Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:32 pm

I've searched the forums and didn't find anything matching, so forgive if this is a repeat post. I'm playing around on the GUI side of zMapper and seeing lots of potential.

The problem I'm running into is creating a new room definition with a particular shape. I go into the palette Click New, enter a name for the room and hit Enter. I then go to the properties for the new room and click Edit Shape and apply my changes. However the new shape seems to get lost, or rather disappears. If I go back to Edit Shape I'm presented with a blank palette. I've tried doing the edit shape from the properties page, removing the default room option etc. with no luck. What's even more curious if I create a plain shape image, that gets created as expected.

Any thoughts ideas as to what is happening?

Update: I just noticed that when I do Edit Shape on a room, the shape is getting created in the Image Shape List but is not being associated with a room.

It occurs to me that I may be approaching the problem incorrectly so here what I want to get done. i want to have a room that is any shape I come up with much like was post here here. I thought the example laid out in the hexmap tutorial was what I wanted, but it doesn't seem to be working.

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

Sounds to me like you're not saving the metafile? If you merely apply it to the map, it doesn't get saved and anything you did has to be redone all over. This threw me for a loop too.

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:23 pm

Yes, this can get confusing. There are actually 2 shapes that are applied to a room...

When you click New in the Room Palette, you are creating a new "Room Type". You can then create rooms of this type on the map or change rooms already on your map to this type. You do this by changing the room type, not by editing the room shape.

In addition to the shape in the Room Type, each room can have it's own custom shape. This is what you are editing when you select Edit Shape for a room.

For example, here is what I just tried:

1) Run zMapper and enter a new name for a new map (I entered NEW)
2) Click the Palette Tab, then click New to create a new room type
3) Enter the name of the room type (I entered RoundRoom)
4) Now draw your shape in the editor. I clicked on the Circle tool and added a filled black circle that filled the dotted box.
5) I then clicked the default box button in the upper right to turn off the default drawing of the normal room, then I clicked the checkbox right next to it to apply my changes.
6) I then closed the shape editor. Notice that in the toolbar on the left-side of the window, the current room icon now shows as a filled circle (our new RoundRoom)
7) To add rooms of the new type to the map, I clicked the Room button on the left toolbar (the one with the filled circle on it). Then I clicked on the map and a round room got added.
8) Now, I can right-click on the room and in the Edit submenu I can select Edit Shape. This edits the custom shape for that particular room, rather than the shape of the room type.
9) In this case I added a filled rectangle. I made it a small square about 1/4th the size of the dotted box and set it's fill color to be red. Then I clicked the Apply Changes icon and closed the window.
10) So now my room is displayed with the RoundRoom type, but also has a small red square in the middle which is unique to this particular room.

So remember the difference between a Room Type shape and a shape just assigned to a single room. To edit the shape of a Room Type, you right-click on the room type in the Rooms Palette and select Edit Shape. This will change the shape of all rooms with that type.

Hope this is clear. Just did this myself so it works fine here. But zMapper is one of those programs where there can be several ways to do something and knowing what order you need to do it is important. It can be a bit confusing to learn.

Oh, and just for additional info, the shapes shown in the Images Palette show *all* shapes being used, whether they are assigned to room types or to individual rooms. In general you shouldn't be using the Images Palette, but it's there if you want to edit a shape but don't know where it's used. In the above example I have two shapes in the Images Palette: the filled circle for the RoundRoom room type and the small red square assigned to the specific room shape.

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:24 pm

Btw, make absolutely sure you are using the latest 1.30 version. The previous 1.2x versions of zMapper had some bugs regarding shapes and saving them properly.

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:16 pm

I tried it again in a new map and was able to do it with no problems, even without saving the .emf file. So now I'm convinced it's a problem with my map file. Since saving the .emf did not help the problme either, I am going send Zugg the database so he can see what went wrong. I'll also try exporting and reimporting the entire map in to a new file to see if that avoid the hiccups. Thanks for the help all.

Newbie Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 1

hmmm... I have tried your step by step instructions several times and have tried playing around with the shape editor and I am having very inconsistent results. I looked at the sunless citadel module you have with zmapper and I had all the settings perfectly set to the round room in there and still could not duplicate it. Am I missing something or is zmapper bugged? and before you ask I have v1.3 other than this quirk I am greatly enjoying zmapper but would like some help so I can use this wonderful program to i's fullest extent. Thank you

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:07 pm

I have been playing around with editing the shape of room types and here is my experience:

1) First create a new database using zMapper and in that create several room types, giving them each a distinct colour. Don't edit the room shape at this stage.
I created "Room2" to "Room5"

2) Now go back and try changing the room shape but edit the rooms out of sequence.
I started with Room5 and chose Room Definition Properties. The room name and colour is correct. Click edit shape, create a shape, turn off the default room button and click apply before closing.

