Nuvie: Export Maps to Tiled Map Editor’s TMX Format
If you’ve been following the Nuvie changelog, you’ll have hopefully taken note of some very exciting changes. And I don’t just mean this bit of Martian Dreams-related good news:
* Fixed directional basemap blocking for MD. You can walk around in the dream world correctly now.
* Added get_direction_name() function.
* Added DirFinder::get_nuvie_dir() This finds the direction from a src to a target.
* Added new is_passable methods to map to handle MD directional blocking.
* Started adding new image/save support to NuvieBmpFile class.
It’s obviously a good thing that Nuvie’s support for Martian Dreams continues to increase. But in the last couple of days, Eric Fry and his team have taken a few steps to turn Nuvie into something rather more than just an engine for running Ultima 6 in a windowless mode, or on non-Microsoft operating systems.
Witness:
* Added function to export game maps in ‘Tiled’ tmx format. Use Alt-913 to save the map. Each game map level is saved to a separate tmx file. The files are saved into your current savegame directory.
* Added TileManager::exportTilesetToBmpFile() to dump the game tilemap to a bmp file.
* Added new map_export_tmx_files() lua script function.
* Removed old altcode logic from MD init.lua
* Changed altcode lua to use a table based lookup.
* Added GamePalette::loadPaletteIntoBuffer() this dumps the game palette in 32bit format. RGB + unused alpha
* Fixed bugs with BMP save logic.
* Fixed shorelines when creating U6 tilemap.
* Added better support for toptile rendering when creating tmx map files. Still need to fix fountains.
The Tiled Map Editor, if you’re not familiar with it, is a freeware utility for creating maps out of tilesets. There are plugins for Unity that can be used to import Tiled tilemaps into that engine, and I think the Construct 2 engine also supports them.
So, at minimum, Nuvie can now be used to export maps from Ultima 6 (and, presumably, Martian Dreams and Savage Empire) for use in other game engines, or for editing in Tiled proper. And I wonder if perhaps the reverse will soon become true, if Eric and his team might figure out a way to import TMX files with changes to the maps of these games, so that Tiled might also be used as a means of editing the worlds of Britannia, Mars, and Eodon.
You can grab an export of the maps from Ultima 6 below.
A Nuvie-created export — in the Tiled Map Editor’s TMX format — of the maps of Ultima 6 (the overworld, the four dungeon levels, and the Gargoyle realm).
This is relevant to my interests. Very cool!
Heh, indeed. For those not in the know, Tiled is a seriously awesome program, and cross-platform. It’s one of those rare gems that makes you nearly instantly productive without a steep learning curve, is elegant and just fun to use.