Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:23 am

Just thought I'd let people know that I'm working on the Star Wars Galaxies map database this week. I've got a new version of zExplorer that can handle server-specific locations, and it also has the ability to handle scaled background bitmaps for the cities.

So, I'm busy importing city maps on top of the planet maps already provided, and am entering as many locations as I can (buildings, trainers, mission terminals, dungeons, POIs, etc).

SWG is a big universe, so it's taking a while. I'm doing about a planet a day so far, so hopefully I'll be ready for the release sometime late next week.

I never did finish the Public version of zMUD. It was being a huge pain and there was a never ending stream of bugs. I decided the current 6.66 beta version of zMUD was stable enough to keep people happy for a couple of weeks and came back here to do the new version of zExplorer that I've promised for so long.

My goal now is to get the basic SWG database up and running and release the new version of zExplorer with it. This version of zExplorer also fixes the bugs that prevent the current version from updating new info from the database. So, before the holidays, you should get a version of zExplorer that actually works well with the map database servers.

After the holidays (or during), I plan to try and find out if I can write a real-time tracking module for SWG.

That's the latest. Stay tuned for more details as the release gets closer.

Beginner Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 11 Location: USA

Hey Zugg nice to here from ya, this is formaly CKnightWolf I figured I would put my AC name to rest and start using my SWG name. good to here the db is moving along. but I need to know something, or can you send me a PM on how I can use zMapper/zExporer as a player city map planner/organiser. Let me tell ya its been a pain in the rear as a city mayor trying to plan and place structures. just for the lack of a decent airial view. since Aries will be a rank 4 city, along with most other cities our placement is allmost finished, but i'm sure that i need to reorganise a few areas in the city. like one of the other mayors told me. a simcity feature for the mayors would me a big help. so i'm not sure if zMapper or zExplorer can help us at all. well i'll let ya get back to work.

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:40 pm

Send me an email on this and I'll give it some thought and discuss it. I'm sure that zMapper could certainly be used to layout the city. Once a map is created in zMapper, you can then put the Database Server scripts onto a system with PHP and MySQL and then zExplorer users can share the map and exchange comments and information. If that's the kind of thing you are looking for, then I can probably help.

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:48 pm

Oh, and back on topic, in terms of status of the SWG maps...

I have finished Tatooine and Naboo. Naboo took a while since I decided to add the river and canals to the city maps for Keren and Theed. That required doing some in-game exploration.

I'm hoping that the other planets go a bit faster. Corellia, Rori, and Talus are the only other Starting Planets that will take a lot of time. The secondary planets have less cities to do detailed images of, so they should be quicker. I won't be able to work on this over the weekend, but if I can still do about one major planet a day, I should still have something close by the end of next week.

I must say, it's pretty cool to go into zExplorer and just keep zooming in on the map and then start to see the building details of the big cities. I've discovered that the background graphics for the planets are pretty worthless in terms of details. I mean, the rivers around Keren aren't even shown properly on the planet terrain, and it's got Kaadara looking like it's half into the ocean. Maybe someday we'll have more detailed planet terrain maps. It reminds me a lot of the early days with Asheron's Call when all we had was the artist conception pictures of the world.

Anyway, unlike the current hype over the POI maps, which just show where all of the stumps, bones, and ruins are, I think the zExplorer maps will be useful for actually playing the game when you want to know where the nearest mission terminal is or want to take a look at a planet that you aren't on to plan a trip. And if I can get tracking working on SWG after the holidays, then I think a *lot* of people are going to find this tool useful.

That's the latest. Check back next week for more status reports.

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2003 9:45 pm

Latest status:

I've got the maps done, along with detailed city maps for most main cities. I still have some bugs to fix in how zExplorer gets updates from the remote map database server. Doesn't look like I'm going to get it all working today unfortunately. I'm gone on Saturday but will be back at work Sunday and hope to get the SWG maps, the new zExplorer and a new zMapper all released on Sunday.