dragoness_e | MapperGUI 2.99b is shaping up!

The MapperGUI overhaul is progressing apace. I've got most of the basic configuration dialogs done and working. What remains to be done: captions, install procedure, importing old ini-files, making dungeons work, various add-ons, actual help files. I also have some screenshots for your perusal.

To Do:

Captions: The whole captions subsystem has yet to be implemented. Right now I'm trying to implement MapperGUI's caption storage as an XML database. (Have I mentioned I like a lot of the design features of Kort's Spellcrafter utility?). Caption editor dialog needs to be designed. Writing a captions.ini-type file in the format mapper.py expects to find it has to be done. Importing your old captions.ini files needs to be added. (No, I wasn't really going to make you throw away your old caption files.)

Install procedure: I did mention I want to make this as painless as possible? (At least on Windows). I'd like to set this up like, oh, Kort's Spellcrafter, that bundles all the extra Python libs with. On Windows, py2exe will do that job. Linux users may have to just install all the required packages themselves, but Linux users can generally do that.

Actual help files: Yes, I need to write some.

Planned add-ons: Dump a list of all zones. Edit fixture-classes (properly, that should be part of basic configuration dialogs, but I was going to leave it out because it is an advanced option that is only necessary when Mythic adds new expansions with new tree/structure/decor objects.). Other stuff I've forgotten or not thought of yet.

Importing old ini-files: I already import settings.map, from the old version of MapperGUI. Need to add importing old captions.ini, as previously mentioned. Wish to add the capability to import a mapper ini-file, so that if you have one all hand-tweaked for batch production of map files for, say, your website, you can import it into MapperGUI-newest and use the settings there.

Testing: Yes. Must be done, especially on your XP systems, which I don't have reliable access to. Actually, I need to test on Windows, period.. I tend to test on my development system, which is Linux. Haven't yet tested the latest configuration on my DAOC box.

Drawing Dungeons: Still way down there on my list. Want to get this thing working and publically available before I worry about adding dungeon functionality.

Done:

Rendering: You can select a zone from the menu and render it. Timing of message box posts needs tweaking, but it works. Error messages get posted to the text box now, too, and it stays displayed until you close the box, so that you can cut and paste the results of a test run into an e-mail to me when MapperGUI barfs in some unexpected fashion.

Here's a screenshot that shows the rendering box, and one that shows the new menu structure.

Preferences: I use this term to differentiate less-often-changed options like 'Gamepath' and 'path to mapper.py' from the frequently tweaked drawing options. Preferences now have their own pop-up dialog accessed from the main menu, rather than being (a) right in your face below the drawing all the time or (b) not tweakable through the GUI at all.

Options: These are the frequently-tweaked items that the original MapperGUI provided an interface for changing. I've got those, and some more besides that were buried in the depths of default.ini. I split up the many options over pages of a tabbed dialog pane, and some really complex items have additional pop-up dialogs. Also wherever default.ini lets you use 'default' as a color option, there's a checkbox to 'Use default color'.
- Basic Options: General items like 'color vs. grayscale', image size, show background, byline, byline font. Note that I will be converting more fonts so you have more choices for all the font options. Here's a shot that shows the drop-down font selection control
- Rivers: In addition to the original color option, I've added a flag for 'Use lava color', and a separate color field for lava. I hated having to re-set my river color everytime I jumped between rendering Muspelheim and the Vale of Mularn... not to mention Typhon's Reach and Stygia.
- Trees: are special. Trees are one of the items that are defined as having one of several drawing types (shaded, wireframe, solid, etc). Each drawing type has its own parameters, so there's a pop-up dialog to configure the drawing type. Also, several versions back, I added a 'default tree' model, one that's used when mapper.py can't find the tree model that's supposed to be there. I figured it was better to draw any tree where there was supposed to be a tree than to not draw a tree at all. You can now decide which tree model to use as your generic 'default tree' instead of being stuck with my choice of 'Elm1'. (There's a drop-down that lists all the models found in the 'Trees' folder of your game.)
- Structures: got stuck under 'Other drawing options'. Structures and 'Landscape Pieces' (aka 'hugly decor', internally) also use the 'drawing types' options like trees.
- Captions: not captions themselves, but caption options. Color, alpha, font, that sort of thing are now working.
- Bounds: Both bounds & contours are configured on this tab. Nothing new that you haven't had before.
- Grid: Both major and minor grids now have some options you didn't have before: interval, color, label font, label color...
- Bumpmap: Now you can change the scale factor (height exaggeration), in addition to the usual options.
- Default values: Lost your settings.ini file? The new MapperGUI tries to provide a set of reasonable starting defaults if it can't find a complete configuration file. The old one would barf if settings.map was missing, which I consider bad behavior. It's possible to get your configuration so bizarrely twisted that you just want to toss the whole thing and start from scratch. Now you can do that.

So, that's the current status of the MapperGUI overhaul. Like what you see? Have requests for additional features/ideas for improvements? Let me know!

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MapperGUI 2.99b is shaping up!

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