Map Editor - It's Own Map

[slaphappypap]

I was wondering if you guys could implement a 'mini-map' and map-screen for the map editor. Right now, when one zooms out in the map editor as far as one can, it causes the map scrolling to become very slow. I know this is inherent to terrain generation...But zoomed out all the way is barely a fraction of the size of the in-game map overlay zoomed out all the way. I would like to be able to generate a map in the editor then also be able to view the area that my large base will end up taking in it. Right now, you cant see anything and to scroll around, just to see if this is the map i am going to want to play on, takes approximately 15 or 20 mins due to slow terrain loading while scrolling. Can we just get a map screen using the 'm' key and have it all shown to the player?? It would really help with editing maps and generating them.

[Syrchalis]

That would definitely help and I actually wondered why there was no map or minimap in the editor.

[Rseding91]

So, your motivation for wanting the minimap in the map editor is to see the map without having to scroll around and visit it because scrolling around is too slow due to it generating the map?

You do realize the minimap only shows generated chunks right? It would take the exact same amount of time to generate and show them on the minimap as it does on the main map.

[ssilk]

Rseding, I thought there is already a mechanism to store the visible map per force in a game-save. So this is more or less already possible and I think also, it makes a lot of sense to store the bitmap of the main-surface (0) in a scenario. Or when saving you can choose to store the map-bitmap of any surface from the sight of a force.

It would also make a lot of sense to make the bitmap of the save available before loading.

[slaphappypap]

So, your motivation for wanting the minimap in the map editor is to see the map without having to scroll around and visit it because scrolling around is too slow due to it generating the map?

You do realize the minimap only shows generated chunks right? It would take the exact same amount of time to generate and show them on the minimap as it does on the main map.

Yes. I was hoping that maybe something could be implemented that would generate, to the extent that is the farthest you can zoom out with the during-game map, in the background while im in the forefront placing objects or even away from computer. So that i may be able to hit the map screen, zoom out, and see if it is the map i would like to spend the next 30-40 mins placing objects for my custom scenario. That is the dream, anyway. But i realize that it probably isnt that high on the to-do list as you might not have a desire for the same thing as me.

Here is something that bugs me though: have you taken the time to scroll the screen while zoomed out fully in the map editor? It is painfully slow to move the screen and it actually pauses terrain generation whilst doing so. You must stop scrolling to get it to generate the terrain. Now, lets take for example, if i was actually playing the game as the little character dude, i could theoretically max out my armor with speed legs and run like hell in a direction regardless of if the terrain generates or not(it pauses then too) but i am still able to move rather quickly compared to the map editor scrolling. As a worst case scenario, for someone like me with a differing want or need, i should think that at least we could get the scrolling to happen quicker even without the terrain generating (because it actually loads quickly once one stops scrolling)

Like you told me on the sub-reddit, they are generating as fast as my computer can generate them, but in the map editor the only way to get them to start generating is painfully slowly scrolling while not very far zoomed out. Maybe there could be a way to get them to start generating out farther or something.

Ive been customizing games and playing using my own custom scenarios since SC:BW days of youth. Its just something i like to do and anything to help facilitate that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for listening

[Adil]

The scrolling in terrain editor is slow even without map generation.
If you try to make anything bigger than 100x100 map, say a 1000 long straight, the maximum zoom does not suffice. And the absence of overview doesn't help with finding a particular position on the map.

[Bahroth]

I recently got back in the game and decided to customize resource values... unfortunately I set oil to small size and its nigh impossible to find.

I would agree that the map editor would need a minimap for itself because I for one cant eagle-eye a single oil spot on a populated map.

[slaphappypap]

I saw that the map editor loads heck of a lot faster now in 0.15. For that i want to issue you guys(devs) my many many thanks. Now, how about the ability to zoom out just as far as while in game? Also, can we please place items down using a sorty of selecting box to copy and paste entities down? LIke a BP but for the map editor, except instead of placing ghosts, it places the actual items?