Current MapView version?

[SolariusScorch]

Hello, I have a question to @kevL. (I was directed here by @ratzlaff).

KevL, I noticed that you are still working on newer versions of MapView. Do you have anything newer than the 1.2.1 release that most people use? Any way to try it?

I am an OpenXCom modder, I use this program almost every day, so I'm quite interested in its development!

Best regards!

[kevL]

hi Solarius,

yes I'm familiar wit' ye (am a longtime lurker on the OXC forum)

I made a few commits on OpenXcom back in the day... then decided to just fork it and adapt it into my own dream-game :)

re. OpenXCOM.Tools

It's written in C# and i didn't know squat about c# until getting fed up with several of the bugs and exceptions in the prior code (1.2.1, i guess). the code in my repo is 1.6.0.0 (not sure why i just tried to edge everything up till it was higher than the highest ver I could find that was already used). here's the repo:

https://github.com/kevL/OpenXCOM.Tools

look in the Distribution directory, those 4 files should be a stand-alone/self-contained version of MapView. (be careful 'cause I've changed defaults, like "link both ways" to "don't link" etc.)

I don't use PckView but it should work as well as the prior version. a long time ago I encountered some problems with the y-offset using PckView and ditched it in favor of other graphics tools.

before using my ver 1.6,
I advise making full backups of your MAPS,RMPS,MCDS,TABS,PCKS. (you know the drill..)

as stated, i know next to nada about C# and have no idea if anything I did made a spring go sproing. Other than that, the tertiary files and directory-format that you're currently using with the prior version is/should be an identical match for what's needed w/ 1.6

... it's 32-bit, but i recently got a 64-bit machine so if I feel a need to compile it again that'd likely change.

[SolariusScorch]

Hi kevL,

Pleased to meet you. Sorry about the late response, I somehow missed the alert.
Glad to hear about the update. Is there a specific changelog somewhere? Was it just fixed exceptions and some defaults, or are there other features?
Also, are you taking requests for further development? The OpenXCom forum has a thread devoted to MapView, there are some feature proposals (mostly top view and an Undo button): http://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,1321.msg78666.html#msg78666

best regards,
Solar

[kevL]

unfortunately no i'm not taking requests (am not familiar enough w/ the code, plus have a whack of other stuff on the plate..)

(but if someone notices something that's just wrong, or is something i myself would want, i'd get around to it) I'll keep an eye on the thread ....

• of ~100 commits to my repo, 90% is simply code-reformatting (great way to learn what's going on, and looks nicer :). Past that, There's a bit of refactoring, cleared out all warnings when compiling, fixed the exception I kept getting over and over when using the mousewheel to scroll up/down z-levels in the RmpView panel (that was the major thing that drove me to do this), fixed an apparent bug when copy/pasting nodes (i think the "attack base" value was getting arbitrarily switched w/ ... a different val.), prevented some uninitialized selection boxes from appearing ... and about the only enhancement is, show current x/y coordinates down on the status bar of MapView panel whenever a tile gets selected (which might just be a substitute thing for what iirc hellrazor wants, in the forum thread) (the problem i was having was with finding the tile on MapView that i'd selected on RmpView )

Undo btn would be way difficult: beyond my 'powers'.

unfortunately or not, I wasn't designing my commits with an eye to public respectability -- so they're basically a hodgepodge of "get things done" rather than "oh what nice, clearly defined change to the code". So, while you could browse the commits for descriptions and code-changes, it's prob. not helpful

future consideration: My version is the non-linux version. ie, windows. Apart from that consideration I branched from TheBigSot, iirc, and he contributed massive improvements. My code should be fine ... it's probably the place for future fixes and enhancements to resume work from (that's of course an opinion)

But again, I strongly suggest making backups of any/all MAPS, RMPS, MCDS, PCKS, AND TABS. remember the bug that would wipe out the config? well, i noticed in general that the code is rather footloose & fancy-free ( ie, not tight or robust )

feel free to let me know if the Distribution files even work for ya,

oh, and if you noticed in the MapView panel, that when zooming in and out on hills, some tiles would set down or lift up awkwardly. It's purely graphical and was caused because the graphical scaling factor wasn't applied to y-offsets. fixed,

and i changed the font to Verdana ...

