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I hate drawing maps on paper so I made a program to help me instead: Grid Cartographer.

You can download it for free here: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/

I've run it side by side with Wizardry 6 last night and it was far more fun and immersive when I didn't feel lost all the time, leaving notes for myself to come back to places later. Full disclosure: there is a paid pro upgrade but I've tried the ensure the free edition has nearly all of the functionality you'd need.

I hope you find it useful, if there are any features I'm missing that would help then please let me know.
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Finally,I been looking everywhere for a easy to use mapper but one that has markers I can use to note traps and such, since I can't draw to save my life and yes I know making a map should be easy but not for me I always get something wrong.

The closest I found was gridmapper which was nice all I had to do was click on the squares while I moved through the dungeons but it lacked any way to mark spinner trap, teleporter, set encounter, key, ect so unless I map out the entire floor and then import the map into photoshop to mark out all that stuff and all the other ones I tried were either too hard to use or built for fleshing out campaign dungeons for pen and paper games but really poor for mapping out old school dungeon crawlers but this actually seems to fit that bill.

So thanks for pointing this thing out.

The lack of marking spinner and pits in the free version kinda sucks though, I get you want to see something for your work but eh.. Oh and the option to mark the map with numbers on the side would help massively in the classic wizardry's since the teleport spell requires you to set what position on the grid you want to go to, so say you want to go back to the stairs on the first floor then you need to enter 0,0 1, mess up and your going to risk getting teleported into a wall and losing your entire party
Post edited June 03, 2013 by DCT
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HiddenAsbestos: I hate drawing maps on paper so I made a program to help me instead: Grid Cartographer.

You can download it for free here: http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/

I've run it side by side with Wizardry 6 last night and it was far more fun and immersive when I didn't feel lost all the time, leaving notes for myself to come back to places later. Full disclosure: there is a paid pro upgrade but I've tried the ensure the free edition has nearly all of the functionality you'd need.

I hope you find it useful, if there are any features I'm missing that would help then please let me know.
For your dedicated hard work to the Wizardry Community here at GOG I present to you the Key to The City of Llylgamyn
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DCT: Finally,I been looking everywhere for a easy to use mapper but one that has markers I can use to note traps and such, since I can't draw to save my life and yes I know making a map should be easy but not for me I always get something wrong.

The closest I found was gridmapper which was nice all I had to do was click on the squares while I moved through the dungeons but it lacked any way to mark spinner trap, teleporter, set encounter, key, ect so unless I map out the entire floor and then import the map into photoshop to mark out all that stuff and all the other ones I tried were either too hard to use or built for fleshing out campaign dungeons for pen and paper games but really poor for mapping out old school dungeon crawlers but this actually seems to fit that bill.

So thanks for pointing this thing out.

The lack of marking spinner and pits in the free version kinda sucks though, I get you want to see something for your work but eh.. Oh and the option to mark the map with numbers on the side would help massively in the classic wizardry's since the teleport spell requires you to set what position on the grid you want to go to, so say you want to go back to the stairs on the first floor then you need to enter 0,0 1, mess up and your going to risk getting teleported into a wall and losing your entire party
Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like the program! - I want it to make it as good as possible and hopefully worth the upgrade cost :-)

I've just released an update to v1.0.1. Amongst other things I've added your suggestion of numbered grid axes and I've also added more grid settings so it can better mark out 16 x 16, 20 x 20 or 32 x 32 size 'tiles'. I've set the default to 20 as that covers most of the Wizardry games. The full list of changes is here.
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drake2509: For your dedicated hard work to the Wizardry Community here at GOG I present to you the Key to The City of Llylgamyn
Thanks!
Post edited June 03, 2013 by HiddenAsbestos
Great!
Can we hope on Linux version? Or at least working in WINE (it doesn't now)?
I like the program but I have a big problem.

If I draw a map on (for example) "G" and than add the floor "B1" the map I drew on "G" overwrites every floor above it (F1, F2, etc.).

Am I doing something wrong? Like this the program is unuseable.
It happens in 1.0.0 and 1.0.1.


