InfoMap - put the markers *on* the map!

[Soresha]

InfoMap v0.1 (early beta)

As you probably know, I'm currently providing a PoI logging system and database, aimed mainly at providing resource node locations for harvesters.
(See here: http://www.vginterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1628)

Then thorvang provides a lovely tool for making map mods...
(See here: http://www.vginterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1640)

and when you combine the two, you get a map mod that looks like this:



Yes, it really is from a screenshot of the ingame map

Red = Metal
Yellow = Cloth
Green = Wood
Cyan = Stone

Download the mod and try it out for yourself: InfoMap_v0.1.zip (9.19MB)
It's a standard UI mod, for which there are some installation instructions here: http://www.vginterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=352
Or you can try merging the maps with other UI mods you may be using.

This approach has several advantages:
- Different coloured markers are possible
- You can read the map at a glance, no need to hold the mouse over the grey dots
- No problems with PoI limits
- Can be used together with a CustomPoINames.txt file for your other PoIs.

The maps are generated from the PoI database, and whilst it does require a couple of manual steps it's still fairly quick to do. So I could probably update the maps once a week or so with the new data coming in from players using the logging system.

It would also be possible to add the same markers to any of the prettier map mods out there - so if you're a map author and you'd be interested in this, please let me know.

Issues

Suggestions and feedback please! Here are the issues I can think of at the moment:

- Identifying different resource types and tiers
Initially I tried to use symbols for the resource types, and colours for the tiers. That didn't work, I found the markers need to be tiny because they get scaled up with the rest of the map when you zoom in. So I've used different coloured dots for the resource types instead. This also helps when the resources are so close the dots touch.

My idea was to label areas of the map with numbers to indicate the tier of resource in each area. Unless someone else has a better idea?

- Other markers to include
What other markers would you like to see included? I think this should be a short list of just a few very useful things, or the map will get crowded (and I'll run out of colours).

I was thinking of adding: Altars, Bindstones, Riftway Stones, Mailboxes, Bankers, Exchange Brokers. Any additional or alterative suggestions?

- Compatability with UI mods
I have only tested these maps in the default game setup, not with other UI mods.
Please give me feedback on whether these map files work with your UIs. I've got very little experience with the Vanguard XML files, and if some tweaking is needed I'd appreciate some help there.

- Exact positioning of dots
Some of the dots are very slightly off from their PoI positions at the moment. This isn't a big problem and I can make them more accurate, the script's data just needs a little tweaking.

Let me know what you think!

Soresha

[Soresha]

Ingame Testing So Far

Last night I was running after the coloured dots on my mini-map. The positions are certainly accurate enough to use, the nodes were where the map said they'd be.

So when I said "Some of the dots are very slightly off ...", I guess I'm a perfectionist! It's a 1 or 2 pixel difference. (And I can still correct it.)

Soresha

[Maelduin]

Are you planning on implementing the ability to include a mouse-over tooltip for the POIs?
It would be handy for random things mostly, since everything else will have a corresponding legend to mark them for, but you could mark out your favorite grinding spots with tooltips or short-labels like "Grind 10-15" or what not. It's pretty handy to leave notes for various things!

[Soresha]

Originally Posted by Maelduin

Are you planning on implementing the ability to include a mouse-over tooltip for the POIs?
It would be handy for random things mostly, since everything else will have a corresponding legend to mark them for, but you could mark out your favorite grinding spots with tooltips or short-labels like "Grind 10-15" or what not. It's pretty handy to leave notes for various things!

Hmm, let me start by clarifying something, in case it's not absolutely clear to people. The coloured dots are part of the background map images. As humans we know that a few red pixels on the map means there's a metal node there, but in this approach there is no "data" that can be handled by the game.

If you try out the map mod you'll see this is immediately when you zoom out - the dots shrink as the map images are re-scaled. Whereas the grey dots from a CustomPoINames.txt file are overlayed on the map dynamically by the game, so the grey dots don't change size when you zoom in or out.

So... where you see a coloured dot, there is nothing actually there to have a mouse-over effect for. Now for something like NPCs and quests this approach just wouldn't work, but for simple, repeated objects like resource nodes I don't think we're losing anything. Afterall, the mouseover is only going to say "Slate", "Slate", "Cotton", "Slate"....

Now if you are talking about creating a way to have tooltips over the coloured dots (and any other map coords which aren't a PoI in the CustomPoINames.txt file), well that might be an interesting XML challenge for someone, but it's beyond the scope of what I'll be doing.

