Tutorial for Creating ABattleMap Modules v1.0

@ksmckay:

Yep, with blank files - meaning
SektorInfo.bmp is the same size map and all black
made SektorInfo.map from that file
Blank SektorInfo.txt file
Made SektorInfo.sek from the txt file

It works.

good to know

@ksmckay:

Ok question about Sektors -

So I have my file that contains all of the borders and/or bounding boxes and I need to go in and add the different Sektor colors (1-whatever).

1.  If I have territories with mutliple areas can I just pain them all the same Sektor color?  When I go to edit that Sektor will I need to edit both (or more) or just one of the areas?

2.  Does every space on the map need to be either black border or a Sektor Color?  Can there be any blank space?  When I draw the borders sometimes there are some shades of black with different transparency levels - Do I need to go and make sure every such box is completely black/transparency = 255?  If there are some random pixels left over that dont have a color do I have to fill them in?

Just want to confirm before I do more than necessary for the first round.

1. yes, any area that has the exact same color will be considered the same sektor.  It does not have to be contiguous.  on the map it will work just like the two non-contiguous areas are a normal, contiguous, sector/territory.  If you click on one of the areas, edit it in sektor editor and save, then click on the other area, you will see the same info that you saved.

2. yes, every single pixel needs to be either black or corresponding to an entry in sektorinfo.sek.  I don’t know how you’re getting colors that you don’t intend, unless you’re using some kind of effects or you have anti-aliasing on.  best to stick with just the pencil and fill tools for adding color to your sektorinfo.bmp, and make sure antialiasing is off.

If you have a color that does not correspond to any sector (other than black), your module should open, but if somebody hovers the cursor over that pixel I think it would crash the program.

@ksmckay:

Ok, running out of ideas again.

Using blank Sektor files the module works fine.

Using Sektor files with something in them it crashes.

Test 1
Made a 4 quadrant SektorInfo.bmp file with black borders and then paint in each of the 4 quadrants with color 1, 2, 3, 4.

converted the map file with b242map.exe  the text and Sek files are still empty.

When I open the map and try to look at Sektor stuff the sektors are randomly distributed and have nothing to do with the SektorInfo.bmp or SektorInfo.map file.  And then it crashes eventually.  Can edit stuff using SektorEditor and it seems to save it but like I said the Sektors are random.

Can you copy some files into a new folder and try to make a Simple sektor file and see if it works for you?

Same as with the previous problem, maybe something in the software isnt working right and there is some missing step that isnt included anywhere.  Without going into the program I dont know how to solve this.

send me a screenshot of the windows explorer window with all the relavent files in it, as well as the actual files and I’ll see if I notice anything, but I can’t spend too much time on it.