If you don't have a spreadsheet, I suggest OpenOffice. Its very good. Free as well.
Oh yea, that guy! I just put that on one of the computers here as I'm slowly moving away from Windows. Haven't done anything with it yet though. Thank you for the reminder! However, turns out The Board does not allow ODS attachments. So trying XLSX and see?
Also found what the INDEX.IDX is for here: https://forum.profantasy.com/discussion/comment/75781#Comment_75781 which was enough to find more in The Tome, and got it to work! There's even links in there, but I'm not sure how useful it is the way it's presented. Maybe I don't know enough yet?
Ooooh that is very interesting. Believe me after going through all the maps. Then trying to find the links and completely forgetting where the first map in a sequence of maps is a real $^&%*.
However, turns out The Board does not allow ODS attachments. So trying XLSX and see?
OpenOffice should allow exporting to XLSX. Google sheets also allows exporting to XLSX.
Speaking of which, I'm now working on Google Sheets so I can edit online from different places. If any of you want live access, please send me a DM.
Anyway, on to the "what's new" section... I wasn't happy about having to inspect visually the differences between 2 maps, but I figured out a way to do it. Basically: a) open in CC3+, b) Info->List->All, c) copy all to clipboard, and d) compare with WinMerge.
It's cumbersome, but precise. I decided to start at the top: with 0030 Temple of Selune.FCW. I discovered update1 is not ok (points to wrong/outdated parent map) so we should use the one from update2 or onwards (I added a "cherry-pick" column to the sheet, where I'll write down which map is the best one to keep when there are multiple versions). While at it, I also discovered that Moonshae Island.fcw has the same entities as Viledel's Isle.fcw (from upadate2 onward); so links to Moonshae Island.fcw should be avoided. Finally, Viledel's Isle.fcw from update2 has the same entities as the one in update3.
Since we can't legally share the maps among us... My guess is, you'd still have to install each update, one at a time. On each stage, you'd have to create a copy of the cherry-picked maps (except now you'd have a list of which to keep on each update), and then copy them back when you're done.
For future installs, if you keep a copy of your cherry-picked folder, you could just jump to update3 and overwrite them.
Since we can't legally share the maps among us... My guess is, you'd still have to install each update, one at a time. On each stage, you'd have to create a copy of the cherry-picked maps (except now you'd have a list of which to keep on each update), and then copy them back when you're done.
This is exactly my intent. I know from perusing this site for the last 10-15 years that sharing those files is a no-no. I am sure I posted that in the first post. I have been trying to show people how to do each fix in stages. Maybe once we are done we can make a concise PDF going step by step. I think it could be about 100 elements by the time all is said and done.
Personally I am just about to start adding in all the broken links. I am figuring out Raven's Bluff. Kinda buying time to see what JimP, Roflo and thehawk discover.
While at it, I also discovered that Moonshae Island.fcw has the same entities as Viledel's Isle.fcw (from upadate2 onward); so links to Moonshae Island.fcw should be avoided. Finally, Viledel's Isle.fcw from update2 has the same entities as the one in update3.
I am lost by this. I have everything working fine everything points to moonshae island.fcw I always show hyperlinks and zoom in on them.
While at it, I also discovered that Moonshae Island.fcw has the same entities as Viledel's Isle.fcw (from upadate2 onward); so links to Moonshae Island.fcw should be avoided. Finally, Viledel's Isle.fcw from update2 has the same entities as the one in update3.
I am lost by this. I have everything working fine everything points to moonshae island.fcw I always show hyperlinks and zoom in on them.
The RetConn is a hard beast to fight. As far as I can tell, they really are the exact same map (see screenshots below). The island was part of the Korinn Archipelago where the old N4 'Treasure Hunt', published in 1986 was set. It says "It's not difficult to integrate the archipelago into already-existing campaigns. Just plant the island chain offshore at some remote point on your existing game world, adjust the names of the surrounding continental nations, and you have it made." It looks like that's exactly what they did for the Moonshaes in the Forgotten Realms. I don't have an electronic version of those early maps, so here's the one from the Trail Map from 1989. And the acknowledgements from FR2 Moonshae. Anyway, it looks like it's all the same place. Some theories as to why it's there later as two different things, but there you go.
