How-to Guide to Map Parses

The following includes instructions on how to send in a log parse for use by myself in making a map for EQ Atlas. Please follow them closely, or log parses that you send me will not be useful.

Map Parse Commands

The map parsing program that I use (written by Tad, thanks Tad!) uses some very simple commands. There are only two commands that are important and useful when creating the log file. They are "stop" and "label". They are used as follows:

Stop - Used to stop drawing a line or series of lines, format is simply "stop" on a new line. The hotkey for it would be "/say stop" It's as simple as that.

Label - Used to label a point as having something significant. The use is "label <text>" where <text> is the label that you want to attach to that point. This is then followed by a /loc that shows where you want the point to be. There is no good way to hotkey this, unfortunately.

Nothing else matters, so say whatever you want to. Just be careful to not say stop (although you can do it in guild or group chat or anything else) or it will screw it up. I don't think many people casually say label, so that shouldn't be a problem.

You also need to know how to use your log. To turn it on, you type /log on. To turn it off, you type /log off. I recommend making these into hotkeys as well, simply for your use. Also, if you log out and back in, or zone, I suggest you set log to on or off, depending on what you want, regardless of what it was just a moment ago. There was some weirdness where it didn't stay on after zones and stuff like that before, and it's better to just put it in than to have to redo half the zone again.

Example:

What follows is an example piece of log from the parse that created Shadow Haven map for Luclin.

[Sat Nov 24 12:54:41 2001] Your Location is 51.13, 43.75, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:54:49 2001] Your Location is -5.21, 43.75, -26.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:54:50 2001] Your Location is -16.21, 47.08, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:54:53 2001] Your Location is -9.25, 55.41, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:55:00 2001] Your Location is -9.25, 236.88, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:55:02 2001] You say, 'stop'
[Sat Nov 24 12:55:52 2001] Your Location is -83.94, 294.60, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:00 2001] Your Location is 78.66, 294.18, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:07 2001] Your Location is 82.45, 453.03, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:10 2001] Your Location is 13.25, 458.33, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:13 2001] Your Location is 13.25, 480.17, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:18 2001] Your Location is -56.56, 482.25, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:24 2001] Your Location is -57.46, 474.25, -24.14
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:28 2001] Your Location is -9.25, 473.07, 3.75
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:30 2001] Your Location is 6.91, 473.40, 3.77
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:33 2001] You say, 'stop'
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:38 2001] Your Location is -7.66, 461.86, 3.78
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:42 2001] Your Location is -85.40, 456.27, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:49 2001] Your Location is -87.10, 299.14, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:56:50 2001] You say, 'stop'
[Sat Nov 24 12:57:17 2001] You say, 'label Grimthors Distillery'
[Sat Nov 24 12:57:17 2001] Your Location is -50.94, 371.38, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 12:57:51 2001] You say, 'label brew barrel'
[Sat Nov 24 12:57:51 2001] Your Location is 68.03, 402.75, 3.75
[Sat Nov 24 13:00:53 2001] You say, 'Hail, Sibyl'
[Sat Nov 24 13:00:55 2001] Sibyl regards you indifferently -- You could probably win this fight.
[Sat Nov 24 13:01:18 2001] You say, 'label brew barrel'
[Sat Nov 24 13:01:18 2001] Your Location is -20.69, 311.52, 3.75
[Sat Nov 24 17:47:55 2001] Your Location is 108.54, 419.89, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:47:58 2001] Your Location is 112.47, 400.75, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:03 2001] Your Location is 121.24, 406.25, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:05 2001] Your Location is 119.25, 415.75, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:08 2001] Your Location is 164.75, 415.75, -25.15
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:11 2001] Your Location is 164.75, 363.90, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:14 2001] Your Location is 171.09, 361.75, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:16 2001] Your Location is 173.25, 415.75, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:18 2001] Your Location is 204.75, 415.75, -24.94
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:21 2001] Your Location is 204.75, 344.25, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:23 2001] Your Location is 173.25, 344.25, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:24 2001] Your Location is 171.83, 352.41, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:25 2001] Your Location is 166.71, 352.23, -28.25
[Sat Nov 24 17:48:26 2001] Your Location is 164.75, 344.25, -28.25
etc...

