[Online] Map XML Wizard

[natty dread]

It works excellently! Thanks!

[natty dread]

I can't seem to get the gameplay testing / play simulation to work... I press play but all that happens is that 1 territory for each player turns into different colours. How do I attack, bombard etc. ?

Only the territories of 1 continent turn to different colours though...

Here's the XML I made to test gameplay for my nordic countries map.

show

[yeti_c]

Chip - just used this to test some XML...

Worked like a dream...

I did have some hanging hovers though - not sure why... couldn't reproduce it either - probably an event not firing properly - stupid browser.

C.

[natty dread]

Chip - just used this to test some XML...

Worked like a dream...

I did have some hanging hovers though - not sure why... couldn't reproduce it either - probably an event not firing properly - stupid browser.

C.

Yeah, well I'm not getting the gameplay work at all. The way I understand it from the introduction in this thread I should be able to simulate a whole game with "players" playing their "turns"... I press play but all it does is change colours of a few territories. And then if I try to click the territories it just goes to territory edit mode. It's not supposed to be like this right?

Can you try if you can get it to work? Here's a map image: http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/842/northeuropev28.png

Does it need a small image too for the game testing to work?

[chipv]

Chip - just used this to test some XML...

Worked like a dream...

I did have some hanging hovers though - not sure why... couldn't reproduce it either - probably an event not firing properly - stupid browser.

C.

Yeah, well I'm not getting the gameplay work at all. The way I understand it from the introduction in this thread I should be able to simulate a whole game with "players" playing their "turns"... I press play but all it does is change colours of a few territories. And then if I try to click the territories it just goes to territory edit mode. It's not supposed to be like this right?

Can you try if you can get it to work? Here's a map image: http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/842/northeuropev28.png

Does it need a small image too for the game testing to work?

Totally my fault , you managed to find 2 bugs lol. Fixed now you can play your map (I just did).

I uploaded your unmodified XML here if you wanted to try right away

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/5/8/1902058/natty.xml

You've only got large co-ords so put your image in the large URL textbox.

[natty dread]

Hey, thanks for the super-fast fix and hosting my xml!

[chipv]

Hey, thanks for the super-fast fix and hosting my xml!

Check out the validation. Svalbard is intentionally like Alcatraz, I guess, but there is a one-way attack on Akershus - is that intended?

[natty dread]

Btw noticed another bug: in the window where it shows the player names and whose turn it is, and who gets what bonuses and autodeploys, all autodeploys show as +0 even though the players are getting autodeploys according to game log...

[chipv]

Btw noticed another bug: in the window where it shows the player names and whose turn it is, and who gets what bonuses and autodeploys, all autodeploys show as +0 even though the players are getting autodeploys according to game log...

Fixed. Sorry, this probably ruins your first impression, but at least the tool is being given a proper workout.

Hopefully once bug-free, will be considered useful, thanks for your feedback, keep it coming.

[natty dread]

Fixed. Sorry, this probably ruins your first impression, but at least the tool is being given a proper workout.

Not at all, really. In fact I was just ranting in my map thread how useful this is for working out flaws in the gameplay! (now if you can make a version with accurate deployments and dice throws so that you could really simulate a game 100% through... that'd be awesome! but I might be asking for too much here...) Anyway this system also works well, at least you can get an estimate of how a game might possibly be played on your current map rules.

Keep up the good work!

[chipv]

Fixed. Sorry, this probably ruins your first impression, but at least the tool is being given a proper workout.

Not at all, really. In fact I was just ranting in my map thread how useful this is for working out flaws in the gameplay! (now if you can make a version with accurate deployments and dice throws so that you could really simulate a game 100% through... that'd be awesome! but I might be asking for too much here...) Anyway this system also works well, at least you can get an estimate of how a game might possibly be played on your current map rules.

Keep up the good work!

I was going to do that, then someone convinced me this would be nothing more than a gimmick so stopped short.
(Someone else also suggested bots to play with, same thing there).

Hmm.

[natty dread]

I was going to do that, then someone convinced me this would be nothing more than a gimmick so stopped short.

Don't listen to him! It'd be hugely useful: every time when you're not sure if your gameplay would work in practice, you'd just update the XML and run a few games on the XML wizard, and then you'd know for sure!

Bots to play with would also be fun, and it would also be kinda useful (less work in running simulations, don't need to play all players' turns yourself) but even just the first part would be immensely helpful.

Of course, if I am the only mapmaker that sees things this way, then you don't need to go doing a huge amount of work just for me... (although it would be nice )

[cairnswk]

I haven't read the thread, so please forgive.

Chipv, i'm just sarting to get a taste for this tool...working on Cricket (even though LV will be doing this xml)

It is wildly useful, but it's also challenging and requires reading the instructions a lot -> therefore not friendly for those like me who like to "jump in". However...i can see the logic behind it...
You have the window divided into two sections now....left fo map and right for input.

