Editing the main arcanum worldmap

Discussion in 'Modding and Scripting Support' started by Brother Dave Thompson, Nov 18, 2004.

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  1. Brother Dave Thompson

    Brother Dave Thompson New Member

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    I've read many posts of Sinbad and others talking about how they edited the main arcanum world map, how do you do this? Everytime I try to load Arcanum1-024-fixed into worlded (either 1.0.70 or 1.0.74) the only thing it does is start an entirely new map.

    I haven't seen any mention of this problem on these boards. Is this a problem on my end, or have other people expirienced it?
     
  2. Sinbad

    Sinbad New Member

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    The first thing you have to be aware of is that you absolutely must use Worlded 1.0.7.0, not the newest version if you want to work on the original map.

    The second thing you have to do is extract the original maps from Arcanum.Dat to your \Sierra\Arcanum-EH\modules\Arcanum\maps directory. Be sure that wind up with a directory called "Sierra\Arcanum-EH\Extras\DAT Files\Arcanum.Patch1\maps\Arcanum1-024-fixed", not "Sierra\Arcanum-EH\Extras\DAT Files\Arcanum.Patch1\maps\maps\Arcanum1-024-fixed" or you need to move it. :eek:

    At this point, you are ready to start the Worlded program. It will start up and ask you which module to load. Choose Arcanum. It will load a blank map. At that point go to the menu and choose File, Open. It will ask you if you want to save the blank map, so tell it NO or you will wind up with space wasted on junk. Now it will come up with a window that will show a list of maps available for loading. If you did everything right in undatting the map to the right location, Arcanum1-024-fixed will be one of the choices.

    Now for a little advice from an old-time coder and game hacker with almost 30 years experience. :)

    • Hopefully, you understood and absorbed a lot of the cautions and solutions to problems that can occur when editing the main map in Arcanym. You can totally crash your game to the point that it will no longer run by editing this map, so be sure to make a backup of anything you do that works properly on a frequent basis.

      Also, be sure you have lots of room on your hard drive before starting this and plenty of memory on your computer because Worlded is a memory hog and you will find that these maps start to take up a surprising amount of space in a short time. You will also find that you will probably need to edit several other maps to make many of the changes that you think you want to make on the main map.

      In many cases, you may also have to change or create scripts and dialogs to do certain things. Be sure that you get the right tools for all of these tasks from the Modding Tools Section here at TA http://www.terra-arcanum.com/phpBB/dloa ... &cat_id=13 before you start to avoid frustration and delays. If you find a need for a hex editor for creating item prototypes, try out A.X.E., available at http://www.jbrowse.com/products/axe. I've used it for several years and find it to be my favorite as a program that delivers high end performance for a very low shareware registration fee and the guy that wrote it is pretty nice and willing to be helpful, too.

    I hope this is what you were asking for and is helpful. :)
     
  3. DarkUnderlord

    DarkUnderlord Administrator Staff Member

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    Interestingly enough, I don't believe that's how Arcanum was built. I think they actually created individual stand-alone city maps, then used some program that sucked them all together and placed those areas on a larger map to create the World Map.

    This has absolutely no relevance to the thread, I just thought I'd let this out there.
     
  4. a1021

    a1021 New Member

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    Well i too think so as in the mes files there are some references that shrouded hills and tarant had been at other coordinates in older versions...
    Also the whole "edit terrain" things seems to work so, every terrain type has some maps and they are simply randomly choosen to create an area.
     
  5. Sinbad

    Sinbad New Member

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    You are probably right, DU, but we have to work from the final map at this point since we don't have access to their program to strip out the city maps or inset them back into the larger map. It would be nice if WorldEd had an import/export section function. Who knows, there may be an undocumented function like that or it may only exist in the original version that they cut down to release to the general public. I definitely got the feeling from snooping around inside WorldEd that it was intended to do a lot more than it does. In fact, there are indicators that WorldEd was intended to include an item editor and prototype generator of the type that DKoepp is working on. I guess someone decided it would either be too much work to include it or it would give us too much control over what goes on in Arcanum. :roll: Who knows except whoever made the decision? :eek:
     
  6. Brother Dave Thompson

    Brother Dave Thompson New Member

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    Ok, I'm a bit confused. If I undat the maps into the \arcanum\modules\arcanum\maps directory, where does the \arcanum\Extras\DAT Files\Arcanum.Patch1\maps directory come from?

    What vital step am I missing?

    (Thanks for helping me, BTW)
     
  7. Sinbad

    Sinbad New Member

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    Glad to help in any way I can. :)

    You must have my Ship's Cabin & Hold Hack installed if you came up with that directory. :) That would have come out of the Arcanum.Patch1 file that was installed as part of that hack. I had to do some minor editing to the main Arcanum map to make my hack work, so it is included in that patch file. You will find that there are a lot of goodies in the Arcanum.DAT5 file if you undat it, too, but no maps, of course.

    If you want to work on the original, unaltered Arcanum map, you need to use the one from Arcanum.DAT. If you want to make fiurther changes to what I have done in my hack, then use the map in Arcanum.Patch1, but remember to give me credit for the things I have done if you release it in a mod, please. :) Also, if you don't mind, send me a copy of it when you are done and if I like what you have done, I may incorporate it in my future consolidated patch with a credit to you for your work. I do intend to release additional versions of that hack in the future with new goodies when I am able. :)
     
  8. lord_darkstone

    lord_darkstone New Member

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    hi

    my english isnt very good
    but i hope u understand what i want

    i also want to edit main map
    i have extract it to the folders u write at all
    i dont have installed the hack but i have also the folder arcanum-1024..fix
    in these folder is my full arcanum map all of the continent

    my question how can i find the citys tarant and all of them
    or arent the citys on the map
    where i find the citys of arcanum i want build my own city or mod an existing city if something happens i hope u know what i want

    mfg lod
     
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