Knights and Merchants.net Forum

Hi I'am Brazilian, but this is not important.I downloaded the program "map2bitmap-0.7-40.zip". But I can't make it work.
Somebody help me?

Hi,
Use need to use CMD to use Map2Bitmap. Click Start -> Run (or just type into search): CMD then press enter. The black command prompt will appear on the screen. Type cd <Path> This is the location where you have placed the EXE from the zip called map2bitmap-0.7-40.exe, for example it might be C:\Downloads. Once you have done that the command prompt will be working in that directory. Place the KaM map you want to convert in the SAME folder. Next type in:
map2bitmap-0.7-40.exe Y MapFile.map MapFile.bmp 0 0 -1 -1

It will take MapFile.map and create a bitmap of the map saved to the file MapFile.bmp. You can change either of these file names as suits you. The "Y' at the start tells it whether to place trees and other objects on the map. You can put "N" if you just want terrain with no objects. The "0 0" tells it the top left coordinate to start drawing the map from. E.g. if you used "4 7" instead it would start from the fourth tile column and the seventh tile row. The "-1 -1" tell it the bottom right coordinate, where it should stop drawing. E.g. if you used "10 20" it would stop drawing at column 20 row 10. "-1" simple means "draw the entire map". (uses the map width/height)

The code for this project is very inefficient and on very large maps will often crash because it uses too much RAM to store the bitmap in. It was quite a few years ago when I wrote it so my coding standard has improved greatly since then. It is basically the same code my mission editor uses to display the map, and we all know how long it takes to load anything

I hope this makes sense.
What did you want to use it for?
Let me know if I can help any further.
Cheers,
Lewin.

Replying to this thread.
The idea of Map2Bitmap was never for it to be used by everyday users who do not know what the command prompt is. It was designed as a command line interface program to be executed within another application, such as Thunderwolf's village builder. I could have written an interface for it in 5 minutes but I didn't think anyone would want to use it other than other developers who didn't want to go through all of the hassle of loading and displaying the map in a language like Game Maker.
If you don't mind me asking, what do you want to use it to accomplish? If people are interested in a tool like this then I can write an interface for it.

Anyway, I'll explain what to do I'd just like to know if there's a demand for a graphical Map2Bitmap conversion tool.
By the way, whenever I telly out to type something and I put quotes around it, for example "cd folder", I do NOT want you to type the quotes. You just type cd folder
Here's what I meant:
1. After using the "cd" command, the command prompt will be pointing to the directory you typed after "cd". (it means "change directory" by the way) You can check this because the last line on the prompt will be something like "C:\Users\Lewin\Desktop\Map2Bitmap>" Except it will be the directory that you entered. Did this happen for you? Is the last line on the command prompt the path of the folder where the Map2Bitmap EXE file is? If not make sure you used CD properly and used \ instead of /. (if this didn't work then you can't continue to the next step)

2. You need to copy the map you are converting into the same folder as map2bitmap-0.7-40.exe. This makes it easier because the map will be with the tool to convert it. So basically: Copy the KaM .MAP file to the Map2Bitmap folder.

3. In the command prompt, type: "map2bitmap-0.7-40.exe Y MapFile.map MapFile.bmp 0 0 -1 -1" (do place quotes " around it, just type the text inside the quotes ")
However, you should replace the text MapFile.map with whatever your map file is called. For example if I wanted to convert a map called "village.map" I would type:
map2bitmap-0.7-40.exe Y village.map village.bmp 0 0 -1 -1

This command runs the application Map2Bitmap from the working directory of the command prompt. (you changed the working directory with the "cd" command) It also give that application some parameters telling it the location of the map to convert and the location to save the bitmap to. Also coordinates and whether you want trees to be drawn.

I hope this makes sense. You can probably find tutorials on using the command prompt and the cd command by Googling for them.

OW I understant every now!But my computer don?t worked I don't convert the map!But I can do the process.
But,What program I use for make my map and play him?Is this Map2bitmap?

More one time, I say Thank You, You is a good people, and very pacient!
If you want play the game on line, tell me.
In my contry anyone play this game!!!!!!!

Hi all,
A couple of months ago I've been messing around with some of the available (map) editors but now I want to restore the original maps. I tried replacing my entire mission folder with the original one, but that didn't work so I re-installed the game. Still no result. Now I moved the mission folder so it should not be able to read the missions, but the game still knows to find the edited files. Other (unedited) missions can't be found. What am I missing? I'm on Win7 with KaM TPR SR2 Dutch.
Thanks for any help,
XVI

Are you sure don't have two copies of KaM? Run KM_TPR.exe from the same location rather than using a desktop shortcut, just to make sure it's not a second copy. Try moving the entire folder "data" to a different place and see if the game will still run. (it shouldn't even get to the menu) This problem sounds familiar... I think someone else here reported it a while ago. (unless that was you too) Oh and just in case you didn't: Try uninstalling KaM before you reinstall it.
This is possibly because you converted a large map. Map2Bitmap cannot handle large bitmaps in memory, so maps over a certain size will crash it. Try replacing "-1 -1" that I told you with "20 20" and see if it works. That will convert a small section of the map to a bitmap. Also try the 16 pixel tiles version (it will use less memory per tile so can convert larger maps)
Yes this is a silly limitation that could be fixed but not enough people use it to make it worthwhile. (to my knowledge)

To edit/make maps you need Krom's map editor:
http://krom.reveur.de/index.php?t=kam_tools
This lets you edit the terrain file. These files are .MAP and can be found in "data\mission\smaps or dmaps or mmaps"

To edit missions you need my mission editor:
http://lewin.namsys.com.au/kam/index.php?go=knights_and_merchants_editor_download
This will let you edit the mission which contains the location of units/buildings and AI instructions. The file is .DAT and is found in "data\mission"

Hope this helps.
Lewin.

Thanks for the quick reply Lewin!
I checked for another copy of KaM manually and did a search for km_tpr.exe and I'm quite sure there is only one copy. Also, in the "Installed programs list" is only one copy listed. I uninstalled the game before installing (even removed leftovers) and I run it directly from its install directory. As you suggested, I moved the "data" folder to my desktop and that made it impossible to run the game.

In the meantime I tried loading a save game, and that worked even without the "mission" and the "data\save" folder, so it seems the game still can find the savegames and the modified mission files.

I can't remember reporting this problem, it probably was someone else.

XVI

Thanks again Lewin!I so happy now.I worked with your editor of missions and maps!It's a exelent program, I use this program for a year and a half.
Hugs

Hello I read everything there in cima.Mas do not know how to put trees in my maps.
Note: My map editor, when I select objects appears chek error range.

Bruno2011, you need to run KaM Editor from KaM folder, so it can access trees sprites and other info.