for worldbuilder files.

In an update would you be able to add the ability to edit more items in worldbuildirsaves map and get a zome feature for the map so it will be easier to place items.

Last on my wish is that you could change the map to read and save a Civ4.save file so aPBEMs could be easily edited before starting the game on its way.

At the moment all I have is the ability to create a MOD then while it is running make the PBEM.

a) you can zoom by pressing the right mouse key and moving the mouse.
b) sorry, as far as i know it´s not possible to save a map as civ4save (yet?)
c) edit more items? how do you mean? Like custom ressources etc.?
atm you can almost edit/delete/add anything that comes with civ4. (railroads, oasis, fallout) are the main things that aren´t supported yet. Well, you cannot see/delete/add units or citys/city buildings.

asdfghjkll

soryy but where can i find the file to download it? i can't find it in the first thread!

soryy but where can i find the file to download it? i can't find it in the first thread!

This is the link you need: http://www.bindig.net/MapView/MapView.0.2.3.1072.zip

It's in the versions list.

Gr3yHound, I hope to hear some news from you soon! You haven't stopped working on your program, have you?

;) i didn´t really stop, i just put it on ice atm....

This program isn't any better than the map editor within Civ4.

Is there something I'm missing?

This program isn't any better than the map editor within Civ4.

Is there something I'm missing?

idk, i don´t use it, i coded it, ask the others.

This program isn't any better than the map editor within Civ4.

Is there something I'm missing?

*The program loads faster
*Maps load faster
*Zooming is faster
*Editing is faster
*Scrolling is faster
*MapView has a filling tool
*MapView gives you cool statistics

*The program loads faster
*Maps load faster
*Zooming is faster
*Editing is faster
*Scrolling is faster
*MapView has a filling tool
*MapView gives you cool statistics

1. Map does load faster.

2. Zooming is the same speed. I think zooming is better on the in-game editor.

3. Editing is the same speed.

4. Scrolling is the same speed.

5. The filling tool does have an advantage, but is it used?

6. Statistics are a good idea.

Overall, I think the in-game editor wins it as the graphics are "what you see is what you get" whereas the MapView graphics can be misleading, especially with rivers, mountains and hills.

The in-game editor works better for me even than the Civ 3 map editor (except of course you cannot change the XML files while in the in-game editor).

Criticism is a key to success. Sorry Greyhound.

Well, I don't know what kind of pc you're on, but many people can hardly edit a huge map with the in-game editor, unless they take 10 minutes per tile. Zooming out can also be extremely laggy if you don't have a high-end video card.

256 Mb graphics with 2 Gb RAM.

Well, that explains ;)
I have 1 GB of RAM and a 128MB graphics card, and I notice a huge speed difference in the things I mentioned. Also, if I just want to take a quick look at a map, or just want to take a screenshot, I don't want to waste time by firing up Civ 4. MapView loads in, like, 3 seconds, while civ takes at least 10 times as much time, I guess.

MapView 0.2.3.1072 crashes when I try to open a map of size 217x119 tiles (132990 lines, 1.91 MB). It gives me a dialog box with the message

"Externe exception EEFFACE"

I close the dialog box, but it keeps re-appearing. I don't think there's anything wrong with the WBS file, because I can open it in another editor and use it in Civ4.

Any ideas? Is there still a limit on the file size, or on the number of lines in a file?

thanks

- Dan

hmm, sounds as it would break a limit here but usually you should be able to run 250x150 maps with up to 300000 lines. I think it´s been like that in 0.2.3

sorry can´t help you atm, you could just make the map smaller and edit it and then copy the stripped parts pack in.

Doesn't answer my needs in map drawing (I do it as a BMP first and then convert it to WBS), but it's perfect for resource, starting point and river placement. Has made my modding life so much more easier :D

hmm, sounds as it would break a limit here but usually you should be able to run 250x150 maps with up to 300000 lines. I think it´s been like that in 0.2.3

sorry can´t help you atm, you could just make the map smaller and edit it and then copy the stripped parts pack in.

FYI:

Turned out that MapView can't directly read maps which were created using kswoll's map maker (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144414). I had to open it up in the Civ4 WorldBuilder and save it, then I was able to open it normally.

oh ;(

could you pls host a map that was created by kswoll´s map maker for me please since i can´t get the program to run and create one on my own.