Also found what the INDEX.IDX is for here: https://forum.profantasy.com/discussion/comment/75781#Comment_75781 which was enough to find more in The Tome, and got it to work! There's even links in there, but I'm not sure how useful it is the way it's presented. Maybe I don't know enough yet?
Did some poking around in this - not quite as useful for link tracking as I had hoped. It looks like it only shows ones that look like this from the Westgate map:
So it either has to be labeled as a link, or you have to know the text you're looking for. As far as I can tell though, it doesn't show anything for the links that are using symbols.
@jslayton@Monsen@Ralf Is there a way to harvest links out of the map files without having to visually scan each one?
Since we can't legally share the maps among us... My guess is, you'd still have to install each update, one at a time. On each stage, you'd have to create a copy of the cherry-picked maps (except now you'd have a list of which to keep on each update), and then copy them back when you're done.
For future installs, if you keep a copy of your cherry-picked folder, you could just jump to update3 and overwrite them.
Best I can come up with so far.
Yea, same here. It's either that or someone takes on the possibly behemoth task of petitioning Wizards of the Coast to put the updated files over on their site somehow.
Is there a way to harvest links out of the map files without having to visually scan each one?
You can just list out all the hotspots
LIST -> hit T (for entity type) -> check the Action: 2D Hotspot option -> Hit OK -> hit D (for do it)
The great thing here is that CC3+ remember the checked option in the entity type list between maps (in the same CC3+ instance) so the next time you hit T to go into that list, the 2D hotspot option will already be checked so you don't have to scroll through looking for it every time. (You still have to open that dialog every time though to add entity type as a criteria)
It shouldn't be hard to write an XP module that lists all the links in a map either, and combined with the MULTIFILESCRIPT command should allow all links in all maps to be listed.
It shouldn't be hard to write an XP module that lists all the links in a map either, and combined with the MULTIFILESCRIPT command should allow all links in all maps to be listed.
XP may be beyond me at the moment. I think I see why you say that though, there's no way to script the LIST command? Is there a way to script the output to automagically go to a file or the clipboard? I use a clipboard extender called ClipMate, so once it's there I can do other stuff with it.
Maybe dust off the old REGEX and / or GREP skills and just pull out the lines that start with LOADM and end with ; . That would give a listing in each map of where it linked to. The rest looks like it is just the description of the entity itself.
Somewhat tedious and time consuming start to finish as-is right now, but seems like the best way to compile all of the data?
I am lost by this. I have everything working fine everything points to moonshae island.fcw I always show hyperlinks and zoom in on them.
... like thehawk said, Moonshae Island.fcw and Viledel's Isle.fcw are essentially the same. Just be sure not to confuse Moonshae Island.fcw with Moonshaeslc.FCW, which is the parent map:
As you can see, the parent map points to Viledel's Isle.fcw (so does 0030 Temple of Selune.FCW); which is why I'm suggesting avoiding links to Moonshae Island.fcw.
It shouldn't be hard to write an XP module that lists all the links in a map either, and combined with the MULTIFILESCRIPT command should allow all links in all maps to be listed.
...
I think I see why you say that though, there's no way to script the LIST command? Is there a way to script the output to automagically go to a file or the clipboard?
I haven't delved into XPs yet. But this would also be useful. I too have thought it might be useful to create an XP/script that saves all Info->List information to text files (in batch; one txt file per map) so that we can compare changes between different versions of the same file across updates.
The Hawk you are amazing. Those links are actually present on the map. Lets preface this. I use my laptop on my 70'"4k.
I did not see those links until I zoomed way in. Some of the links were actually covered with writing from the other links.
The only thing to do now is find the actual locations of 0970 the whitewater and 0850 mansion of heironymous bosco. Then make hyperlinks to the actual maps.
