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D&D Map Maker

Design and Print Playable D&D Maps

DnDMapMaker Demo Hero

Table of Contents:

Usage

To run this project you will need to have Java 13.0.2 or higher, as well as Maven 3.8.6 or higher.


After downloading the project files, open the DnD Map Maker 2D folder.

The project can be run from an IDE or by using the scripts in the project directory.
Depending on your operating system use either the .bat scripts (Windows) or the .sh scripts (Linux).

  • On Windows:
    • To run the tool: run.bat
    • To compile the tool: compile.bat
  • On Linux:
    • To run the tool: ./run.sh
    • To compile the tool: ./compile.sh

 

Interface

When you run the program you will see a user interface like this:

DnDMapMaker Demo UI

Making your Map

  • Click the map pieces on the right and then click the tiles on the left to place those map pieces
    • You can replace a piece with a different piece
    • You can delete a piece by replacing it with a Nothing tile
  • Right Click and drag to move around the map
  • Scroll to zoom in and out
  • Hold Alt and Click to remove a piece; equivalent to placing a Nothing tile
  • Hold Control and Click to add a label and note for that tile for the DM
  • Hold Shift and hover to visualize the boundaries of the printed Player Map pages

Saving your Map

  • Click Save in the lower right and give your map a name; this will save the map to the SAVE directory
  • Click Load to load a saved map, just enter the same name you entered when it was saved
  • If you accidentally lose your map or close the program, look in the AUTOSAVE directory
    • Load the autosave with the format: '20220127/231015'
  • Once you are done click Export; this will export the map to the OUTPUT directory

 

Output

After you export the map, a number of files will be generated in a folder with the name of your map under the OUTPUT directory:

FILE DESCRIPTION DETAILS
<Map Name> (print).png DM Map (Overview) Overview Maps
<Map Name> (player).png Player Map (Overview) Overview Maps
map-DM/ DM Map (Processed) DM Map
map-Player/ Player Map Pages (Processed) Player Map
map-Player (original)/ Player Map Pages (Unprocessed) Player Map

Overview Maps

Two overview map images are created: a Player Map (left) and a DM Map (right):

DnDMapMaker Demo Maps

The Player Map will:

  • Replace Trapped Doors / Locked Doors with normal Doors
  • Replace Secret Doors with Borders
  • Exclude all the labels and notes for the DM

Player Map

Under the map-Player folder you will see the Player Map divided into 8x10 sections that can be printed on 8.5"x11" paper:

DnDMapMaker Demo Player Maps

Map pages at the edges will have horizontal or vertical lines across the page; you can choose whether you want to print these pages or not.
Horizontal lines indicate the bottom edge of the map, vertical lines indate the right edge.
Visualizing the pages by holding Shift while in the process of making the map can help to reduce the number of these pages.

The map pages also have a checkerboard pattern in place of solid black areas to save ink when printing.
If you prefer the solid black then use the map pages in the map-Player (original) folder instead.

The images are named with coordinates (x, y) at the end indicating the position they would be laid out on the table, with (0, 0) at the upper left.
(I wouldn't put the entire map out at once, just bit by bit as the players move around to not expose too much.)

DM Map

Under the map-DM folder you will see a partitioned DM Map:

DnDMapMaker Demo DM Map

These partitions and coordinates line up with the map pages of the Player Map.

 

Printing

The easiest way to print the maps properly is to use IfranView.

Printing the Player Map

  • Open the first image with IfranView
  • Press T to open the Thumbnail View
    • Select all the map pages that you want to print
  • Go to File > Print selected files as single images (batch print)
    • Choose the appropriate printer
    • Select Portrait
    • Under Print Size select Custom
      • Set Width: '8.00'
      • Set Height: '10.00'
      • Ensure Aspect ratio is Off
    • Under Position on paper select Centered
      • Under Units for 'custom' and position' choose Inches
      • Ensure the Width and Height are still correct
    • Under Header/Footnote text add a Headnote with the value: '$N'
      • This will print the filename of the image without the extension as a header
      • Without this you will not be able to see the coordinates of that page
  • Click Print

Printing the DM Map

  • Open the image with IfranView
  • Go to File > Print
    • Choose the appropriate printer
    • Select Portrait or Landscape depending on the map dimensions
    • Under Print Size select Best fit to page (asp. ratio)
  • Click Print

 

Using Pre-Generated Maps

You can also print pre-generated maps.

To generate a map go to donjon and choose a configuration that you like, then click Construct Dungeon.

At the bottom of the page click on Download and download:

  • Player's Map
  • Print Scale


Open the DnD Map Parser folder and create a new directory named INPUT.
Copy the two downloaded files to the INPUT directory.

Then run one or more of the following scripts:

  • On Windows:
    • To parse the map: run.bat
    • To parse the map without filtering for empty map pieces: run_no-filter.bat
    • To replace solid black areas with a checkerboard pattern to save ink while printing: reduceBlackSpace.bat
    • To compile the tool: compile.bat
  • On Linux:
    • To parse the map: ./run.sh
    • To parse the map without filtering for empty map pieces: ./run_no-filter.sh
    • To replace solid black areas with a checkerboard pattern to save ink while printing: ./reduceBlackSpace.sh
    • To compile the tool: ./compile.sh


After you parse the map, a number of files will be generated in a folder with the name of the map under the OUTPUT directory.
More information about these files is provided under: Output.