Mr. D Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Hi all, Just a small heads up in regard to our world map (the black OpenStreetMap tiles seen on Earth View): unfortunately, our current tile design (provided by Mapbox) is draining our budget like a Lamborghini for hire and we can no longer afford to use them. Because of that we will be experimenting with other designs and potentially trying to move to our own tile server (I am working on our own custom "Domination: Earth" map style), and that means that the look of Earth View will inevitably change, possibly more than once. So please don't panic if you login to the game one day and the map doesn't look the same; this is by design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3nd Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 That is fine from this end, however I did notice that the map in the background seems darker than it was before with the latest update. It is harder to sea roads. Some of us keep your game open for navigation purposes so we don't have to have multiple apps open at the same time. Others use the map to help them figure out how to get to certain resources. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruvox Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Hopefully you'll find a good solution for this. I'd be totally fine with trading a little bit of the current performance off if this makes map services somehow more affordable for you. However, just wanted to mention that I prefer the current night mode of the map over the standard version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzlyfilms Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 What about the option to select different maps? Or/and filters like where personell often is and other stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. D Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 41 minutes ago, Ruvox said: However, just wanted to mention that I prefer the current night mode of the map over the standard version. That's great! I'm hoping that the current version is only temporary (it may take some time for me to finish our custom design), but it's good to know you like it more than the previous version. I like it too due to the fact that villages and small towns are labelled, which helps to know where you're at while driving around. 49 minutes ago, Z3nd said: That is fine from this end, however I did notice that the map in the background seems darker than it was before with the latest update. It is harder to sea roads. Some of us keep your game open for navigation purposes so we don't have to have multiple apps open at the same time. Others use the map to help them figure out how to get to certain resources. Yup, I am aware of that! As stated above, this is only temporary. I'm hoping to introduce a bit more colour to our own DE map once it's finished; it will remain dark, but roads and some other features may be otherwise highlighted. There's still much work to do before I can share any previews, but if I end up with multiple versions I will start a vote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. D Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 7 minutes ago, Grizzlyfilms said: Or/and filters like where personell often is and other stuff Filters - definitely, one day I'll build those once all the critical fixes are out of the way. My current objectives are: 1) New map (due to insane mapbox costs) 2) Combat system update (due to many PvP-related complaints) But after that my priorities are open for review. 7 minutes ago, Grizzlyfilms said: What about the option to select different maps? Unfortunately, that won't be possible: with our zoom level and global coverage the game's map takes terabytes of space to be hosted and is quite expensive to distribute in terms of download traffic. Making more than one style available is just not feasible for our budget, sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzlyfilms Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Problem with map: take a long time to zoom Fix: zoom bar And Can you make a better way to place a bid "buy land" when you have alot of money then it's hard to place the bid that you want to place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z3nd Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 2 hours ago, Mr. D said: That's great! I'm hoping that the current version is only temporary (it may take some time for me to finish our custom design), but it's good to know you like it more than the previous version. I like it too due to the fact that villages and small towns are labelled, which helps to know where you're at while driving around. Yup, I am aware of that! As stated above, this is only temporary. I'm hoping to introduce a bit more colour to our own DE map once it's finished; it will remain dark, but roads and some other features may be otherwise highlighted. There's still much work to do before I can share any previews, but if I end up with multiple versions I will start a vote. Ok, both sound good. I know the game I played previously I believe they said that the map was resident in our device memory and the server only had to put the virtual items on it. Of course that was back when I was using a windows phone so things may not be the same. Is this easier and/or cheaper than using the Google Maps and fixing the conflicts the game was having with it? Own This World worked as an overlay to Google Maps. You had to open it before the game or you did not have a map. Just some random thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. D Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 Google Maps is cheap (in fact, it's almost free compared to any non-self-hosted OSM solution), but it suffers from inferior performance in their JavaScript engine when lots of icons are involved (100+ resources generate serious lags), and as we know from our pre-1.13 version their native SDK is completely unstable on certain older phones. Additionally, Google Map's tooltip/info windows on land markers aren't as easy to customize or add buttons on them (and I think we're all used to and love the additional controls available for each land). The map can only be pre-loaded on a phone until a certain zoom level or if you are playing in a specific region only, otherwise it's going to take lots of space (and I am quite proud of the fact that "Domination: Earth" weighs only around 15MB for Android 6+ and iOS). Because of the fact that we allow to zoom in pretty close on any part of the world all of the associated map tiles can't be pre-loaded, I'm afraid! Don't worry, once I finish building our own map server things should work pretty smooth and look good; plus I am personally attracted by the possibility of not depending on any map provider (Google Maps or other)! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzlyfilms Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 4 hours ago, Mr. D said: Google Maps is cheap (in fact, it's almost free compared to any non-self-hosted OSM solution), but it suffers from inferior performance in their JavaScript engine when lots of icons are involved (100+ resources generate serious lags), and as we know from our pre-1.13 version their native SDK is completely unstable on certain older phones. Additionally, Google Map's tooltip/info windows on land markers aren't as easy to customize or add buttons on them (and I think we're all used to and love the additional controls available for each land). The map can only be pre-loaded on a phone until a certain zoom level or if you are playing in a specific region only, otherwise it's going to take lots of space (and I am quite proud of the fact that "Domination: Earth" weighs only around 15MB for Android 6+ and iOS). Because of the fact that we allow to zoom in pretty close on any part of the world all of the associated map tiles can't be pre-loaded, I'm afraid! Don't worry, once I finish building our own map server things should work pretty smooth and look good; plus I am personally attracted by the possibility of not depending on any map provider (Google Maps or other)! Good luck! Can't wait 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angleà Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 I can't see any roads at all or village names on the new version so it will be difficult to pick up resources unless I remember some of them from before the map change. Maybe other players have better eyesight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. D Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 3 hours ago, Angleà said: I can't see any roads at all or village names on the new version so it will be difficult to pick up resources unless I remember some of them from before the map change. Maybe other players have better eyesight. That's weird, are they missing completely or just hard to see? Could you please upload a screenshot of how it looks like on your screen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angleà Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. D Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 Thanks! I'm assuming the white roads don't get a name even if you zoom in closer (can you zoom in closer?)... In any case, as mentioned above this map is only temporary; I've had to make a quick switch as we couldn't continue paying thousands (yes, more than one ) of dollars per month for Mapbox, and this version is much more affordable. I'm hoping that I finish the new map by the end of next week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angleà Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 The photo does show faint lines for roads now but before when I first posted about the problems there was nothing but blackness. Until I joined this forum I never realised all the expenses incurred running an app, it's been a revelation to read about all the background work in progress. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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