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Asterix map ripping
Post Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 7:51 am
[Admin: split from http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14908]

I have done the map for 1-1 as Asterix. Should I do all the maps then upload in one go, or upload them as I do them? How can I make a map page for Asterix in the maps section?
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:48 am
Better to do more (or all) of the levels as you're likely to go back to the earlier ones to make changes after the later ones make you change your mind about something.

To make a maps page, go to the game page and click on the maps link at the bottom. Then choose the relevant template and fill in the details accordingly. You'll need to make 100x100 thumbnails yourself. Alternatively, post on here as you go to get feedback (or criticism) and someone else may do the wiki work.
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:00 pm
Okay. I am quite happy with the first map, but I am having a lot more difficulty with the second map (round 1-1-Obelix). The moving platforms seem to cause a lot of issues. Perhaps someone knows a way to freeze them?

Here is the first map if anyone wants to provide feedback/suggestions:
round 1-1 asterix.png (57.95 KB)
round 1-1 asterix.png

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Post Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:18 pm
btw, i think that using map editors like Tiled might speed up the map remaking, in a quite accurate way (and considering that this Screenshot Autostiching is also a very useful tool in the whole process!)
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:21 pm
It looks good to me.
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:58 am
I agree with Maxim: Your "Round 1-1 (Asterix)" map looks good. I particularly like that you have shown the contents of blocks and blue pots.

I have created a Maps/Asterix-SMS page and uploaded your image along with a 100x100 thumbnail (both optimised using PNGOUT).
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:37 am
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I have created a Maps/Asterix-SMS page and uploaded your image along with a 100x100 thumbnail (both optimised using PNGOUT).


Thanks. By the way, I noticed the "mouse over for zoom" doesn't work. I'm using Chrome on Windows 7 x64. Any ideas about the moving platforms issue? I could try hiding the sprites layer and adding them back in later, but it would be rather tricky to complete the level without being able to see the player or moving platforms. Meanwhile I will try to do some more maps that don't present any issues.
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:38 am
salamander wrote
By the way, I noticed the "mouse over for zoom" doesn't work.

This doesn't seem to be working for any maps. The cause may be an issue with http://www.smspower.org/mojozoom.css and http://www.smspower.org/mojozoom.js: both of these are returning HTTP status 500 (Internal Server Error).
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:11 am
Last edited by Maxim on Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
Hmm, those are missing some of the path (the files are in /pub/) for some reason. I don't know why you get a 500 instead of a 404. I'll investigate later.

For moving platforms, the convention is to show them at the "starting" position. If the route it takes is important, you can try doing something with lines or transparency.

I often work on a layered image while making a map, with the background tiles on one layer, the sprites on another, any foreground tiles on a third, and maybe a fill layer on the bottom where appropriate. Then more layers for annotations if I'm doing them. The raw stitches might be on more layers for reference, but hidden in the final PNG export This way you can experiment with the way you are representing sprites, powerups, moving platforms, doors, etc.
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:09 am
There seems to be a garbage area of map when I use a super jump code to scroll across this entire section of the map. Should I include the garbage area? (Example attached)
obelix2.png (29.87 KB)
obelix2.png

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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 1:40 pm
I guess they just drew it that way. (Similar to the never-seen wall in Green Hill Zone on SMS.) You can decide if it's worth showing or not.
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:54 pm
I have uploaded the PNGOut optimised map and thumbnail for 1-1-Obelix. I left out that area. I think it might be the way it was programmed, rather than the developers deliberately drawing it that way, as it matches up perfectly with the area above (but without sprites). Incidentally, I had a little explore there and it is not completely functional.
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Post Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:33 pm
I fixed the zoom thing. I can't figure out how it ever worked :)
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:26 am
Thanks. I forgot about a secret room in 1-1-Asterix. I have updated the map but when I try to replace it on the maps page it still shows the old version of the map.. I even tried deleting the old attachment.

