I've got that latest version installed and running. I'll run down to the 2nd floor in a minute and check stuff out. GOOD WORK! What can I do to help more?

Just some notes on it: The map is stretched too far east to west. Or rather the red arrow isn't quite in the right spot. But its close. Also when I go to the 2nd floor and click on the Stormhold II button, that part works great, but when I move my mouse off it and my map window fades a little bit as I have it set to do, Both maps show up overlayed but faded.

The eastern most point I found is at the bottom of the huge spiral staircase that connects II to I. -160.25 x -15.96 x -98.80
Western most point: 120.25 x 5 -96.35 Defiled Keepers Room.

"overlayed but faded"
Not sure about this one. I'll see if I can come up with a work around for this, but I had forgotten that this could be an issue.
Edit: I may have solved this problem.

As for the east to west, if you could take a picture at a far east wall and a far west wall and I may be able to adjust the zonerect with that data. Face away from the wall when you take the pic. It's fine to crop down to a pretty small image, I don't need to see that much to make the adjustment.

Quib

P.S. - The trick with the second and third (etc.) floors will be aligning them on top of eachother so that the first floor zonerect positions the loc arrow properly.

I don't understand. How does this help you?

The zonerect is largely determined through a guess and check procedure. Based on where your loc indicator is on the map, compared to where it should be, I can change the numbers to correct the disparity. There is no easy equation to generate the zonerect accurately.

Quib

P.S. - You'd be taking pictures of your map, not the wall. Just a clarification.

P.P.S. - Fixed the transparency issue. Get the attached file.

Haliken, keep on producing those maps, they are great :)

ill add icons for floor two of course

going to be off this weekend tho, someone might beat me to it.

east and west

Haliken, i like the way you got button to show up in the current zone window (making transparent map)! Only downside is...when you go to, say BB, another zone with more than 1 floor, you'd have to have stormhold show first, or the list of map seletion buttons.

Wouldn't be too incredibly bad, to have to click your zone if it has more than one floor i suppose...

also, for maps with more than one floor the icon map must be placed in the QM_Map_mapname that you have made. Thats the only way to get the icons to change when you select a different floor, since you can't make more than one iconsbefallen.

in what order are the loc extremities?
as in...
far west is number 1,
far N is number 2,
Far east is number 3,
far S is number 4

W,N,E,S is that the correct order?

That's correct, just remember you have to multiply the West and East values by -1.

cool, thanks :)

here is the maps with icons on stormhold lvl 2

you keep pumpin out the maps ill put icons on em, save us both some time doin the other half. and of course ill work on some zonerects as well.


EDIT: ok the icons for page two didnt show up...going to make an icon page for befallen2...see if that works

EDIT2: removed file, didnt work right...see next post

Couple questions/ideas.

Q:
Does the UI keep window graphics in memory even if it's not being displayed? Like if you had 2 map windows- ex: main map window with normal maps, and another that you could popup with extra info or zoomed in - both could display at the same time but not done. Would it just load everything that has a chance to be used?

i:
Probably not possible, but if OnPress could somehow stretch the size or something to essentially "zoom" the map that would be cool. A zoom button.

As a user I'd personally like to have 2 different versions of the custom map window. One with town and noob zones only, and another with town and outdoor+dungeons. OR maybe go by tier... that might be the best for me as a user even.
Tier1 - town + noob
Tier2 - Ant/com-proper dungeons
Tier3 - EL?, +, +, etc; anyhow you get the idea lol
Idea here is maps mostly useful in unfamiliar territory - new xp or quest areas for your tier & saving on memory this way possibly on this already memory hog game lol.

ok here is one with icons on stormhold lvl 2...WORKS!

Eloa, the UI loads ALL graphics that will be used in that zone (i.e. the zone map) and ALL graphics built into the windows. So if you have 50 maps builtin, it WILL load all 50 maps.

As for the zoom idea, as far as i know you can either
1. make a zoom button that will zoom in, but not show cursor, or
2. make the entire zone zoomed and have the map changed when you go to different areas, retaining the loc cursor

Ok, I added all your Stormhold2 icons and have a special surprise to go with this release.

The Path Finder (patent-pending) is on the titlebar of the map window. It's comprised of a text field and a button (that looks like a zoneline icon). You enter a loc in the text field and when you click the button, it draws a 3D path to that loc! Neat eh? Also, all icons for zones that have loc data, when you move your mouse over them, will put their loc up in the text field.

