TW Map Reader v2.24 [1-Jul-2015: update]

**Withwnar** · March 27, 2011, 03:23 AM

TW Map Reader v2.24

M2TW, Kingdoms, RTW

Requires: Java SE v6 (1.6) or later

Three important points:

The region ID displayed/found might not be correct. It is as far as I've been able to test but I have not tested every region of every map out there. This why it says "unconfirmed" in the tool.
As of v2.24 the tool remembers the Source location last used and automatically uses that next time. So, unlike previous versions, having the tool under a mod folder does not necessarily mean that it is using the data in that mod folder; it won't be if you pointed it to somewhere else.
This is not a map validator. It does report errors but only when it finds issues that would affect the tool's behaviour/validity. There are all kinds of errors that the tool does not report; no reported errors does not mean no issues with your maps/data.

This tool reads map files, regions, settlements and climate info, displays them on screen with tile information and exports that information as coordinate text for use in other applications.

Double-sized maps (e.g. map_ground_types.tga) are processed in the same way that the game does it: only odd number x/y pixels are used; the even ones are discarded. i.e. All maps are displayed with the same dimensions as each other.

map_FE.tga ("faction selection") is scaled to fit the size of the other maps. This may or may not result in this map lining up geographically with the others. See "FE" below.

When mousing over the map the cursor becomes a cross-hair: tile details are shown on the left. The map can be right-click-dragged around the screen.

Included in the details are the coordinates of the tile. It is displayed both in game coordinates (y=0 is bottom of map) and image coordinates (y=0 is top of image). The image coordinates are also displayed for double-sized images such as map_ground_types.tga.

Most maps have an Opaque slider. This controls how transparent the map is, allowing you to see through one map to the map(s) behind it.

The maps can be toggled on/off by using the number keys 1..0. This can be useful when you wish to switch to another map without losing your mouse position and the info being displayed for that tile.

Various things may be copied to the clipboard for pasting into other applications: the current map display, coordinates of the tile currently under the cursor, region and settlement names of the tile currently under the cursor. The map display can also be saved as a PNG or TGA file. PNG maintains transparency while TGA converts them to an alpha channel.

The "reads files" function on the first tab displays the files read by this tool. It also lets you generate a BAT file which will create a copy of these files.

[Screenshots: removed. These attachments keep vanishing and I'm tired of putting them back.]

Installation

There are two versions: a "jar" and an "exe". Same program, just two different ways to run it.

The "jar" one contains two files: a JAR and a shortcut that runs the JAR with Java. Either should work just by double-clicking but the shortcut is highly recommended (see Memory Issues below).
The "exe" one contains two files: an EXE (just the JAR wrapped up as a normal Windows application) and an INI file. It still requires Java.

Both are contained within a "TWMapReader" folder which also contains some other files under "lib".

You may run this application from anywhere but the "lib" subfolder is needed so the safest bet is to keep everything together in its "TWMapReader" folder.

For convenience you can drop that "TWMapReader" folder into the root folder of the game or mod that you wish to use it on. e.g. "C:\Programs\SEGA\Medieval II Total War" for vanilla M2TW or "C:\Programs\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\{mod name}" for a mod. That way it will automatically use that game's or mod's maps when the application is run.

Memory Issues

The tool is creating and processing many images and memory can run out. If that happens then the tool will probably just quietly stop working.

To avoid this the tool is given a runtime parameter that tells it to allocate more memory than what Java provides by default. This parameter is built into both the shortcut (for the JAR) and the INI file (for the EXE). Running the JAR directly is not recommended because it will probably have too little memory to work with.

If you are experiencing hangs/crashes even via the shortcut/exe then you can try increasing the memory allocation even further. In the shortcut's properties or the INI file's contents, look for the part that says -Xmx1000m and change that 1000 to a higher number, e.g. 1500.

NOTE: as of v2.7 the memory usage is much reduced. It is unlikely that increasing memory allocation will be necessary.

How To Use

If the maps were not auto-loaded at startup - or if you wish to view maps from a different location - enter/browse for the Root Folder and click read source files. A different location can be used at any time.

