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[Slartibartfast]

quote:Originally posted by Markavian:
<STRONG>Added Points of Interest (PoI) Sharing </STRONG>

Very cool!
However, could you perhaps do it so if you input a year-start and year-end for a POI it automatically put a V on POI Sharing? (Just a minor suggestion  

[Turgid Bolk]

Markavian, I just saw your "Friends, there when you need them most" image, and that thing had me laughing for a long time.   That was great!

[Markavian]

Hey All, a new update... now that I've got something worth showing.

Although mentioned below, a big thanks to gonbon for approaching me with his Flash based CMV viewer.

2007-09-22

Minor updates happened over past month:

• Map Upload form now reads Map Year / Season from file names (JavaScript based)

Big update: First version of CCMV Video player courtesy of gonbon who came to me with a working player

Examples of gonbon's player in action:

• Ocean Waves - ToadyOne
  
• Water Spiral - Markavian
  
• Tragic Mule - ToadyOne
  

Movie Player uses compressed CMV files, hence CCMV file format - SL is working on integrating this format with his map compressor

CCMV files are approximately 1/3rd smaller then CMV files

Thank's to gonbon for writing the Flash CMV player, and SL for support with the compressed CCMV format

Ref: CMV files are copyright ToadyOne, I hope he doesn't mind me redistributing them on my website.

Turgid Bolk, ^_^

Slartibartfast, I understand, but I decided that it would be incorrect to assume a PoI should always be shared. There are many 'instance' based PoIs such as herds of elephants, dead goblins, etc. that get documented; the submitter is less likely to accidently submit these types of PoIs as shared then they are deliberately making them shared when need be. This prevents confusion of PoIs which weren't meant to be shared displaying something completely different (such as a patch of grass where once the elephants were). Don't mind me, I think about these things too much.

[ September 22, 2007: Message edited by: Markavian ]

[Gaulgath]

That is so awesome. Seriously.

[Turgid Bolk]

Alright! Your site is teh bets evar! The movie player buttons were a little confusing at first, but it's just the thing I didn't know I wanted until I saw it. Keep up the good work, everyone making the utilities, they make the community so much better.

I just had some great drama go down in my fortress, if I had seen this I would have captured it!

[Eagle of Fire]

I have only one demand, if you're still taking comments (refering to post one):

I don't use Flash or JavaScript, and don't plan to use it. I could work with JavaScript but I'll never install Flash on this computer. Would there be a way to see the maps without use of Flash?

Probably not a good question, I know... But since you asked...  

Edit: Erm, didn't noticed the other pages... Sorry for that.  :p

The question still stand, though.

[ September 22, 2007: Message edited by: Eagle of Fire ]

[Markavian]

Hi Eagle of Fire,

The only non Flash option I can suggest at present is getting ShadowLords's (SL's) compressor, download the map files to your computer and then manually decompress to .PNG files. If you want to do this, I can make the file download link more accessible (since it isn't visible at the moment).

I'm actually adverse to using JS; you don't need JavaScript to access the site, its only there to enhance some of the features. I'm limited by what I know; by which I mean I know how to use Flash and I saw an opportunity to display maps in a bandwidth friendly way across the internet.

These maps are simply too large to display without some kind of utility (I'm thinking google maps, yahoo maps), but those types of mapping solutions require a huge amount of server and bandwidth investment. Unless anyone knows how to create an alternate image decoder plugin that you're happy to install, then the Flash viewer is the only option I can offer. However, I wouldn't be suprised if that an image decoder plugin was less tangible/accessible/featureful then installing and using Flash.

I suppose it would be possible to create a Java based map decoder/viewer, would that interest you? My only objection to that is that less people have access to Java then Flash and I'm not sure the time required would justify making it.

If you use FireFox, and are adverse to Flash because of adverts, might I suggest the Flashblock or FasterFox plugins. They both come with Flash blockers that require you to click (play) to begin a Flash applet. The DF Map Archive seems to work quite well with FlashBlocker without allowing Flash to be a pain.

Best regards,
- Markavian

[TetrisChili]

The video player is fantastic.  I recommend a rating system (and/or  Slashdot-style tagging like "Funny", "Informative", or "Toady").

For example, the Titan Hates Nobles video would probably fetch a high'ish rating along with a "Funny" tag.  (Although, it might also warrant "Informative" for showing the correct way to deal with a mostly-Noble immigration wave.)

