Here you go Sammy (and anyone else):

http://www.auricmud.com/snippets/overland%20bitmaps.c

Adds support to your mud for the reading/writing of bitmaps in conjunction with the overland code, so you don't have to use RAW files, and can use both.

Enjoy.

Ahh, sweetness. You have no idea how pleased Dwip will be to see this in action. Thanks for that

You're welcome. I'm looking into the feasibility of using a compressed image format to save time/space as well, and will post it if I develope one.

Any other wishlist items while I'm working on this?

The only problem I can conceive of with a compressed image reader is that it would requrie tying into image libraries which may not be available on all platforms. The compression would be a godsend, but it would be nice to avoid restricting the target audience too much.

Oh yeah, that snippet owns ass

Alright. I've begun work on adding JPG support. After file format comparisions JPG is platform indpendant, and widely enough supported, so it will be my target compressed format.

It'll be a lossless jpg, so that it won't damage any of the info, but since overland uses a very limited pallette of colors and lots of repetition, lossless is perfect.

I should be posting it sometime this week provided my IRL work doesn't distract me too much, otherwise possibly this weekend.

I'll also post it in a new subject to make it easier to find.

Awesome!

Jpeg would be good (definatly want to be sure it's lossless though, and that your paint program doesn't convert it to lossy on you!), but PNG would be even better I think. It's also cross-platform, and seems to be a slightly cleaner standard. It's typically what people use when they want the lossless nature of a GIF but don't want the copyright headaches.

I'll be comparing gif, jpg, and png. Currently I'm on working jpg though because lossless jpg is supposedly smaller than all the others still, but I'm also interested in using a format that codes the cleanest so noone has to install a 40 mb page module just to save space (irony).

So long as whichever compressed format is chosen can still be edited in Windows Paint ( the default program most people will have ) without losing information I'd be thrilled to death.

Actually in researching more closely after that, gif looks the better.
I had originally intended gif but shied away due to licensing issues, but various comparisions of the formats available tend to agree gif is the better choice for what we need.
I'll keep digging and eventually release at least one format possibly more depending on time.

gif is probably going to have the broadest base of support, as good ole 256 colour gifs are supported by almost everything, even the travesty that is Xpaint.

I think the only people who paid any attention to Unisys when they claimed copyrights were the big companies that got targeted by them. Certainly, there are plenty of gifs still in use on the net these days.

Could this be added to the main code base? or is it already?
good excuse for an update I think

Heh. This topic sort of became a forgotten feature. At least in the public eye. Behind the scenes we've gone ahead and incorporated png support. So now the overland is able to read and write actual editable png files. Yes, even the lowly Windows Paint can edit those. It's going to be in among the many changes and updates for the 2.0 code. When will that be I hear you asking? Maybe sooner than you think - but it isn't ready yet.

anyone happen to have a copy of this? The link is dead :/

Not for the code in the OP, but here's the link to the Smaug code I ended up writing:

https://smaugmuds.afkmods.com/files/overland-ansi-maps-36/