Map Spawn Viewer (WIP)

[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

[Bulle]

This calls for a question then : what do the *.map files contain, the ones from the Maps directory that you have to put in your server DIR ? I had always thought they contained a dumbed down 3D description of the zones, basically the world coordinates of the solid areas, so that NPCs do not fall underground etc. Am I wrong to think the contents of these files *.map is well-known and "easily" parseable ? I got them from Sourceforge so that was a given for me.

The S3D files are Sony material and feel like "less desireable", being proprietary.

I know nothing about how the 3D in EQ is orchestrated so I am asking newb questions here, to understand what we know and can retrieve, and what we cannot. If there is a place to get a bit more enlightened about this topic I welcome any link