GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Anything to do with GTA1/GTA2 modding (tools, scripts and more).
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T.M.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by T.M. »

BenMillard wrote:Maybe it was done before but now you can download TM's version of DMA editor with XP Themes. I think Elypter did stuff for that, too?

I used the free XN Resource Editor to add a XP Manifest File. Was a piece of cake. End result is a bit nicer, I think.

Image Image
whats the point, to get different colored window titles? also, you broke the tile list at left: it fills half of the visible map area. also theres some weird square on the currently selected tile.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by BenMillard »

Titlebar is not affected by adding a resource file. The screenshot is from XP Media Centre Edition. XP themes provide usability enhancements. Worthwhile supporting as it took less than 1 hour, from start to finish.

The main differences are:
  • Hover effects on controls.
  • Gradients and a more '3D look' for things you can click.
  • Toolbar becomes flatter with a lot less 'visual noise' so the icons become clearer.
  • Smoother styles for disabled controls.
  • Smoother font rendering. It seems 'MS Sans Serif' gets treated as an alias for 'Microsoft Sans Serif' when theming is enabled. (A good thing!)
  • That box on selected tile is a glitch, yes.
  • Screenshot shows the tile selector undocked so aspect ratio of rendering stays natural.
  • Longer drop-down list for Slope Types.
  • Sliders have a pointy end.
The download is working now, so you can try it for yourself. B)
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T.M.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by T.M. »

Well, it looks nicer in some ways... but it also adds lots of graphical glitches. (the square isnt the only one, look at the radio buttons when you click them, and the white background looks disturbing on a 3d-gradient button (the rotate/mirror buttons)). and all those previously 3d buttons lost their 3d-ness (look at slope generator buttons).

I dont see how this is more usable, though. Adding 8 more items in the slope list isnt gonna make the map making any faster. the font has no difference for me (probably because i've disabled all smooth font rendering in my Win7, i hate to read blurry text)
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Pyro
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by Pyro »

Not tried this yet, but a few comments...
  1. On the slope toolbox, why are the radio boxes in an "L" position where it has slope angle of 1, 2 and 8? Either have them all vertical or all horizontal.
  2. It looks like all the options below the mini-map are all bunched up.
  3. Where did the options "Filter 1" and "Filter 2" go? Despite the dumb names, they are used to darken the lid of a cube. Filter 1 was slightly darker, Filter 2 was even darker and both combined made it very dark.
  4. "Transparency and dual lace enabled" - what? :| That really is a massive name for one tick-box. Needs to be shorter.
  5. The original rotation drop down box was fine, although it could use a degrees symbol. You have the space for 5 items in a list box but only 1 is needed.
  6. The collision tick boxes aren't really needed below the mini map, right-clicking them in tile viewer was fine. Some people might get confused with having the same tile on different faces each having unique collision info when it isn't possible.
  7. Where did the "No HSR" tick box go? To be honest, I don't have a clue what it did in the first place! ;)
  8. Pity the tile list still doesn't render properly but it's always been like this :( What the heck is that white cube inside the tile anyway?
Cheers.

PS - I should get my hard drive back next week, and if all goes well, should be able to test it properly then.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

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Pyro wrote:It looks like all the options below the mini-map are all bunched up.
that is to save vertical space, you do want to access all elements on a small screen, while remaining the big minimap.
Pyro wrote:Where did the options "Filter 1" and "Filter 2" go? Despite the dumb names, they are used to darken the lid of a cube. Filter 1 was slightly darker, Filter 2 was even darker and both combined made it very dark.
those options will be visible only when choosing the lid.
Pyro wrote:"Transparency and dual lace enabled" - what? :| That really is a massive name for one tick-box. Needs to be shorter.
lal, didnt we discuss this months ago? (read the thread from beginning i think you agreed on it already since you didnt complain when i changed it...)
Pyro wrote:The original rotation drop down box was fine, although it could use a degrees symbol. You have the space for 5 items in a list box but only 1 is needed.
easier to click, please read the thread... im sure we discussed about this before too :shock:
Pyro wrote:The collision tick boxes aren't really needed below the mini map, right-clicking them in tile viewer was fine. Some people might get confused with having the same tile on different faces each having unique collision info when it isn't possible.
it only shows the values, you cant click them. its impossible, as you said. (although, the gta2 map format supports it, but as you said, it might be confusing, but it also can add lots of new features, like hidden places where you can walk through walls ;D).
Pyro wrote:Where did the "No HSR" tick box go? To be honest, I don't have a clue what it did in the first place! ;)
urgh. im so sure we talked about this too. no HSR is broken in gta2, it doesnt work. the button was useless. (it was supposed to prevent hidden surface removal, but it didnt do a shit. its easier to not remove hidden surfaces at all than to use that button for every individual block...).

i feel like i just got thrown back in time or something... (i even checked your message date lol) i may ask why do you talk half a year too late about these things ? :shock:
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by elypter »

don't worry you're still in year 2011.
yur sa'nok ngeyä
BenMillard
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by BenMillard »

This was a quick hack by me to a much more thorough hack by TM. It's easy to get stuck in and make your own versions. This was partly to show that.