Edit: Oh, nvm, I think it must be my browser cache. It's working now. In future I'll know to use the triangle in the attachments page to update the map rather than making a mess :)
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:15 am
I am having troubles again with uploading. This time, I used the triangle to upload a new version of 1-1-Obelix, and it still shows the old version, even after clearing my cache, and trying a different browser. Also, when I tried a different browser (Internet Explorer), I noticed the mouse over for zoom doesn't work correctly over the center of the image (the enlarged image flickers between two cursor locations).
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:41 am
Your ISP is caching the image. (It's caused by some config at our host which I didn't manage to disable yet.) If you click the image, then add something to the URL like "?x" then you will bypass this caching.

I haven't tried the zoomer in IE, it certainly used to work but then again IE is known for being weird.
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:53 am
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If you click the image, then add something to the URL like "?x" then you will bypass this caching.


Thanks for this. I'm glad to see the updated image by using that extra bit at the end. Now I can upload images with confidence that the problem is just with caching and the proper image is really there. Any idea how long ISPs normally cache images for?
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:34 pm
I've turned off the caching directives now, but it may take a while to take effect. The rules were saying to cache for a month, so it might take that long to work on existing URLs.
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:30 pm
Maxim wrote
I've turned off the caching directives now, but it may take a while to take effect. The rules were saying to cache for a month, so it might take that long to work on existing URLs.

Wouldn't take create more load for our web server?
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 4:14 pm
Short answer: yes.

Longer answer: these are all Apache-served files, and our web server is suffering mainly from lack of PHP resources, not Apache. For the common stuff, Varnish was serving them anyway. In addition, browsers will send if-modified-since and ETag references in the GETs and they will be served fast 304 responses and use their local caches. Thus I think the impact will be negligible.

When I eventually found the config for this, I realised that it was me who added it some time ago, in a somewhat misguided attempt to speed things up. So I'm not too worried as it's just going back to where we were before I made the change, which was really no worse than we are now.
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:21 am
Thanks for looking into this.
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:42 am
Maxim wrote
Our web server is suffering mainly from lack of PHP resources

Is this the reason why Site/Auditing no longer seems to work? The page used to appear correctly (albeit delayed), but now (eventually) returns an error.
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 10:34 am
It's probably taking too long and timing out. I see a lot of this:
[17-Jul-2014 12:25:18] WARNING: [pool admin] child 23032, script '/srv/data/web/vhosts/www.smspower.org/htdocs/pmwiki.php' (request: "GET /pmwiki.php") execution timed out (237.648003 sec), terminating
[17-Jul-2014 12:25:19] WARNING: [pool admin] child 23032 exited on signal 15 (SIGTERM) after 245.899312 seconds from start

...but it doesn't tell me what the page request was.
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:14 am
We really need to write some tech to turn the commonly used wiki fields into a SQL db automatically.
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:18 pm
I'd like to try the sqlite pagestore which I suspect will help, but I need to do it offline and there isn't a decent page migration scheme right now. That and some heavy caching (with manual invalidation) of pagelist-based pages ought to help. It also needs some work to complete the PTV lookup table work.

That, or a web developer to magically reimplement everything...
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Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 2:47 am
Reviving this thread, I'm starting to do some mapping for Asterix and I will need someone to help me uploading them with the other mapping.

I did a manual way where I take a screenshot and paste in a Figma file. I'm probably going to try this Screenshot Autostitcher to save time.

For now I've done the level 4-3, I'm gonna do some other levels, especially the one useful for speedrunning.

I was wondering if there is anyformat or rule for that?
I've left some space between floors so visually see what can be accessible when we can walk on top of the screen

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Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 5:29 am
Mapping leaves some scope for you to decide how to do things. I’d remove the gap if it looks good when removed - which I think it does in your example. One thing that’s definitely needed is to remove the player sprites, though.

Adding in enemy sprites would be nice, if they’re deterministic. Showing any secrets or hidden items might be nice. I usually aim for “this is what you’d see if the camera zoomed out”, so no annotations other than are needed.
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Post Posted: Thu May 25, 2023 3:16 am
Maxim wrote
Mapping leaves some scope for you to decide how to do things. I’d remove the gap if it looks good when removed - which I think it does in your example. One thing that’s definitely needed is to remove the player sprites, though.


got it!

I've done it for 7-2, I think I prefer the gab to understand the level structure but without it looks better.

How is this map?
Who would be able to upload it once validated?
Asterix SMS _ 7-2.png (162.25 KB)
Asterix SMS _ 7-2.png

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