I already asked for it and i think i should know what exactly the issue is but if i had a file the whole process would be easier to make, and it wouldn´t be all abstract.

could you pls host a map that was created by kswoll´s map maker for me please since i can´t get the program to run and create one on my own.

Attached to this post should be a WBS file made with kswoll's program -- it's 10x10 tiles, all grassland. I tried opening it with MapView and it gave me the exception I posted earlier.

Let me know if you need anything else.

- Dan

Is there any way for a quick fix that will display things in Civ3 Graphics?

Is there any way for a quick fix that will display things in Civ3 Graphics?

just look into the gfx folder, you can just replace those files to your requirements.

Oh, I didn't noticed that. This is great :)

But the view still isn't isometric, which I guess is impossible.

Grey Hound, any new ideas on fixing the issue of crashing when importing a map previously done by Kswoll's Civ4Editor?
Your program is essential for the TWC's maps ;)

What happens with the created additional ressources, does the editor pick them up for using?

Thanks
Houman

Thanks for that programm, i use it to complete my maps i created with the BMPtoWBS file convertor.
I want to ask you if there will be a new version and what changes would be included?

atm i can´t spend a single minute on the program and i m really sorry because of that. Especially the issue with kswoll his program should be fixed.

About the ressources, i´ve already thought about that problem when i started to code so some parts of the problem are already in the code but it´s not ready to use custom resources yet.

A workarround could mayb be to place a very rare bonus (like uranium) in a first rush and then use a txt editor and replace all uraniums by a new resource. Then reload the map and repeat that until you got all your ressources done. As last add the actual uranium bonuses.

And Bengee,
if i will release another version soon it will contain support for kswolls program and cropping. Furthermore (again IF i found time again) i´ll try to realize some custom stuff like custom ressources or so. But that´s not very likely to be happen. One thing i´ll definately do is cleaning up the sourcecode so i can release it and one of you guys can go on with it.
But whenever you use MapView, give the update checker a chance, he will notify you once i release something suprisingly anyway ;)

You're a SUPERSTAR!, just make sure the program accepts maps >360x160;) . For we need it for the project!

wtf?! are you working @ nasa? =)

are you working @ nasa?
:lol: :lol: :lol: It's what we are doing in TWC team. Making big maps, so will it be possible for you to make your program accept this size of maps? :lol:

Where can I download this program ?

Where can I download this program ?
Go to the first post buddy.

Since a few days I'm using this MapView editor. Using YAME for basic map creation and MapView for anything further like resources and terrains, just a perfect combination.:goodjob:
Now I'm having a problem: when play on maps I have edited with MapView the game crashes very often saying something about a lack of video memory. I have all details turned down and never had this problem before. My Specs: Pentium Mobile 1.7 Ghz, Ati R 9700 M 64 Ram, 512MB Ram. Game also crashes on small maps and in ancient or medieval ages.:confused:

Maybe your maps are too big. Your computer is not very powerful. Try around 84 x 52, the size of a standard map.

How can I put the starting locations with this Map Editor?:confused:

How can I put the starting locations with this Map Editor?:confused:

the dices represent strating locations,
but...they only mark fields that are considered when the teams are placed into the map. In other words...you cannot say that a certain Team will start at a certain spot with mapview. You can only define a bunch of starting fields and when you play the map a random team will be there.

You can define starting positions manually....see http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=135669

Any info about any coming update of MapView? Gr3y Hound? ;)

How do I add roads?

This may qualify as a dumb question but.... how do I zoom?!?

I've been using the program for a while now to view maps that I create by converting BMP files, but try as I might I never managed to find a way to zoom to get the view shown in the screenshots. Would be nice for seeing peaks and hills etc...

hold right click and move the mouse.

Now answer mine!

Sorry, you can´t add roads.

Tyranausaurus: Don´t rely on it. I´m moving these days and i do have so much things to do.

Since a few days I'm using this MapView editor. Using YAME for basic map creation and MapView for anything further like resources and terrains, just a perfect combination.

Maps I make in YAME cannot be loaded in mapview. anyone know why, or how to fix this? I get the following message: 'Extreme exceptiin EEFACE' which will not go away, must ctrl+alt+del mapview. very annoying as i like both editors.
(i can get around the problem by loading the YAME map into civ and resaving it through the in game editor, then mapview will load it.
very puzzeling

Is Gr3yhound still working on this?