Might take me a bit to find those sources (depending if I have them electronic or not) and see if they have something to narrow it down a bit.
Once you actually have all the hotspots dumped to text files, this will pull out just the loadm lines: Get-ChildItem D:\sync\projects\FRIA-Maps\Hotspots | select-string -pattern "loadm" | format-table filename,line > D:\sync\projects\FRIA-Maps\Hotspots\Hotspot-Master.txt
The only thing to do now is find the actual locations of 0970 the whitewater and 0850 mansion of heironymous bosco. Then make hyperlinks to the actual maps.
According to 'LC2: Inside the Living City', The Whitewater is one of the midway rides in the Moony and Sons Circus (looks like it is called Jack Moony Circus on the map).
According to 'REF5 Lords of Darkness', that mansion is: A year or so ago, Hieronymous Bosco, a powerful wizard dwelling outside the port of Ravens Bluff, died a victim, some say, of his unholy experiments. Rumors abound in the city that his abandoned manor is filled with treasure and artifacts collected over the years.
So maybe both of those should be linked in that bottom right section of the key, 'Unkeyed, linked city locations'?
I thought it was a link on the main city map. But it is linked to the Mooney and Sons map. One of the rides.
Excellent one more link found.
I looked at it before and thought it was just a fence around that area. Good thing other people are working on this, cause obviously I am blind. LMFAO.
There are wire frame buildings on the edge of the Raven's bluff map. I will try match outlines and see if one actually is it.
Yes, they do open correctly, but the "parent" links to B1cNWlc instead of High Moor.
I.e.: they link to the parent of the parent map.
Looks like the High Moors map was created in Update 2, here's that B1cNWlc before and after. Only the Illefarn Area D map was updated at that time. The Illefarn Area A map was updated in Update 3, as was Area D - although I don't know what (if any) other updates were made for Update 3.
Comments
If you don't have a spreadsheet, I suggest OpenOffice. Its very good. Free as well.
Also found what the INDEX.IDX is for here: https://forum.profantasy.com/discussion/comment/75781#Comment_75781 which was enough to find more in The Tome, and got it to work! There's even links in there, but I'm not sure how useful it is the way it's presented. Maybe I don't know enough yet?
Ooooh that is very interesting. Believe me after going through all the maps. Then trying to find the links and completely forgetting where the first map in a sequence of maps is a real $^&%*.
@Don V Anderson Jr. ..
I opened the spreadsheet and it had no colours. I'll try on my other laptop.
That's strange. Perhaps you saw the first sheet/tab instead of the one named "roflo1"?
No matter, I have a minor update:
Also...
However, turns out The Board does not allow ODS attachments. So trying XLSX and see?
OpenOffice should allow exporting to XLSX. Google sheets also allows exporting to XLSX.
Speaking of which, I'm now working on Google Sheets so I can edit online from different places. If any of you want live access, please send me a DM.
Anyway, on to the "what's new" section... I wasn't happy about having to inspect visually the differences between 2 maps, but I figured out a way to do it. Basically: a) open in CC3+, b) Info->List->All, c) copy all to clipboard, and d) compare with WinMerge.
It's cumbersome, but precise. I decided to start at the top: with
0030 Temple of Selune.FCW. I discovered update1 is not ok (points to wrong/outdated parent map) so we should use the one from update2 or onwards (I added a "cherry-pick" column to the sheet, where I'll write down which map is the best one to keep when there are multiple versions). While at it, I also discovered thatMoonshae Island.fcwhas the same entities asViledel's Isle.fcw(from upadate2 onward); so links toMoonshae Island.fcwshould be avoided. Finally,Viledel's Isle.fcwfrom update2 has the same entities as the one in update3.My question is: Once all the corrections have been done, how are the rest of us going to get them?
Since we can't legally share the maps among us... My guess is, you'd still have to install each update, one at a time. On each stage, you'd have to create a copy of the cherry-picked maps (except now you'd have a list of which to keep on each update), and then copy them back when you're done.
