Map Forge BETA 001

[Ballbarian]

As promised, here is the Dominions 3 Map Forge BETA.

Preview Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYh4RnSNuw

Preview Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-BuC1empHE

From the notes:

Map Forge Beta ver 0.0.1

To install:
Unzip contents.
Run MapForge.exe
You will be prompted to set path information for your Dominions 3 maps directory.
Poke around and break stuff. It's a beta afterall.

NOTES TO USER:
Many features and tools are hidden, disabled, or incomplete.
Many shortcut keys only work when the map has the focus.
Tool scripting is incomplete and remains largely untested.
Neighbor finding (on a new map) is still a work in progress.
Support for wrap around maps is minimal in this version.
No support for mods in this version.
Credits screen not viewable in this version.
Map Forge is a work in progress.

BACKUP YOUR WORK!

I will try to add more info as time allows. If you have questions on the use of Map Forge feel free to ask. If you have an answer to someone's questions, please share it with them. I will try to help, but responses may be slow.

Much effort has gone into preventing the loss of work due to bugs and crashes, but you can bet your bunny that I haven't thought of everything. Bugs happen. BACK UP YOUR WORK!

UPDATE:
Map Forge BETA 002 PATCH.zip attached to this post.

From the included ReadMe:

4/15/2010
Map Forge Patch to BETA 002 from BETA 001
=========================================

Installation:
-------------
Unzip into your Map Forge directory.

Replaces the following files:
MapForge.exe
MFscripts\MarkNoStartTool.mfs
MFscripts\ThemeExampleTool.mfs

VERSION 002 CHANGES:
--------------------
Warn when trying to use reserved commander slot 0. God placement only. Now msgbox & sets focus on owner.

PAGEUP & PAGEDOWN for incremental zooming. (KEYZOOMIN & KEYZOOMOUT)

'MarkAllNoStart' & 'ThemeExampleTool'-> nostart values not being properly applied to the output. CHANGED SCRIPTS! Use tnostart (nostart broken)

When clicking on an item in the terrain tool, return focus to navigator if 'mousedown' but not when event via map sc key.

'z' -> next province key map shortcut. (When map has the focus.) (NOTE: CNTRL+N would remove sc key for 'New Map'!) (KEYNEXTPROV)

Shortcut key should have been 'u' for underwater (map terrain tool shortcut key). (KEYTSEA)

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and feedback!

[Foodstamp]

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Foodstamp]

Bad news! Doesn't work on windows7 64 ultimate. I get an error with the comdlg32.ocx. I downloaded the control, put it in system32 and registered it. Still no luck /cry.

EDIT: After lots of fiddling around, I got it to launch. But now I get an error that says the program cannot find the entry point into the freeimage.dll file. It seems to make the whole program wacky and eventually it crashes with runtime errors.

[Ballbarian]

Forgot to include a dll in the upload. Will re-upload with the fixed zip in a few minutes. For those that have already downloaded, I will attach the dll here. Simply unzip and drop the file in the directory with MapForge.exe.

@Foodstamp,
Thanks for the report. Try this:

You can still register the ocx. For Vista Ultimate x64, you need to place
the Comdlg32.ocx in the \Windows\SysWOW64\ dir. you can then run "regsvr32
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Comdlg32.ocx" and it will register the file.

Located the above at the following link:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-genera...dlg32-ocx.html

Not sure if that will help with Win7...

Edit:
FreeImage.zip attached to this post
Map Forge zip updated to include the missing dll.

[Foodstamp]

Aye that is exactly what I did. And your version of FreeImage fixed the other problems I was having. It works perfect in win7 64 bit now! Thanks Ball

[NTJedi]

Huge Thanks Ballbarian

[NTJedi]

When I open an existing map I've been developing it works fine except anytime I click on one of the commanders or sites for a province. When I click on one of the commanders inside a province it generates the following error:
Map file not saved!
Map file not saved! Map: Error: Path/File access error

Clicking OK for the error allows me to continue, but has me guessing I must not have something configured correctly. This is the location I've specified for my maps directory in WinXP64_bit: E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps

*Looks like it's not saving any map changes... I'll keep troubleshooting.



One other minor bug... when first running the program where the map forge options appear: Clicking cancel does the same thing as clicking ok

[Ballbarian]

Originally Posted by NTJedi

When I open an existing map I've been developing it works fine except anytime I click on one of the commanders or sites for a province. When I click on one of the commanders inside a province it generates the following error:
Map file not saved!
Map file not saved! Map: Error: Path/File access error

Clicking OK for the error allows me to continue, but has me guessing I must not have something configured correctly. This is the location I've specified for my maps directory in WinXP64_bit: E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps

*Looks like it's not saving any map changes... I'll keep troubleshooting.



One other minor bug... when first running the program where the map forge options appear: Clicking cancel does the same thing as clicking ok

Try adding a backslash to the path (in options):
E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps\

Failing that, I wonder if it might be a denied access issue.
As changes are made to a map file, MF backs up changes to a ".ore" file in the maps directory. You might try running MF as administrator.

Hitting cancel during the first run will still create a configuration file with default values. But it should not be saving changes to an existing config file. Let me know if that is not the case.

Thanks!

[NTJedi]

Originally Posted by Ballbarian

Try adding a backslash to the path (in options):
E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps\

Failing that, I wonder if it might be a denied access issue.
As changes are made to a map file, MF backs up changes to a ".ore" file in the maps directory. You might try running MF as administrator.

Thanks!

Well I relaxed permissions for the entire dominions3 directory and then shared the directory with everyone full control yet still the same problem. I also tried the directory change for E:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\maps\ ... no luck.

I then used the run as command to run the executable using the administrator account, but still no luck. My original account is also only an administrator account. I'm able to use the map editor within Dominions_3 and save changes without any problem.

I'll keep trying... maybe my download was corrupted.

[NTJedi]

**Update: Well it seems the utility only has problems with maps I've created, the default maps from the game are not a problem. So my maps must either be using some map edit commands which is causing the map forge tool to choke or something else inside my maps.

I attached the most simple map file of all my maps in hopes a solution can be found.

image file now added

OKAY