MAPVIEW upgrade

[Aldorn]

Thanks, I will try it 

[Aldorn]

Basically
* Fixed some bugs
   * Scrollbar issues
   * Color issues
   * Etc
* Integrated PckView into MapView  (Havent done deep testing on functionality, but should be interesting)

This works perfectly !
Thanks 

[Hobbes]

I've been trying this version, I haven't had the opportunity to check the PCKView integration but here's my experience:
* the error message when encountering bugs is too big (gets annoying) when compared with the previous version.
* Plus, the bug with the "Array out of bounds" isn't fixed and previously it was possible to continue working but now I have to restart MapView.

Could you fix those? It would be great to have someone continuing developing this tool

A few other things that need to be improved:
* When switching between maps, any changes made to the RMPs are lost, without the editor asking/warning if you want to save the changes.
* When changing the height of an existing map, the RMP and MAP files get different results. For instance, when increasing a map height from 4 to 6, the editor adds 2 empty levels to the MAP file, on top of the existing ones. However, on the RMP it adds the 2 extra levels below the existing ones.

[luke83]

I've been trying this version, I haven't had the opportunity to check the PCKView integration but here's my experience:
* the error message when encountering bugs is too big (gets annoying) when compared with the previous version.
* Plus, the bug with the "Array out of bounds" isn't fixed and previously it was possible to continue working but now I have to restart MapView.

Could you fix those? It would be great to have someone continuing developing this tool

A few other things that need to be improved:
* When switching between maps, any changes made to the RMPs are lost, without the editor asking/warning if you want to save the changes.
* When changing the height of an existing map, the RMP and MAP files get different results. For instance, when increasing a map height from 4 to 6, the editor adds 2 empty levels to the MAP file, on top of the existing ones. However, on the RMP it adds the 2 extra levels below the existing ones.

have the ability to automatically add levels below a existing map set could be a very useful feature...

[Solarius Scorch]

have the ability to automatically add levels below a existing map set could be a very useful feature...

Agreed.

[Falko]

does pckview use different colors?
i looked at https://github.com/pmprog/OpenXCOM.Tools/tree/master/PckView/_Embedded
to determine what colors are used by pckview export
these are not the same as the colors described in the act files supsuper or warboy published some time ago
e.g.:
pckview second color: 236,236,236
actfile/my images second color: 252,252,252

there are only very few correct colors
is there a reason for that?

[robin]

does pckview use different colors?
there are only very few correct colors

Yes the palettes are quite different. See my observations:
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1557.msg29995#msg29995
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1557.msg30945#msg30945
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1557.msg30946#msg30946

I don't know the reason though.

[NoelBuddy]

First a big thank you to everybody working on this.

I've been using the MapView_PckView.zip and had a few questions:

Is there a way to define the folder it looks in for the map files after the initial start up? Not a big deal but I only told it where to look for UFO files when first testing it out and wound up deleting it and reloading to tell it where to look for TFTD files.

Is there a simple way to add maps that aren't default? I wanted to edit one of the alloy crafts and had to write it into the MapEdit.DAT file, is this how it's done or is there a simpler way?

When I select Open from the file menu it doesn't seem to do anything.

I'm having some trouble with nodes, I can edit/delete existing ones but I'm not sure how to put in a new one or move one?  Also issue mentioned above with all level adding one on top of the map and at the bottom of the RMP. :/

[jackstraw2323]

For anyone on OS X, wine doesn't really work so well. Crashes, and the dreaded index color 1 shows black so seeing anything is tough. However, you can run it in virtual box using a machine image from https://www.modern.ie/en-us

Workflow isn't ideal, but it's at least viable.

[bladum]

when i was on mac i used https://www.virtualbox.org/ without any issues

[jackstraw2323]

So I've tried editing the images.dat file but my custom pck crashes the system every time. Am I missing something? I've attached my pck files to this post and the error below

 Windows XP in virtual box with .net 4 and the VS extensions mentioned earlier.
Loading a renamed PCK file seems to work as expected, is there a limit to the number of PCK images in a file maybe? I didn't add many, and it was a short set already, so I wouldn't think that was it. Or maybe I've got an MCD error in the set?

System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.
   at XCom.XCTile.set_Tiles(XCTile[] value)
   at XCom.GameFiles.Map.XcTileFactory.CreateTiles(String basename, String directory, PckFile pckFile)
   at XCom.ImageDescriptor.GetMcdFile(Palette p)
   at XCom.XCMapDesc.GetMapFile()
   at MapView.MainWindow.LoadSelectedNodeMap()
   at MapView.MainWindow.mapList_AfterSelect(Object sender, TreeViewEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.OnAfterSelect(TreeViewEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.TvnSelected(NMTREEVIEW* nmtv)
   at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WmNotify(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.TreeView.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

[jackstraw2323]

Further investigation seems to indicate that the pck/mcd files I created in mcd edit are somehow corrupted. The index note makes me wonder if something isn't right with the indexed color, though I saved as png with the correct battlescape pallet. Looks like I'm going to have to test each frame individually to try and learn what's causing the problem.

[volutar]

Perhaps you've reached 256 tile limit per map?

[robin]

@ TheBigSot or pmprog

There's a modification that should be done to MapView: "unlocking" the maximum value supported for "Target_Type" byte of an MCDs.
In MapView the value should be the one labeled "special proprieties", for example "special proprieties: StartPoint".

In vanilla that byte can have a value ranging from 0 (which means "nothing") to 14.
But OXC ruleset gives us the "specialType" entry which enables us to link any object with an MCD with the same "Target_Type" value, obviously starting with values > the ones already used (so > 14).
The problem is, if we do that (assigning a value > 14 to a MCD, that is), MapView can't read anymore the MCD itself (or it can read it, but goes crazy because it finds an out of range value?), and the whole library of tiles containing such an MCD becomes completely unavailable (big red cross instead of all the tiles).

I hope I explained the issue comprehensively.

You can actually take countermeasures against the issue, to avoid it (like assigning the values only after you have done your maps), so it is not a "show stopper" thing, but it's not ideal.
Warboy said it should be an easy modification, just "un-restricting" or something that byte.

Thanks.

[volutar]

From my point of view it's just dropdown menu index. Dropdown menu is hardcoded with values and it can't know what's beyond. It can't set index value with position exceeding number of lines there. There are two ways to make a workaround:
1. Add 200 extra lines for unknown values.
2. Change input UI element type from dropdown to editbox. Deciphered values could be drawn close to it.

I recommend pm the guy who made recent version.