One Inch Battlemaps

[Dracomaxis]

I have recentely started using Maptool to host my campaign online, and the one inch battlemaps that are in picture form and not pdf form are perfect to import into the program, while the pdf other maps are much more of a pain to use. I was wondering if those larger maps also had any pictures that could be posted for donloading so I could resize them to fit my scaling of my tokens. I understand that the pdf was made for printouts, the problem I have currenly is that some pages have bigger squares than others and resizing them all is tedious and I don't end up having any sort of square for the tokens to be in. So all I am wondering is, are there 1 inch battlemaps in picture format for the printer friendly pdf battlemaps?

 

[talwynor]

I havent used Maptool much beyond downloading, but I'm assuming the image files Eugene has put together in the fantasygrounds file would fit the bill? I think if you change the .mod extension to a .zip and unpack, you should be able to get to the images directory and look at the maps he has converted.

 

[liggetar]

I can vouch for using Eugene's Fantasy Grounds maps in Maptool. This is what I use for my games, and it works like a charm (saves me a ton of time!)

 

[Dracomaxis]

Any specific method of converting the files or any file path to just get into the map files of the fantasy grounds mod?

 

[liggetar]

Here's the thread where Eugene explains it so well - I figure it's easier than reinventing the wheel:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-burning-sky/272630-unmarked-battlemaps-please.html

 

[Dracomaxis]

I can vouch for using Eugene's Fantasy Grounds maps in Maptool. This is what I use for my games, and it works like a charm (saves me a ton of time!)

If I may, what do you do for the larger maps like the pub and the farmhouse? For some reason I can't actually get the squares alligned so that my players don't have to use free move to get their characters in a square, the jpg's that were supplied to use from the site have perfect diameters and resize perfectly but those that are more rectangular are more of a hassle. Any specific program?

 

[EugeneZ]

Those maps weren't normalized properly, is my guess. I didn't normalize most of the maps from the first module. I really should do that. Since I'm short on time these days and converting Tears is my priority at the moment, I'll try to briefly explain the normalization process.

Step 1) Use any software with a ruler to measure an arbitrary number of squares in either direction. The more the better, but they must be full squares. So, for example, measure the exact number of pixels from the bottom of the lowest possible square to the top of the highest possible square. Ignore squares that are cut off. Only count pixels in one dimension, either x or y.

Step 2) Count the number of physical squares that you just measured the length of. At this point, you should have something like this: 943 pixels = 35 squares. This number gives you the current "zoom level" of the map. Divide the number of pixels by the number of squares to give you the zoom level: 943/35 ~= 26.943. The more decimal places you keep, the more accurate the final result is, so don't just round to the nearest integer.

Step 3) Using the same dimension you used for the length count, get the image's TOTAL length in that dimension. In the example above, I measured the y (top-to-bottom) dimension of most of the squares on the map, but I didn't count a few obscured squares at the top because I couldn't tell where one square ended and the next began. The bottom-most square was also not counted because it was cut off. So the height of this image was 1200.

Step 4) Divide the total height by the zoom level you obtained earlier. This gives you the total number of squares the image REALLY has. In my example, I would do: 1200/26.943 = 44.538. My image has 44 and a half real squares.

Step 5) Decide what zoom level you want to normalize the map to. I always use 50px. Multiply the result of Step 4 by this number. So 44.538 x 50 = 2226.9235.

Step 6) Resize the image. Make sure your editor's "Maintain aspect ratio" option is enabled. Change the value of whatever dimension you were using to the result of step 5. I was using y, so I'm changing the height of the image to 2227. This time you have to round to the nearest integer. Hit OK, and the software will resize the image. Every square will be exactly 50px, or close enough that maptools won't be able to tell the difference.