[Official] Germany Revamp

[yeti_c]

As far as XML work goes, I cannot stress how important it is going to be to keep the territories in the same order as in the original XML file. To this end, it would be helpful if you could put together a single master list that shows all the territory names and how the new ones map onto the old ones.

Concur.

C.

[Tisha]

This may have been discussed before, but what is the point of having images in the background if the territory connections, names and army numbers render them incomprehensible?

with the images in the background of the territories, the different font sizes, the borders drawn like that.. it makes the map very busy

[oaktown]

This may have been discussed before, but what is the point of having images in the background if the territory connections, names and army numbers render them incomprehensible?

with the images in the background of the territories, the different font sizes, the borders drawn like that.. it makes the map very busy

While I don't think the map is too busy (real life maps are busy) I agree with the first comment in that I can't tell what some of those background images are. The "watermark" images in the yellow and red regions are an absolute mystery to me, so if they're going to there I'd like them to be more pronounced.

[ZeakCytho]

I kind of like the watermark images as they are now. Any stronger and they'd make the image too busy, any less opaque and what's the point of them being there? I think you found a good balance

[Arachnophobia]

Lets get this one done ppl

[laci_mae]

Bump.

What's the hold-up? Pep, maybe changing the thread title would get a mod's attention.

LMR

[pepperonibread]

Bump.

What's the hold-up? Pep, maybe changing the thread title would get a mod's attention.

LMR

Sorry, been doing schoolwork. Whenever I get back to this (hopefully soon), there'll just be some small changes to deal with, as the map is in FF.

[laci_mae]

Hey. Didn't mean to direct that "What's the hold-up" at you. Just to the process in general. I do think (when you get time of course) that updating the title will draw some new attention.

Best,
Laci

[Arachnophobia]

any news bout this one?

[WidowMakers]

Hey Pep,

Just want to say this is a great revamp. MUCH better than the old.
Like the tweaks you made to keep the GP but make the map a better overall piece of art.

Good Job

WM

[beav77]

Though the revamp may be prettier artistically, it looks so much more complicated. Is it really necessary to make a map prettier if it's going to be an eyesore when it comes to playability? The original Germany map may have some flaws, but it is nice in that it is simple to see everything clearly. All the jagged lines, colors, new mountains etc. just serve to make the map appear more confusing. I personally prefer the original because of this...

[pepperonibread]

New update, complete with finished xml:

Large:

[bigimg]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w108/pepperonibread/GermanyRevamp011L.jpg[/bigimg]

Small:



Large 88's XML Test:

[bigimg]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w108/pepperonibread/GermanyRevamp011LXML.jpg[/bigimg]

Small 88's XML Test:



Large 888's XML Test:

[bigimg]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w108/pepperonibread/GermanyRevamp011LXML3.jpg[/bigimg]

Small 888's XML Test:



XML Link: http://h1.ripway.com/pepperonibread/Germany.xml

Changes:
-Scooched a couple mountains around.
-Darkened the coats of arms on the six continents. I think these are basically set - as whenever I bold them, there are complaints about the map being too busy, and whenever I dull the arms down, people say they're too hard to identify. It's more of an aesthetics thing anyway, looking at the Great Lakes map you can see the same effect with flags, and many of those are certainly not easy to see.
-Thinned down the bridge between Rugen and Rostock.
-Completed the XML. So those army # tests above are the real deal now, not just 88's that I pasted on. I posted the 888's tests as well.

To do:
-Fix 88's, if any are off-center or misplaced.
-Comments?

[the.killing.44]

Important things first (in order of importance)…

Large
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

Small
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Schwerin "S"

move co-ords a couple px left

Then the small but easily fixable ones…
Large
Heilbronn (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
Passau (L)
Small
Passau (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
I also suggest you move the Nürnberg numbers up right under the name, instead of the bottom of the territory — it looks like you have room.

Nice job
.44

[pepperonibread]

Important things first (in order of importance)…

Large
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

Small
888 covers Chemnitz "C"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Osnabrück "O"

move co-ords a couple px down and left

888 clips Eisenach "a"

move co-ords a couple px left

888 clips Schwerin "S"

move co-ords a couple px left

Then the small but easily fixable ones…
Large
Heilbronn (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
Passau (L)
Small
Passau (L)
Mainz (L)
Bremen (L)
I also suggest you move the Nürnberg numbers up right under the name, instead of the bottom of the territory — it looks like you have room.