Textures (Summer & Winter)

The textures (summer/winter) map options display the map using the appropriate texture TGAs for the tiles' climates and ground types. It isn't as smooth as the in-game appearance but not too shabby for an experiment.

The first time you turn on either the summer or winter option it will build both maps. It takes a short while to do this, probably only a few seconds.

All textures are read from data\terrain\aerial_map\ground_types. If a TGA cannot be found then it will be skipped, reported in the Errors tab and appear as pink on the map.

Heights Transparent

This is a variation of the Heights map, such that darker = more transparent. Some interesting results can be had by overlaying this map (with a low Opacity) over a Textures map.

FE / Faction Selection

This is the map_FE.tga map used in the faction selection screen at campaign start. Combining this view with Region Highlight's "starting regions" option allows you to fairly easily create the maps for each faction.

If that is your intention then the best option would be to use the "FE" zoom level and - if the map has transparent edges - the "copy to file" feature. By using the "FE" zoom the FE map remains at its original size and everything else is scaled down to fit. Any other zoom level means that the FE map is scaled up to that zoom size, so you would need to scale it back down to the correct size in your graphics application; quality is lost during scaling so quality would take a double hit by doing it this way. By using the "FE" zoom the FE map is not scaled by this tool and so there is no need to scale it back down elsewhere; no loss of quality.

Of course, whether your FE map lines up with the geography, regions, etc. of the other maps depends entirely on how your FE map was made. The tool simply positions it in the top-left corner like all of the other maps. e.g. If your FE map is cropped at the top compared to other maps then they will not line up with each other correctly.

Settlements & Markers

In addition to the "settlements" view which (optionally) flashes settlement locations on the map, settlements may be displayed via the Markers tab. This can show their names as well. It attempts to shift names around to avoid overlap. It's 'intelligence' is fairly limited but the results are better than none at all. Higher zooms and/or smaller fonts will result in less overlap.

Other markers are possible on that tab: ports, forts, watchtowers and spawn locations.

Trade Resources

Similar to the Settlements tab there a Resources one which displays locations of trade resources, either by name or icon.

It attempts to read the TGA icons from the data\ui\resources folder: if it can't find an icon and this is a mod then it tries looking in the parent game (vanilla) instead, but these icons would need to be unpacked to be found: the tool does not look into pack files. If an icon still cannot be found then it simply will not be displayed: no error messages, etc.

There are some options in this tab to make it work in conjunction with Region Highlight options. By default all resources are displayed but by using these options with Region Highlight's "trade resource" option the tool will display only one resource type at a time.

Export

The Export tab lets you view and copy the tile information in text format. Tab delimiters are good for pasting into spreadsheets but beware of row count limits. e.g. Pre-2007 Excel can only have ~65000 rows; a big map will chew that up easily if exporting all tiles.

When exporting, the Feature type overrides the Ground Type in the tile description. i.e. If the tile has a Feature then that is used; if not then Ground Type is used.

The Extended Info option includes RGB values for Regions, Ground Types and Features.

It can also export settlement details: coordinates, settlement names and region names.

The Spawns sub-tab lists all spawn location information, including starting characters (descr_strat.txt) and spawned ones (campaign_script.txt).

Find

The Find tab lets you search for a region or settlement name (or region ID). The found result(s) are shown on the map.

State

As of v2.8 the tool can store the current settings (map selection, opacity values, colours, etc.) for reloading at a later time. See the "state" buttons at the bottom of the tool: its help tooltip explains much.

Any number of states can be saved; a selection lists lets you choose which one to load.

They are saved as *.mps files in the tool's folder. If you have multiple copies of the tool (e.g. under different mods) then you can copy/move these files between them if you wish one tool's state to be available to another tool. i.e. Just copy the file from one tools' folder to the other tool's folder, via Explorer.

Detachable Tabs

The main tabs all have an attach/detach toggle button. Detaching a tab will move it underneath the tab section, allowing you to see it all of the time. Each one takes up room on screen so there is a limit to how many you could detach and see all at once. Personally I detach the Tile tab as this is the one that shows me what I usually need to see.

