Anybody need a quest map?

[iKarith]

Aaaand the blind guy's been drawing graphics in a text editor again!

Here's a map ala Quest Book, in SVG. Internal size is 2680x1980 (external is 1340x990 so exactly half that), with a 40 border around it using its own internal coordinate space that looks like the one in the book. "Work in progress" in that the lines are all 50% opacity and come in lots of primary colors so I can see overlaps and whatnot. It'll all become black and opaque, and yes I absolutely DID produce it in a text editor!

If someone would like it, or would like changes to it (I'm about to go modify it for a 28x22 double corridor board as well), lemme know. Might go into a Quest Book app I will probably write for myself because I've been meaning to learn modern wxPython anyway. If I ever take the time to actually learn some inkscape, I might start drawing "real board" tiles to produce an "actual board" layer that can be toggled on and off. I dunno. I basically just felt like making it, so I did.

Also attaching a half-size preview, which is about the same size as the svg with metadata, LOL.

… DRAAAAATHE! It won't let me attach svg files, pls to be enterink 21st century kthx. Fine, here's a 1340x990 preview image. *sigh* Lemme know if you want the svg and I'll change it to .txt or something.

hq_questmap_preview.png

[iKarith]

In black…

hq_questmap_preview.png

[whitebeard]

Was not aware of a limitation on file extension of attachments. Maybe you cannot attach it as an image?

If svg is not allowed, PDF is and you will still have SVG properties.

Did you not like HeroScribe? It already creates SVG maps. The UI leaves much to be desired but how often does one write or edit a map? It is long overdue for a redo. Python 3 would be great!

[StratosVX]

Did you not like HeroScribe? It already creates SVG maps. The UI leaves much to be desired but how often does one write or edit a map? It is long overdue for a redo. Python 3 would be great!

This is something Anderas and I started a couple of years ago, but life got in the way for both of us. I finish school at the end of this year and I am hoping to get back to a new version of HeroScribe once I'm done. I've been running ideas through my head for how to implement features for a couple of years now. And yes, we were working on a Python 3 implementation.

[iKarith]

Was not aware of a limitation on file extension of attachments. Maybe you cannot attach it as an image?

If svg is not allowed, PDF is and you will still have SVG properties.

Did you not like HeroScribe? It already creates SVG maps. The UI leaves much to be desired but how often does one write or edit a map? It is long overdue for a redo. Python 3 would be great!

HeroScribe's site is broken, download links return "That ID doesn't exist!" … one of the pages mentions a CD set full of just about everything HeroQuest as of some years ago when it was posted. And, I host a lot of large BT files for other hobbies as it is. Some HQ stuff would be just one more for a fast way to get it all into the hands of anyone who wanted it.

I don't have a whole lot of hope for it after my attempt to run Vassal. I ran it and the whole UI was kind of ridiculous-sized. It thinks I have a HiDPI screen and was effectively trying to operate with a 960x500 screen. Vassal doesn't work with that screen size. Found out how to disable that with -Dsun.java2d.uiScale=1.0 … but I can't just pass that to the Java command line because Vassal itself will run a new Java instance without it to get a game going.

Make it stick … export JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS="-Dsun.java2d.uiScale=1.0", there! That should do it.

Code: Select all

tjcarter@aki:~/Source/vassal/VASSAL-3.5.3$ ./VASSAL.sh
Error: VASSAL requires Java 11 or later. The Java you are using (/usr/bin/java) has an unrecognizable version 'Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Dsun.java2d.uiScale=1.0'.


SON OF A BANDERSNATCH JAVA, can you even once not exhibit the stupidest behavior possible?! Betcha know what happened.

Code: Select all

tjcarter@aki:~/Source/vassal/VASSAL-3.5.3$ java -version
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Dsun.java2d.uiScale=1.0
openjdk version "14.0.2" 2020-07-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 14.0.2+12-Ubuntu-120.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 14.0.2+12-Ubuntu-120.04, mixed mode, sharing)


siiiiigh. Work around that, copy the script, neuter the JDK version test since I mean I obviously have a new enough JDK… And some fonts are now microscopic, but I could actually see the board. But not the very nice little minis on it.

I think if I can replace them with the monster icons (which I have), I should be able to use it. Have to figure out how to use the module editor. And … I don't know if I'll be able to use a customized version while everyone else is using the normal one. An integrity check might be warranted as some games could allow people to cheat if they could just modify the game modules to show hidden information, IDK.

It looks like there are options for different images. I could possibly just ADD the quest map icons as alt images and just use those when I'm playing. Modifying the module apparently will change the minimum Vassal version required to load it though, and I have no idea what I'm doing yet.

But yeah, my experience with Java apps is mostly frustration. And don't even get me started on librxtx-java …

[whitebeard]

It appears that there are other websites providing the same "HeroScribe 1.0pre1". The one I visited looked a bit shady, but perhaps you can run it in Docker to protect yourself?

You are well positioned as a Linux user to run HeroScribe without issues. It has always worked without issues for me in Mint (which is based on Ubuntu kernel and application repos).

I could zip what I have and throw it onto my Google drive and PM you a link if you prefer.

I just verified it runs no issues on my most recent install of Mint 20 Cinnamon

Code: Select all

james@friday:/mnt/archives/James/Projects/RPGFantasy/HeroQuest/HeroScribe$ java -jar HeroScribe.jar
starting up.
objects read.
PNGs loaded (249ms).
gui done.


[StratosVX]

HeroScribe's site is broken, download links return "That ID doesn't exist!"

The link in my signature for HeroScribe files has a version of HeroScribe in there if you want to try it.

[iKarith]

HeroScribe's site is broken, download links return "That ID doesn't exist!"

The link in my signature for HeroScribe files has a version of HeroScribe in there if you want to try it.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot. In the meantime…

hq_questmap_preview.png

Bolder lines throughout.

I still have the 26x22 version, but this is my preference anyway after seeing a group play a game on this. They'd modded their quests so all doors were double-wide and used this board. Players, be on your toes. You can't just use the Barbarian as a meat shield in those circumstances! But then, neither can Morcar protect the quest objective behind a line of cannon fodder.

To quote a great warrior, "These don't matter—we cut through!"

[iKarith]

Well I need JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS="-Dsun.java2d.uiScale=1.0", but HeroScribe seems fairly logical for all of that. Some of the symbols that are supposed to look different … didn't to me until I told it to use US format, at which point they gained color that made them quite distinguishable! Sure, UI is a little clunky, but only a little. Way easier to sort out than Vassal was. I'd work under zoom, but not hate doing it, thanks!

I see the quest XMLs have notes, but I don't see a way in the app to view or edit these. Is this something I need to do manually in the XML?

[iKarith]

Looking over https://github.com/Anderas2/Heroscribe2 and it looks like it doesn't work yet. Looks like the plan is (was? No updates since 2019) to use Qt5. I'd have aimed for wx as I consider it phenomenally less complex, but HeroScribe uses a lot of eps files. It's a fair bet Qt has a library for working with those.

(Aaaand it does.)

You can produce SVG with wx, but if you want full/arbitrary SVG support, you're best off using Cairo, which has a direct wx interface.

I'd need to do some homework with the Java source before I could start working on this.