[CF-Devel] Java map editor idea

[Mark Wedel]

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001, Andreas Vogl wrote:
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      This is certainly a feature that would be very useful. I know how
     
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      time-consuming it is to fire up the server, run through the maps and test
     
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      everything.
     
     
 One thought might be to make this easier to do in the server, ie,
have something like:

crossfire -test -mapfile=/some/path -player=name

 Which deposits players name onto the map file, and when running in
test mode, the character can not get saved and the monsters do nothing

 (optionally, a flag to turn monsters on and off could be added)

 Putting in such a test mode probably would not be hard to do.

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      The problem is that it's not at all easy to do. The CF server is not only
     
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      very complex, but also a subject of continuous changes and modifications.
     
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      So if I try to build parts of the server code into the editor, it's not
     
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      only a lot of work - It must be updated regularly (As an example, I remind
     
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      of the changes in the button-handling-code that broke many of the pupland
     
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      maps).
     
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      If editor and server would "run out of sync" that would be terrible, as
     
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      mapmakers might test their maps with the editor where everything works -
     
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      But on the CF server it does not, due to some new feature/change.
     
     
 Yeah - the other fact is that if you do this in the java editor, you are
probably half the way to having the server all done.

 Note one advantage of a tst mode is that you can see how spells
and other things interact (just what exactly area is that large fireball
hitting, and so on).

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      o It would be nice to browse throught a list of all connections in the
     
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        map. Some way to handle connections with an easy GUI, rather
     
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        than getting dirty with the object-attributes.
     
     
 Yes - this was always one of the things I wanted in the crossedit
program.  Trying to find what that button links to was always a pain
(even if you find one link, you may find the others).  Being able
to select the button and do something like 'show me what this is
connected to' would be vary handy.