Change Log

v2.24
- No more flashing "there are errors" - was a CPU killer.
- Now remembers and loads last-used source folder.
- New function/tab: "Find".
- Added Region ID.
- New tab: "Region". Removed "show region info in tooltip" checkbox. Region tab now shows all of this info, plus much more.
- Mercs: new options in a new Resource Highlight sub-tab.
- Win Conditions: new option on the Resource Highlight tab.
- Music Type: new option on the Resource Highlight tab.
- Ports: new option on the Markers tab.
- Spawns: new option on the Markers tab and a new Export sub-tab.
- Region Highlight: new "all regions" option for borders, for drawing borders on all regions and not just the highlighted (filled) ones.
- New definition of "IsSea": now based on map_heights.tga rather than ground types.
- "(Sea)" displayed in Tile tab's "Feature" text if is "AtSea" by the above definition.
- Export > Tiles: a new "Sea" column added to "extended" export, indicating the above "AtSea" test.
- Renamed tabs: "Info" -> "Tile", "Settlements, etc." -> "Markers".
- Changed port ownership logic.
- SHIFT + X = tile coords in "x X, y Y" format. e.g. "x 23, y 284" instead of just "23, 284".
- BUGFIX: Resources "show only" list was shrinking to unusable size if left hand tool pane was too narrow.
- BUGFIX: Marker tab colours were not remembered in state.
- BUGFIX: not all trade resources being shown when using "region highlight regions only" option. If a highlighted region was found not to contain a TR, before a highlighted region was found that does contain it, then the TR was not shown in any of the regions.
v2.15 - v2.23 - personal use only

