How to remove link to world map from area?

[jastey]

I am guilty of reusing game areas. I do this by copying and renaming .are files that refer to existing .tis-files, and then customizing the are file as needed.

 

Only now I noticed that if I use this method to create a custom area from an area that has exits to the world map, these links are still there, even if I rename all area ressources (except the tis-file).

 

Where and how are these exits to the world map handled? I would like to delete them from my custom area, but I don't see where (it's not a travel region I could delete).

 

In my recent case, I wanted to use the random encounter area from BGII AR0045 as courtyard of sorts. The links to the worldmap doesn't make sense here.

[Wisp]

You'll have to edit the search map (AR0045SR.BAM in this case), I think. Edit: relevant IESDP.

[jastey]

Hm, I thought I did that (removing the "14"), but the exit link was still there in the game - but thanks.

[jastey]

Removing the "14" from the search map indeed would do the trick - my problem is, that DLTCEP doesn't let me edit the lowest line, i.e. I cannot see it in the editor and therefore cannot reach it to change the search map entries. Is this a known thing for DLTCEP or just my install? Is there any other way to edit the search map?

[argent77]

The area search map is just a simple 16-color BMP file, so you can edit it in any kind of graphics editor (even MS Paint).

[jastey]

You mean just edit it in MS Paint and remove the light blue color? That would be genius.

[argent77]

Yep, that's all. Replacing it with any other color will remove the link to the world map.

[jastey]

Indeed! I had the problem that the colors 8 (light obstacle) and 7 (stone) were exchanged afterwards, so I won't do it like this for larger areas, but for the small one I managed to remove the link this way (and corrected the rest in DLTCEP). Thank you!

[Miloch]

You can patch a searchmap with WeiDU too. It's easier than you might think. Once you'ved edited the .bmp, use: weidu --cmp-from oldmap.bmp --cmp-to newmap.bmp to get the WRITE_BYTEs you need to change the old map to the new one. Though this is mainly useful for modding existing game searchmaps, so your changes don't overwrite someone else's. If editing is an issue with DLTCEP, Avenger should know about it. There's a known bug that might affect this where searchmaps get shifted by a cell block or two when scrolling that he hasn't been able to fix.

[jastey]

I posted a bug report. The weidu command is only useful if I already did the changes? I think you lost me there.

[Miloch]

The WeiDU patch is only useful if you're changing an existing searchmap, not if you're doing a new one (even if it's a clone of a vanilla area). And yes, you'd have to make the change first via editor then use the --cmp* commands to generate the patch.