Besides that, icons for "button" and "chest" whould be great.
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Adoru: Great!
Can we hope on Linux version? Or at least working in WINE (it doesn't now)?
Sadly I don't think this will happen very soon. I wrote this tool with my own engine and that uses DirectX9 - so it's really at a disadvantage in terms of porting. I have worked a bit on OpenGL but haven't made anything for Linux before, so I don't want to create a false hope there.
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Dotur: I like the program but I have a big problem.

If I draw a map on (for example) "G" and than add the floor "B1" the map I drew on "G" overwrites every floor above it (F1, F2, etc.).

Am I doing something wrong? Like this the program is unuseable.
It happens in 1.0.0 and 1.0.1.

Besides that, icons for "button" and "chest" whould be great.
Oops, sorry, that is a big problem! - stand by I'll make an update!

edit: v1.0.2 is now available - try that! ( How embarrassing! )
Post edited June 03, 2013 by HiddenAsbestos
I've just released update v1.0.3 with a bunch of new changes. The major ones are an option for single-click ground tile placing, a 'smart outline' block tile and a bunch of new ground marker types for Pro users. The full list of changes can be found here.
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Dotur: Besides that, icons for "button" and "chest" whould be great.
I've added a 'switch' and 'treasure' tile to the v1.0.3 Pro edition. Thanks for the suggestion!
Post edited June 03, 2013 by HiddenAsbestos
Nice! This is pretty awesome! Thank you very much for making such an useful thing.
I am spoiled by automapping in titles such as Etrian Odyssey, Dark Spire and Strange Journey (all of them NDS titles, kind of odd that the newest first person turn based dungeon crawlers are in a handheld!) so this is a very welcome application! Thank you!
Hmm, reminds me of mapping system Etrian Odyssey, nice. I'll try it out and see if something should be added.
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Luisfius: I am spoiled by automapping in titles such as Etrian Odyssey, Dark Spire and Strange Journey
Ahem, Etrian Odyssey does not have a automapping system, that was kind of the point of the games. Haven't played the other 2, I haven't imported them yet.
v1.0.4 is out now. A few smaller changes / fixes this time as well as improvements to help when erasing walls and ground tiles. Full change list here.
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Luisfius: Nice! This is pretty awesome! Thank you very much for making such an useful thing.
I am spoiled by automapping in titles such as Etrian Odyssey, Dark Spire and Strange Journey (all of them NDS titles, kind of odd that the newest first person turn based dungeon crawlers are in a handheld!) so this is a very welcome application! Thank you!
Thanks for the kind words!

edit: and v1.0.5 is out now too. Full change list here.
Post edited June 04, 2013 by HiddenAsbestos
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Gabelvampir: Hmm, reminds me of mapping system Etrian Odyssey, nice. I'll try it out and see if something should be added.
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Luisfius: I am spoiled by automapping in titles such as Etrian Odyssey, Dark Spire and Strange Journey
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Gabelvampir: Ahem, Etrian Odyssey does not have a automapping system, that was kind of the point of the games. Haven't played the other 2, I haven't imported them yet.
It has automatic floor laying! Sure you have to draw the walls and doors and features, but that is close enough.
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Luisfius: It has automatic floor laying! Sure you have to draw the walls and doors and features, but that is close enough.
Yeah ok, you could call this automapping, but I wouldn't. It only gets the map half-done.
v1.0.6 has been released. It includes colour theme selection and a couple of fixes. Check out the CGA mode for maximum retro eye damage :-)

I've not been able to play enough RPGs to make a variety of maps as demonstrations. So I have a request - I need maps! If anyone would like me to feature a map they've made on the site I'd be more than happy to. Get in touch here or via my Contact Page. Thanks!

vvvv thanks!
Post edited June 04, 2013 by HiddenAsbestos
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HiddenAsbestos: v1.0.6 has been released. It includes colour theme selection and a couple of fixes. Check out the CGA mode for maximum retro eye damage :-)

I've not been able to play enough RPGs to make a variety of maps as demonstrations. So I have a request - I need maps! If anyone would like me to feature a map they've made on the site I'd be more than happy to. Get in touch here or via my Contact Page. Thanks!
Damn! You are churning these rather fast!

... Welp, paying you for pro version.