Quib

P.S. - I'm going to sleep, it's been a long day. ^_~

P.P.S. - Thank you for the screenshots Sunthas, I made an adjustment to the zonerect. Here's hoping it's improved.

patent pending - lol. Good work getting the newly added loc waypoint dealy in there.

heres a wrap up of stuff so far



How to insert your own maps

internal zone name:
log off in a zone. Check Cache\ioplans for last edited file.
Goto vpk folder and find closest named file. That is the internal zone name.

this goes in as an imagestyle's name under
MainHUD.Map.MapStyles

so you would have MainHUD.Map.MapStyles.internalzonename

then put an ImageFrame named ImageFrame inside that ImageStyle name internalzonename.

Enter object properties for ImageFrame
source: DDS of map(blank for multi floored maps) and
sourcerect: 0,0,436,506 (must be that exact value)


Enter zonerect property for the ImageStyle...


zonerect:
-W,N,-E,S (NOTE: Negate the W and E coords.)

to find coords, go in game to NSEW extremities and write them down! Add/negate to get coords

as close as possible. If coords are too far off, cursor will not show at all (most likely

there, just so far out of site)

this goes in as a property for MainHUD.Map.MapStyles.internalzonename


map:
Get a map and convert it to DDS format. ***The actual map area needs to start at 0,0 and end

at 436,506 or it will get cut off!*** The image itself should be 512x512.


icons:
copy paste a different zone's icons page. Icon page can be found at
MainHUD.Map.MapPage.Icons


Rename icons page to your maps internal zone name. Drop in the icons, move em around, add

tooltips.




for multi leveled zones:
make the default map all black (causes transparency). Put the maps inside the icons page,

separated by more pages. Put buttons to hide current map/icons folder, and show next floor's

map/icons folder. Do this with an OnPress property. All within the icons page.

OnPress example use for this button:
Onpress:Visible=false Parent.QM_SelectMap_Stormhold2.Visible=true

Parent.QM_Map_Stormhold1.Visible=true Parent.QM_Map_Stormhold2.Visible=false
_____________________________________________________

my next goal is to put in the locs in the tooltips so you can type em in....mebbe make an Onpress so it auto-makes the path.

Brilliant work on that PathFinder, Haliken. Now you can ask for people's locs in game and get a path to it. Even works in zones that don't have maps put in for them, right? This is going to be a MUST HAVE for the /loc impaired. :D

Ok since everyone seems to have abandoned my map :(
I think I'll try to integrate a quest window into this mod today. Can you guys get some freeport maps in here for me? Most important are the lowbie zones the commonlands, the sprawl, thieves way, the sunken city, the graveyards and the ruins, in that order. as soon as you get those maps in, I'll put everything needed on them. As for commonlands, can we add maps to the builder so that we can see what we're working with? Itll make things alot easier.

Eloa,
for antonica, i wanted to add my own icons. So i created an icons page called antonica. as far as i know thats the internal name. Anywho it wouldnt work. Possibly because i didnt add the ImageStyle, but im pretty sure its because it is controlled by the server.

SOOO if this is true your map mod will not be abandoned as it will be needed for the maps that are sent down by the server or encrypted or whatever they are. We shall see....i will try to add the ImageStyle for antonica and see if the icons page will show up.

What Tony said is very true Eloa. We'll still need "external" maps for Antonica, Commonlands, Thundering Steppes and Nektulos at the minimum since those are server controlled. I for one love the attention to detail your work has shown. I definately didn't mean to hijack this thread; we've just been expanding our knowledge of how the built-in map window works.

That said, there isn't enough room in the built-in map window to really deal with high detail stuff. If the map auto-zooms in on a region, then you lose perspective as to where you are in the zone at large.

I propose we just parallel eachother. The EQ2 community will benefit as a whole from that.

Quib

P.S. - Attention everyone, the name's Quib. I guess I should make a new EQ2interface account so I stop getting called Haliken. =D

There, my painful (had to delete the eq2interface.com cookie because log out wasn't working, oh my!) rebirth is complete. Haliken wasn't really my name to use.

