• 2007 AAR League

    Yeah, I know there’s a custom split, but then that adds another step - you have to then type in a number.

    A pretty good interim solution would be to have canned splits for 2-10 units (even though that would increase the size of the menu), with the default action being to move just one unit off the stack.

    I think that would be more intuitive: you can add units by dragging them on to a stack, so you should be able to split units off by dragging them off.

    Another way to go would be to just have the right-click immediately open a “custom split” dialog, so it’s just “right-click, type #, enter” but I know you also have other options in the right-click menu.

    I agree though, even in Battlemap, moving 3 or 4 units is also a bit of a pain.

    The most flexible canned splits would be a binary progression: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc.

    Another suggestion would be to have three mouse modes that you select via right-click: Add, Delete or Split, and then you have some other way of influencing how much each click should add, delete or split off.

  • 2007 AAR League

    @froodster:

    The most flexible canned splits would be a binary progression: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc.

    For programmers (like most of us populating this forum) and others familiar with binary, this is the easiest method.  But many are still stuck in base 10.  For those, the common monetary divisions of 1,2,5,10 may be easiest.


  • Based on everyone’s suggestions, in addition to “Splitting” I’m adding a new feature (for now called “Tearing”).  To quickly move a subset of a stack you can now tear off upto 10 units from the stack by holding down the the numeric key as you start the drag.  So if you want to tear off 3 units from a stack you press 3 and then grab the stack as normal.  3 units will be automatically split off and those 3 will be drag-dropped instead of the whole stack.  (Zero will tear off 10).  For quantities above 10, use the Split, Custom split, or Tear a couple of times.

    Thanks everyone, I’ll post again in a few days when that has been completed in the alpha realse.

    Mot

  • 2007 AAR League

    Hey, that sounds pretty good. Now the only thing missing for me would be a smaller map so it is all visible at once (or better yet a zoom feature in Mapview) and of course the ability to auto-track IPCs.


  • @Motdc:

    @Motdc:

    @frimmel:

    The problem I had that really made me not want to use it is I couldn’t install it for all user’s. I could install it for the Admin account but not for the limited accounts on XP.

    The install must be set to install for the current user only then.  If you installed it to c : \ MotCreations instead of c : \ Program Files \ MotCreations can the low-privellege accounts then access it?  I’ll have to try this and get back to you.  Next time you have a problem, just stop by the support forum and drop a line…that’s what its for!

    That seemed to work for me on my XP machine, though admittedly I need to get a better install to make that easier.

    Mot

    I will give that I try. It didn’t occur to me to try that. Thanks for the tip.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Actually, it’s still easy to move 3 in Battlemap.  Shift-Click a stack of three and move it. =P

    Also, my good friend, Frood, forgot to add that after you fianlly get your stacks sorted out, and if you can actually SEE them on the map, you have to move then and then put in arrows cause lord knows your opponent will never see what’s going on without arrows cause EVERY BLOODY PIECE BLENDS WITH THE BOARD!!!

  • 2007 AAR League

    I never used the arrows, as I didn’t have trouble recognizing the pieces.

    It sounds like many of the issues could be resolved with a better map file - more condensed, and more contrast.


  • Sample small module…

    [attachment deleted by admin]


  • Geez, it mangled the heck out of it…the real image was a bit smaller and much more crisp.

  • 2007 AAR League

    Do you have a file we can try out ourselves?


  • No module yet, I was just sampling the images.  I was shrinking some unit graphics I made originally for AAE waaaaay back when and then I used the board from Battlemap.  I didn’t get permission to lift it though so I don’t think it’s right for me to repackage some else’s work.  It’s the scale of the units and board I was most looking to get feedback on.  I’m not a graphic artist so the creation of a similarly-sized map file is still of concern.  Anyone here an amateur map creator?

    Mot

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    That’s a great map, Mot.  The units are distinctly a different color, but ultimately differentiable from both landscape and foreign nationals.  As for size of unit vs territory, the only real thing you have to worry about is making sure that you can fit at least 3 different types of units for two different nations comfortably on a territory.


  • @Jennifer:

    That’s a great map, Mot.  The units are distinctly a different color, but ultimately differentiable from both landscape and foreign nationals.  As for size of unit vs territory, the only real thing you have to worry about is making sure that you can fit at least 3 different types of units for two different nations comfortably on a territory.

    Agreed.  I’ve shrunk down the unit images a bit more, and they are about as small as I’m willing to make them now (I want to actually be able to tell what ind of unit they are.  What do you think about a 20% to 25% increase in the size of the map from what is currently used in Battlemap?  It should help give a bit more wiggle-room for the units.

    Mot

  • 2007 AAR League

    I think people want a SMALLER map, so you can see more on screen at once - makes it easier to plan if you can see the full picture.


  • I apologize for not being more clear in my question.  The sample map I posted was the Battlemap one.  I was asking if increasing that one (which everyone here seems to think is a good size) by 25% would still fall in the acceptable range.  It would probably still be 80% smaller than the most commonly used AAR module map that DP created.

    Mot


  • For anyone interested, the tear-off-the-top feature discussed before has been added to the 1.3 alpha release avaliable on my MapView support forum.

    Mot

  • 2007 AAR League

    Thanks, I’ll check it out.

  • Founder TripleA Admin

    Features requested:

    • Zoom in/out
    • Drag scroll with a hand cursor but make it work like Acrobat Reader NOT like ABattlemap. Adobe puts effort into usability the ABattlemap creators do not. I can’t even use Abattlemap because the icons are about 1mm on my 1400x1050 screen.

  • Thanks for the suggestions.  Just to update those who only surf this site, here are the updates as of 1.3.15:

    1. Speeded up the load time

    2. Decreased memory footprint of MapView when using large/long games by pushing inactive objects to disk.

    3. Changed the behavior of arrow dragging.

    4. Removed unused Help menu items.

    5. Update links jumped to via some of the Help menu items.

    6. Added a cursor change behavior when hovering over a clickable region of a unit (AKA hotspot).

    7. Open Game dialog changed to default to currently-used MapView file extensions. Older extensions are still present for backwards-compatibility.

    8. Fixed the Undo/Redo crash that happens if either is invoked while there is no current game.

    9. Removed the default OK behavior whenever editing a potentially multi-line field.

    10. Added mouse-based map navigation AKA “panning”. Hold CTRL while left-clicking on the map to pan the map in various directions.

    11. Changed drag-drop behavior of units.

    12. Changed inplementation of arrow anchors to avoid having to define end point images. (Alot of DP’s modules just used a completetly transparent image for this, which is what game me the idea).

    13. The “Install Module” feature now handles both mvm and udm type modules.

    14. Added the ability to tear off units in a stack during a drag-drop. Previously to move 3 units out of a stack of 10 you would first Right-Click and select Split 3 and then grab the new mini-stack of three and drag-drop to a new location. Now you can do this in one step. Press the numeric key that represents the number of units you want to tear off the top (three in this example) and then start a drag-drop operation. 3 units will be dragged off to be placed where you want!

  • 2007 AAR League

    Sounds great! Can’t wait to try it in my next game.

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