Here's an easier solution: We could achieve the same thing simply by creating a few PoIs for inclusion in a CustomPoINames.txt file. You can put your notes and tips into the PoI text, and it'll show up as a normal grey PoI dot over the corresponding harvesting area.

If people would like to do this, I would be happy to add a "Harvesting Notes" option to the customized PoI downloads on my website, which would complement the Infomap. I can also include the same data as a CustomPoINames,txt file in the zip file for the mod. I suggest creating one PoI with a short note for each of your favourite harvesting areas. Set the coordinates to centre the PoI over the relevant area. Then email the lines from your CustomPoINames.txt file to me and I'll add them to the database.

I'll probably produce a version 0.2 of the Infomap next week (I won't have time to do it until then), so that gives people a few more days to post any feedback, suggestions or requests they may have. If you are interested in using a mod like this, or have a preference for what is included, now is the time to speak up!

Soresha

[adakos]

Sor,
two huge suggestions, if I may.

1) Use the high-res colored map that everyone seems to love around here.

2) Add the ability to customize our own maps. Allow us (perhaps from your web interface?) to select (if possible) what dots to use on our maps.

This would give us both a colorful, well-defined map, in addition to allowing us to say , well, i only harvest metal ... so let's throw all those dots on, but nothing else, I don't want to clutter up the screen.

If the second option is not possible, at least the first.

Danke,
-Adakos

[Soresha]

Originally Posted by adakos

Sor,
two huge suggestions, if I may.

1) Use the high-res colored map that everyone seems to love around here.

2) Add the ability to customize our own maps. Allow us (perhaps from your web interface?) to select (if possible) what dots to use on our maps.

This would give us both a colorful, well-defined map, in addition to allowing us to say , well, i only harvest metal ... so let's throw all those dots on, but nothing else, I don't want to clutter up the screen.

If the second option is not possible, at least the first.

Danke,
-Adakos

1) Not sure which map mod you mean, however I agree with you on this. I don't want to force people to choose between pretty maps and functional maps - let 'em have both! Cobal already approached me about sharing maps and data, so although un-confirmed, it's a definite possibility.

2) In the short term, it's not currently possible. I made the map mod using a modified version of my existing scripts plus a few manual steps including thorvang's little tool. I believe I could provide a web service for generating dotted maps on the fly, but would require a whole load of new code to do it. I'd really want to know how much interest there would be in this idea before starting work on it.

So tell me... do people prefer "dotted maps" or normal PoIs for harvesting nodes? Customised downloads of the latter are already available on my website.

Thanks for your input,

Soresha

[Hootmon]

Originally Posted by Soresha

So tell me... do people prefer "dotted maps" or normal PoIs for harvesting nodes? Customised downloads of the latter are already available on my website.

While I find the customized PoI from your site very useful, it IS very cluttered if you chose more than just a few items. THe smaller color-coded dots wiyld be nice, especially when zoomed out.

What I 'want', is customized dotted maps. THat way it isnt full of dots for things I cant harvest

[Adurin]

Changing the graphics to .dds sound like a good idea to me ....
The mod is just great but it is HUGE

[Xndyr]

Originally Posted by adakos

Sor,
2) Add the ability to customize our own maps. Allow us (perhaps from your web interface?) to select (if possible) what dots to use on our maps.

This would give us both a colorful, well-defined map, in addition to allowing us to say , well, i only harvest metal ... so let's throw all those dots on, but nothing else, I don't want to clutter up the screen.

Just off the top of my head, (understanding that I'm not sure exactly how you're generating your maps and the colored dots on them), couldn't you put the dots on a separate texture file with transparency and then overlay them over any map you choose? put the metal nodes on one overlay, the reaping nodes on another, and so on...

then put in a button on the map for each node type. you click on the metal button and then the metal nodes overlay will show up on top of the map. since all the overlays are transparent except for the node dots themselves you could then stack all of the overlays on top of each other, in any order and still see everything, including any map textures you want to see below it.... default map, high-res map, or whatever. as long as the maps are the same size and are indexed from the same reference point, this doesn't sound like too complex of a change--just time consuming to add in all the texture overlays to the map xml

[Soresha]

Originally Posted by Adurin

Changing the graphics to .dds sound like a good idea to me ....
The mod is just great but it is HUGE

Yeah I was aware the files were a bit large... I'll go looking for a nice DDS converter to use.

Soresha