[RELEASE] Metin2 Map Tool v1.2 - Create your own map :D

Hello guys,
there's another program here for you. This is a map software I made some months ago. I work a lot on it in my spare time and I hope it will be useful. With this software you can convert a Metin2 map into PNG images and vice versa, import/export server_attr file and create/import/export regen files. You can import an existent Metin2 map, edit it and export it again, or create a completely new map in PNG images and export it in Metin2 format.

Before starting, I want to give some information about the different map files, otherwise lots of people will not understand anything. If you have ever seen a decrypted Metin2 map, you know that it is composed of many folders, and inside each folder there are lots of files. Each folder represents a specific "square" of the map, and the files inside the folder describe the characteristics of that map "square". Each file is an image in gray scale, except for the minimap. Let's quickly see the different files:

Height: it is the height.raw file. This file describes the height of the terrain in each point. A lighter color represents a higher terrain and vice versa. It is composed of 16-bit gray colors, which are read as two 8-bit gray colors by the software. Therefore, it creates two images from the height.raw file, called "channels". The CH1 contains the least significant 8-bit of the color, whereas the CH2 contains the most significant 8-bit of it. This means that a small change in the CH2 color will cause a huge variation of the terrain height, whereas a color change in CH1 will cause a little variation of the terrain height.
Tile: it is the tile.raw file. This file describes the terrain texture in each point. The texture changes according to the gray color. The association color - texture is described in the textureset file of the map.
Attribute: it is the attr.atr file. This file describes the "special characteristics" of the terrain. For instance, you can specify if a certain area can be walked or not. This file has a correspondent file in the server called server attribute (server_attr). It is basically the same image but compressed, obtained dividing tha attribute image in blocks and compressing each block with the LZO algorithm.
Water: it is the water.wtr file. This file is very simple (black and white) and describes the points of the map in which there will be the water. NOTE: even if specified in the water.wtr file, the water will be present only if the terrain height is sufficiently low.
Shadowmap: it is the shadowmap.raw and shadow,ap.dds files. These files describe the shadows of the map objets. In fact, an object in Metin2 has not a dynamic shadow but a static one; this means that the shadow is simply drawn on the terrain reading these files. The shadowmap.raw file has the same format of the height.raw file (16-bit gray scale), so also in this case two channels of images will be created by the software.
Minimap: well, I suppose you know it…

I don't want to get into more details of this, since this is not a guide about maps creation.
The program is again available both in english and italian, the default language is english and can be changed from the 'File' menu. I don't know if someone wants to translate the program to german, as for the Dif Patcher, because this time there are many many many strings XD. Anyway, if you want to try, tell me.

Map converter

Functions:

Load map: load a map from PNG images. The program opens a ini file containing the description of the map (here there is an example of ini file: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], pay attention to the TAB characters. If you, you can directly create an ini file by just importing and saving a map). If some images are missing, they will not be loaded and an error message will be printed. The setting.txt and mapproperty.txt files will be loaded only if they exist and they are valid, otherwise the default settings will be used. The dimensions of the PNG images are checked for correctness, since they change with the map size. You can view the formula to compute the dimensions from the 'Image dimensions' menu.
Save map: save the current loaded or imported map into PNG images. The images will be saved in a folder with the same name of the map, and the ini file will be created so that you can load the map afterwards. The setting.txt and mapproperty.txt files will be created if specified. You can also choose to save only some images.
Import map: import a map in the Metin2 format. You must tell the program the folder in which the map is (i.e. in which the setting.txt file is). All the files of the map will be checked for correctness, both the sizes and the file header. If some file is not valid, the correspondent image will not be imported. The mapproperty.txt file will be loaded only if it exists, otherwise the default properties will be used.
Export map: export the current loaded or imported map in Metin2 format, creating the folders and the different files.
Reset map: reset the current loaded or imported map, deleting the images and freeing the RAM memory.

The images that can be loaded/saved/imported/exported are: Height CH1/CH2, Shadowmap CH1/CH2/DDS, Tile, Attribute, Water, Minimap.
You can also load or import a map by just dragging & dropping the map folder or the map ini file on the "Map Converter" page.

Create server attribute: create the server_attr file from an external PNG image. The PNG image can be either the image of a map attribute or a map server attribute, and you must specify it to the program. What does it change? Well, the image is the same, but the server attribute image has double dimensions.
Export server attribute: export the server_attr file from the current loaded or imported map attribute image.
Import server attribute: import an external server_attr file, saving it as PNG image.
Reset server attribute: reset the current imported server attribute file, deleting the image and freeing the RAM memory.

