So, after some small commits to the new JS-based web viewer, I present a larger contribution, which hopefully makes using the map compressor more accessible to a broader audience.
There now is
DFMapCompressorPP. This is a new implementation of the good old C#-based map compressor. The benefits of the new version are:
- no dependencies (meaning you can just use a single .exe without installing .NET)
- faster usage speed (no more UI clicking, you can just drag your .bmp files on the binary and it compresses the files
- faster compression speed (better hashing algorithm and more optimizations)
- web-based compression support, running purely in your browser (using Emscripten)
I created this new tool to give some more love to the very nice .fdf-map format. With this, there are less barriers to entry to compress map images, also for Mac and Linux users. Just in time for the steam version releasing soon
In the future, I'd also invest into a native map viewer based on
SDL2, which runs locally also without a browser, to fully replicate the original map compressor's features. This should then also easily enable different viewing modes of maps.
Additionally to the native compressor, I also created a
PHP-based renderer for .fdf-map files. This could in the future be used to enable social-graph-based previews for the DFMA. If anybody wants to try stuff out with this PHP implementation, I would of course be happy about it! The PHP file also supports downloading maps from external sources, so when giving it the correct URLs, it directly renders files from the official DFMA page.
I would be happy for inputs and your experiences with these new tools! The web-based compressor is a product of the last few days, if it works well for you shoot me a message or post a reply!