Need help editing a board for HeroScribe

[banjo_oz]

I want to create an alternate version of the default US board that uses different colors for dark areas, walls, corridors and also fills in the room spaces with a color other than white and making room walls thicker. However, I've tried extracting and editing the Board_US.eps (renaming it) and while my board shows up in the list just fine, it does not use the colors I specify. I also cannot figure out how to fill in the room spaces, since the default boards don't do this.

I presumed editing things like "/RoomStroke 2.3 def" would change wall thickness, but it doesn't work. Not does changing "/DarkRGB { 0.75294 0.61961 0.61569 } def" change the dark/bridge color as I expected.

I've taught myself a lot about HeroScribe and am happily making new icons for it and editing the xml files, but board editing just has be completely stumped! Since I only want to change colors (and fill rooms) I was hoping it's not too difficult for someone to point me in the right direction of what I need to do? Thanks!

[StratosVX]

I've edited a lot of board for HeroScribe, although it has been a few years since I have messed with it. From my memory, what you described sounds like it is right. I don't have time to mess with it today, but I will try to look at it this week and get back to you. If I forget, shoot me a pm to remind me please.

[banjo_oz]

I've edited a lot of board for HeroScribe, although it has been a few years since I have messed with it. From my memory, what you described sounds like it is right. I don't have time to mess with it today, but I will try to look at it this week and get back to you. If I forget, shoot me a pm to remind me please.

Thanks so much! I would really, REALLY appreciate the help! I just tried following a guide (from your linked sig, in fact!) to fill in the rooms but that failed too. I am sure there is something obvious I am doing wrong, because the only aspect of my board that changes is the grid colour, even though I changed everything else (stroke thickness, corridor colour, etc.) and it's driving me nuts.

If it helps, this is my eps file so far:

Code: Select all

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 538 404
%%HiResBoundingBox: 0 0 537.6 403.2
%%LanguageLevel: 2

% Made with/for HeroScribe
% The board layout is (C) Milton Bradley Company
% This eps file is (C) 2003-2021 Flavio and Valerio Chierichetti and Banjo

%/adjacentBoardsOffset offset def
/x 26 def
/y 19 def
/Unit { 19.2 mul } def
/Border 0.15 def

/RoomStroke 2.3 def
/GridStroke 0.1 def

/BorderRGB { 0.40392 0.05098 0.18039 } def
/DarkRGB { 0.75294 0.61961 0.61569 } def
/CorridorRGB { 0.89020 0.86667 0.82353 } def
/RoomRGB { 0.91765 0.90196 0.89412 } def
/TrapRGB { 0.976 0.486 0.200 } def
/UntraceableTrapRGB { 0.757 0.910 0.827 } def

/BoundingBox {
    % Width, Height

    exch
    dup
    1 sub adjacentBoardsOffset mul
    exch
    x 2 add mul
    add Unit

    exch
    dup
    1 sub adjacentBoardsOffset mul
    exch
    y 2 add mul
    add Unit

    2 array astore

    << /PageSize 2 index
    >> setpagedevice

    pop

%    Ghostscript only
%    mark /MediaBox [ 0 0 x 2 add Unit y 2 add Unit ] /PAGE pdfmark
%    mark /CropBox  [ 0 0 x 2 add Unit y 2 add Unit ] /PAGE pdfmark
} def

/horizontalline {
    0 rlineto stroke
} def

/verticalline {
    0 exch rlineto stroke
} def

/HorizontalLineTo {
    % length > 0
   
    currentlinewidth exch currentpoint

    % lw length x y

    currentlinewidth 2 div sub exch

    % lw length (y - lw / 2) x

    currentlinewidth 2 div sub exch

    % lw length (x - lw / 2) (y - lw / 2)

    2 index currentlinewidth add
    currentlinewidth
   
    % lw length (x - lw / 2) (y - lw / 2) (length + lw) lw

    0 setlinewidth
    rectfill

    pop

    setlinewidth

    % [empty]
} def

/VerticalLineTo {
    % length > 0
   
    currentlinewidth exch currentpoint

    % lw length x y

    currentlinewidth 2 div sub exch

    % lw length (y - lw / 2) x

    currentlinewidth 2 div sub exch

    % lw length (x - lw / 2) (y - lw / 2)