For future installs, if you keep a copy of your cherry-picked folder, you could just jump to update3 and overwrite them.
Best I can come up with so far.
Since we can't legally share the maps among us... My guess is, you'd still have to install each update, one at a time. On each stage, you'd have to create a copy of the cherry-picked maps (except now you'd have a list of which to keep on each update), and then copy them back when you're done.
This is exactly my intent. I know from perusing this site for the last 10-15 years that sharing those files is a no-no. I am sure I posted that in the first post. I have been trying to show people how to do each fix in stages. Maybe once we are done we can make a concise PDF going step by step. I think it could be about 100 elements by the time all is said and done.
Replacing Maps, Finding Lost Maps, Renaming Files, Fixing Broken Links, Adding Missing Links.
Personally I am just about to start adding in all the broken links. I am figuring out Raven's Bluff. Kinda buying time to see what JimP, Roflo and thehawk discover.
While at it, I also discovered that
Moonshae Island.fcwhas the same entities asViledel's Isle.fcw(from upadate2 onward); so links toMoonshae Island.fcwshould be avoided. Finally,Viledel's Isle.fcwfrom update2 has the same entities as the one in update3.I am lost by this. I have everything working fine everything points to moonshae island.fcw I always show hyperlinks and zoom in on them.
into already-existing campaigns. Just plant the island chain offshore at some remote point on your existing game world, adjust the names of the surrounding continental nations, and you have it made." It looks like that's exactly what they did for the Moonshaes in the Forgotten Realms. I don't have an electronic version of those early maps, so here's the one from the Trail Map from 1989. And the acknowledgements from FR2 Moonshae. Anyway, it looks like it's all the same place. Some theories as to why it's there later as two different things, but there you go.
So it either has to be labeled as a link, or you have to know the text you're looking for. As far as I can tell though, it doesn't show anything for the links that are using symbols.
@jslayton @Monsen @Ralf Is there a way to harvest links out of the map files without having to visually scan each one?
@thehawk wrote:
Is there a way to harvest links out of the map files without having to visually scan each one?
You can just list out all the hotspots
LIST -> hit T (for entity type) -> check the Action: 2D Hotspot option -> Hit OK -> hit D (for do it)
The great thing here is that CC3+ remember the checked option in the entity type list between maps (in the same CC3+ instance) so the next time you hit T to go into that list, the 2D hotspot option will already be checked so you don't have to scroll through looking for it every time. (You still have to open that dialog every time though to add entity type as a criteria)
It shouldn't be hard to write an XP module that lists all the links in a map either, and combined with the MULTIFILESCRIPT command should allow all links in all maps to be listed.
I dont know where my install disks are, so I won't be able to help much with this endeavor.
Maybe dust off the old REGEX and / or GREP skills and just pull out the lines that start with LOADM and end with ; . That would give a listing in each map of where it linked to. The rest looks like it is just the description of the entity itself.
Somewhat tedious and time consuming start to finish as-is right now, but seems like the best way to compile all of the data?
I bought my copy off a local guy. He wanted 10 bucks. I gave him 20. Took it home, the CD had never been unwrapped.
@Don V Anderson Jr. ,
I am lost by this. I have everything working fine everything points to moonshae island.fcw I always show hyperlinks and zoom in on them.
... like thehawk said,
Moonshae Island.fcwandViledel's Isle.fcware essentially the same. Just be sure not to confuseMoonshae Island.fcwwithMoonshaeslc.FCW, which is the parent map:As you can see, the parent map points to
Viledel's Isle.fcw(so does0030 Temple of Selune.FCW); which is why I'm suggesting avoiding links toMoonshae Island.fcwIt shouldn't be hard to write an XP module that lists all the links in a map either, and combined with the MULTIFILESCRIPT command should allow all links in all maps to be listed.
...
I think I see why you say that though, there's no way to script the LIST command? Is there a way to script the output to automagically go to a file or the clipboard?
I haven't delved into XPs yet. But this would also be useful. I too have thought it might be useful to create an XP/script that saves all Info->List information to text files (in batch; one txt file per map) so that we can compare changes between different versions of the same file across updates.
