Replace "There is no map for this place." with blank map.

[bluap]

I'm sure I've seen this discussed before but I could only fine one reference here. Anyway, I would like to remove the "There is no map for this place." message you get when a tabmap (bmp map) does not exist for a location.

 

After playing a while I guess many players install an unofficial pack of extra tab maps and/or the blank tab map. However, new players and those not wanting to risk the unofficial route, are often greeted by the "no map" message. From a role play point of view, this does not really make sense, you'd just whip out a piece of paper and start drawing.

 

So, I have written a tiny patch (-2+6 lines) to load a default tabmap if one does not exist for the current location. When this map is loaded the normal map walking and marking functions all work fine. This, in effect, allows you to drawn your own map using marks. If the patch is accepted, all that needs to be added is a new defaultmap.bmp file into the maps directory. This could be a completely blank map or may be could include a simple message about making your own map. I'll happily provide a blank map file if required. The patch uses the old message if the default map cannot be found.

 

edit: btw, just noticed that the latest CVS client now logs to error_log.txt when it can't open a tabmap bmp file. Nothing to do with my patch

Edited July 6, 2007 by bluap

[bkc56]

Not all maps are the same size. With the patch work fine with just one "blank" map, or do we need several (for the various map sizes used)?

 

BTW, this is a GREAT patch, and one that's been needed for a long time.

Edited July 6, 2007 by bkc56

[Learner]

Not all maps are the same size. With the patch work fine with just one "blank" map, or do we need several (for the various map sizes used)?

 

BTW, this is a GREAT patch, and one that's been needed for a long time.

It is on purpose that maps aren't supplied to maps! This patch should not be applied.

[bluap]

Not all maps are the same size. With the patch work fine with just one "blank" map, or do we need several (for the various map sizes used)?

The <map>.bmp files are all the same size 512x512 so the default map just needs to be like that.

 

BTW, this is a GREAT patch, and one that's been needed for a long time.

Thanks

 

It is on purpose that maps aren't supplied to maps! This patch should not be applied.

I did fear this might be the case, I never saw it stated before, but its a shame.

[Roja]

Learner, I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be applied.

 

If all they get is a blank piece of parchment(which i can get ready in 5mins)..then they can mark the map themselves with text markers. Nothing wrong with that.

[Learner]

Learner, I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be applied.

 

If all they get is a blank piece of parchment(which i can get ready in 5mins)..then they can mark the map themselves with text markers. Nothing wrong with that.

Because map walking works when a blank tab map is there. Without a map blank supplied then they at least have to work if they want to work their way thru mazes.

[frogimus]

Learner, I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be applied.

 

If all they get is a blank piece of parchment(which i can get ready in 5mins)..then they can mark the map themselves with text markers. Nothing wrong with that.

Because map walking works when a blank tab map is there. Without a map blank supplied then they at least have to work if they want to work their way thru mazes.

 

But wouldn't they have to explore it first and leave breadcrumbs? Sure, you could randomly click until you hit a spot where mapwalk works, but then you could be in for some nasty surprises...

[bluap]

Because map walking works when a blank tab map is there. Without a map blank supplied then they at least have to work if they want to work their way thru mazes.

I respect you folks have the final say about these things, no problem with that. However, if its just to stop maze map walking, then people can just add an appropriately named .bmp files themselves. If you want to prevent map walking in a maze, then disable the function in the client for those maps irrespective of whether a tab map is loaded. That should be a reasonably simple addition to the elm data file I would naively have thought. Would probably be a very unpopular move though

 

edit: typo and corrections

Edited July 6, 2007 by bluap

[Roja]

Because map walking works when a blank tab map is there. Without a map blank supplied then they at least have to work if they want to work their way thru mazes.

 

Well, for serious mazes we put doors or gates so people can't mapwalk through them. The thing is, people use those unofficial maps all the time anyway unfortunately.

I really don't see a problem with this empty parchment map at all. Even if a player does click on it randomly and starts walking..they won't know where they're going, they'd have to mark the areas

[ttlanhil]

Player made tabmaps are quite popular, and the ruling on them has always(apart from a 'week' that laster longer) seemed to be that you could use them as long as you didn't report bugs because of them; so it's not like this would give anyone a new advantage... Heck, I whipped up a quick script to make a copy of blank.bmp as *.bmp for every *.elm I had, and I knew I would never get the "No map"... At least until new maps were added.