    2 index currentlinewidth add
    currentlinewidth

    exch
   
    % lw length (x - lw / 2) (y - lw / 2) lw (length + lw)
   
    0 setlinewidth
    rectfill

    pop

    setlinewidth

    % [empty]
} def

/RectStroke {
    % xs ys width height

    3 index 3 index moveto
    1 index HorizontalLineTo

    3 index 3 index moveto
    0 index VerticalLineTo

    3 index
    3 index 2 index add
    moveto
    1 index HorizontalLineTo

    3 index 2 index add
    3 index
    moveto
    0 index VerticalLineTo

    % xs ys width height

    pop pop pop pop
   
} def

/Grid {
    gsave
    1 Unit 1 Unit translate
   
    BorderRGB setrgbcolor
    0 setlinejoin

    GridStroke setlinewidth

    0 1 x 1 sub {
   gsave
   Unit 0 translate

   0 0 moveto
   y Unit verticalline

   2 1 10 {
       gsave
       12 div Unit 0 translate

       0 0 moveto
       -1 Border mul Unit verticalline

       0 y Unit moveto
       Border Unit verticalline

       grestore
   } for
   
   grestore   
    } for

    0 1 y 1 sub {
   gsave
   Unit 0 exch translate

   0 0 moveto
   x Unit horizontalline

   2 1 10 {
       gsave
       12 div Unit 0 exch translate

       0 0 moveto
       -1 Border mul Unit horizontalline

       x Unit 0 moveto
       Border Unit horizontalline

       grestore
   } for
   
   grestore   
    } for

    RoomRGB setrgbcolor

    % Central Room
    10 Unit 7 Unit 6 Unit 5 Unit rectfill

    % Lower-Left Rooms
    1 Unit 1 Unit 8 Unit 8 Unit rectfill
    9 Unit 1 Unit 3 Unit 5 Unit rectfill
    5 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit rectfill
    1 Unit 5 Unit 4 Unit 4 Unit rectfill
    5 Unit 6 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit rectfill

    % Upper-Left Rooms
    1 Unit 10 Unit 8 Unit 8 Unit rectfill
    1 Unit 10 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit rectfill
    1 Unit 15 Unit 8 Unit 3 Unit rectfill
    9 Unit 13 Unit 3 Unit 5 Unit rectfill

    % Lower-Right Rooms
    14 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit rectfill
    18 Unit 1 Unit 7 Unit 4 Unit rectfill
    21 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit rectfill
    17 Unit 6 Unit moveto 3 Unit rectfill
    17 Unit 9 Unit moveto 4 Unit rectfill

    % Upper-Right Rooms
    14 Unit 13 Unit 3 Unit 5 Unit rectfill
    17 Unit 10 Unit 8 Unit 8 Unit rectfill
    17 Unit 14 Unit 8 Unit 4 Unit rectfill
    17 Unit 10 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit rectfill

    0 0
    x Unit
    y Unit
    % Use RectStroke (the function previously defined) instead of ``rectstroke''
    % for using PDFs of this file as converted by ghostscript with Illustrator
    rectstroke
   
    0 Border sub Unit
    0 Border sub Unit
    2 Border mul x add Unit
    2 Border mul y add Unit
    rectstroke

    RoomStroke setlinewidth

    % Central Room
    10 Unit 7 Unit 6 Unit 5 Unit rectstroke

    % Lower-Left Rooms
    1 Unit 1 Unit 8 Unit 8 Unit rectstroke
    9 Unit 1 Unit 3 Unit 5 Unit rectstroke
    5 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit rectstroke
    1 Unit 5 Unit 4 Unit 4 Unit rectstroke
    5 Unit 6 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit rectstroke

    % Upper-Left Rooms
    1 Unit 10 Unit 8 Unit 8 Unit rectstroke
    1 Unit 10 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit rectstroke
    1 Unit 15 Unit 8 Unit 3 Unit rectstroke
    9 Unit 13 Unit 3 Unit 5 Unit rectstroke