Is 250 X 125 the biggest possible map size?

To zoom - hold r mouse and move up and down.

Save format. I have delt with the same thing and what I had to do was open the new map with C4EV2 and then save it.

This allowed it to be read by MV.

For roads You will have to use BMP to WBS.

Hey, i´m lucky you guys help each other out since i m currently not into MapView. I feel like doing some improvements sooner or later but i can´t find the time at the moment. I´m sorry for that.

MapView is currently able to theoretically open maps up to 250x150 tiles or 300,000 lines, whatever comes first.

on roads you can use C4EV2 to edit maps and add Roads, Railroads and Rivers. it is just more tedious since it is done one block at a time.

Gr3yHound,

As an update, It had an error when I zoomed out too much or tried to work too far to the right.

So, I had to give up on the map project, much too my disappointment.

hm? big map, not much ram?

never heart of that before, sorry for that.

But i know that, you don´t expect such stuff to happen and trust in something. I´ve lost lotsa work too already. Sry again.

But thanks for the info. I´ll remember that for the case that i recoded on the project again some day.

Gr3yhound,

When I would scan too much of the map (250 x 125) or if I open the 256 x 128 map i get the following error:

Extreme Exception EEFFACE

Oh I just increased my RAM to 1.5 GB and added a 256 MB Video card.

Well, I would very much prefer to use your editor, but until I can, I have to use kswoll's editor.

I was just going to post on same problem Flash, but the fix is actually in main post. Prob something to do with formating characters of other editors.

Anyway, easy fix -> right click the worldbuilder file and launch Civ4 to auto open. Start a game, enter worldbuilder, save map over the old one.

Strips out the bad formatting at that point. Should get rid of error.

icewall,
I foundout that my map was actually too big for MapView so I switched editors. But thank you just the same. The original map was started in MapView.

:crazyeye: np i noticed how old your post was after.

This forum crawls in any case. :sleep:

I like this tool however.

Gr3yHound,

could you add the option to load Warlords maps (*.CivWarlordsWBSave)?

The program also does not work for me with a 287*113 map, but it is a Warlords map, where I have just changed the file type.

you can drag&drop a *.civ4warlordswbsave on mapview.exe and it will load, but you couldn't save it as a warlords-wb, just as a civ4 one.
but that's also no problem: just rename it then from *.civ4worlbuildersave to *.civ4warlordswbsave

i think the dimension of the map is to large for mapview. if i remember correctly anywhere in the thread should be the max dimension mapview can handle.

Does the MapView error checking feature really work ? It doesn't show any errors on my scenario, but it doesn't work when i try to play it -_-

Civ Scenarios dont work for Warlord.

As far as working I could not say.

Civ Scenarios dont work for Warlord.

As far as working I could not say.
But i don't have Warlords!

Does the MapView error checking feature really work ? It doesn't show any errors on my scenario, but it doesn't work when i try to play it -_-

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

Erm well, the error checking is very basic. It doesn´t handle much errors so don´t rely on it. It just checks some very basic errors like the order of startplot -> endplot -> startplot.

So as summery, no it works (if it shows no errors it certainly means there aren´t any errors)

Hey, cool editor.

1. Why doesn't the location of cities show up?
2. How do you place and add cities.

My Host is currently down. I´ll see how i can get a mirror for the lastest Version asap.

Pls excuse the downtime.

Hey, cool editor.

1. Why doesn't the location of cities show up?
2. How do you place and add cities.


1&2: Cities are not supported in the lastest version. As i went through the developing procedure i mainly concentrated on making it easier to design maps, not develop scenarios.

Hi i am having a problem with mapview. for some reason i can not view the map cant see anything its just all gray. and is there anyway to have mapview view and edit warlords maps. by the way i am not trying to view a warlord map its a regular civ4 map

its says succesfully closed i dont why this is

I had a simular problem onece and hade to open with World Painter, Save, open with MV.

Hi,

when you read a map view MapView, it opens the file, reads all the stuff and then closes the file again. (fclose();) So that log message just tells you the read process has been completed. It doesn´t give any information about the validity of the map. It would even appear if you´d try to open a renamed *.mp3 file or so ;) (but mapview itself might crash ;) never tried)

About the greyish, i never experienced that, but, as ForesterSOF suggested, loading and saving the Map with another tool is very often THE WAY to fix such things. Especially the CIV4 Map editor itself is very well suited for fixing such problems. Just fire up Civ, load the map, save it again and then try to open that map in MapView.

