No more Dundjinni/FM8 Connection?

I notice that the current CC3+ version does not install the new Mike Schley symbols in Dundjinni or Fractal Mapper 8. Previous products did that.

That's a not a complaint. I don't care really. It's just something I noticed.

Comments

  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    Not at the moment, mostly because very few people seem to take advantage of this. We might still make that option available again.
  • I agree that it's not very important. Dundjinni is for most extents and purposes a dead program, and I don't know any FM8 users who use ProFantasy symbols.
  • Jay_NOLAJay_NOLA Traveler
    edited January 2015
    I'm a FM8 user and I use ProFantasy symbols with it.
  • Simon RogersSimon Rogers Administrator, ProFantasy Traveler
    It's not that we don't want to do it, it's just it takes time and there are many other higher priorities. If an FM or Dundjinni fan who knows how the folders (and any text-based support files) for those apps are structured wants to volunteer, we'd be happy to produce a conversion guide.

    The PNGs are stored in an accessible location, and can be copied elsewhere. I don't know anything about the resolution or otherrequirements, though.
  • Jay_NOLAJay_NOLA Traveler
    edited January 2015
    The FM8 ones are the HI resolution symbol PNGs with a slight name change for all except for a few.

    The FM8 versions have "_HI" removed from after the name. FM8 just needs the PNGs and they are organized in a folder that is similar in name to the CC3 folder name they are in.

    The exceptions are the varicolored symbols. The FM8 versions are the HI resolution symbols but you get a different PNG for several common color choices for most varicolored ones. Some varicolored symbols also are only in a default coloration in FM8.

    Name differentiation for color changed ones are either by color being stated or by a letter to indicate which version it is. Examples, "Dragon Blue" or "Teleport-a".

    Folder wise the CC3 ones are in a folder titled "CC3" that has sub folders for what they are Examples: "CC3 Boarders", "CC3 Coast", etc.

    The Dungeon Designer 3 ones are not in a main folder and are just in folders for what they are are. Example "DD3 Color Creatures", "DD3 Color Furniture, etc."

    The folders just contain the PNG and nothing else.

    I have a zip of all the CC3 ones for FM8 Ralf sent me a few years back when I couldn't get the symbols to install into FM8 so I could install them manually

    Making a FM8 version is easy and most of the symbols are already converted. Only the new symbols in CC3+ need to be done. I'll look at the new ones in more detail.

    FM8 has a folder titled FillPatternsthat has the Bitmap fills. I only have the DD3 FM8 ones I don't have the CC3 versions of them the DD3 ones are just the HI resolution ones with a minor name change similar to the symbol name change.

    I have Dundjini but I can get CC3 to let me install the Dunjini version of symbols since I installed Dunjini after CC3 was installed and rerunning the install won' let you select to install them. If i can get a copy of the Dunjini files CC3 installs i can post some conversion notes,etc.

    Is there anyway to extract the FM8 and Dunjini files from the CC3 installer?

    Also it might be better to have the FM8 and Dunjini symbols not install but be a separate files you download and unzip and install manually.
  • VintyriVintyri Newcomer
    edited January 2015
    If you do this, please check with Ralf about the information I gave him regarding the ~default.xml file that FM8 uses. There are two very important issues here:

    1) If this file isn't correct or is missing, the ProFantasy symbols will not scale correctly in FM8.

    2) If this file isn't correctly written or is missing, FM8 will embed the ProFantasy symbols in the FM8 maps (from which they can be extracted again). Symbol embedding violates ProFantasy's license, but ProFantasy probably will have no legal recourse because ProFantasy itself - without the user knowing that it is happening - will be forcing the embedding without a correct ~default.xml file. Earlier, I already gave Ralf the necessary information to handle this issue correctly.

    I think if ProFantasy doesn't want its symbols embedded, we should respect that, but I also think that ProFantasy then shouldn't be the ones to automatically embed.
  • Hey Simon & Vintyri

    I don't have any of the xml scale files in the folders that were in the zip Ralf sent me a few years back.

    I used 7zip to extract the folders from the CC3 setup program and it does have a few xml files in the various Art for Fractal Mapper (tm) folders. I'm not sure where the install locations for them are , but I do have good idea for some of them based on the folder locations of them.

    The xml files were added in a latter version of CC3 it looks like judging by the file dates and the dates of the folders in the zip I got sent.

    If either of you can tell me where to find out where everything ought to be installed for FM8 & Dunjini that will help. The extracted folder don't help as the folder names are just letters and numbers.

    Rerunning the CC3 installer will not give you the option to install the FM8 or Dunjini symbols. That was the reason why Ralf set me the zip.

    I also have a folder with a mDownExec.dll in one of the Fractal Mapper folders I extracted from the CC3 setup. Not sure what that does or where it installs.