"Even works in zones that don't have maps put in for them, right?"
Yeah, the Path Finder works anywhere, and seems to be pretty robust. I've tried typing in words, letters and stuff and it doesn't crash or anything. It accepts the following forms of loc's:
0, 0, 0
0,0,0
0 0 0

Also, negative works, as do decimals. And it can accept a max value of:
-10000.00, -10000.00, -10000.00

Right now, the Path Finder disappears if you use my minimize button, but I don't actually know why. Gonna fix that this afternoon and finish mapping the Freeport newbie zones.

Quib

Zek and EL are also server controlled maps. I would supsect maps for Feerot, Everfrost and Lavastorm are the same way.

Oh Quib, can I ask how you are making the maps? I'm definately impressed with them.

Icons: http://www.***************/eq2/maps.asp?ID=50 When I look at this map the locs for all the spots don't match the locs listed in the XML file in the Icon section? I'm sure there is a good reason why.

I've used the gry-online maps while playing and I know their locs match the /loc in-game.

To make the maps for the newbie areas, I've been taking a blank map I made, then grabbing the gry-online maps (which are just pieces cut from the city maps), darkening them (why are the gry-online maps so washed out?), then scaling them down to fit. I then use the eraser tool in Photoshop to fade the edges so the map has faded edges (where the zone map touches the blank background map). Then the tricky part is finding the zonerect. Also, how's the first floor map for Stormhold working? I adjusted the zonerect based on the pictures you posted, but haven't been able to test it personally yet.

Quib

I had to take a second look at this too. Then I realized that I was looking at the Location property for the icon, which is where its placed in the interface in reference to the page which is different from the location on the map due to the non-0,0 NW corner. Maybe this is what you are looking at. Maybe not. The pathfindlocation is the actual location for the ingame coords.

Theyre washed out so that the text will display on them on their pages. otherwise it'd be hard reading the locations.

You want to just go into this one together and make it one mod? We can even make it easier to access my window by adding a button to show it in the MainHUD.map window.
I'm going to rearrange my file structure in order to make it easier to modify and add maps.

Also, what is the procedure to add a comment to an XML?

so I see pathfindlocation in the XML file for the city zones, but not any of our stormhold zones. Is that another property we are going to add in to our icons?

And how are we converting the actual loc to the screen position for the icon?

I'd rather not officially join efforts Eloa, I usually get really flaky when I do. However, if we can get a button in my window to open yours (not sure a way has been discovered to do that yet) I'd be happy to, and sharing information is definately good.

Sunthas, I just don't have the loc data to attach to the icons yet. gry-online only has the x and y values, and I need z also.

Quib

Yes just add the property pathfindlocation=6613453,312312312,63234234 to any new page icons.
are you using the UI builder to edit? If so you can just drag it to approx the location. If not you'd have to use a formula, I believe it would be the NW corner of the zonerect - (minus) the loc

Sure, thats fine. Just feel free to take locations and whatnot from mine and unless youre not cool with it, ill do the same from yours (itll be easier than converting from gry).

=D Feel free to use anything from mine; afterall, it's your map that sparked my interest in this.

I just finished The Thieves' Way. No icons, but it has a map and proper zonerect.

Quib

---EDIT---
Download Removed (19)

Next version is .09:
Added Commonlands map.
The quest window was 'losable' if you positioned it outside of the window. Now resets position to NW corner whenever map is changed.
Changed the format in which the Icons for each map are hidden and displayed. Now the button hides the HideIcon window which is coded to onHide, hide all the iconpages, then the button shows the appropriate one. This is also where the Quest window is Reloc'd at. (Thanks Deathbane27 for help with the code)
Added mapsizeinfo to each button. This contains the size that the Map image is sized to for the corresponding map to be displayed since they are stretched.

Good info. Thanks. I'm trying to find ways to help outside the game as I have way too much freetime at work. PathfindLoc unforunately will be hard to figure out as gry-online only shows x and y, not z. Could guess at z, but that sorta defeats the purpose.

Can't do icon locs without the Rec info. Hmmmm I wonder if I could use math instead. That way we wouldn't have to change the icon locs.

Sunthas, could you check the far east and west of Stormhold I for me again? if they're all set, I can set up a "mapping page" for floor 3. There'll be little dragable white dots that you place at the corners of rooms then take a screenshot, and the third floor map can be created based on those dots.

Quib

P.S. - I finished Sunken City. It was a pain in the butt to zonerect because the map was kinda imperfectly proportioned.

---EDIT---
Download Removed (16)

I'll test it when I get in game, wont be for several hours as I've got family stuff tonight. I can't find a good relationship between Real Loc and Image Loc probably because its some wierd formula. I'll take the UIbuilder to work so I can add icons to maps that get made.

