1 Topic by James

  • James
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  • Registered: June 15th, 2003
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Topic: 2026/4/4

No update this week.

I have been redoing the map file format. It's now slightly slower to load, 2X slower to save, and 1/10th the size. It supports Ground 1-4 on all Z levels and allows multiple properties on the same tile.

It also supports map sizes other than 512x512 (though the server won't for some time) and stores sectors in such a way that (long term) they can be loaded individually instead of loading the entire map, and it tracks them with hashing instead of version numbers.

Before I can make an update, I will need to change the map patching code on both the client and the server, as well as the server's map loading code (it uses special per-sector files, not even .MAP files right now).

So, no update this week, but hopefully one next week.

Have a happy Easter!

God bless.

James

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2 Reply by Master Wu

  • Master Wu
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Re: 2026/4/4

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2Fkm1r0Bd48d76o%2Fgiphy.gif&f=1&ipt=0167d0b817e1546f4cec256ca3b9e93f4540a8214bbf5c8f682a563d9c45999d

https://wujournal.weebly.com/

Master Wu's Website

3 Reply by Master Wu

  • Master Wu
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Re: 2026/4/4

The map editor's colorization options are nice for honing in a specific color and brightness. Shifting dark greys to a warmer & brighter hues in Arakeen makes a big difference.

Had some interesting results using extreme color shifts to get ice or lava effect. Not too shabby! smile

I found it pretty difficult to adjust typing in number values though, and selecting other wall & floor pieces and reassigning the same values. I wonder if you could add in sliders? or, just a picker tool for the HSV/RGB data would be great.


Not sure if the picker tool would pull the colorize data of art pieces already placed on the map or not, but it should. If it's not saved exactly we may have difficulty color matching later on.

Lastly, I wonder if it it could have a separate brush tool, to change just the colorize data of walls already placed? It would make changing color of complex things that area already placed a little easier.

But again, this is pretty neat feature and adds a huge new dimension of customization to map editing.

https://i.ibb.co/Pz6GBxgf/SCREENSHOTTTT.png

https://wujournal.weebly.com/

Master Wu's Website

4 Reply by James

  • James
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Re: 2026/4/4

The picker does read in the colorization. As to a brush tool, there's a question -- are we likely to *want* the same shifts for floors, walls, etc.? If so, ought that perhaps to be a sector related property instead of a per-tile property? (Like the Emerald City's mandatory green-tinted glasses in the Wizard of Oz book?)

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5 Reply by Master Wu

  • Master Wu
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Re: 2026/4/4

Oh it does pick the color data. I guess I should have tested that big_smile

Having the per-tile seems best for creative control, especially starting from scratch and opens up more potential. But, if editing an existing map, or structure, the Emerald City style is much easier. Picking on the desert map again, it would be reasonable to make all of the really dark gray stones and gray city walls more bright sandstone looking. That would save enormous amount of map editing time.

If we can't do both, per tile seems best.

Maybe if there was a separate picker tool down by the color date to pull just color? Overall it's a great feature, I just found saving & reproducing colors was a bit challenging.

https://wujournal.weebly.com/

Master Wu's Website