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alright, its just simply that i dont know how to use the program, i know what to do with the files and such but my statics and staidx files are conflicting and throwing everything every which way, now should i edit my map, then do worldforge then use DragonSP?

There is a really good tutorial already written. You can find it in the downloads titled "Map Making Tutorial."

As to the steps once you have the necessary tools they are:

1. Draw your map in your image editor of choice. Photoshop, MSPaint, etc.
2. Run the bitmap through DRAGON
3. Run DRAGONSP.
4. Edit your map0.mul with WORLDFORGE for final fixes.

That's the basic steps.

that is the part i already knew, should i run dragon SP before or after worldforge editing (i already read that map making tutorial)

So i can't understand what is your question...

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"Be calm and silent, as Darkness care not of passions and lies. Be patient and cold, as Darkness exists out of borders of time and emotions. Just be yourself, as You are in the Darkness and Darkness is inside of you."
-Dark Ones Doctrine, 2001y (c)-

As the original list shows, Kronos, DRAGONSP is run before WORLDFORGE and nothing is run after WORLDFORGE.

Allow me to expound, if you will.

Let us pretend that your .mul files are all empty and you are saving your work into something other than your UO or Server files. (you don't really need to make them blank.....just pretend)

1. Draw your map in your image editor of choice. Photoshop, MSPaint, etc.
This defines your land masses; types of terrain; waterways such
as rivers, lakes and streams; roads and preselected town or building
areas. You may also define dungeon areas built in the inaccessable
black space and their respective floorings. At this point all you have is
a bitmap image of what you want your UO world to look like. It is
purely a one dimensional MSpaint type drawing.

2. Run the bitmap through DRAGON
DRAGON converts the bitmap image into an image that is readable by
the UO program: a .mul file. Now you have unadorned land masses and
waterways in your UO game. You do not have any flowers or trees or
cactus or anything else. Go ahead-test this. Copy the map you just ran
through DRAGON into your UO folder and your Server folder (if you
have both) start up the game and run around on it. Now you have the
map0.mul file.

3. Run DRAGONSP.
DRAGONSP places the flowers and trees and random rocks and cactus
and all of the other graphics that are not considered texture or land
types. Think of them as the things that you can also place as deco
objects. These items are saved in your statics.mul and staidx.mul files.
Copy those into your UO folder and your Server files, start up your
game and have a look.

4. Edit your map0.mul with WORLDFORGE for final fixes.
Finally, as marvelous as DRAGON and DRAGONSP are, there are going
to be some things that just don't use the correct tile when the map is
rendered from a bitmap to a mul.
You try placing the correct graphic for 6000x4000 little squares and
see how many you miss. *wink*
The most visually unacceptable of these are the north and west
coastlines and the cave entrances. You will notice these as you are
running around on your new map and having a look at everything. This
is what you will edit in WORLDFORGE. It is easiest to use the [where
command while you are evaluating your map in game and jot down
those co-ords when you find something you want to fix. Or you could
save your journal as a text file and use that. Go to those tiles in
WORLDFORGE and replace them with whatever you want.

It is important to note that once you have drawn tiles with WORLDFORGE going back to DRAGON and DRAGONSP will lose all of the work you have done in WF. They each replace the same files, you see, and do not do so in respect to what was there before. They simply redraw it all. Unless you use a .dif file, but that is not what you asked about so I shall stop talking.

i ran worldforge after and it screwed everything up

If everything is screwed up, perhaps you should just begin at the beginning.

Render your bitmap again in DRAGON and then run DRAGONSP. Load your map0.mul and your staidx0.mul and statics0.mul and see what you have before you do anything in worldforge.

If you could be more specific about what is wrong with your map, it would be easier to try to offer you assistance.

i thought i was specific enough when i said that it was taking the existing statics and throwing them around so that i would see jungle in the desert, trees in the water, and lava in the water, dont say its a dragon issue because i did test it before i went into world forge, i deleted the RAR files and went into worldforge where i made the necessary changes, after making these changes i parsed it using world forge then i loaded the parsed file into worldforge for placing, after this i re-rar'd my patch files, patched them, and the thing was as screwed up as i said at the beginning

Perhaps you need to clear your original .dif files. Here is a thread that speaks to that issue:
http://www.ryandor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2470&highlight=dif+files

Or perhaps you have some things that were added as deco and are in your saves folder. You may want to reveiw this topic:
http://www.ryandor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1546

There is also the need to have the same map and staidx/statics files in both your client and your server folders if you have them in seperate folders.

Your post sounds as if you are offended with my attempts to help you sort this out. I apologize if I have given offence in some way and will leave you to go your own way now. Best wishes.

sorry im not really that mad, i just was getting sick of explaining the same thing and no one understanding my problem (which has nothing to do with the diff files)

Btw, if you're using the "old" Worldforge version (not punt's version) on a map0.mul of a size larger than 6144x4096 then that will most likely corrupt the file in some way or other.

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im using standard size and the latest download, this problem is perplexing

By ?standard size?, do you mean 6144 x 4096 tiles (the original size), or the now-standard ML size?

By ?latest download?, do you mean ?the latest download of Punt?s WorldForge?, or ?the latest download of the other WorldForge?? ? these programs can act very differently, as their core is completely different. The fact that they share the exact same name can be confusing, though.

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Web: http://www.sydius.net

i thought i was using punts files, atleast i was until it said something about me missing a dll, by standard size i mean the original map of 6144x4096 now, not quite sure of what version of worldforge i am using, im gonna see if the one i get is punts, and then ill try again

If you are using my latest, then it is WorldMaker map editor.

The files are at http://www.ragedcom.com/punt

wfmap.rar
qt.rar
msdll.rar

There use to be instructions on Orbysida, however that has been removed when it became apparent to me the site was just about creating a place to have users "fawn" over developers.

Any rate, you can get the map editor, the structure editor, the map compilier (compile from an image), the structure placer (place your sturctures on an image for you compile into a mul, such as cities), all at the above link.

I like how you call it a map compiler as opposed to a converter. Is there any particular reason for this? I suppose that is a bit off-topic.

I also like the concept of a structure editor and placer ? I imagine with your skill, they are pretty elaborate and user-friendly? I?ll have to check them out next time I?m worldbuilding.

_________________
Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

I suppose in theory, either name would work.

However, to me, it "compiles", as it interperates, and adds the "machine readable" information based on transistions, randomization, etc. Is it not a strict one for one "convertor" (as it must select a random entry based on transistion information, height information, etc).

The placer works pretty simple. Build your structure (house, boat, dungeon, cave, etc) in the structure editor (WM Multi). Save it as a mlt file (WM Multi native format). FYI, you can also copy/paste/drag/drop from the structur editor with the map editor. Then open your image of your map in MLTPlacer. Drag any mlt file you have onto the image. A radar view of the structure will appear. Put it where you want. Move it around as desired. When finished, save, an xml file will be gnerated to tell the map compilier/generator information, to include those structures into the map. The are placed at the altitude of the terrain at that top left location, then offset by the altitude in the structure file. So you can build a cave to be negative 20 under whatever terraint it gets placed at.

You can right click on the radar images, to tell wheter items in the structure file marked invisible should be included or not (if you want to add boats, for a harbor, you probably want the masts,tillerman to appear).