Map Image Maker

Map Image Maker
Latest Version: 3.2

Introduction

This script very simply makes a PNG file of any map you so choose.  This is extremely helpful for large maps, where taking screenshots of the map and pasting them together in an image editor can be a real pain. The program runs as a separate game that shares the resource files with your game, so you will not have to modify your game in any way (no adding scripts or checking compatibility) in order to run the program.

With the latest release, this script is capable of saving any size map at full resolution. It takes time to save large maps, but at least during that time you're watching TV or reading, or eating, or...anything except sitting at the computer cutting and pasting screenshots.

Screenshots

Note that these screenshots represent an early version 2.0, and may not necessarily reflect the current utility.

Spoiler: Highlight to view

Demo

Download here

Instructions

Download the "demo" and unzip it directly in your project directory.  If you can't find it, open your project in RMXP, and go to Game > Open Game Folder.  Unzip here.  Then, run MapMaker.exe.

You'll have a menu of all your maps available.  If you press Enter, you can "Generate" the map image.  This is a time consuming process, so it isn't done automatically.  Once the map is generated, you can save it to file.  It will save the file to the Maps directory (if the directory doesn't exist, it will be created).  Each map will be named according to the name you gave it, so maps named the same thing will overwrite each other. Be warned that if the filename is invalid, the program may crash, so make sure your maps aren't named with illegal characters (/ ' " etc).

The "Manipulate" function allows you to move the map around and preview it.  If you press "Escape" it will take you back to the map menu.  If you press it again you will have the Options menu.  From here you can change a few settings, such as whether to include Characters, Panoramas, and Fogs in the image, and whether to provide usage instructions for the "Manipulate" function.  You can also generate all map images and save all of them (note again that maps of the same name will overwrite each other).  The "Save All" functions saves only the maps which have been generated, so it's usually a good idea to "Generate All" first.

Unfortunately, due to limitations in Game.exe, you can't go check your email while you do this...the Game window must be open and focused on or else it will stop processing.  Also, it can't read into encrypted archives (although the capability is there, Enterbrain cleverly disabled any attempts to do so).

Large maps might be reduced in size.  This is because RGSS can't seem to handle creating such large bitmaps.  The images are as large as RGSS allows for.  Also, priorities aren't handled perfectly, so Characters (events) won't always layer perfectly.  This latter problem I intend to fix next, and the first problem might be somewhat positively influenced as well.

After saving several maps, the preview image may be at a reduced size due to RGSS limitations. A warning window will pop up informing you how to proceed. Even if the preview is at a reduced size, you can still save the map at full resolution.

New as of version 2.2: The "Clear map cache" option is available if you are saving many large maps; use it in between saves to dispose the maps you have already saved so that there is more memory available to save the later maps. The "Generate and Save All" interleaves this between each map you generate and save, so you get the largest size the RGSS player can handle every time.

New as of version 3.0: User settings will persist between using the program. These settings are stored in MapMaker.ini, using the Settings module I developed and released in Scripter's Corner. There are additional settings in that file which are not exposed in the interface, and you can change them with caution.

The script now uses a Debug module which saves debugging information to MapMaker.log. If you encounter any problems, please attach this file to your post describing the problem.

Compatibility

Only works with RMXP.  Requires no modification of your game, so there are no compatibility issues.

Changes
1.0 - Nov 13 2008 - Original version - in-event commands only
2.0 - Nov 18 2008 - Added GUI and advanced features
2.1 - Nov 24 2008 - Fixed various little bugs with the GUI
2.2 - Sep 16 2009 - Improved performance and capability to save larger images
3.0 - Feb 07 2010 - Massive memory management and stability improvements
3.1 - Jul 22 2011 - Attempting to fix reported priority errors
3.2 - Feb 16 2012 - Fix crash when events have start condition "Player Touch". Thanks to Alsehr for tracking down this bug.

Credits and Thanks

Special thanks to Fanha Giang, who a long time ago wrote a reverse-engineered Tilemap class.  I've modified it thoroughly, originally for my version of Mode 7, and now to simply create a flat bitmap that can be written to a file.  It's still his script at heart however, though there have been many other such scripts floating around since then.

Special thanks to SephirothSpawn for his rewrite of the Tilemap class, with its structural improvements over the previous rewrite utilizing RPG::Cache for speed and memory optimization.

Credit also goes to the MACL authors for Zlib::Png_File and Bitmap.make_png.  These functions made all of this possible.

Terms and Conditions

Map Image Maker by rey meustrus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.