Really Need Help

[Raphael94]

Ok so I'm interested in making my own map and yes I'm aware this could take months to finish but that's fine with me.

Problem being is I'm not sure which programs to use and the ones I have downloaded I'm not even sure are the most up to date and they don't even function when I attempt to open them.

I'm currently using a Toshiba Satellite 64 Bit Windows 8, I'm not sure if this causes problems but I will throw it out there.

So What I have gathered is I need to use either UOLandscaper ( which i currently downloaded and doesn't work ) or Dragon? For creating the terrain or the dimensions etc. of the map.

Then I need to use CenterEd+ ( currently have and it doesn't work either ) or worldforge to create towns and deco and all that jazz.

Can you help lead me in the right direction please? Also I see no tutorials on how to even startup these dang on files so for all I know I could be doing something wrong...

And the error I get is something about Ultima.Art giving an unhandled error.

 

[eriminator]

what graphic-program do you use? you need to draw a bmp first. if you have no skills to work with different layers (like you can use in gimp or photoshop) you can´t use landscaper.
if you are not familiar with this stuff, it is better you use dragon to do a map. to learn how to use centred is not hard and it is better choice than worldforge
tutorials for dragon you can find at ryandor.com , informations about centred you can find at http://redmine.aksdb.de/

 

[Dian]

Your running Windows 8 could very well be the issue with running some of the older programs. Dragon, World Forge and others that you would find on Ryandor were all built on a Windows XP erra. I have run them all on Vista (I think), so thats okay too. But not sure about win 8. (I know Win 7 created a lot of problems many programs would not launch) Also, not certain if the 64 bit might create issues for some. They were also built on a 32 bit platform. Again, that might not be any issue. World Forge, and all of Punt's other programs were built on QT platform (I believe mono or linux system) and converted to Windows during the XP erra. Much has changed with Windows since then. Not to mention, Punt has been long since absent from UO work.

Dragon is very old now, and would be most bullet proof on an XP 32 bit setup. Drawing the map out with Paint shop, Photoshop or other similar paint program. You would then have a good base map, but will always need the finishing touches done with another editor like World Forge... for the fine details. If you get Dragon, there should be a pallet in there for Paint/Photoshop. You can load this pallet into Paintshop/photoshop, and once loaded, you can paint away using the correct colors. Use the ColorTable text file to use as reference to what colors are what land tiles.

CenterED can be confusing to get launched for the first time user, but it is generally just setting the path correctly in the startup console, and you are off and running. Have a seperate folder with the *.mul files ready, and enter each one in the console as it asks. It must be done right, or it will never launch.

 

[Dian]

On a side note, the MapGenerator program is Punts last map making program that was going to dominate the map making tools. Its the best one to use, however it takes a lot more work. It uses two images rather than one, like Dragon. One image is all the terrain, other is pure altitude. The benefit to this is having one color pallet devoted to terrain, allowing more terrain types avaliable and not sharing the color table with altitude. Dragon shares them, so your terrain is limited because you have to have for instance, 8 colors of green for grass, each using the same grass, but different shades of green for altitude. Limiting the amount of terrain types you can really have in one pallet.

Unfortunately, MapGenerator was at the end of the times, although it is very complete, it will take some time to understand it, and edit the pallet as you like. But, by far still the best raw map generator out there, in my opinion.

If you have trouble finding a program on Ryandor let me know. I have everything stored, or can relocate/replace them on the site.

 

[Raphael94]

thanks guys for the repsonse!

I have access to a BMP file right now that I would like to test out and run about the map to add cities etc.

But I'm unsure how to convert this BMP into the eneded MUL files, I made the Map0.MUL file but I'm unsure how to make the Stadx0.MUL and Statics0.MUL files. Keep in mind im using dragon to try and convert these..

 

[Dian]

With Dragon there are two seperate compilers. Dragon.exe compiles the map0.mul and DragonSP.exe compiles the statics for that last compiled map0.mul

Run Dragon to compile the map0.mul, then run DragonSP.exe right after. You will be left with map0, statics0 and staidx0 files.

 

[Raphael94]

thanks I've done this I got the files now but everytime I run RunUO I think it's tripping it up. Do i need to alter something?

 

[Raphael94]

NVM I think I solved the issue