Nevertheless, if you experience problems with any kind of Map, just attach it to the post so i can see what´s wrong with it.


So long guys,

merry xmas and a happy new year

Questions...
1. Why does moving the map around have to be so damn annoying? It feels like the editor is drunk. Moves a little bit, stops, then moves too much.

2. How do I zoom in? This thing is pointless if I'm too far out to see what's on the tiles, much less edit them.

To zoom, hold the right mouse button down while the courser in on the map, and drag down... to zoom out, drag up.

You'll find moving the map around will be easier once you zoom in.

To zoom, hold the right mouse button down while the courser in on the map, and drag down... to zoom out, drag up.

You'll find moving the map around will be easier once you zoom in.
thanks. next version around might be helpful to include a help file for the controls and buttons (as these are unlabeled)

can you make it work with warlords?

reading ... :)


I´m working on something....but....veryvery slowly

this is good to hear, we need more editors with more power. this editor, as it is, needs little added, and is indispensable to modders. please add more features, or even do something crazy like incorporate the bmp-WBS python script! and make it easier to edit all aspects of the map files. oh yeah and make it compatible with Warlords! oh yeah, and get ready to make it compatible with the new expansion coming out eventually!!

I´m totally rewriting the whole concept anyways so the user side abilities to add recognized ressources, troups, cities and their buildings should be possible by easily adding information to an xml file, mayb even realized to be done inside the application idk. That should prolly fix a lot of the current compartibility problems.

what would you think about adding the python script to convert bitmaps to maps?

That´s stuff i always wanted to have in MapView but never did.
But it´s pretty on top of my list so once i rewrote the current part i´ll definately concentrate on features that make map creation much more easier. Things like copy-paste, undo, redo, resize, rotoscope and of course some kind of bmp->wbs conversion.

The first step is to allow user defined terrains/units/ressources/improvements ... so all you need to do to support a new ressource or so is to simply add it to a mapview config file. With this done the tool should be pretty up-to-date for ever since you can basicly keep it up to date by yourself.

very nice bro. let me know when you need to beta test it :D

very nice bro. let me know when you need to beta test it :D

I could need some help indeed.

You, or anyone else could host some really nasty savegames so i can see how good the maps are displayed.

thx

damn that means i have to play civ4??! i've been modding for at least four months solid everyday, and the only game i played of civ4 was the SGOTM...3 i think.
.
.
:p

haha no,
what i need is any kind of maps to check compartibility to other editors and see how it reacts on unknown info like custom units, bonus fields etc.

hey bro, click the first link in my signature! i used your original on the map, but then later manually added the units and the rest in worldbuilder.

oh yeah, this version will kick ass ;D

just tweaking the jpeg convertion tool, that´s how good it works so far, not so optimized yet but it should already save you much time creating the basic shape of landmasses.

And since i don´t intent do be as good as the bmp->wbs converter i´m already pretty happy with it.
http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/Stuff/jpgwbs1.jpg

http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/Stuff/jpgwbs2.jpg

http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/Stuff/jpgwbs3.jpg

Looking good.

yes this is very nice!! and it jpgs are easier on me than BMPs. im glad you didnt add a whole bunch of the crap that the BMP-->WBS converter uses. I would never use that script to place cities/resources, but it has that capability.

Could someone tell me where to unzip this into

MapView is a stand alone program so make a folder and put it there.

greyhound,

do you have an .exe installer for this one yet?

i´m afraid no, will still last a bit

You will hopefully be pleased to hear everything seems to work pretty nice.

Just done with getting Units and Cities recognized 100%. That keeps on pushing MapView to be ready for almost everything.

A first release of this total rewrite approaches day by day.

Since i wrote myself a pretty nice base it´s really fun and quick to add new features that mess with map editing. I guess soon i need you to give me ideas.

And btw.
I just decided to lget something done which will allow you to save Units, Cities, whole Plots, Players, Teams and even whole parts of Maps for later use so once you saved them you can just import them to even decrease your efforts to even less time consumption.

I´ve no idea yet how this might look but basicly it would look like a drag and drop feature where you can drag your predefined terrain files which could contain units, cities or whole continents with bonues, improvements and whatsoever into your current project. And of course city buildings, unit promotions and whatever settings are included will be overtaken. I imagine a scrollable panel somewhere that would contain those predefined parts so you can just scroll down until you got what you want and drag in on any place you want to have in on your scenario.

