Stupid Map Size Question

[mattcolville]

I swear I used to know the answer to this.

I create a new, blank image. I drop a 1 square = 50 pixels grid on it. I can zoom in.

How do I zoom out? How do I create new, blank images of different sizes? Of whatever size I want?

[Nickademus]

Creating a new image isn't really a good idea as FG doesn't make a true image. It just makes a file containing what you've drawn on it and the grid. Best to make a blank image in Paint and drag it into the /images folder of the campaign. That way FG will treat it as a full map image. I think this will also solve your other problems of zooming and size.

I also think FG 3.0 has better zoom controls.

[mattcolville]

Feck. I was hoping to use the blank image and grid to make a map using maptiles as tokens. Works great as long as the map is really tiny. :P

I could then just take a snapshot of the image and import it back into FG2 as a single image. Basically I wanted to reproduce PyMapper's functionality but easier and with better tiles.

[damned]

have you tried pyromancers dungeon painter?
https://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/

[mattcolville]

Shut! Up!no, I have never even heard of that, it looks amazerbeams! It's 2am here and now I want to get out of bed and play with that!

What's the catch?

[damned]

it has limitations and it probably takes you a few goes to work out the best way to use it - other than that - its free and very useful for punching out quick maps.
when you do walls make sure you try polyline and arc to get smooth corners etc. you can move layers up and down. you can export as png or jpg and you can save your files to pc and reload them later.
you can upload your own tiles but ive never tried.

[Trenloe]

How do I zoom out? How do I create new, blank images of different sizes? Of whatever size I want?
If you want make a map of a big (or small) size, then resize the blank frame before you put a grid on it. Resizing is done by using the resize grab bars on the right or bottom edges of the window. If you're using one of the older rulesets you can resize by holding CTRL and click-drag with the left mouse button to resize the window.

Also look at the "Images" sidebar in the user guide: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/userguide35E/gm_images.xcp Specifically these sub heading in the left-hand contents: Expanding blank images (this allows you to expand your blank image 50% in any direction), panning and zooming.

[Qai]

For mapping I use Tiled (https://www.mapeditor.org/). It even has the option to export directly to an image. Works great in conjunction with FG! :)

[damned]

cool - thanks Qai - I hadnt seen that one.

[damned]

Ok guys - yes Im posting this reply to a few threads - cos - well its worth it.

If you were a part of this kickstarter and received the awesome minimap art kit but have been struggling to find the right tool to make use of these awesome tiles and havent quite worked it out (like me) then you shoudl look at this app that Qai posted today.

https://www.mapeditor.org/
you may or may not also have to install Python from www.python.org
now this app is not at all intuitive (to me anyway) but read this page: https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/tutorials/introduction-to-tiled-map-editor--gamedev-2838 and import the interior tilesheets from the mini map art kit and suddenly life is starting to look good...

[Qai]

You shouldn't need python installed. I recently did a Windows re-image and haven't installed python just yet and Tiled works just fine without it.

Also, it seems that the tutorial link is broken. At first, I too found Tiled to be a bit unintuitive, but once you get the basics down it's extremely powerful. Here's a quick run-down of how I use the program. There are obviously advanced features. But for your typical RPG, the following steps should be the foundation for about 90-95% of what you need to do.

1) Find some tiles. For this, my first go-to site is https://www.cgtextures.com/. It says you need an account to download the images, but I just screenshot them -> crop in Paint/Pixlr/GIMP. You'll find many already-tile ready images there. If you need to make seamless tiles from other images, then GIMP already has a built-in seamless tile maker (Filter -> Map -> Make Seamless).

2) Open up Tiled. File -> New. A dialogue should pop-up. Keep everything default (orientation should be orthogonal) except the Map and Tile sizes. Those are self-explanatory. Since this will be your base layer, make sure the tile size is the largest to correspond to your base tileset. When you click OK you'll see the background go a dark grey and Tile Layer 1 appear in the upper right pane.

3) You will now add your custom tiles. From the menus go to Map -> New Tileset. Navigate to your tile image and make sure that the dimensions of it match what you set for your base Tile size from the previous step. Also, make sure that the offset is 0. You'll now see your tile appear in the bottom right pane. Simply click on it to select it (it will turn a blue hue) and you can now draw your base layer in the dark grey area in the left.