Nice job
.44

Thanks, I'll try to get to these soon. Some of them, like the Chemnitz number, are an especially tight fit, but I'll see what I can figure out.

Also, to anyone knowledgeable with XML's (yeti?): I need some help with adding umlauts to my code. I think it has something to do with Unicode, but I can't exactly remember. Any suggestions?

[gho]

whats happening with this map? why isnt it moving?

[oaktown]

Also, to anyone knowledgeable with XML's (yeti?): I need some help with adding umlauts to my code. I think it has something to do with Unicode, but I can't exactly remember. Any suggestions?

I had the same problem with the Berlin map. here's a good list of character entity references...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XM ... references

[pepperonibread]

Also, to anyone knowledgeable with XML's (yeti?): I need some help with adding umlauts to my code. I think it has something to do with Unicode, but I can't exactly remember. Any suggestions?

I had the same problem with the Berlin map. here's a good list of character entity references...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XM ... references

Thanks oaktown.

[Seulessliathan]

wasn´t there a river in the north of Münster? Rhein isn´t there exactly , but .... mountains? There aren´t any mountains around. Can you change this back to river please? (although the river is wrong, because there are only small rivers, and the Rhein is elsewhere, but mountains doesn´t exist there.

[MrBenn]

Nice work pep

I think it was mentioned before about adding an additional mountain to each mountain range that overlaps the border of Germany itself, to reinforce the fact that you can't sneak round the edges of them

As far as XML work goes, I cannot stress how important it is going to be to keep the territories in the same order as in the original XML file. To this end, it would be helpful if you could put together a single master list that shows all the territory names and how the new ones map onto the old ones.

[mibi]

Sorry I am a little late to the party. I am not really a fan of the texture here. What is that? Canvas?

Ditch the texture, through some parchment in there and it will be 100% better. Though you may not be able to remove the texture at this point, but it really doesn't befit germany.

[alexandrois]

it's great just one thing, you've two yellows next to each other and two grey/blacks next to each other, couldn't you change this

[gho]

it's great just one thing, you've two yellows next to each other and two grey/blacks next to each other, couldn't you change this

its the german flag. I like the 'canvas' just finish this map already.

[yeti_c]

Also, to anyone knowledgeable with XML's (yeti?): I need some help with adding umlauts to my code. I think it has something to do with Unicode, but I can't exactly remember. Any suggestions?

I had the same problem with the Berlin map. here's a good list of character entity references...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_XM ... references

Thanks oaktown.

Apologies Pep - only just read this...

Yeah - Oaks got it spot on - for an example then check out both the berlin.xml and the dasschloss.xml files...

C.

[pepperonibread]

New update, not much has changed but I'm hoping to push this along after my hiatus or whatever:

Large:

Click image to enlarge.

Small:



Large 88's XML Test:

Click image to enlarge.

Small 88's XML Test:



Large 888's XML Test:

Click image to enlarge.

Small 888's XML Test:



XML Link: http://h1.ripway.com/pepperonibread/Germany.xml

Changes:
-Added all necessary umlauts to the XML file - thank you oaktown and yeti.

Nice work pep

I think it was mentioned before about adding an additional mountain to each mountain range that overlaps the border of Germany itself, to reinforce the fact that you can't sneak round the edges of them

As far as XML work goes, I cannot stress how important it is going to be to keep the territories in the same order as in the original XML file. To this end, it would be helpful if you could put together a single master list that shows all the territory names and how the new ones map onto the old ones.

-Sorry I never responded to this one. I did push the mountains around a bit more in this update I think, but this is as far as I'd like to move them. The aesthetics are sort of screwed up if the mountains go over the outer black line, as the layering of the map works better if the line lies "over" other parts of the map. And it with no excess space between the mountains and the border, it's honestly unlikely that anyone would mistake these areas to be something besides impassable.
-mibi mentioned the overall texture of the map, and I tried out a couple of other options prior to posting this update. Stuff like parchment is really too rough for this map, so I decided to stick with the canvas pattern. I'd venture to say that there isn't really a distinctly "German" texture anyway, and the current texture fits well for what I have been going for graphics-wise.
-I nudged around some army numbers as per killing's request. Some triple digits (especially on the small map) still clip the names, but to fix the problem entirely I'd need to push the more important double digits pretty far off center. All these changes are in the updated XML I posted above.

To do:
-Fix 88's, if any are off-center or misplaced.
-Comments?

[mibi]

You should take a grunge brush and use the burn tool on this map. Give it some sinisterness.