[kevL]

plus i added a bit of code to check for the notorious "node out of bounds" warnings/errors. untested tho

[SolariusScorch]

Thanks for the thorough response KevL. The fixes you described sound like a really good thing (even though I never encountered this bug myself), and the coordinates sound like a good thing too - having to switch to RmpView to do something on TileView was a bit unwieldy.

Is there a compiled version somewhere, or do I need to compile it myself? If the latter, what settings would I use? (Windows for me, not sure about other users.)

[kevL]

hey Solarius,

these are the files, output from the build process:
https://github.com/kevL/OpenXCOM.Tools/tree/master/Distribution

those should be current from a Release config. But C#/.NET has a funny way of doing things. It's designed as a high-level language (think, Java; not C/C++) and it's supposed to "just work" ... yeah right.

Actually, it did "just work" for me -- I used #develop 4.4 [http://www.icsharpcode.net/] on a 32-bit XP machine and had a successful compile in 5 min. Today i use 64-bit w/ #develop 5.1 and the current build is by that/this. [it was a bit more tedious 'cause of Microsoft bugs re. the Windows SDK installation... ]

okay, about those 4 files in /Distribution

dsshared.dll
mapview.exe
pckview.exe
xcom.dll

roughly speaking, to test them copy your current MapView directory structure (to your desktop or a temp folder or wherever). Backup your .Maps/etc etc etc also, someplace safe. Or make copies of them that, bleh ... it's up to you.

I don't know if you set your MapView configs with the program or by editting them manually (i do the latter) -- go over them manually and either change the specified paths to your temporary .Maps etc or ... it's up to you, again.

Then drop in the above four files [overwrite all 4] and double-click MapView.exe ( don't forget to sacrifice a small pigeon first..)

ps. If you want to compile it yourself, set up an IDE and open MapView.sln -- the solution.

[SolariusScorch]

Many thanks! I'll give it a try and come back to you with some feedback. Will take a few days though - right now I'm modding like crazy, no time for distractions. :)

[kevL]

k, Lol. np

[SolariusScorch]

Hello,

I gave it a shot and it seems to be working just fine! We've used it with Dioxine for the past two days and, well, no issues to report. I'll keep an eye on speed though, since it really lagged a lot, but it could be because the maps were relatively high.

I have a small request: would it be possible to have the eraser at the beginning of each tile category, not just under "all"?

regards,
Solar

[kevL]

cool ( lag = uncool )

did you know a double RIGHT-click clears the tile-part, in TopView's content-boxes (ground,west,north,object) ? i never use the eraser

honestly i tried putting it in, and it worked for Culta but throws "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." for most other Maps. kinda strange 'cause it's just a 'null' and shouldn't be trying to 'reference' anything ...

anyway, i may look at it some more out of curiosity/challenge.

[kevL]

I think i got it if you really want it.

https://github.com/kevL/OpenXCOM.Tools/tree/master/Distribution

also seem to have changed the target-platform of the build from "x86-64" to something more generic: "Any processor"

runs okay here. But you should keep a backup of a version you know you like,

[SolariusScorch]

Whoa, I didn't know about that RMB trick. Thanks! But I'll also try your new version.

[kevL]

I just noticed another way to clear a tile-part in TopView. first select the box (ground,west,north,object) for the part-type to erase, then right-click on the tile in the top panel.

[kevL]

fixed something that was irritating me: when changing a tile-part by using those boxes (they're misleadingly referred to as "quadrants" in the code, but okay once used to it..) ... the Views didn't refresh to show a changed tile until a mouseover was done on each View (separately..).

i found a hook and put a Refresh() on each one.

re. BACKUPS. I know you do a lot of efforts, Solar. Do regular backups, preferably to a 2nd drive, just say Yes.

[SolariusScorch]

Man, I'm doing it to a second PC :)