Printing Maps

[simulatoralive]

Is there any way to print the UFO: AI maps?

I've been thinking they'd make excellent tactical combat maps for table-top role playing games, if printed to a proper size...

My preference here is 1 inch squares.

[BTAxis]

If you enable isometric mode, you can set the camera to look straight down, and have all the walls look the same. Then all you need to do is take screenshots as required.

[simulatoralive]

That seems like a lot more trouble than I was hoping for.  I was wanting something more automated, like  a tool that can run through all the in-game maps and produce PDF files with the various levels on different pages.  Then I can manipulate size during printing.

I'd even be happy with PNG images of the map levels.

How difficult might this be to accomplish?  Could it be done with the in-game scripting engine somehow?

Of course, in the end it'll all come out on pages I'll have to tape together (and possibly laminate), but that's unavoidable without buying a terribly expensive printer.

[Mattn]

the commands you want are
camsetangles
zoomoutquant
levelup
screenshot

to get a list of maps you the maplist command
write a yourfile.cfg and add entries for this like

Code: [Select]

alias topdown_screenshot "camsetangle....... <your settings>; screenshot;"
map <mapame>
topdown_screenshot
map <nextmapname>
topdown_screenshot


[BTAxis]

That still wouldn't take care of the levels, though.

[simulatoralive]

One more question: is there a way to get the game to produce the images at higher resolutions than the screen size I've chosen?

I'd like the images to be as detailed as possible.

Also, how do I get the people off the map for the screen shot?  Edit: Figured out; load the map without a game running.

[Mattn]

set r_drawentities to 0 - but then dropships and so on are gone, too

or just do the map command without a base set up (directly from main menu e.g.)

and no, it's not possible to get higher res screenshots

[simulatoralive]

Another question, can I get rid of the HUD?

Edit: Finally figured this out; set cvar mn_hud to "" and then load a map.  No more HUD.

[Mattn]

there is a command named "hidehud"

[simulatoralive]

Is there a set of commands that would zoom the map to fill the screen after I've got the camera angles set for overhead view?

I've almost got my script working the way I want; I'm having trouble getting the map zoomed right.  I'm planning to start the game with a special configuration file that will load it up in windowed mode with a size MUCH larger than my actual screen is capable of.  This way I get the maximum resolution in my map.  But to pull that off, I've got to have my script do all the work, as I cannot see the entire window at this point.

I'm also having a little difficulty getting the screen shot to be taken at the proper time, as the script keeps executing while the map is still loading.  What can I do about this?  I've tried the wait command, but it is frame based, rather than allowing a fixed delay.

All of this would be easier if I had a command reference.  I've looked through the wiki, but have only found the barest bits on the commands.

Thank you all for getting me this far.

[BTAxis]

You can just press F12 (I think) when the map is displayed the way you want it. As for auto-zooming to fill the screen with the map, I think that's not possible. Maps have different sizes, and the camera can't automatically zoom them to exactly fill the screen.

[Mattn]

as per execution - you can bind some of your commands (those you have to execute after the map loaded) to a key

see keys.cfg for some examples