Web-based Automatic Sector Data / Map pdf Generator
- Thread starter Mickazoid
- Start date
It'll generate a pdf, INCLUDING the UPP descriptions! The pdf of the Spinward Marches is a whopping 216 pages
Plankowner
SOC-13
This is not a famous quote, but it was said by a friend of mine over 20 years ago in an attempt to cheer someone else up. I still use it today...
"So you had a bad day, don't worry, there'll be others."
"So you had a bad day, don't worry, there'll be others."
Thanks for the nice offer! I'm afraid I'm a rank novice at this stuff. Are Galactic files in the correct format? I stumbled across these two files, for Galactic 2.4:Originally posted by mickazoid:
Jeff: If you get me the .sec files I'd be glad to render some LBB's for ya!
http://www.geocities.com/kitchen_steward/proj001a/ley.zip
http://www.geocities.com/kitchen_steward/proj001a/glimdrft.zip
I've recently started transcribing the data for Maranantha-Alkahest Sector (what the T20 people call Gateway), but I've only got 5 subsectors worth of data at this point, and it's not quite in the same format.
Jeff et. al.:
All done reparsing the files. Note that trade routes are not yet supported. (I'm workin' on it!)
You can grab the two LBBs in one zip file here:
http://micki001.cnc.net/trav/Ley-GlimmerDrift.zip
Enjoy!
All done reparsing the files. Note that trade routes are not yet supported. (I'm workin' on it!)
You can grab the two LBBs in one zip file here:
http://micki001.cnc.net/trav/Ley-GlimmerDrift.zip
Enjoy!
Just read your original post. As you can see, the first link I posted was to the 'no descriptions' (~500k, 36-page, ~45 second generation time) versions of those two sectors.
I've posted alternates with world UPP descriptions (~800k, ~50-60 pages, ~70 seconds) here:
http://micki001.cnc.net/trav/Ley-GlimmerDrift_descs.zip
And I've recently added optional animal generation tables for each world based on prevailing climate (thanks Paul!) - but the resulting pdfs can be massive (~3-5mb, 1500+ pages, ~500 seconds).
Next up - trade-related features (tables, commercial atlas and routes) and borders.
Berg - believe it or not, I feel bad deleting the sectors I generate as I test - as if 'now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds'!
It is very cool typing a single line of code and generating the entire sector book, containing hundreds of worlds.
For folks' info - here's how it runs, either in a web browser url or on the command line:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">./SectorMaker.cgi {sectorname} {density|rift/scattered/standard/dense or Xx}
{tech|backwater,frontier,mature,cluster} {description|1=UPP and Animal,2=just UPP,3=none}
{Pre-existing sector file name (if not generating a new sector from scratch)}</pre>[/QUOTE]and in a URL, you simply replace the spaces with a '?' after the .cgi and a '+' between each parameter.
Jrients - it's my great pleasure. I hope you and your group have wonderful and exciting adventures. Let me know if I can help at all.
For folks' info - here's how it runs, either in a web browser url or on the command line:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">./SectorMaker.cgi {sectorname} {density|rift/scattered/standard/dense or Xx}
{tech|backwater,frontier,mature,cluster} {description|1=UPP and Animal,2=just UPP,3=none}
{Pre-existing sector file name (if not generating a new sector from scratch)}</pre>[/QUOTE]and in a URL, you simply replace the spaces with a '?' after the .cgi and a '+' between each parameter.
Jrients - it's my great pleasure. I hope you and your group have wonderful and exciting adventures. Let me know if I can help at all.
FWIW, I was inspired to dig up and scan a page from Shane Johnson's "Worlds of the Federation" Star Trek reference book. I though he did a very good job of condensing world/system/species information into a single page in an attractive and in-theme format:
Since this wasn't intended for role playing (just eye candy) it dispenses with technical details (e.g. orbits of the moons, sizes of moons when > 4, etc) but still Looks Good. (The map projection is also a much better choice for an eye-candy book - the icosahedral projection is great for applying travel time rules, but looks funky to most people.)
Anyway, just in case this inspires anyone - if I ever added system-level detail to my site it'd probably be in a format similar to this, or possibly like that seen in the Exonidas Spaceport adventure in Dragon Magazine:
Since this wasn't intended for role playing (just eye candy) it dispenses with technical details (e.g. orbits of the moons, sizes of moons when > 4, etc) but still Looks Good. (The map projection is also a much better choice for an eye-candy book - the icosahedral projection is great for applying travel time rules, but looks funky to most people.)
Anyway, just in case this inspires anyone - if I ever added system-level detail to my site it'd probably be in a format similar to this, or possibly like that seen in the Exonidas Spaceport adventure in Dragon Magazine:
stofsk: If you have a Mac or Linux machine, you can unzip the archive's contents into your cgi-bin folder and activate it with a simple command (see the above thread or the instructions in the script file).
You'll need to change your pathname from '/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables' to '/httpd/cgi-bin' or the equivalent if you're not on a Mac.
And - here's some brand new screenshots!
I've been busy, despite the onset of summer, and after a burst of creativity integrating parts of 'sec2pdf' and 'allygen', plus the recent listing by Flynn here on CotI of about 100 different government 'empire type' names, I've been able to add a sector map, rules-generated empires/regions (with borders and randomized names), sample cargo and as you can see, I'm working on trade routes!
The data for displaying the trade routes aren't autogenerated yet (i'm trying to compile 'nroute' or find an alternative), but you can create a text file called 'routes':
The format is
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">route 2001 2101
route 2001 2002
route 2002 1903
route 1903 1905
route 1905 2005
route 2005 2106
route 2005 2007
route 2007 2109
route 2109 2309
route 2309 2408
route 2408 2508
route 2005 2106
route 2106 2206
route 2206 2405
route 2405 2605
route 1703 1903
route 1703 1601
route 1703 1503</pre>[/QUOTE]and it'll graph 'em.
You'll need to change your pathname from '/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables' to '/httpd/cgi-bin' or the equivalent if you're not on a Mac.
And - here's some brand new screenshots!
I've been busy, despite the onset of summer, and after a burst of creativity integrating parts of 'sec2pdf' and 'allygen', plus the recent listing by Flynn here on CotI of about 100 different government 'empire type' names, I've been able to add a sector map, rules-generated empires/regions (with borders and randomized names), sample cargo and as you can see, I'm working on trade routes!
The data for displaying the trade routes aren't autogenerated yet (i'm trying to compile 'nroute' or find an alternative), but you can create a text file called 'routes':
The format is
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">route 2001 2101
route 2001 2002
route 2002 1903
route 1903 1905
route 1905 2005
route 2005 2106
route 2005 2007
route 2007 2109
route 2109 2309
route 2309 2408
route 2408 2508
route 2005 2106
route 2106 2206
route 2206 2405
route 2405 2605
route 1703 1903
route 1703 1601
route 1703 1503</pre>[/QUOTE]and it'll graph 'em.
Update: fixed an annoying trade routes clipping problem. Big sigh of relief. Trade routes are done, except how to automate the selection of worlds along the route. My next stop - a big chunk of C programming, to automate route generation and then - planetary systems continuation rules including my logarithmic systems graph (see above).
P
Pickles
Guest
Dammit, this is almost making me think twice about my hexagonal subsectors ... 