Another idea would be to let you "jump" into a teams perspective and also edit what´s visible to them. Keyword "TeamReveal".

I´ll have a little break now ;)

greetz Grey

WOW those ideas are great!!

My suggestion would be to make a help file so we are told how to change the parameters of all edited items.

I would want the ability to add/edit everything and anything from 0% to 100%.

More when I look at it.

My suggestion would be to make a help file so we are told how to change the parameters of all edited items.

I would want the ability to add/edit everything and anything from 0% to 100%.


Yay i´ll at least write a good readme as first help. I already added cursors for move and zoom so you just have to right or left click once to get the idea how you would navigate. (that issue was often mentioned in the current version)

I just coded on selections and it will be like almost in any grafic program. Pressing "Shift" will allow you to add something to your selection and pressing "ALT" will let you remove parts of the selection. Furthermore the cursor will come with a little + or - so it even gets more intuitive.


More when I look at it.

Gimme!!! I don´t even create scenarios, i really just code the program for your pleasure ;) I could really need ideas since i never experienced all the things that bother you when doing your scenarios. I don´t really know what´s actually needed, all the ideas i come up with are "just ideas", without knowing if there´s any need at all.


greetings

GreyHound

The reason I am asking is that I would want one program to let me CMN a map and its civs for the C4AC MOD (if we ever get it out) or an Alien World MOD if there is one.

At the moment I have SmartMap 9.1 for an internal map maker but some fine details I have to use the MapView.

... CMN a map ... Sorry but what??? (does that mean)

:D

At Apolyton basically a CMN puts together everything and is the final word on any problems in a game.

thx, wondering why it never came to my ears yet.

I hope i can deliver an ACME Tool then ;D

I mentioned this awhile back but since you're close to a new release I thought I'd say it again. A small problem, but one that annoys me endlessly. The scroll threshold is to big along the edges of the screen. There are many times when I'll get a little to close and then 'zoom - i've drawn a line of plains across the world'
not major obviously just one of those things that might add some polish.

hi sauce, thanks for the idea,
i´ve been reviewing the replies and i came across yours, i´ll take care of your idea, i can see what you mean.

Basically, I want all the functionality of the CIV3 Edit program - Allows you to randomly generate a map (using whatever mapscript s you have available), and then customize it (terrain, resources, starting loctaitons, units, cities, buildings etc.... for each CIV) It would also allow you to create scenarios that are either SP and/or MP games.

The thing I hate about the CIV4 Worldbuilder and the debugmode option, is that it only lets you edit Single PLayer Games, so I have no idea at all as to how to go about making an MP or Team Game.

After the map is made you can use my web page links "CIV Map Tools" to do what you want.

Im desperatly looking for a good tool for mapmaking and this seems so far the most promising however it clearly misses intuitiveness of use.

I.e.: I didn't even figure out how to zoom in and out on a map. I can't even read the help section because there seems to be no way to scroll it! So how to use this program? That's my main issue with it right now. Using the mousewheel to zoom would probably be the best option.

When will there be an update? The ability to define new territory and bonusses would just be awesome!

Edit: finally can zoom. Not that bad but really a small guide for the use of the interface would spare a lot of frustration;)

i´m working on a new version as i type here.

Sorry for your trouble, i really thought the navigation is quite intuitive.
I´ll keep your remarks in mind.

And yes, you can edit new bonuses and terrains. Theoretically it´ll be totally up to the user what mapview will be able to do.

No need to be sorry. In the meantime it helped me a lot already. I'm very thankful it actually doesn't delete entries of new features or terrain that it doesn't know. I'm constantly switching between WB and your Mapviewer.
Especially the river placement of your program is great while it's such a pain in WB!

Thx a ton for making it! Not ever be sorry it definitly saved me more trouble than caused. Can't wait for the update!:)

Little Movie how river placement works (http://www.hs-furtwangen.de/~bindig/MapView/mapview_river_placement.avi) now. Even easier (i hope)

i watched it and it was awesome!

nice to hear

... your old version will do till then, as it is the easiest river creator!!

i hated the buttons and everything, just too stupid and weird. I thought i can do better. ;)

That's definitly cool. Now stop teasing us and let us participate!:p

Yay ;) I´ll really take the advice and release something as soon as it actually all working together. I´m going on vacation over the weekend which will cost me some time but mayb i can get to a release state at Sunday 29th. ;)

The real issue is that i didn´t run Civ once since i started the rewrite, i hope it actually works as good as it feels.

