154 replies to this topic

[horred the plague]

We could use some help here. The general idea is to make Check the Bodies' worldmap.mos larger; say 1.25:1 or so. I made a crude attempt, but to quote SirBillyBob:

My God! What a mess! Blurry too.

So, if anybody is halfway decent with PSP, etc (I'm obviously not)--we could use a hand. We're going to remove the existing BP-BGT map, and make it "one map, one world". This won't be imposed on standalone mods, like TDD and SoS, but it will be a part of BP. So, I guess BP will have some other use besides its enhancements, after all.

The reason for this, besides the uniform platform, is to make it so all those BG1 areas aren't so "scrunched up" --so bad you can't even read the labels on most of the areas.

This might require a little BAM work as well; namely, for those "city icons" like Baldur's Gate and Athkatla. Larger, in proportion to the map.

Anyone interested, with the skills, who wouldn't mind taking on the task--please let us know. You wouldn't be required to rework the .WMP file, we can do that. Just the mos, and the map icons. That's it.

Thanks in advance,

Horred

[Sir BillyBob]

One thing that may help the adventurous soul trying this: The BG City and Athlatka exploded maps could stay the same size. Otherwise, right now, the area icons are too small to lay over their areas on the map. The biggest problem area is still between Baldur's Gate and the mountains north of Amn. There needs to be more room for the icons and labels. Basically, take the original map and stretch out that area somehow.

BTW, I do have enough room on the Lendore map for all of the BoneHill icons.

[horred the plague]

One thing that may help the adventurous soul trying this:  The BG City and Athlatka exploded maps could stay the same size.  Otherwise, right now, the area icons are too small to lay over their areas on the map.  The biggest problem area is still between Baldur's Gate and the mountains north of Amn.  There needs to be more room for the icons and labels.  Basically, take the original map and stretch out that area somehow.

BTW, I do have enough room on the Lendore map for all of the BoneHill icons.

Leaving the cities the same size would eliminate the need for messing with the mapicons BAM, sure. It probably would be the easier way. I'm guessing a little copy/paste work could do this. Then again, I'm not the artist...

How much bigger should the BG1 map area be, SirBillyBob? A lot, or just a little?

[Yacomo]

How much bigger should the BG1 map area be, SirBillyBob? A lot, or just a little?

I'll be happy to do that B) By coincidence it was just yesterday when I was toying around with the candlekeep icon. I noticed that my skills became a bit 'rusted' over the years, so this would be a fine opportunity to descale them...

So the goal is to make the BGI area larger - the rest should remain more or less the same? How much larger? Just give me a multiplier

Now the newbie question: How do I get the image out of the .mos? Can I do this with NI? Or will I need DLTCP? Never got that one installed correctly, was too lazy to research why it was complaining about all those .ids / .2da files

Edited by Yacomo, 16 February 2005 - 11:37 PM.

[King Diamond]

Who made the last worldmap? Has it been scanned from some printed original or what?

I mean - the background .mos....

Edited by King Diamond, 17 February 2005 - 03:44 AM.

[CamDawg]

I know it would be a lot of work, but if I may offer a suggestion... the original SoA map was extremely buggy and inconsistent. I'd suggest, as long as you're revising the worldmap, to build the various BP.* worldmaps off the one in the G3 Tweak Pack. It does not make any MOS changes, but it adds and fixes a number of travel links. It also adds a few new entry points to an area or two so you no longer get dumped randomly into areas like the Small Teeth Pass.

[Sir BillyBob]

CamDawg, that would only work if those maps provide enough areas north of Amn and even north of Baldur's Gate.

The map that I am using in DSotSC, NTotSC, and BoneHill came from CtB, so CBisson take a bow. I assume he got the map from another game or he scanned it.

Yacomo, if you have played BGT, you will see that the area icons are really packed on each other just south of Candlekeep. In fact, one coastline icon I had to move inland a bit to fit it in. The map from Athlatka on down and across is large enough for us to work with. I would like to have almost as much room between the icons as we had with the original BGT-BP game (the original BG game may be asking too much).