    % Lower-Right Rooms
    14 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit rectstroke
    18 Unit 1 Unit 7 Unit 4 Unit rectstroke
    21 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit rectstroke

    17 Unit 6 Unit moveto 3 Unit verticalline
    17 Unit 9 Unit moveto 4 Unit horizontalline

    % Upper-Right Rooms
    14 Unit 13 Unit 3 Unit 5 Unit rectstroke
    17 Unit 10 Unit 8 Unit 8 Unit rectstroke
    17 Unit 14 Unit 8 Unit 4 Unit rectstroke
    17 Unit 10 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit rectstroke

    grestore
} def

/Dark {
    DarkRGB setrgbcolor
    0 setlinewidth

    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
   
    rectfill

    pop pop pop pop
} def

/Trap {
    TrapRGB setrgbcolor
    0 setlinewidth

    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit

    3 index
    3 index
    3 index
    3 index

    gsave
    rectclip
    rectfill
    Grid
    grestore

    pop pop pop pop
} def

/UntraceableTrap {
    UntraceableTrapRGB setrgbcolor
    0 setlinewidth

    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit

    3 index
    3 index
    3 index
    3 index

    gsave
    rectclip
    rectfill
    Grid
    grestore

    pop pop pop pop
} def

/Corridor {
    CorridorRGB setrgbcolor
    0 setlinewidth

    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
    3 index Unit
   
    rectfill

    pop pop pop pop
} def

/StartBoard {
    % Column Row

    exch
    dup
    adjacentBoardsOffset mul
    exch
    x 2 add mul
    add Unit

    exch
    dup
    adjacentBoardsOffset mul
    exch
    y 2 add mul
    add Unit

    gsave
    translate
} def

/EndBoard {
    grestore
} def

/HorizontalBridge {
    % bottom

    dup

    CorridorRGB setrgbcolor
   
    Unit
    x 1 add Unit
    exch
    2 adjacentBoardsOffset add Unit
    1 Unit
    rectfill

    BorderRGB setrgbcolor
    GridStroke setlinewidth

    Unit
    x 1 add Unit
    exch
    2 adjacentBoardsOffset add Unit
    1 Unit
    rectstroke
} def

/VerticalBridge {
    % left

    dup

    CorridorRGB setrgbcolor
   
    Unit
    2 adjacentBoardsOffset add -1 mul 1 add Unit
    1 Unit
    2 adjacentBoardsOffset add Unit
    rectfill


    BorderRGB setrgbcolor
    GridStroke setlinewidth

    Unit
    2 adjacentBoardsOffset add -1 mul 1 add Unit
    1 Unit
    2 adjacentBoardsOffset add Unit
    rectstroke
} def

% width height BoundingBox

% Deactivating showpage and setpagedevice
% We have to reactivate them before the end

% 2 dict dup dup /showpage {} put /setpagedevice {} put begin
%
% column row StartBoard
%
% x1 y1 width height Corridor
% ...
% x1 y1 width height Dark
% ...
% Grid
%
% EndBoard


[StratosVX]

So I lied - I looked at this issue today. Actually, not really a lie as I ended up looking at this at work because I really wanted to figure this out and it was bugging me. Damn you for giving me a problem to solve!

I'm going to guess you are exporting the new map as a .png file, correct? The reason I ask is that I have always exported the .eps files, and they worked fine for me. I was creating this zip file to show you that those changes work, but then I thought that maybe you might not be able to view the exported .eps files. So I exported the .png files and previewed them to make sure they exported fine when I found out the edited map looked identical to my original map. Thinking I had accidentally exported the map with the original settings, I went in and changed the map settings, saved and exported again. Again the .png looked identical to the original. Still not trusting myself, I tried it a third time with the same result. What was that definition of insanity again...?