This shows a few things. The first is how you would draw a chain of points. Note that the program that runs through this log will draw straight lines between all of those points. I highly suggest making a /loc hotkey to take loc's frequently. Remember to hit 'stop' between the sections you want to separate. Next on this you can see how I label things for the parser. I hit 'stop' before them, then type label and what I want to call it, then hit a /loc once. The first /loc will be the location of the marker for that label. If you want to start drawing more lines after that, simply start hitting /loc's, the parser will know what's going on.

That's it! Walk into a zone, type "/log on" and then go to town!

Log File Manipulation

If you do enough of these, you need to know how to play around with your log files. These are text files saved in the main directory, named "eqlog_73_<name>.txt where <name> is your character's first name. These are just text files, and you can rename them whatever you want. Realize, however, that the /log command will only write it to this file, if you change the name to something else it will make a new file to write it to, named as in the above example. I suggest that after completing a log file for a particular zone, you rename it with the zone's name and start a new log file. If you do log with two zones in it, my parser will lump them together, it has no way to tell them apart.

What do you Label and Not Label?

If you know the site well, then you know what to label. Basically anything I might put on the site, you should label. What to label includes: all Trainers, merchants and what they sell, tradeskill objects (like Brew Barrels and Forges), names of shops, slang names of rooms, monsters (either named or not) that inhabit a room or an area, zone lines, etc. There may be more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Just be aware that too many labels is not a problem for me, too few is.

Now, what to *not* label. Like I said above, too many labels is not a problem for me, it's too few. But this will save you some time. I don't care about NPC names, unless they are monsters that you can kill (i.e. Named MOB's). I don't care about doors (unless they're secret) and gates or that sort of stuff, unless there's something unique about them (locked, trapped, etc). I don't care about quest givers, as I don't put them on my page (unless they're also merchants or named MOB's). Those should save you some time, as I think of more I'll put them in.

Special Circumstances

While I can't cover all special circumstances with this, I'll try and mention some that might come up a lot.

What if you can't move into an area (locked and you can't reach, guarded by KOS monster, etc)? Simply don't draw it. Don't skip the spot and keep drawing the line, as I will think that you had it mapped out completely. If you can't reach an area, simply type 'stop' and restart again where you can.

What if you can't do the whole zone? It doesn't matter, just send it in. I can put together pieces that multiple people send in, even if they overlap, without a problem. Some zones I imagine will need to be done this way.

What if it's multiple levels? That's a tough one, but I think the best way to do it is this. Put labels at the exit and entrance to and from every level (I'm thinking of Tower of Frozen Shadow here). If you could, map each level into a different parse file, that way it's super easy for me to tell what's where. If they're all in one, and the areas overlap, it's sometimes very difficult for me to pick out what part belongs where. The best thing for me, to be clear, would be if each area had a separate text file for it, labeled with how to get in and out of that area.

Ready to Map?

So, now that you've read through all this, does it still sound like something you want to do? If so, follow these simple steps.

1. Check the Map Status of the zone you want to do. If it has Done in the Parse column, no parse is needed. If you already have it done, feel free to send it in, but if not look to doing something else.
2. Follow the instructions above and do a log parse. Be sure to delete/rename your old log before you start so you get a fresh log.
3. Check how the map looks by running it through the following page, which has a Java version that will show you how your map will look.
4. When you're done, rename the file <zonename>.txt and email it to me at Muse@eqatlas.com. Be sure to include how you want your credit to appear on the web page for it.

That's it! You've sent in a zone log parse, and I'll start working on the map for it pronto! Thanks!