I need about 2 inches or so of real space added between Candlekeep and the mountain chain above Athlatka added to the map. This will give us more room to place the icons without them being right next to each other. Right now I am having to spread them across the map and the FireWine bridge is almost into a forest (which doesn't make much sense).

There is enough room north of BG for the NTotSC areas. A little more room would help in case someone down the line makes another mod for that region (Field of the Dead or some other future mod).

DLTCEP will allow you to load in a MOS and save it out as a BMP file to work on.

I will work on repositioning the icons onto the map. CamDawg, as far as I know, BGT-BP has all of it's area links working. Someone tell me otherwise so I can fix them.

[Yacomo]

Yacomo, if you have played BGT, you will see that the area icons are really packed on each other just south of Candlekeep.  In fact, one coastline icon I had to move inland a bit to fit it in.  The map from Athlatka on down and across is large enough for us to work with.  I would like to have almost as much room between the icons as we had with the original BGT-BP game (the original BG game may be asking too much).

Yeah I know that it looks a bit crowded, will try to give it about twice as much room. I will not simply stretch that area of the map, I will rather move parts up and down and fill the space with additional forests, plains, hills - whatever makes sense for the appropriate region. Will start with the western (BGI) part first so that you guys have something to work with and then slowly work my way eastward...

So I have to use DLTCEP? Well then I'll try again to install it correctly

* Edit * Is there any known size limitation for world maps?

Edited by Yacomo, 17 February 2005 - 08:24 AM.

[CamDawg]

CamDawg, that would only work if those maps provide enough areas north of Amn and even north of Baldur's Gate.

This is dictated by the MOS--just change the MOS reference on the G3T wmp and you're done. You'll need to adjust the area icon coordinates (which you're going to need to do anyway) and some of the link indexes, but that can be done easily with a quick patch algorithm. The bits I'm referring to are the actual travel links, which run completely independently of MAPICONS.bam and the MOS.

I will work on repositioning the icons onto the map.  CamDawg, as far as I know, BGT-BP has all of it's area links working.  Someone tell me otherwise so I can fix them.

Assuming BP is based on the SoA map nothing's broken per se, but there are a lot of problems with the existing links. My original buglist is posted in Baldurdash, though I've since fixed errors beyond the original list.

[horred the plague]

CamDawg, that would only work if those maps provide enough areas north of Amn and even north of Baldur's Gate.

This is dictated by the MOS--just change the MOS reference on the G3T wmp and you're done. You'll need to adjust the area icon coordinates (which you're going to need to do anyway) and some of the link indexes, but that can be done easily with a quick patch algorithm. The bits I'm referring to are the actual travel links, which run completely independently of MAPICONS.bam and the MOS.

I will work on repositioning the icons onto the map.  CamDawg, as far as I know, BGT-BP has all of it's area links working.  Someone tell me otherwise so I can fix them.

Assuming BP is based on the SoA map nothing's broken per se, but there are a lot of problems with the existing links. My original buglist is posted in Baldurdash, though I've since fixed errors beyond the original list.

I totally reworked the links in BP well over a year ago, so this shouldn't be necessary. And BP is going to be based off of the CtB worldmap.mos, which covers a highly more extensive piece of ground than any I've seen. Leaves a lot of open ground for future mod development. Does the G3T cover all of this area?

[Eon Blue Apocalypse]

thoughts:

- I believe either this map or the one before was made by HardenCoonor (sp?)

- If you just enlarge the BG1 part and leave the rest of the map, wouldn't that misrepresent proportions of the Shadow Coast?

Edited by Eon Blue Apocalypse, 17 February 2005 - 10:54 AM.

[horred the plague]

thoughts:

- I believe either this map or the one before was made by HardenCoonor (sp?)

- If you just enlarge the BG1 part and leave the rest of the map, wouldn't that misrepresent proportions of the Shadow Coast?

As I said originally--the map and the BAM icons should be resized. If that is too much of a hassle for an artist, then at least the zone that contains BG1 needs resizing. It may make some things disproportionate, but it's certainly better than a bunch of smashed-together, misplaced icons...