[Arkan15]

I can't get the movie files to load- do they require a special codec or player to run?

[Mechanoid]

You need Flash 9. There's a link to it on the site.

[Markavian]

quote:Originally posted by TetrisChili:
<STRONG> I recommend a rating system (and/or  Slashdot-style tagging like "Funny", "Informative", or "Toady").</STRONG>

Hey TetrisChili, I was planning on a Favourite's system for the site so that registered users could keep track of their favourie entries (maps, pois, videos). The number of favourite 'stars' would be displayed next to each post.

e.g. "This video has been favourited by 29 people".

I'm not sure I like the Informative/Funny tagging, although there's no reason why I can't add something like that in. For example, when the user clicks to 'favourite' an item, there could be a drop down for 'reason', 'Funny', 'Informative', 'Cool', 'Stylish', 'No reason', etc...

... the favourites would also come up on the User page, showing what you or another user liked most from the website. Haven't started on this yet, but that's my intention.

- Markavian

[Turgid Bolk]

Will you add comments to the videos?

[Eagle of Fire]

I'm adverse to Flash and Java from the beginning. I can work with JavaScript on sites, but I never surfed on a site which had worthwhile Java or Flash content. Not to mention the disagrement you mentioned yourself. So, let's just say that I take it more like a boycott than anything else.

To be frank, I never understood the need of a special site to host DF maps. I think everybody could do just fine hosting those maps on sites like Imageshack, I don't understand why everybody love your site so much. I am guessing that there is some functionabilities that appeal to them, but since it's Flash I'll never realy know from this computer.

If there would be a direct link to the map files instead, it would be way fine for me. I then could do whatever I want with it from here. And if I need a special program to uncompress them first, fine by me again as long as it's not something which require Java or Flash installed on my computer again (note that Java is different from JavaScript).  

[Markavian]

Hey Turgid Bolk; Yes I will add comments to videos... eventually. Its not very straight forward to do, but I'll make an announcement once it works.

Eagle of Fire, I have added a message that should display in an orange box below the map applet that should say:
 

quote:Don't have Flash?
You can download the compressed map file: map_name.fdf-map but you will either need the .NET or Java version of SL's DF Map Compressor to convert to the .PNG image format.

For example: http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-656-vabokmeborbinches

I had intended that only people without Flash see that message, but apparently Firefox has decided to show that message all of the time. Its hidden for IE users who have the Flash control disabled.

To answer your other points Eagle, be you interested or not: I created the DF map archive mainly for people to share maps in a bandwidth friendly manner that preserved the quality. This was made possible by ShadowLord's compressor. However, without the Flash based map viewer, ShadlowLord's compressor wasn't very well used/distributed and not many people knew how to view maps. With the Flash viewer, statisticly speaking,  at least 89% of internet computer users can view the maps. So this isn't the 100% coverage that exists when you use .JPG or .PNG files shared at various places around the internet but the quality is perfect (unlike .JPG) and the filesize is 10x smaller then a fullres optimized .PNG. Having compressed files that are on average 70KB (as apposed to 700KB) makes a huge difference to people on slow connections.

Other benefits of the map archive + viewer include: central place to find DF maps, story tagging, fast zooming, points of interest / labelling of map locations.

I completely know the difference between Java and JavaScript. I illuded to Java because its an alternative to Flash. I considered that if you didn't like Flash, you might be willing to use a Java viewer as an alternative. I hope you don't mind installing .NET because that's the only other program format (other then Flash or Java) currently available that lets you decode/view fdf-maps.

I'm a long time supporter of Flash, I'd encourage you to install and use it for accessing the map archive. If you don't like it, uninstall or disable it.

(IE -> Internet Options -> Programs -> Manage Addons)

(FF -> Download the FlashBlock addon)

As a side note; the map archive has received many fewer visits this month then last. Although map submissions have still been strong the statistics suggest to me a curb in peoples' interest.

Regards,
- Markavian

[ September 24, 2007: Message edited by: Markavian ]

[Mzbundifund]

Hey, I just noticed this video update.  It's been said above, but thank you bunches for making this awesome resource for us in the DF community.  The map archive is far and away my favorite way to view and show off maps.

As for why there are fewer visits this month... it is September, which means school or college starting for a lot of folks.  That would be my guess.  Or maybe the close proximity to the new version has made people less interested in current fortresses?