Map Spawn Viewer (WIP)

[Kayot]

I wish it could be 3D, but VB.net has its limitations (Funny that C# doesn't have as many and compiles to the same exe type through the translation). For now, I'm trying to make a Data Viewer (Which doesn't work in Kedge Keep without a height filter, the raid had promise too. Thank god for Shadowrest.).

My problem is this, I'm trying to get it to paint it once for zoom level and not for moving it around. I was thinking about using an Imagebox and storing the drawn map in memory and allowing the SQL markers to move with the map (Imagebox), which can be mouse moved. The concept is mind boggling, so much that I've kind of put it on a back burner while I get full item and mob lookup (Which is key to the SQL marks, after all the npc id tells didily squat and who wants to look it up over and over?)

On the flip side, the item desc now used HTML which means colors and tables. However all the added item info kills the load time which is now 1.8 seconds which is an eternity. I think it has to do with reading the spell tables. I figure, get the program finished then optimize

My goal this week is to make the program do most of what allakhazam does. Quest come later somehow :(

P.S. GD Giants drop crappy loot and have poor exp. May as well keep non-KOS faction.

[GeorgeS]

Actually vb/net can do excellent 3D (truevision API dll), but I am not sure it would help me anyway. How did you decode the eq map files - they have syntax like

L 3.2725, 216.7370, 0.6260, -58.9923, 331.4005, 0.6260, 150, 100, 0
L -58.9923, 331.4005, 0.6260, -148.8005, 426.0498, 0.6260, 150, 100, 0
L -148.8005, 426.0498, 0.6260, -260.0621, 494.2486, 0.6260, 150, 100, 0

I'm looking into this as well for a future update..

GeorgeS

[AndMetal]

Originally Posted by GeorgeS

How did you decode the eq map files - they have syntax like

L 3.2725, 216.7370, 0.6260, -58.9923, 331.4005, 0.6260, 150, 100, 0
L -58.9923, 331.4005, 0.6260, -148.8005, 426.0498, 0.6260, 150, 100, 0
L -148.8005, 426.0498, 0.6260, -260.0621, 494.2486, 0.6260, 150, 100, 0

It looks like it's broken down in to the following:

Type (Line, Point, etc)
X Coordinate (looks to be inverted, so negatives are positive & vice versa)
Y Coordinate (looks to be inverted, so negatives are positive & vice versa)
Z Coordinate (doesn't look to be inverted)
Attribute 1
Attribute 2
Attribute 3
Attribute 4
Attribute 5
Attribute 6 (optional?)

It looks like Attributes 1-5 depend on what type of coordinate it is.

For example, on a Point, Attributes 1-3 look like they may be the color (yellow is 255, 255, 0 & black is 0, 0, 0, so it looks to be Red, Green, & Blue), Attribute 4 looks to be the size (2 for Medium), and Attribute 5 is the actual text for the Point. It doesn't look like there is a 6th attribute for Points.

On a Line, Attributes 1-3 look to be the ending X, Y, & Z coordinates (Z & Y being inverted like the first set) and Attributes 4-6 look to be the color of the line (RGB like the text colors).

On a somewhat side note, I found this website while looking up some other stuff. It basically creates an image using the map files with what looks to be a CGI script. It's not downloadable, but it might give you some ideas.

Hope this helps

[GeorgeS]

Thanks - that pretty much explains it. I added a few more map file and shortly will attempy to do this in 2D overlay, then try it in 3D

GeorgeS

[sesmar]

For 3D, I know that you use Visual Basic 6 GeorgeS, but for .net take a look at the XNA Framework. You can do a lot of stuff both 2d and 3d without a lot of work using VB.Net or C#.Net.

[rmanders]

A while ago I was working on something similar to what Kayot is doing now. I kind of stopped working on it for the reasons described in this post.... It's neat to view the spawns, but to actually place them you need a way of viewing the map topology....or at least "dropping" a spawn just above the surface. The problem is how to get this data. Could it be read from an s3d file?

[GeorgeS]

Yes, in essence everything in the the S3D file such as the 3D zone. It's complicated to figure out, and I tried just to export the .obj 3D file. But even that is hard to work with. I have ideas - just need time to figure it out.

The only tool is truevision3D.dll - which allows for Z-height mapping, and I'll start with that.

GeorgeS