OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

A forum for discussing all things regarding modding of Eschalon: Book III
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BasiliskWrangler
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by BasiliskWrangler »

@xolotl and @SpottedShroom ... would it help for me to make a private forum for Map Editor development where the three of us could exchange information? It's not that I am trying to hide things from the general population, but a less noisy, isolated place to exchange information would be better for me.

We will also need to discuss the best way to expand modding. I have ideas to throw your way.

Does anyone else feel the need to have access to a private Map Editor Developers forum?
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by raverdave2k »

While I probably couldn't provide to much assistance on the proper dev side of things as I only have very limited coding experience, I would like to think I could provide some useful input from a usability and requirements point of view (and I might just learn a few things along the way :) )
My modifications for Eschalon Book I: RaverDave's Book I Mod
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by IJBall »

BasiliskWrangler wrote:@xolotl and @SpottedShroom ... would it help for me to make a private forum for Map Editor development where the three of us could exchange information? It's not that I am trying to hide things from the general population, but a less noisy, isolated place to exchange information would be better for me.

We will also need to discuss the best way to expand modding. I have ideas to throw your way.
As an "invested observer", I would suggest that such a forum is probably an excellent idea.

(And, eventually, a separate "Modding" Book III forum, i.e. one separate from the regular Book III forum, would also be a good idea...)
BasiliskWrangler wrote:Does anyone else feel the need to have access to a private Map Editor Developers forum?
As someone who's been following this, I would personally definitely like access, even though I'd likely be mostly a 'lurker' in such a forum.

I do think that access to the private Map Editor forum should be "by invitation only" by BW...
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by MyGameCompany »

raverdave2k wrote:While I probably couldn't provide to much assistance on the proper dev side of things as I only have very limited coding experience, I would like to think I could provide some useful input from a usability and requirements point of view (and I might just learn a few things along the way :) )
I would like to echo this, though I do have a lot of dev experience from when I created my own games. I'm not sure how much coding help I could contribute, unless the editor is written in C/C++, but I can contribute to usability discussions and features. I've been using the unofficial editor for now for about 2 weeks (hoping to release my first mod this coming weekend). And I'm a UI architect at my full-time job.

I'd also like to echo IJBall's suggestion for a separate modding forum. It would be nice to have a place to post & find mods, so they don't get lost among all the threads. Maybe putting a sticky at the top with links to all the mods - that would be great!

And I would love to help in converting Book 1 to the new Book 3 engine, provided we had access to all the graphics, npc/monster animations, and text content. I've been itching to build an Ash Island expansion, and open up some other places in Thaermore to visit.
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by SpottedShroom »

BasiliskWrangler wrote:@xolotl and @SpottedShroom ... would it help for me to make a private forum for Map Editor development where the three of us could exchange information? It's not that I am trying to hide things from the general population, but a less noisy, isolated place to exchange information would be better for me.
Sure, that should work.
We will also need to discuss the best way to expand modding. I have ideas to throw your way.
Great! I've got some ideas about this and am very interested in hearing yours.
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by BasiliskWrangler »

Okay, for those of you who asked for it, there is a forum for "Editing Tools" to discuss what needs to be done to make xolotl's map editor more functional, and how we will add new modding tools in the coming weeks.

Anyone can have access, but please understand this is really for the people who actually work on these tools. When new releases are ready, the news will be posted in another forum (probably a yet-to-be-made Modder's Forum).
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by xolotl »

IJBall wrote:I always assumed that we, the community, would have to redo the Book I maps (as well as design new maps for any areas not visited in Books I-III...).
Yeah, I'd assumed that would be the case as well.
I'm still hoping for some kind of "shortcut" on "converting" the Book II maps to Book III format, as I really don't want us to get stuck having to remake the Book II maps "from scratch" too... :roll: :wink:
Yeah, that should be entirely possible. The data API in the editor isn't exceptional, but it is easy enough to loop through data and do things with it. Back when I was playing Minecraft, I actually played around with an Eschalon->Minecraft map converter which worked reasonably well (though of course you were left with mostly-featureless buildings with no roofs, etc).
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by SpottedShroom »

xolotl wrote: Yeah, that should be entirely possible. The data API in the editor isn't exceptional, but it is easy enough to loop through data and do things with it. Back when I was playing Minecraft, I actually played around with an Eschalon->Minecraft map converter which worked reasonably well (though of course you were left with mostly-featureless buildings with no roofs, etc).
I keep telling myself I'm going to port Ultima 6 to the Eschalon engine...
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by Lord_P »

*Opens browser, checks out forums*

Great Scott! :o

Late to the party, as always.

There was the part about importing Book II graphics (can't quote, since it's so far away). I would also like to see all Basilisk Games -owned music pieces from all three Books, since some of them (e.g. Grimmhold, Durnore) are absolutely gorgeous.
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by GChrisSfish21 »

Will the offical editor support Macs? ...without installing X1, and some version of python? Will it run on OSX 10.6.8?
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by SpottedShroom »

GChrisSfish21 wrote:Will the offical editor support Macs? ...without installing X1, and some version of python? Will it run on OSX 10.6.8?
I believe the editor was written using the same technology as the game itself, so it should run on Macs without X11, but probably BW won't officially support 10.6.

xolotl's editor should now only have one dependency to install: X11, which is very easy to install. The current builds don't work on 10.6, but I can probably make ones that do if I can find a 10.6 machine to run the build on.
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Re: OFFICIAL Map Editor (question)

Post by GChrisSfish21 »

I believe the editor was written using the same technology as the game itself, so it should run on Macs without X11, but probably BW won't officially support 10.6.
BIII runs fine on 10.68, so using the same tech, the editor should also.

You could use my box :) - I even have Lion on it - which is what turned me off on AAPL's latest OS releases. :(
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