[CamDawg]

I totally reworked the links in BP well over a year ago, so this shouldn't be necessary. And BP is going to be based off of the CtB worldmap.mos, which covers a highly more extensive piece of ground than any I've seen. Leaves a lot of open ground for future mod development. Does the G3T cover all of this area?

Ah, cheers. Sounds like there's no need then.

[Yacomo]

Just a quick preview of the dimensions for the new map. I'll wait with the 'real' work until we agree on the basic layout

What has been done so far:
- created separate layers for areas north and south of Candlekeep, for Beregost and for new areas
- added space between Candlekeep and Cloudpeaks
- moved Beregost a bit to the south like on original BG map
- added some space to the very north of the map for future mods

I think the proportion changes will not be too bad, mainly the Sea of Fallen Stars will become quite a bit larger than it was in the original.

Lots of work to do, so tell me quick if the proportions are fine

* Edit * Removed obsolete image.

Edited by Yacomo, 19 February 2005 - 09:04 AM.

[PolarBear]

This looks a *bit* blurry to me. Will it be like that?

[NiGHTMARE]

Obviously he's using heavy compression simply for the preview .

It looks as though it will be simply stunning when finished - though I'm a bit confused as why certain small cities/large towns (e.g. Berdusk, High Horn, Tilverton, Volothamp) appear on it, while several larger cities (e.g. Iriaebor, Selgaunt, Elturel, Esmeltaran, Velen, Murann) are missing

Edited by NiGHTMARE, 17 February 2005 - 02:48 PM.

[Yacomo]

Obviously he's using heavy compression simply for the preview .

Right - the whole image file is about 12MB, a bit much to post it here... The final version will be as sharp as the source material (and tispack) allow...

It looks as though it will be simply stunning when finished - though I'm a bit confused as why certain small cities/large towns (e.g. Berdusk, High Horn, Tilverton, Volothamp) appear on it, while several larger cities (e.g. Iriaebor, Selgaunt, Elturel, Esmeltaran, Velen, Murann) are missing

Oh well, that's just because the original map from BP-BGT contained the former and was missing the latter. No offense meant to the inhabitants of the missing cities

[Sir BillyBob]

The basic design looks good to me. Just remember that the town is Berdusk, not Beregost. I don't think they are supposed to be the same town. Can anyone confirm that? I placed the area icons around that town with the assumption that it wasn't the same place.

Another option may be to keep the original map but do an exploded map for the BGT areas under Candlekeep. Just like the two cities are now. That way, the area porportions are still the same.

[Chevalier]

Another option may be to keep the original map but do an exploded map for the BGT areas under Candlekeep.  Just like the two cities are now.  That way, the area porportions are still the same.

I like that idea

[Yacomo]

The basic design looks good to me.  Just remember that the town is Berdusk, not Beregost.  I don't think they are supposed to be the same town.  Can anyone confirm that?  I placed the area icons around that town with the assumption that it wasn't the same place.

My mistake - thanks for pointing that out - will move it up again.

Another option may be to keep the original map but do an exploded map for the BGT areas under Candlekeep.  Just like the two cities are now.  That way, the area porportions are still the same.

Interesting idea - however there are not too much options where to put that exploded area, guess would have to go to the 'far west'... As long as there are no too heavy objections I'd rather stick with most of the locations on the same map. Gives you a better feeling of the 'big picture' I think

* Edit * Another option would be to double the size of the whole map, with the exception of the exploded maps. Would be very easy to do (no need to adjust BAMs), would provide lots of space for future mods, would preserve the feeling of the 'big picture' and would leave the proportions correct. Sure, there will be some touch ups required after resizing, but hey, I'll need to do that anyway. For me, this sounds very attractive :^^:

Only problem here: Can such a large map be handled by the game? It would be about 5000 x 4000 pixels.

I am all for that last option. What do you think?

Edited by Yacomo, 17 February 2005 - 03:58 PM.