If you are exporting the .png file, my guess is that something in Java has updated and broken the old code that is HeroScribe. If you have been trying to export the .eps files when you ran into these problems, go through your whole process for me so I can see where you might have gone wrong. I wrote the guide after I had been doing the maps for a while and I have a bad habit of leaving out information that I know because, well I know it and my brain forgets that you didn't go through the same thing I did to make the process work so you might not know what I know. However, while revisiting this process again I had quite a few brain farts that were really, really dumb mistakes but kept me busy for a bit. When I say write down the process, I mean all of it. "I'm starting with the file Board.eps that is found in Icons/Vector/US/. I changed the DarkRGB to {your values}. ... ... In HeroScribe, I open the map "Board" and I change the settings to "US" ... ... You get the idea.

[banjo_oz]

Thank you so very much for looking into this for me. Sorry to give you a puzzle but I know what you mean about something bugging you and not being able to leave it go.

I've actually not got as far as exporting anything. My issue is that I see no difference in HeroScribe when I load my edited board compared to viewing the default board. This is what has me confused. Even if I made errors, they should look different, right?

* I am using HeroScribe "All in One" downloaded from the official site (but I also tested in the default version, renaming my edited board to "Board_US.eps" since that version doesn't support multiple boards; same result).
* I decompressed Board_US.eps from the .gz file.
* Opened Board_US.eps in EditPadPro (plain text editor).
* To make things simple, I only edited Board_US.eps lines below:

Code: Select all

/RoomStroke 2.3 def
...
/BorderRGB { 0.40392 0.05098 0.18039 } def
/DarkRGB { 0.75294 0.61961 0.61569 } def
/CorridorRGB { 0.89020 0.86667 0.82353 } def


* Saved the file as Board_BA.eps
* Used 7Zip to compress into a .gz archive.
* Deleted Board_BA.eps (so only ther gzipped version remained in the folder).
* I added the following to Objects.xml, right below the last board listed and above all the other objects (copied from the default board, with the default tag removed):

Code: Select all

<board name="HeroQuest (Banjo)" width="26" height="19" borderDoorsOffset="0.08" adjacentBoardsOffset="-0.5">
<icon region="Europe" path="Europe/Board_EU" />
<icon region="USA" path="USA/Board_BA" />
<!-- Border corridors -->
<corridor left="1" top="1" width="26" height="1" />
<corridor left="1" top="19" width="26" height="1" />
<corridor left="1" top="1" width="1" height="19" />
<corridor left="26" top="1" width="1" height="19" />
<!-- 2x7 corridors -->
<corridor left="13" top="1" width="2" height="7" />
<corridor left="13" top="13" width="2" height="7" />
<!-- 10x1 corridors -->
<corridor left="1" top="10" width="10" height="1" />
<corridor left="17" top="10" width="10" height="1" />
<!-- 1x7 corridors -->
<corridor left="10" top="7" width="1" height="7" />
<corridor left="17" top="7" width="1" height="7" />
<!-- 8x1 corridors -->
<corridor left="10" top="7" width="8" height="1" />
<corridor left="10" top="13" width="8" height="1" />
</board>


* Ran HeroScribe.
* Changed boards (mine was listed last) to "HeroQuest (Banjo)".
* Changed region to USA.
* The board looked no different from the default!
* I switched back and forth between the default and my board, to make sure, but both look identical!

EDIT: All board files are in "Icons\Vectors\USA".

Hope that helps you help me!

I still would like to shade rooms (all the same colour, nothing fancier than that) but haven't tried doing that again until I can at least get my eps to show up in the program correctly.

[StratosVX]

Aah! No, it won't look different. The boards you see in HeroScribe are the .png version of the .eps that you created. This is the very last section of the guide I wrote, although it doesn't say it (I swear I wrote that though). The .eps that you edit is not a complete map that will open in Photoshop. Something in the "Export to EPS" function in HeroScribe makes it a normal, viewable .eps (at least I can't view the edited version on my computer). If I remember correctly, I would edit an existing board (let's say Board_US.eps), Once it was good, I would make the same changes to the European version of that board. I would gzip them, and replace the old files in HeroScribe (I always worked on a backup copy). I would then open the board in HeroScribe and export them to .eps (very redundant, I know). I would then open these exported .eps files in Photoshop with a resolution of 125 dpi (you don't need to change the size of the image - setting the dpi will take care of the rest). I would then export these images as .png, rename the original edited .eps filed the .png files, re-gzip the edited .eps file and put them all in their respective locations. The map .png files go in Icons/Raster/<Respective Region>. Update the Objects.xml with the new names and data (such as corridors) and once you have finally done all of that, your map should open in HeroScribe with the new map showing correctly. Hopefully. There is still that issue I encountered when exporting as a .png, although that shouldn't affect how your maps appear in HeroScribe, just how they look when you export.