Widths of radio buttons are a bit too wide in TM edition. That's easily fixed. XN Resource Editor has pretty lousy GUI layout features. I'd recommend the Resource Hacker TM used for re-doing this kinda thing. It's about as good as VB6 IDE which is very easy indeed!

In XP the buttons which show an icon look exactly the same in DMA editor, in your version and in TM-BM version. Is that situation different in Win7, TM?

Having more items in Slopes list helped me make bow, stern and masts for galleons a little bit faster. They are off North-East coastline of Vedic Assault, if you're interested to see.
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Pyro
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by Pyro »

TradeMark wrote:...
lotsoftext
...
i feel like i just got thrown back in time or something... (i even checked your message date lol) i may ask why do you talk half a year too late about these things ? :shock:
Because there has been recent activity on this post, that's why. Next stupid question? :roll:

Just because I posted something before doesn't mean I have the same opinions then as I do now when an update is made. In fact, my comments then were mainly comments/observations as compared to actual constructive feedback I left earlier since this has been updated.

Simple really.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by T.M. »

Ben, heres all the answers:
Image

Image
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by BenMillard »

Updated download for TM's version of DMA editor with XP Themes.

Thanks for the screenshots TM, really helpful as I don't have a Windows 7 machine. It is applying the new button style to all buttons but the icons don't have transparency. Might be possible to export those icon resources, edit them with transparency, then import them again.
  1. Height of Block Info panel (Dialog 109) is now 340 pixels and yet contains everything it had before. (Previous height was 425 pixels.)
  2. Lid Type now uses a vertical set of option buttons, not a 2x2 grid.
  3. The tickbox which does transparency and flattening is now just called Transparent.
  4. The tickbox which keeps faces which would otherwise get hidden is called Keep faces. (Dunno if it actually works.)
  5. Rotation list is now 1 item less tall, so it fits the angles neatly.
  6. Slope Generator is now called Slope Tool and is moved to a different place.
Tiles panel now shows far fewer tiles because Tile Selektor is already a good replacement for it. So more screens can fit this above or below the Block Info panel. Helps maintain the right the aspect ratio of the rendered view when you have a 4:3 ratio monitor. (Epic Map Editor always shows correct aspect ratio, yay.)

Re-arranging the controls on Tile Animation and other places could be worthwhile. They are really counter-intuitive in places!
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T.M.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by T.M. »

Cool changes, but...
BenMillard wrote:The tickbox which keeps faces which would otherwise get hidden is called Keep faces. (Dunno if it actually works.)
Did you read my post for pyro at all? i told him its broken, the old "no HSR" doesnt do any good.
BenMillard wrote:Rotation list is now 1 item less tall, so it fits the angles neatly.
Im not sure is it rendering correctly in my Win7, but i only see 0 and 90 degrees now :shock: I dont understand why you want to make it like that? its much faster to click if you see all possible angles there. just like the "lid type" is, imagine putting those options into a list box?
BenMillard wrote:Tiles panel now shows far fewer tiles because Tile Selektor is already a good replacement for it. So more screens can fit this above or below the Block Info panel. Helps maintain the right the aspect ratio of the rendered view when you have a 4:3 ratio monitor. (Epic Map Editor always shows correct aspect ratio, yay.)
This is a bad fix IMO, not everyone use that tile selektor thing, and now there is no scrollbar anymore. if you gonna make programs that rely on another programs, you should add them into the package too, with a readme file at least.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by BenMillard »

Yeah, it's mostly for my own use, just tweaking things by a pixel here and a pixel there. You might like it, you might not. Thanks for continued testing and feedback.

I've put a new version up which changes some of those things. Shows how easy it is to customise applications using these great resource editing tools.

(EDIT) Here's how the Edit Light Data window looks. Quite nice with the up/down controls and slider, plus the colour picker is themed.
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Re: GTA2 Map Editor Hacks

Post by BenMillard »

Tired of searching that long list of numbers to find what you want? I am! So I wrote a quick reference to dialogue resource numbers for tweaking the Map Editor. It's already saved me a lot of clicking on tiny plus and minus signs.
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