3) After closing the shape editor, program is now show room definition properties for Room2 and the custom shape has been applied to this room instead of room 5. Room5 now has no shape because the default room shape has been turned off and the custom shape has been assigned to Room2.

3) Continue chaging the room shapes out of sequence and you will notice that the the shapes keeping getting assigned in sequence from Room2 to Room5, regardless of which room was selected for editing.

4) Once the program has sequenced through the existing rooms once, it will not change a previous room.

5) Because the room starts its sequence at the first user created room, it will not change the shape for the default room.

Note: Assigning custom colour to any room at any time works properly.

Beginner Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 10

I am also having this problem. Before upgrading to 1.30 Beta I could add new rooms and edit the Room Shape and save ok. Now I load my existing map this appears ok but I cannot now add rooms. I go to edit room shape but when clicking on the apply tick nothing happens; the shape is not saved to the box on the General tab. As mentioned all my attempts to create new room shapes give a blank room but DO create a new graphic. This only happens since the upgrade

Beginner Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 10

New Information
If I reinstall ZMapper 1.20b then the room editing works fine but ZMapper won't attach yo ZMud. If I install ZMapper 130.b then ZMapper attaches to ZMud but I can't create new room shapes!
I think I'll just pack it in - after all I only bought it to enable me to play MUDs.

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:49 pm

I can create room shapes but it has been buggy at times. I suspect that the actual DB can become corrupted. My first DB got completely hosed and I couldn't do much of anything dependably. However I created another database and use it as base to do my "design" work on the the rooms. I then go to my map DB and do it properly that way. I've found this approach to be quite effective since it avoid messing your primary map file with guess work.

I hope that helps.

Beginner Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 10

Thanks for reply. I am using this program to tidy up the map generated by ZMud on the Discworld and have already added many hundreds of rooms; to go back and start a new map now would be unthinkable. My present (unacceptable really) solution is that I have ZMapper 1.2 on one computer and use that to design new rooms. I have ZMud & Zmapper 1.30b on the other computer with Discworld. When I want some new style rooms I have to move the file from the main computer to that with Zmappper 1.2 on it add new rooms and then move it back again. Not the quickest of ways!
I can always edit existing rooms with 1.30b but never create new room shapes - only graphics??
One other problem - the shape editor won't let me create polygon shapes.

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:03 pm

The buggy behaviour I previously outlined was with a new database so I don't think that was a factor this time.

I do have a workaround that works well for me, however it does involve some simple record editing using MS Access.

Open your MUD database in zMapper

Create room types
1. On the pallete, switch to viewing rooms
2. Click "new" and enter name for new room type (eg path)
3. Double-click the new room in the list to edit the room's properties
4. Assign a colour to the room.
DO NOT edit the room shape here, we will do that later.
5. Click "ok" and you should see your new room listed.

Create custom shapes
1. On the pallete, switch to viewing the images
2. Click "new" and enter name for new shape (eg roadway)
3. Double-click the new shape in the list to edit the shape's properties
4. Click the button to edit shape.
5. Create your custom shape, remembering to turn off default shape and click green tick when finished.
DO NOT edit shape colours, the shape will take on the colour of the room.
6. Close the properties dialog and you should see your custom shape displayed beside the "edit shape" button.
7. Click "ok" and you should see your new shape listed.

Now close zMUD and zMapper.
Make a backup copy of your MUD dabatase.
Open your database in MS Access.

Find the value for your custom shape
1. Open the table "MetaTbl". This lists all the shapes you have created.
2. Find the row with your shape name in the "label" colomn. (eg roadway)
3. Make a note of the value in the "MetaId" column for this row.
4. Close the table.

Assign your custom shape to your room type
1. Open the table "KindTbl". This lists all the room types you have created.
2. Find the row with your room type in the "name" colomn. (eg path)
3. In the "MetaID" column should be the value -1 meaning no shape assigned. Change this to the value noted from the previous table.
4. In the "DrawDef" column should be the value -1. This means the default room shape is enabled. Change this value to 0.
5. Close the table.

Now you can close MS Access and reopen zMapper. You should see your room type displayed with your custom shape.

Using this method, it is possible to create a custom shape (eg roadway) and assign it to multiple room types (eg path, trail, road, highway). The room types will then look similar but be distinguished by their different room colours.

Beginner Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 16

this is very sloppy. and frustrating.

i also have a huge Discworld map, thousands of rooms, and getting this room type thing to work is a hell..

i hope u deliver a stable version soon. Crying or Very sad

BTW, big thanks to SilentDawn for the correct analysis, and a viable solution. Laughing