v2.14
- Vertical dragging direction reversed. Right-click-dragging upwards moves the map upwards (and vice versa) just as dragging right moves the map to the right.
- Fixed dragging/scrollbar bug when zoom changes. Sometimes map would lock - not draggable - when zoom increased.
- Changed max reported errors from 200 to 20. e.g. Unrecognised RGB errors.
- Added "show only" list to Resources tab.
- Source re-read no longer loses dropdown selections (HRs, TRs & faction on highlight tab).
- Added dropshadow to resource icons.
- Settlements and ports: owning region is now determined only by checking N, S, E & W tiles, not diagonal tiles. (Thanks Gigantus.)
- BUGFIX: a resource that is outside of any region was not being shown. e.g. "The Carrock" in TATW is on a river between regions.
v2.13 - skipped
v2.12
- Added Resources tab.
- Added TGA export: save view to a TGA file.
- Added detachable tabs feature.
- Added application state. Independent of the other State (save/load state) this stores information about window size and position and tab detachments, auto-saved when the tool is closed and auto-applied when the tool is next run. It is stored in a file named app.cfg in the tool's folder.
- Settlements tab changes:
  - Now avoids name overlap (to a degree).
  - Changed font size options.
  - Font and marker size now constant across all zooms.
  - Added "region highlight only" option: show settlements only in those regions currently displayed via Region Highlight.
  - Added option to show game name, internal name or just the marker.
- Added background colour: painted behind all other views.
- Region Highlight selections now stored in state.
- State files changed from *.xml to *.mps. Also now stored within the tool's folder, as they should be: pretty sure that previous versions were putting them in the tool folder's parent folder instead.
- Fixed bug: would crash if a region has no starting faction, e.g. Durazzo in Kingdoms Grand Campaign.
v2.11
- Added starting faction colour border/fill options for region highlight.
- Added "inside" option for border painting.
- Added "all starting regions" region highlight option.
- Rearranged border section layout.
- Rearranged copy-to section layout: combined into one.
v2.10
- Bugfix: other maps blurry when texture maps enabled.
v2.9
- Region Highlight: border calculation now MUCH faster (e.g. was 5.2 sec, now 0.2 sec). As a result: 1) no long pause when switching on "region highlight" option, 2) "region highlight" option no longer auto-unticked when loading state.
- Region Highlight: added border render type option; added checkbox for fill; border section layout changed.
- Can now handle ports on shared borders.
- Faster response/drawing, especially during scrolling when HSB is displayed.
- No longer paints over scroll bars etc.
- Added % display to sliders.
- Reduced font size of some labels.
- Bugfix: texture errors now displayed (errors tab was not being enabled) and now has "has errors" prompt.
v2.8
- Fixed FE resize bug: non-FE zooms were stretching to fit other map proportions, instead of FE map proportions.
- Fixed "starting regions" bug: was including all fort and watchtower regions as slave starting regions.
- Added state feature: save settings for reloading (reapplying) at a later time.
- Realtime preview for all colour selections: while the colour chooser dialog is open it applies all changes to the map view, instead of only doing it after the dialog is closed.
- If 200 RGB errors are encountered while reading a map then it stops trying. Avoids excessive wait times while it builds thousands of error messages.
- Added HSB option for region highlight, colouring the regions without painting over them. (Painting over them - the "overlay" option, previously named "fill" - can mask their detail, depending on opacity level).
- Added "flash" option for settlements view; they now flash only if you want them to.
- Swapped the order of map views: "settlements" is now after "region highlight".
- HSB is now the default picker in the colour chooser.
v2.7
- Now uses far less memory. Roughly 5 times less!
- Faster load times of maps (and therefore the application itself). Textures load twice as fast. Faster response times overall when switching zooms, changing transparencies, etc.
- Region Highlight now optionally includes borders, with control over how borders are drawn.
- Added "all regions" option for Region Highlight.
- Added "FE" zoom level: all maps are scaled to map_FE.tga's original size and the FE map remains unscaled. Useful if using this to create "faction selection" maps; no need to scale the result back down to the correct size, thus avoiding loss of quality due to scaling up (by the tool) and then scaling down again (in your graphics application).
- Added "Settlements" tab: displays settlement locations and names on the map.
v2.6
- Added "faction selection" map (map_FE.tga).
- Added "copy to file" function for saving map display to PNG file.
- Added "reads files" and its "create BAT" functions.
- Added "starting regions" as a region highlight option.
- Added colour selections for region highlight.
v2.5
- Can now read compressed formats.
- Faster map loading: settlements are now a painted overlay rather than image-per-zoom; only zoom 1 images are created at startup - others created when associated zoom option is selected.
- Settlements now flash, making them easier to identify and distinguish between ports.
- Reload button added to main view - a duplicate of the one on the Source tab.
v2.4 - internal use only
v2.3
- Added "region highlight" feature to display regions with specific hidden resources and trade resources.
- Changed layout: split into "View", "Info" and "Region Highlight" tabs.
- Added key shortcuts for copying current mouse position (coordinates and region names) to the clipboard.
- Added trade resource game names to the tooltip.
v2.2
- Was only showing hidden resources in the tooltip. Now also shows trade resources.
v2.1
- New framework for resuability purposes; internally restructured but functionally no major changes.
- Opacity slider values reapplied after a map reload.
- Added tooltip info showing resources etc. with option to show/hide.
- Changed layout of coordinate display.
- Overlay message during texture builds.
v1.7.3
- Faster startup times: x4 and x5 zoom maps now built when selecting these zooms for the first time, rather than during application start.
- Changing opacity to 100% is now instantaneous (no transparency rebuild invoked).
- Added coordinates for images in addition to map coordinates, including double-sized images.
v1.7.2
- Changed when and how some errors are shown.
- Missing/unreadable textures now reported as errors.
- Missing textures now displayed as pink on the map instead of blue ("sea").
v1.7.1
- Added "copy to clipboard" function for the maps.
v1.7
- New maps: Climates, Heights, Heights Transparent, Textures.
- More tile info, relating to the new map types.
- Added x5 zoom. Zooms now radio buttons instead of toggle buttons.
- Changed key shortcuts from F1..F4 to 1..9.
- Added Opacity sliders.
- Reduced text in header and added link to the thread.
- Missing maps no longer show error messages. Instead, the options to display them are disabled.
v1.6
- Tile Export now has "extended info" option.
v1.5
- Fixed bug with reading 32bit maps: colours were interpreted and displayed incorrectly. e.g. Custom maps generated by GIMP.
- Map type toggles changed to checkboxes.
- Displays error message if map is compressed.
v1.4
- Added regions and settlements.
- Added x3 and x4 zoom.
- Added settlement location export.
- Added *.exe version.