Yay ;) I´ll really take the advice and release something as soon as it actually all working together. I´m going on vacation over the weekend which will cost me some time but mayb i can get to a release state at Sunday 29th. ;)

The real issue is that i didn´t run Civ once since i started the rewrite, i hope it actually works as good as it feels.

That's perfect. I'm back from vacation on 30th:D

Do you know if it's possible to make this program compatible with Civ IV BTS ?

EDIT : I've tried this and I think that it's compatible. It's the first time I use this program and I like it :) It's easy to modify resources ... But I've 2 questions about teams/players modifications :

-How add civilization/player/team ? I see how add a starting plot but I don't understand how choose the civilization for this plot.
-If I modify a existing map, is it possible to add / delete civilizations ? And how ?

I dont know if it is compatible but for CIV stuff used c4e2 for specifics.

Do you know if it's possible to make this program compatible with Civ IV BTS ?

EDIT : I've tried this and I think that it's compatible. It's the first time I use this program and I like it :) It's easy to modify resources ... But I've 2 questions about teams/players modifications :

-How add civilization/player/team ? I see how add a starting plot but I don't understand how choose the civilization for this plot.
-If I modify a existing map, is it possible to add / delete civilizations ? And how ?

I´m sorry but i´ve no idea what Civ IV BTS is ;)

And it´s not yet possible to edit/add/delete Players/Civilizations yet.

BTS = Beyond The Sword

greyhound please buy BtS and make it compatible. i need your program in about 1-2 weeks or less :worship: :worship: :worship:

I´m sorry but i´ve no idea what Civ IV BTS is ;)

And it´s not yet possible to edit/add/delete Players/Civilizations yet.


I believe it was possible with YAME CIV IV Editor. Can you include this possibility in our program ?

@lumat:

I already wrote classes for Players, not for Civilizations, even if it´s no big deal i´ll focus on the basic things in the first place. Once i've accomplished the usual things like adding/deleting bonuses/resources/features/cities/units i´ll do such things in the next step. You can probably expect this feature in the first update of the new version. I just want to be quite clean in the way i do the basic stuff so it doesn´t require any application updates to support new content like units/features etc.

@GarretSidzaka:
Could you host me a BTS *.wbs file so i can have a look at it and see what efford it will be please? (if they´re called wbs after all) :)
__________________________

As you hopeful know by reading my replies the new Version is designed to learn from xml files and then be able to handle the new knowledge. Xml files are read, stuff like "BONUS_COW", "FEATURE_BLUBB", "UNIT_WHATEVER" is read and directly saved into MapView list of what it understands.
You, as the community will have to create
a) A little button for the application
b) A tga file that´s used to display the occurance.
... to make stuff compartible.

So whenever a mod works that way and doesn't introduce new keywords into the *.wbs dictionary MapView should be able to handle it.

(Again, that´s basicly the main goal of the rewrite and also the reason why i don´t rush a first release)

Currently (State of the Code) MapView learns by reading all the most suspecious XML files to learn about stuff, which currently takes ages. I already have a function to save the current "point of knowledge" and reload it whenever you start MapView so you don´t have to wait 5 Minutes everytime you want to tweak something.

That´s the stuff i fight with atm, and since its so essential i need to tweak a lot.

___________________________________
Question:

Does BTS, as Warlords just create a subfolder that also contains XML files like Civ4TextInfos.xml etc.?
If so, it should be pretty compartible already, just need to find a nice way to let you as users change the mods so you don´t accidently place Warlods or BTS stuff on a normal Civ4 map, or vice versa etc. pp.

here it is. make sure you pick up the game too. it is slowly getting distributed. :)

thx dude, i ll have a look

edit: that´s what the file looked when i opened it, didn´t try with my current (ice age-old) release version.
Dindn´t look what´s causing the white parts but that if it´s either railroad/flood plains or railsroad it´s just working as a usual map. Also didn´t find any probnlem in the wbs yet.

Did you rename the file? Or is the file extension original?`(BeyondSwordWBSave)