4) Now, you'll want to layer additional tiles on top of your base tileset. In the upper right pane where you have Tile Layer 1 under Layers, right-click -> Add Tile Layer. The new layer will automatically be added higher than the first layer, so it will dominate over your base layer. Add a new custom Tile as in step 3). Now, just add as many custom tiles as you want and make sure that you add them to the map while having the new layer selected. There is usually no need to have more than two layers, unless you're making super fancy maps.

Now, here is the thing. When you are adding new tiles after your base tile, this is where you have to pay attention to the offset values in the New Tileset screen. This will offset the tile from the upper left grid cell alignment. This is important so that you can have your other custom tiles overlap multiple cells of your base tileset.

From hereon it's really up to your imagination and patience to make your maps. Here is a screenshot illustrating the points above. You can see how the trees and water are offset from the base dirt tileset. Also, Tiled has a lot more features to make really high quality maps. The above is just to get you started and oriented with the software.

https://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4391/fz4l.jpg

[Griogre]

...If you were a part of this kickstarter and received the awesome minimap art kit but have been struggling to find the right tool to make use of these awesome tiles and havent quite worked it out (like me) then you shoudl look at this app that Qai posted today.

https://www.mapeditor.org/
you may or may not also have to install Python from www.python.org
now this app is not at all intuitive (to me anyway) but read this page: https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/tutorials/introduction-to-tiled-map-editor--gamedev-2838 and import the interior tilesheets from the mini map art kit and suddenly life is starting to look good...
You can also use Pymapper for this: https://pymapper.com/

[Griogre]

Qai, I'll have to check out Tiled, I hadn't seen that one before. You can also find free tileable textures here: https://www.spiralgraphics.biz/packs/download.htm

The textures come as gtx files which are just jpgs in disguise. Just change the gtx extension to jpg and you are good to go. You can use the textures freely even in commercial apps - as long as you give credit back to Spiral Graphics and have a link to their site.

[mattcolville]

You can also use Pymapper for this: https://pymapper.com/

PyMapper is really good, but it's a colossal pain in the butt to make tilesets. The new version has a "Create tilset from folder" option, but it's greyed out, so I assume it's for a future release.

[Griogre]

Yeah it's a real pain right now to make tilesets - but its a "do once" thing. I'll admit the add a tile and add a set interfaces is so annoying to use, I think it almost easier to build the file in Notepad++.

[damned]

Im creating tilesets from Shockbolts Kickstarter just now. He has included a couple of the interiors in tilesets/sheets but it doesnt include all his minimap stuff.
I am finding working with the offset stuff quite cumbersome but in terms of building walls and hand drawn maps - I can see this working really well.
Here is a quick map :)

https://www.fg-con.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/map4.jpg

[Qai]

@damned
That's awesome mate keep up the good work :) If the offset is a bit of a hassle, then there is a way you can free-hand place your tiles. It's just that using the offset gives you that nice snap-to-grid functionality so that you ensure that a tileset has all the pieces fit together as intended. If you want to do free-hand placement of your tiles instead then you can do so as follows:

1) Import your tiles as before.

2) In the right-hand pane when you right click to add a new tile layer, instead right click and add new object layer. When you select the object layer the last 7 buttons in the top toolbar should now be accessible.

3) Click the last button in the toolbar to Insert Tile.

4) Click on your tile in the bottom left pane.

5) Click anywhere in the drawing area. Note: unlike painting the tiles as described in my initial post where you actually see the tile under your mouse cursor, in this instance you will not see anything under the mouse cursor. Just click anywhere and the tile will be painted there.

6) In the toolbar click the purple button with the circle+square that is to Select Object.

7) Click on your tile in the drawing area and move it around wherever you want (make sure that in the menus View -> Snap to Grid is unchecked).


@Griogre
Thanks for the link to the tiles. Some really neat and useful material there! :)


@mattcolville
I'll take a look at PyMapper. Thanks!


EDIT: the instruction in 4) should be the bottom RIGHT pane, not bottom left!

[damned]

is there a way to add a background image? or just add it as large tile(s)?
the free hand is fine for adding furniture and doors - thanks.

[Qai]

In the upper-right hand (layer) pane: right-click -> add image layer (instead of tile, object). Then, right-click on the new image layer -> layer properties, and then browse to your background image :)