    When I re-downloaded & reran the DD3 installer a few years back to fix something that was done in the newer version of the DD3 installer it installed the FM8 versions of the DD3 symbols have no xml files in them. DD3 also installed some FillPatterns.

    I did spend 5 & half hours on getting most of the CC3Plus Mike Schley PNGs set up for use in FM8. (I didn't work on the inked version ones yet.) I made a copy of the folders and removed all the PNGs that were not in HI resolution and retitled the HI ones. I also pulled out all the varicolored symbols since the FM8 ones in CC3 didn't use the varicolored ones for overland maps. (I removed over 2,800 files were removed from the copies as they were not needed. And, I retitled over 240 files from the copies.)

    For the ones that are done I retitled the folders for use in FM8.

    I still have 2 folders of symbols I didn't have time to get to for the non-Inked version (about 1,400 files.) to do today as time permits.

    Dunjini uses the same PNGs as FM8 but the folder structures are different.

    I noticed too the FM8 symbols for FM8 don't have any of the CC3 dungeon symbols that Dunjini has version of when looking at the extracted files.
  • Simon,

    do you have an email address I can send the finishedFM8 ones I've done to and can you send a copy to Vintyri to test out and checkout. I estimate the finished zip file to be well under 10MB.

    I'm just finishing up the color version of the Mike Schley PNGs for FM8. They will be finished tomorrow.

    Vintyri,

    I put in an XML file in each of the FM8 subfolders that says:

    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>






    If these are working perfectly and I don't need to do any thing else I'll start on the inked ones over the weekend.
  • EACH ProFantasy symbol folder that you have needs a ~default.xml file with this content:

    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>





    If you do not have the line in the file, you are using the ProFantasy symbols in violation of ProFantasy's license. When this line is missing, FM8 will embed the symbols into your FM8 map file. ProFantasy's license does not allow the embedding of symbols.

    Despite that, a number of users will be embedding without knowing it, because ProFantasy itself did not put a ~default.xml file into early releases of CC3 products. That error was corrected later.

    If you need to contact me, you do not have to ask ProFantasy to forward things to me. Simply use the E-Mail-Address info-at-vintyri.org.

    Happy day to everyone,

    Mark Oliva
    The Vintyri (TM) Project
  • VintyriVintyri Newcomer
    edited January 2015
    Sorry. The ~default.xml content in both my posting and Jay's above is incorrect. The xml coding is misinterpreted on HTML level by the forum software. As a result, only the first line of ~default.xml content is visible in the two postings above. I don't know how to get around that, so instead, download this for the proper content:

    http://www.vintyri.org/downloads/default.txt

    Open the file default.txt with the Windows Notepad and memorize it with the file name ~default.xml. Copy the ~default.xml file into EACH FM8 folder that contains ProFantasy symbols. After that, the symbols will scale correctly in FM8 and you will not be embedding the symbols illegally.

    Forum members do not need to ask ProFantasy to forward things to me. We're quite happy to have you E-Mail us directly at:

    info-at-vintyri.org

    Happy day to everybody,

    Mark Oliva
    The Vintyri (TM) Project
  • The color ones are all finished total size is 14.6 MB for the zip of them in FM 8 form. Took another 2 1/2 hours to finish them. Will email them to Simon, etc. when I get time this weekend and am at a coffee shop.

    I set pixel size to 0.4 and unit to Miles in the xml file in each sub folder for it. Let me know if that is correct.

    I have a parent folder titled "CC3Plus and these separate sub-folders in it:

    Mike Schley Coast
    Mike Schley Vegetation
    Mike Schley Cartouches
    Mike Schley Border
    Mike Schley Structures
    Mike Schley Mountains
    Mike Schley Natural

    Each sub folder has a xml in it and the PNGs.


    Will start work on the Inked versions this weekend as time permits.

    Mark,

    what is the pixel size, etc. for the dungeon symbols, etc. and is there a good tutorial you can point me to for understanding the FM8 xml. The help file in FM8 wasn't much help and I couldn't find any info on the xml in it.
  • Posted By: Jay_NOLA
    Mark,

    what is the pixel size, etc. for the dungeon symbols, etc.
    The correct ~default.xml pixel definition for ProFantasy symbols is:

    pixel size='0.025' unit='Feet'
    is there a good tutorial you can point me to for understanding the FM8 xml. The help file in FM8 wasn't much help and I couldn't find any info on the xml in it.
    If I recall correctly, NBOS did not document the file. I received the information from Ed Diana at NBOS. It's incorporated in the raster mapping tutorial, which you can download free at:

    http://www.vintyri.org/vintyri/tu1.htm

    If we're going to discuss this further, let's take it to private E-Mail. I think this is becoming much more an FM8 thread than one that's interesting to CC3/CC3+ users.

    Mark Oliva
    The Vintyri (TM) Project
    info@vintyri.org
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