Would it be possible to use the bottom frame of the page to generate the xml, so that we can see each step as we add it, to know what we have done is correct.
For me, without this is, it's like writing in the dark. i like to be able to see what is being generated automatically.
Also, for the text that is generated, there are no indents. Is this possible to add?

I applaud your work.

[natty dread]

Oh, and another small thing: when territory or continent names have non-standard characters, like ä, ö and such, that require to be coded with &-codes in the XML, they are not however... They appear in the XML as they are. Could it be made so that they automatically get encoded into those &xxx codes?

(also when you load an XML file, and it has special characters, they show up as those weird blocks with hex numbers in the XML wizard).

[the.killing.44]

Oh, and another small thing: when territory or continent names have non-standard characters, like ä, ö and such, that require to be coded with &-codes in the XML, they are not however... They appear in the XML as they are. Could it be made so that they automatically get encoded into those &xxx codes?

(also when you load an XML file, and it has special characters, they show up as those weird blocks with hex numbers in the XML wizard).

They don't need to be &xxx codes.

[natty dread]

Oh, and another small thing: when territory or continent names have non-standard characters, like ä, ö and such, that require to be coded with &-codes in the XML, they are not however... They appear in the XML as they are. Could it be made so that they automatically get encoded into those &xxx codes?

(also when you load an XML file, and it has special characters, they show up as those weird blocks with hex numbers in the XML wizard).

They don't need to be &xxx codes.

Really? Didn't they used to need to be, though?

If that's the case however, then disregard this suggestion - except the part that when reloading an XML file the characters are shown wrong in the wizard.

[the.killing.44]

Oh, and another small thing: when territory or continent names have non-standard characters, like ä, ö and such, that require to be coded with &-codes in the XML, they are not however... They appear in the XML as they are. Could it be made so that they automatically get encoded into those &xxx codes?

(also when you load an XML file, and it has special characters, they show up as those weird blocks with hex numbers in the XML wizard).

They don't need to be &xxx codes.

Really? Didn't they used to need to be, though?

If that's the case however, then disregard this suggestion - except the part that when reloading an XML file the characters are shown wrong in the wizard.

Nah, going back to Berlin 1961 and Iceland, the XML's show ø, ü, ß, etc.

[chipv]

I haven't read the thread, so please forgive.

Would it be possible to use the bottom frame of the page to generate the xml, so that we can see each step as we add it, to know what we have done is correct.
For me, without this is, it's like writing in the dark. i like to be able to see what is being generated automatically.
Also, for the text that is generated, there are no indents. Is this possible to add?

Not much room to play with on big maps but I do have a solution for you, maybe do it this evening.

[natty dread]

Nah, going back to Berlin 1961 and Iceland, the XML's show ø, ü, ß, etc.

Doesn't work on my xml.

[ender516]

Nah, going back to Berlin 1961 and Iceland, the XML's show ø, ü, ß, etc.

Doesn't work on my xml.

I wonder if adding the encoding="UTF-8" information to the first line of the XML would help things? It's used by the Greenland XML, which doesn't use the & codes, and not used by the Wales XML, which does. Since the site has gone to this encoding, it seems like a good standard to apply.

[yeti_c]

Nah, going back to Berlin 1961 and Iceland, the XML's show ø, ü, ß, etc.

You need to load your XML in a text editor - and not a browser?!

C.

[the.killing.44]

Nah, going back to Berlin 1961 and Iceland, the XML's show ø, ü, ß, etc.

You need to load your XML in a text editor - and not a browser?!

C.

Well I wrote the thing using ø's, soooo…

ender has a very good point—I think that's the source of it. UTF-8 is the thing that recognizes special characters.

[chipv]

Nah, going back to Berlin 1961 and Iceland, the XML's show ø, ü, ß, etc.

Doesn't work on my xml.

I have corrected your xml and uploaded it for you

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/5/8/1902058/natty.xml

The old system used HTML special & characters but much easier is the current method.

You have to do 2 things:

1. Specify UTF-8 character set (see your XML source) but this is not enough

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

2. You actually have to SAVE your XML as UTF-8 (you can do this in notepad by using Save As) otherwise it's in the wrong format.

If you view your XML, and it has the right encoding, but garbage characters then it's probably saved in the wrong format.

The Wizard shows Greenland, Iceland, your new XML whatever correctly.

[ender516]

Would it make sense for the Wizard to put in the encoding="UTF-8" on new XML it creates? Right now, I think it does not. (Maybe there should be a button, or a place to type in the encoding you want to use.)

[chipv]

Would it make sense for the Wizard to put in the encoding="UTF-8" on new XML it creates? Right now, I think it does not. (Maybe there should be a button, or a place to type in the encoding you want to use.)

Yes, I am doing that , but people have to save it in the right format for it to display correctly after load as described above.

I suspect lack goes ahead and does this step anyway, I'll ask him.