If I remember correctly, I had been doing the export-edited-maps-to-png step in HeroScribe, but then found that the photoshop method yielded better results. If you don't have photoshop, you can send me the exported .eps files and I will convert them for you. Also, you don't need to keep the exported .eps files when this is all done (I don't believe you do anyway). All of this was a huge pain in the ass which is one of the many reasons Anderas and I wanted to rewrite HS. Hopefully I can get time to get back to that one day in the near future.

[banjo_oz]

Wow, thanks! That is super unintuitive, eh? But I guess it makes sense if you (unlike me) remember that HeroScribe is using the png images for icons. I stupidly assumed it was drawing the board from the eps though, given it wasn't a "real" graphic and rather a text file of code.

Now I just need to know how to fill in the room squares. My first attempt (the example I posted in my first reply) just outputs a screwed-up mess, so that's obviously not right! I wondered if I had to edit the actual objectlist files to add "room" as a variable so you could add them in objects.xml the way you can corridors, but then I thought that might be going the long way around when you could do it inside the board eps anyway.

I'd like to fill the border as well, if possible.

EDIT: for some reason, I can't get Photoshop (I'm using the old CS4 version) to export the eps (the one I already exported from HS, not the edited text file version) to png format (even if I save as psd or tiff first), but I can convert it with Irfanview of all things!

[StratosVX]

So I hadn't looked at all of the code you posted when I first looked at it. I mostly looked at the variable declarations and made sure that they were being called. I am looking at it now and I would like you to tell me if I am following your logic correctly for a couple of areas:

Inside /Grid you are setting a room color and you are then drawing the rooms. I am assuming that you are trying to fill those room boundaries with the RoomRGB color, is that correct?

Still inside \Grid, but after the above, you set the line width to RoomStroke. You then go over the same room boundaries here. I am assuming that you are trying to draw the walls for the rooms here, is that correct?

[banjo_oz]

First thing to note: my second code version of the board now works if I export to eps, then convert the eps to png in InkScape. The issue though is that the corridors are the correct colour I specified *but* are not shaded when I paint "darK" over them like the default board does. I noticed that the default Board_US.png does not have the corridors shaded despite them showing up that way in the editor. How do I do this with my board? I'm confused because my eps is currently an exact copy of Board_US.eps except the room thickness and rgb colours are changed. Is it because I'm converting the eps with InkScape rather than exporting as png?

As to filling rooms, I was trying to follow the guide in your link that said to copy the drawing of rooms but change rectstroke to rectfill, and to put the code before the drawing in the spot I did. What you say I'm attempting is 100% correct. As I said, I only did it that way from how I interpreted the guide (it specifically warned to fill squares before drawing them). My original gut instinct was to create code later that filled the rooms like corridors (i.e. create a "Rooms" section) and possibly even need to edit objectList-1.6 to define rooms as well as corridors. Probably the wrong approach, though!

EDIT: tweaked my original code a little to add the room I forgot, but same issue remains. It seems to draw the filled spaces on top of the lines rather than beneath them.

EDIT 2: I think I'm just forgetting to change the colour back to "border" when drawing the lines after making the filled spaces!

[StratosVX]

So to fix your issue of gridlines not showing up (and this is why I needed to verify your logic), the lines/colors are drawn in the order you specify. So in the code you posted, you draw the grid lines, then you color the rooms (covering up the grid lines), then you draw the room borders. At the time of my previous post, you were drawing the room borders in the same color you used for the floor so the borders wouldn't be visible. You want to color the rooms, then draw the grid lines (don't forget to change your color), then draw your borders.

As for the corridor issue you are having, I am stumped there. Post the Objects.xml code (only for the board(s) you are having issues with) and the .eps code for the room so I can take a look please.