Amazing work with Raven's Bluff - Thehawk That shows all but two of the missing links are there. But now how to reveal them??
The only ones now missing would be 0970 the whitewater and 0850 mansion of heironymous bosco
The Hawk you are amazing. Those links are actually present on the map. Lets preface this. I use my laptop on my 70'"4k.
I did not see those links until I zoomed way in. Some of the links were actually covered with writing from the other links.
The only thing to do now is find the actual locations of 0970 the whitewater and 0850 mansion of heironymous bosco. Then make hyperlinks to the actual maps.
Those two maps, according to their detail, are:
Might take me a bit to find those sources (depending if I have them electronic or not) and see if they have something to narrow it down a bit.
Once you actually have all the hotspots dumped to text files, this will pull out just the loadm lines:
Get-ChildItem D:\sync\projects\FRIA-Maps\Hotspots | select-string -pattern "loadm" | format-table filename,line > D:\sync\projects\FRIA-Maps\Hotspots\Hotspot-Master.txtOh that is great. I searched the web and got 0 hits for "Heironymous bosco". If I can search the product maybe I can narrow down where it is.
According to 'REF5 Lords of Darkness', that mansion is:
A year or so ago, Hieronymous Bosco, a powerful wizard dwelling outside the port of Ravens Bluff, died a victim, some say, of his unholy experiments. Rumors abound in the city that his abandoned manor is filled with treasure and artifacts collected over the years.So maybe both of those should be linked in that bottom right section of the key, 'Unkeyed, linked city locations'?
OMG that is Hilarious.
I thought it was a link on the main city map. But it is linked to the Mooney and Sons map. One of the rides.
Excellent one more link found.
I looked at it before and thought it was just a fence around that area. Good thing other people are working on this, cause obviously I am blind. LMFAO.
There are wire frame buildings on the edge of the Raven's bluff map. I will try match outlines and see if one actually is it.
Found a few more "incorrect links":
0280 Ilefarn Area B Social Areas, Workshops.FCW
0290 Ilefarn Area C Living Quarters.FCW
0300 Ilefarn Area D General Living.FCW
0310 Ilefarn Area E Temple.fcw
0320 Ilefarn Area F Refuge.fcw
0330 Ilefarn Area G Workshops.FCW
0340 Ilefarn Area H Living Quarters.FCW
0350 Ilefarn Area J Living Quarters.FCW
0360 Ilefarn Area L Quarry Worker's Living Area.FCW
0370 Ilefarn Area K Storage.fcw
All of these have a parent linking to
B1cNWlcinstead ofHigh Moor. Note that "0260 Ilefarn Area A..." was correctly updated in update3.All of the Illefarn areas work correctly for me
here is a JPEG with some file info. I don't know where/what else I can add to help narrow the problem.
Yes, they do open correctly, but the "parent" links to B1cNWlc instead of High Moor.
I.e.: they link to the parent of the parent map.
Missing link repair: 0080 secret cave.fcw
Select file 0060Volkumburgh
Zoom into the bottom right corner around building #3
Choose to add a hyperlink via Campaign Cartographer 3+
Link it with map 0080 Secret Cave. Select an area around the house and #2. Create the link. zoom the map out and save.
That restores the missing link for 0800 the secret cave in the Town of Volkumburg in the High Dale.
Missing link repair: 0420 Caxal's Palace.fcw
Open 4220 Helmsport.fcw
Zoom into the bottom right corner with the red houses.
Make a hyperlink with Campaign Cartographer 3+ Usings Tools>Hyperlinks>Link with Map.
Link the map to 0420 Caxal's Palace.fcw Draw a rectangle around the Caxal's Palace building on the Helmsport map.
Zoom out and save.
I'm a bit confused here @Don V Anderson Jr. ...
... the map for update1+ does have an existing link:
Same thing for Caxal's Palace:
Not the case for the maps in the CD:
I thought you were taking notes for missing links in update3.