On one hand, since players then have to use #mark, they may have to explore a bit more than just grabbing the tabmap, but on the other, players may start sharing mapmark files as well *shrug*

 

And another thing that may be relevant, Entropy has told me he wants the minimap to dynamically draw the surrounding area to handle the maps being changed... This means once the minimap is finished all players would have maps of the area anyway, tabmap or not (testing and development of the minimap is part of why I made the script I mentioned above).

[Placid]

Couldn't you disable the ability (clientside) to map walk on maps that loads the defaultmap.bmp? That way both sides of this argument are catered for

[Cycloonx]

Couldn't you disable the ability (clientside) to map walk on maps that loads the defaultmap.bmp? That way both sides of this argument are catered for

 

I don't see the point then having a map for it in the first place. The reason people want to have a map is to mapwalk to some marked points. And I don't think there is anything wrong with that, everyone knows how annoying it is in EL to walk long ways by mouseclicking.

[ttlanhil]

Couldn't you disable the ability (clientside) to map walk on maps that loads the defaultmap.bmp? That way both sides of this argument are catered for

Technically simple, but I don't think it would work as well in the end. We'd get a heap of "bug reports" about mapwalk being "broken", then people would be told why, and would go back to using blank tabmaps of their own (and hence re-enabling mapwalk).

 

ed: Actually, one way to accomplish this is for the server to have the ability to enable/disable pathfinding on the client for certain areas... This would be used for stuff like mazes without messing with the rest of the map. It'd be quite annoying, of course, since mazes tend to get tiresome if you have to go through them many times, but it would take a modded client to get around it.

Edited July 7, 2007 by ttlanhil

[bluap]

Couldn't you disable the ability (clientside) to map walk on maps that loads the defaultmap.bmp? That way both sides of this argument are catered for

I did sorta suggest this above, but just for the maze maps.

[Florian]

Actually, how hard would a xml block in the elm-file be?

<xml>

...

<option>

<tabmap>false</tabmap>

</option>

...

 

Instead of the error message now there could be a rugged sheet of paper as a map (no matter if there's a matching bmp file or not, elm setting overwrite file-exists()) to set map marks and a hint to use f9 fires to mark your way through dungeons ...

[Grum]

Actually, how hard would a xml block in the elm-file be?

<xml>

...

<option>

<tabmap>false</tabmap>

</option>

...

 

Instead of the error message now there could be a rugged sheet of paper as a map (no matter if there's a matching bmp file or not, elm setting overwrite file-exists()) to set map marks and a hint to use f9 fires to mark your way through dungeons ...

Introducing XML in the elm files now would be a Bad Idea. But setting a simple "non-walk" flag somewhere should be relatively easy.

[Roja]

A non walk flag won't stop the 1337 haX0rz however, and they'll pass out those custom clients to their guildies, etc...so they'll have an advantage over other players.

If we want to stop mapwalking, it must be done with physical barriers such as doors & gates, like in the imbroglio island maze maps.

[bluap]

I had four emails today saying various people had replied to this forum thread but when I get here, there is no sign of the replies. Is something amiss with the forum?

 

edit: correction to number of emails.

Edited July 9, 2007 by bluap

[Florian]

OK, no XML (why not? PM me ...)

 

And no "no-walk" flag which can be disabled in client source code.

 

I like the idea of a "default blank map" which might look something like this: old paper

 

I had three emails today saying various people had replied to this forum thread but when I get here, there is no sign of the replies. Is something amiss with the forum?

 

Parts of this thread were moved to a (now deleted) other thread ...

Edited July 9, 2007 by Florian

[trollson]

There is already a blank paper image in the textures folder which could be used (textures/paper1.bmp).

 

To restrict map-walking, without having lots of gates etc, the server and client could use different walkable-terrain maps, so client (long distance) path-finding couldn't go all server could (short distance). Unfortunately, since the height map and walkability map are combined, this would result in characters falling into pot holes.

 

I would hope that scripting would allow modification to the walkability/height map, for effects such as lowering drawbridges, opening gates, tides etc.

[Grum]

I would hope that scripting would allow modification to the walkability/height map, for effects such as lowering drawbridges, opening gates, tides etc.

It's quite easy to change the height map in script, but the initiative for that would have to come from the server if we want to keep server and client in sync.

Edited July 10, 2007 by Grum

[bluap]

So were does all this discussion leave this little patch? Learner, has any of this changed your opinion or are you still against using this?