Readme for Map Creator: This is a brief guide to using Map Creator, a demonstration of the Midwinter mapping technique described in ACE Magazine, Issue 37. Requirements: Amiga (No!) AMOS or AMOS Pro (I don't have Easy AMOS so I don't know if this will work) Place the MapCreator.AMOS and MapCreatePalette.ABK files in the same directory. Then load and run MapCreator.AMOS from your AMOS interpreter. Upon running the program you should see a black screen with a prompt for a seed value. The more observant may notice that the prompt moves up and down as you move the mouse. Gee, the wonders of multiple screens!. Basically the prompt is on a small hires screen overlaid on the background lowres screen, but since both are currently cleared to black you can't make this out. Enter a seed value, or just hit return to use the current seed shown. Sit back and wait for the program to finish generating the map. The current operation is shown at all times on the status screen, and when the map is finished, the time taken for each operation, in minutes and seconds, is displayed. For your information: Running on a A4000/030/882 25MHz, the timings for the default seed are: AMOS 1.36: AMOS Pro 1.12: Build Map : 0.29 Build Map : 0.31 Smooth Map : 0.11 Smooth Map : 0.12 Layer Map : 0.09 Layer Map : 0.09 Shadow Map : 0.14 Shadow Map : 0.14 TOTAL : 1.04 TOTAL : 1.07 Note that the programs uses integer maths throughout, with the exception of the seed value and the timer recordings. Since I don't know how much AMOS itself uses floating point maths behind the scenes, I can only assume that, since before I fitted the co-pro the times were virtually identical, the inclusion of a co-pro makes no difference to the program speed. The slight difference between AMOS 1.36 and AMOS Pro 1.12 is not a surprise, since I have found that, on the whole, AMOS Pro is slightly slower than AMOS, even if some commands are faster. To do another map, click the mouse once the timings are displayed. To quit, use the Ctrl-C combination. The results obtained from this program are a bit rough, since the routines do not buffer the map data in any way. Thus, what you see on screen is what the program uses as data. Since the main screen is 32 colour, this means there are effectively only 31 different heights available (since the background colour is not used in the maps). This makes for rather grainy maps, especially when adding the random deviation. Ideally I would use a 16 bit/pixel buffer, allowing 65000+ different levels, and then quantise the results down for display, with options for showing different contour levels. Eventually I hope to do this, and also add a rudimentary 3D output, probably isometric since my perspective 3D is somewhat pathetic, and the Voodoo 3D extension is not flexible enough (I know, I've tried using it for this sort of work, and it just doesn't deliver the goods). If only someone would write a decent 3D extension that provided a complete set of commands for 3D work, I'd get it as soon as it was released. Well, that about wraps it up for this readme file. I'd just like to thank the producer, the script writers and the director, but most of all you, for being there. This has been a readme file, you've been the audience. Goodnight. Chris c.j.coulson@ncl.ac.uk Postgraduate research, Robotics Group ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PC/Mac enthusiasts should stop reading now, turn away, exit this readme. Under no circumstances should you read on. 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