Ryandor.com

My anti spyware anti virus program just detected Malware in my copy of Map Generator. Has this happened to anyone else? The program deleted it it was the .exe file itself.

Anyway aside from that, I am reading that UO Landscaper/ World Builder / Dragon are the three programs where I can make a map from scratch.

Each has limitations, won't work with certain map sizes etc, I see on Landscaper for example it only works with Felucca (768x512), Il(288x200), malas (320x256), this is a very dumb question, but I'm assuming those numbers are by inch? they can't be pixels.

After opening my full rez map of Ultima VII I see both Serpent Isle & The Black Gate maps are exactly the same size. They are both huge, not going to open them up to get the exact number as it takes 10 minutes, but the size is still tiny compared to UO size, and after zooming in it needs to be at least 300% to match UO scale of roads for example. When I do rescale it to 300% I guess I won't have much choice I'll use whatever map is closest to it's size and crop it to that.

I'm in the process of reading up on making a map from scratch but I can only use the program that has enough how to info to even use, as I find the how to info lacking on most map builders. Building custom maps is much more difficult than it seems but I'm still planning on doing it.

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--- Razimus
serpentisle.com

the mul2bmp and uoam had malware according to my program well it's either mis identifying or a lot of bad copies are going around I don't know I'll get another anti program to confirm, but my computers running slow lately, well I don't ask questions after not having searched I'll do more searches but most threads lead to a how to on a program that won't even run...

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--- Razimus
serpentisle.com

Raz,

Let me know what programs you are using and I can help you find good working copies of them. Some of punt's programs are not packaged with some of the required DLL's.

Those numbers are block sizes. The UO client works in blocks rather than pixels so I can see where it can easily be confusing. You can get the bitmap dimensions in pixels by multiplying the blocks by 8. For example, 768 x 512 blocks = 6144 x 4096 pixels. (768 * 8 = 6144 and 512 * 8 = 4096).

As you said there are pros and cons to each program. Dragon has been around the longest and probably has the most tutorials. However, Dragon does not support 3 way transitions between tiles and what that means is that there are some transitions you will need to go in manually with an editing program to patch up, especially coastlines.

Map Gen 2 supports 3 way transitions and also splits the map into a terrain and an altitude map, which greatly expands the different types of terrains you can configure (instead of being limited to a 256 color palette for all altitudes and terrains, you can have 256 terrains and up to 256 different altitudes).

UOL works very similarly to Map Gen 2, except it has problems with creating Britannia sized maps (Map0). There is a memory issue that makes UOL crap out on most systems.

I recommend Dragon if you want something simple that will require a lot of touch up.

I recommend Map Gen 2 if you want more control over the map and fewer bad transitions.

Any way you go you will have a learning curve to learn how to create a map. We've all been there and this is the best place for you to post your questions. If you browse the forums you'll find a lot of posts here on problems and techniques.

_________________
-= HellRazor =-
Shattered Sosaria is coming!
http://www.shatteredsosaria.com

Okay thanks, yeah can you locate me a good copy of MapGen2? I couldn't find the dlls anywhere and only found threads of people asking for them.

Yeah MapGen sounds better overall I just haven't gotten it to run.

As for the 'malware' on the programs, I have determined that the anti spyware programs I've used mis identify many files as being malicious when they are not, the windows sound exe, razor, my old ftp program and a newly installed client exe from a uo disc, when they are obviously not full of trojans.

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--- Razimus
serpentisle.com

Are you sure it's x 8?, because one UO tile is 45x45 pixels, sure it isn't 768*45 x 512*45 ?, because I have 1/4th of the Ultima7 full rez map open and it's over 12,000 x 12,000 pixels, the full size map is still 4x that and yet the buildings and roads etc of that full size map which is over 48,000x48,000 pixels is still 1/3 in scale to UO's map.

768*45 x 512*45 = 34,560 x 23,040, that seems more accurate yet still smaller than the full rez u7 map.

_________________
--- Razimus
serpentisle.com

Positive. It's just the way the client reads the map, you shouldn't need to worry about blocks much, especially since you are probably just replacing an existing map which are all at fixed sizes.

Edit: Syd posted a good explanation of the map file format here:

http://www.ryandor.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ght=blocks

Again, for your purposes, you shouldn't really need to worry about block sizes, other than knowing how to come up with them for some map editing program. For your purposes, 1 pixel = 1 ground tile in game.

Edit2: You can't really compare the UO map with map formats from the old Ultima games, the files are in different formats and its like trying to compare apples with oranges. The UO BMP-to-MUL conversion programs all basically convert 1 pixel to 1 UO map tile.

_________________
-= HellRazor =-
Shattered Sosaria is coming!
http://www.shatteredsosaria.com