Downloads

TWMapReader_2.24_exe.zip
TWMapReader_2.24_jar.zip

**Withwnar** · March 27, 2011, 11:26 AM

New version released: 1.1.

There was a bug that prevented it from finding the maps in the application's folder.

**Withwnar** · April 09, 2011, 12:06 AM

New version released: 1.2.

Land Bridges were not being flagged as "impassable". That is, they are passable but they are not valid tiles for standing on which is what this tool means by "impassable".

**TW_User** · April 16, 2011, 02:20 AM

Thats really cool

+rep

**Withwnar** · June 19, 2011, 05:53 AM

New version released: 1.3.

Unrecognised colour errors were not showing up in the Errors tab.
Unrecognised colour features and ground types were being displayed with a description of "River" and "Fertile Low", respectively. Now displayed as "?".

**Withwnar** · July 11, 2012, 10:58 AM

New version released: v1.4.

Can now display and export regions and settlements. Plus a few other changes.

**Gigantus** · July 12, 2012, 10:26 PM

The coordinate stuff is great help for scripters!

**dutchsoldier73** · August 05, 2012, 01:28 PM

Hi guys,

I was busy building my map for a mod I'm making and i tried this tool to see how it would look like, but I got alot of errors and the map looked very strange if you know what's wrong please reply!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Withwnar** · August 05, 2012, 11:52 PM

What do the errors say?

**dutchsoldier73** · August 06, 2012, 02:58 AM

here is the code part 1:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**dutchsoldier73** · August 06, 2012, 02:59 AM

here is code part 2:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Withwnar** · August 06, 2012, 05:19 AM

It sounds like your map images contain colours that are not the standard ones defined here and here.

Possibly due to blurring/anti-aliasing effects where two colours meet?

**dutchsoldier73** · August 06, 2012, 05:31 AM

could be the problem ,but that doesn't explain why the map looks so strange in the picture viewer

**Withwnar** · August 06, 2012, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by dutchsoldier73

could be the problem ,but that doesn't explain why the map looks so strange in the picture viewer

I thought the map looked wrong because it failed to load properly due to all those errors. But no, the errors seem to match what the map is showing: strange colours at y = 0, 1, 2.

I take it that turning off compression is how you fixed it?

As to the new wrong colour problem, I'm not sure. It could be that your TGAs are in a format slightly different to what the reader can understand. If you can put the TGAs somewhere that I can get them then I'll take a look.

**dutchsoldier73** · August 06, 2012, 12:00 PM

Hé I kinda fixed now i can see holland back in there ,but one problem is still remaining: all the colors are different I'm working in gimp 2 and forgot to turn of the rle comprassion.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**dutchsoldier73** · August 07, 2012, 04:48 AM

Hope that you can find out what is wrong

**dutchsoldier73** · August 08, 2012, 04:38 AM

I was just asking for a update: did you found out what was the problem?

**Withwnar** · August 08, 2012, 05:42 AM

No. I had a look and it behaves the same way on my PC. When I open the maps in Photoshop they look correct; in the map reader they look as they did in your screenshot, even after saving them from within Photoshop.

I have had trouble displaying some TGA files in other tools I have written. Specifically: building card/icon images. Maybe it is the same problem. It must be that the format of this GIMP-generated TGA is somehow different to those from vanilla TW/Kingdoms (and TATW - the only mod maps I have tried). What that difference is I have no idea.

**dutchsoldier73** · August 08, 2012, 06:50 AM

Thx for looking if I find out why it acts so strange I will tell you.

**Gigantus** · August 08, 2012, 07:16 AM

I just ran a few custom mods through the reader and all of them have that problem.
However, the original "british isle" files give no problem.

Hope that gives an angle.

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