Re: Mapping AAR
Arralen:
This AAR is simply a record of my experiences in working with the map editor feature, in the same way that a game AAR is a player's record of an approach to a nation, god, or theme. No rant intended. It's a learning experience for me, and may be a reference for others who might be thinking about trying out this feature.
I can see from your comments that I wasn't using the "hover" feature enough in trying to figure out how to use the editing buttons. Thanks for the reminder.
In particular, thanks very much for the tip about ctrl-left-click to erase a province connection. That issue had been giving me a bit of trouble.
One reason I stopped the AAR where I did was that I hoped someone would mention the "undo" for province connections. (I'd really like to see the basic keystroke commands covered in the PDF. Maybe these map AAR projects will eventually end up as a kind of "walk-though" for map-making.)
Also thanks for the note about the checkboxes affecting only the currently active province. I expect this information will be very handy when I progress to the point of making an original map.
Tiltowait:
Thanks for the note on TGA vs. MAP files. For the current project (which is only to render the Desert Eye map nonwrapping), it's nice to know I don't have to change anything in the TGA file. Thanks for correcting a wrong assumption on my part.
Hmmm...Fat flags = two close white pixels? I'll keep it in mind.
I agree that it is more fun to have shifting names, particularly if the map is going to be used a lot. Thanks for your explanation of how the feature worked (I did notice that on the Aran demo map, Dragons Head has always been Dragons Head in my games, while the other names would shift around).
As I learn to use the editor, I may try to deconstruct and rebuild the Aran demo map as another project. There seems to be some demand for maps of that size, and it would be a good intermediate project before trying to create an entirely original map from scratch.
My general goal is to learn how to use the map editor efficiently. My first project is just to remove the wraparound feature of the Desert Eye map so it's a flat map.
For example, before I'm done with that project, I expect to check (and possibly modify) the starting positions (for example, if I find that removing the wraparound feature puts one or more of the set starting positions at too much of a disadvantage).
FYI, I downloaded the free GIMP program this Last weekend. I haven't had any time to play around with it, though--I also have access to the Campaign Cartographer program, though I haven't done a lot with that yet, either.
Eventually I expect to get around to fully original maps, but for now I've decided to concentrate on learning how to mod the MAP files.
I just downloaded the 2.08 patch today, so we'll see if that changes anything.
This thread may have given me enough information to complete the first project now, though it will probably be this weekend before I can get back to finishing the busy-work part of the project.
Further comments will be most appreciated, and anyone who sees me heading in the wrong direction or missing anything obvious is invited to drop a comment or two my way. Or maybe share your own experiences about working with maps.
Final Note: Out of curiosity, I did go back and open the MAP file, look at its innards, then hit the "Remove Neighbor" button and reopened it, just to see what happened. Before hitting the command, roughly the Last half of the MAP file was "Neighbor" pairings. The "Remove Neighbor" button did erase all the "Neighbor" command lines in the MAP file automatically.
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