Settings

View: select the map image to be shown.
Enable multithreading: enble the use of multithreading for the previous functions. This means that the images will be loaded/saved/imported/exported "in parallel" (we can say this even if it is not true in reality), increasing the performance. The performance gain depends to the processor you have. If you have a multicore processor you can have a performance gain of 50%/60%, whereas if you have a old single core processor you will not see any difference. Note: even if enabled, the multithreading will be used only for "big" maps (with a dimension equal or bigger than 8x8)
Export minimap in DDS/PNG: you can choose to save the minimap in PNG or DDS files when you export it. If you choose PNG format, the file name will be always minimap.dds, but it will be a PNG image instead of a DDS image. For what concerns the DDS format, you can also choose between compressed and uncompressed DDS image. If you don't know what to do, just leave the default setting. This is an additional setting that I add just because it is very simple to write an uncompressed DDS image. Specific note: the compressed DDS format will be the DXT1 (I write the compression algorithm by myself), the uncompressed DDS format will be the R8G8B8.
Create setting.txt/mapproperty.txt files: I think there is nothing to explain. All the values that you insert in the text boxes will be checked for correctness, so you cannot insert an invalid value.
Zoom: ...
Image: you can choose to stretch the image to the picture box or to show it with the original dimensions.

NOTE on DDS: as previously said, the program can export in DXT1 and R8G8B8 formats, but can import: DXT1, DXT3, DXT5, A8R8G8B8, A8B8G8R8, X8R8G8B8, X8R8G8B8, R8G8B8. The alpha channel will not be considered in any case.

Regen creator

The regen can be created only after having loaded or imported a map. To create a regen, just select the "Regen Creator" tab, choose the image you want, insert the values and click on it. You can use any image (obviously the best one is the minimap) except for the server attribute image. You can switch between the different images whenever you want, the monster coordinates will be recomputed for each image (when you select it) basing on its dimensions. As the map converter, even for the regen creator all the values inserted in the text boxes are checked for correctness. There is also a help window for the "direction" field, that shows you the different positions in according to the inserted value. To insert a monster in a specific regen file, just select the file from the tab (regen.txt, boss.txt. stone.txt, npc.txt).
Monster/Group of monsters/Group of groups of monsters are identified by different shapes -> monster: square, group: triangle, group of group: diamond.
The regen file of a monster is identified by a color -> regen.txt: red/pink (monster not aggressive/aggressive), boss.txt: cyan/blue (monster not aggressive/aggressive), stone.txt: violet, npc.txt: green
You can see these shapes and colors from the 'Legend' menu. You can delete monsters by just selecting the rows and deleting them. When you select rows, the selected monsters will be highlighted in yellow color, so you can see what you are deleting.

Functions:

Export regen: export the regen in txt files. You can choose which files will be exported, and also the name of each file. You can also select to overwrite or append to existing files.
Import regen: import a regen file. The file will be checked for correctness, both for what concerns the synthax and the values of each monster. In case of error, it will be indicated the error line and description.
Reset current regen file: reset the selected regen file.
Reset all regen files: reset all regen files.

You can also import a regen file by just dragging & dropping the map folder or the map ini file on the "Regen Creator" page.
Each time you load or import a new map, the regen will be reset and a message will inform you.

Conclusion

Just to give you an idea of the performance, these are the operation times of my PC, using the 4 worlds map of Luscha (16x16):

with multithreading / without multithreading

Load map: 1.4s / 2.7s
Save map: 2.1s / 4.4s
Import map: 1.7s/ 3s
Export map: 4.2s / 7.4s
Export Server Attribute: 2.4s
Import Server Attribute: 2.5s

Obviously it strongly depends on your PC, especially on the processor. These times are measured in optimal conditions, this means without any other program running except of Map Tool. The times can be much longer if your processor is kept busy by other programs when you start importing/exporting (that are the heaviest functions). Take also into account that the version you download is a bit slower, because the executable file is compressed and obfuscated. The RAM memory is used for storing the decompressed map images. They can be very very big for large maps, even 350Mb of RAM memory.

NOTE: if you import/export (that are the heaviest functions and can take long times) a big map and the program seems to be stuck, don't terminate it with the Task Manager, the program is not stuck but it is just computing, let it finish XD.

If you find any bug, please contact me on Skype, I will correct it as soon as possible. If you have suggestions for the program, feel free to tell me.
I hope you enjoy this program.

Screenshots:

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Good mapping :)