"...some [weird] formula."
That's an understatement. :D Basically, every map would be a different formula because the edges of the map and the scale of the map are so different.

The best way to get the pathfindlocation's is in-game. Placing the icons on the map though doesn't need to be super precise and their location on the map no no relation to their pathfindlocation.

Quib

Icons for the Sprawl

Thanks Eloa. Got those plugged in. I've started on The Graveyard and have a blank third floor for Stormhold (so you can see how the buttons will work, the Stormhold in the Select Map menu is identical to how it works when the map auto-loads in the Current Zone tab).

I also added a yellow circle to icon_map3.dds, used it, then stopped using it, but here's the new .dds anyway.

Quib

---EDIT---
Download Removed (18)

How to determine ZoneRect
 

To end the suffering -- there is a simple formula to calculate the ZoneRect if you know a bit of information about the map and the zone.

You must know the /loc at 2 map locations. The ideal locations are the two opposite corners of the map. But if you had that, you wouldn't need the math. Any points will do -- but the farther apart the points, the more accurate the calculation.

Round worlds do not map exactly to flat maps but the areas in EQII are either small enough or perhaps the world is actually flat and so we don't need to worry about the projection used or any of the other more complicated cartography details. :)

So as far as we are concerned, the distance on the map is a constant and thus simple ratios work. The fundamental ratio is:
(We know mapA, locA, mapB, locB, and mapC. So if we make point D the same as point A or point B, we know everything but 1 variable -- locC.)


To simplifiy, what we need to do first is calculate the world_distance_per_pixel in both x and y. That is the left side of the equation above.

LOC_Bx - LOC_Ax
-------------------- = wdpp_x (and repeat for wdpp_y)
MAP_Bx - MAP_Ax

LOC_Ax is the game x coordinate for location A.
MAP_Ax is the map x coordinate for location A.
Point A should be near the top-left and PointB should be near the bottom-right. But they don't have to be.

Unless the map is distorted, wpdd_x and wpdd_y should match.

Now solving the same equation for LOC_0x leads us to:
LOC_0x = LOC_Bx - (wdpp_x * (MAP_Bx - MAP_0x) )

Andn using the point farthest from the bottom we get:
LOC_1x = (wdpp_x * (MAP_1x - MAP_Ax) ) + LOC_Ax

Repeat for LOC_0y and LOC_1y.

LOC_0x is the game x coordinate for the upper left corner.
We know MAP_0x and MAP_0y is 0.
You should also know the MAP_1x, 1y, it is the map size.

Someone should check my math and double check the signs.
MrBobble

Bobble, thank you so much for all your time spent to help us with this!
you deserve at least a few dancing bananas
:nana: :nana: :nana: :nana: :nana: :nana: :nana: :nana:

Has anyone put all this work together as one installed UI? It sounds really cool, but I'm having difficulty seeing it in game.

Thank you,
Voik

EDIT: I TRIED THIS AND IT DIDN"T WORK! FORGET I SAID IT : )

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyis3l33t Eloa, for antonica, i wanted to add my own icons. So i created an icons page called antonica. as far as i know thats the internal name. Anywho it wouldnt work. Possibly because i didnt add the ImageStyle, but im pretty sure its because it is controlled by the server. SOOO if this is true your map mod will not be abandoned as it will be needed for the maps that are sent down by the server or encrypted or whatever they are. We shall see....i will try to add the ImageStyle for antonica and see if the icons page will show up.

If you can't figure anything else out..

This might work:
First make a new IconPage under the Map Page and name it MyIcons..
Then Add the antonica page with your icons..

Now add 2 new properties in the main map window:
ShowAntonica

Code:

---

Parent.Parent.MyIcons.antonica.Visible=true

---

HideAntonica

Code:

---

Parent.Parent.MyIcons.antonica.Visible=false

---

For the OnShow event in the Map Window set it to:

Code:

---

Icons.antonica.OnShow=Parent.Parent.ShowAntonica
Icons.antonica.OnHide=Parent.Parent.HideAntonica

---

When the map window is opened it should install your Show and Hide Events in SOEs antonica icon page.. The events hide and show your icons when the antonica icon page is hidden or shown..

You would have to do this for every Hardcoded map if it works..

If no one tries this before me I will try it when I get back to working on the map window..