Resize Map Editor in BYOND Discussion

ID:133080
 
Apr 23 2009, 4:07 am
Would it be possible to add some sort of feature to the map maker in DM that takes a view size and either automatically re-sizes the map-editing portion of the form to that size, or more preferably, grays out the edges around the map to the appropriate size? This would help when designing maps since you could get a more accurate design-view of whats going to be visible in the actual game. Its sort of possible now, but not 100% accurate, and resizing the program makes it awkward when you go back to programming/iconing/file managing.
It would also be nice to have an option to reset the DM design environment to its original sizes/layout.
#1 Apr 23 2009, 5:38 am
Something like that is a good idea, seconded.
#2 Apr 23 2009, 12:00 pm
I'm not quite sure what you mean by that :\
#3 Apr 23 2009, 2:01 pm
In response to Spunky_Girl (#2)
You know when you're making a map in DM? The size of the screen to edit it in is just kind of random depending on your screen size and how you have DM setup. As for me its about 26x24. I'm asking for an option to auto-size it to a certain world or client.view size. (sorta like the thing you can do when adding a map control to an interface)
http://www.angelfire.com/hero/straygames/ByondBugs/ MapResizer.png
#4 Apr 23 2009, 2:46 pm
In response to Falacy (#3)
Oh okay. I've never messed with the view of the map editor, and I don't really see a need to, to be honest.
#5 Apr 23 2009, 2:47 pm
In response to Spunky_Girl (#4)
Spunky_Girl wrote:
Oh okay. I've never messed with the view of the map editor, and I don't really see a need to, to be honest.

I already gave my reason. So I can tell what will be visible in the game when editing the map; instead of creating some giant area that looks great together, but only half of it can be seen at a time during game play.
#6 Apr 23 2009, 11:50 pm
In response to Spunky_Girl (#2)
Basically, he wants the map editor to have a feature that takes a view size, then visibly changes the viewed part of the map (or alternatively uses graying-out (much better)) to indicate what a player will be able to see when assigned that view size. Here's a half-baked, crude illustration:
Edited image
<small>Not that it really matters, but note the right-hand side of the image has been partly cut. And yes, I ripped his image, but of course. :P</small>

The view size configured is 3. All tiles out of the 3-tile-ranged area surrounding the center* of the map view have become grayed-out (god forbid the end feature looks like what I've made with Paint! It should be a lightly-opaque gray overlay<small>, maybe the color and transparency will also be configurable</small>). This makes it easy to see what a player will be able to see and what will be outside of his view.
*: The question/problem here is indeed what is the center, though. The view in the map editor isn't always explicitly centered on one tile, so there would be some tricks involved in implementing this. This also means that for this feature to be useful, 2 more [small] things will have to be added:
1) An option that frames/indicates the current center tile when turned on would be useful.
2) A feature to reassign the current center. i.e. being able to right-click a tile and press in the menu "Center on this tile" or something similar.