Counters don't size to Map scale

[PRchrdsn]

I have created a game box for the OCS Tunisia game. The counter scans worked fine and I was able to set up the counter sections just fine. I used PSP to paste two map scans (that I extracted from the VASSAL module) together to form the map. My problem is that when I move a counter from the counter sheet to the map, it does not scale itself to the map scale. This works in the Afrika II gamebox. I have inspected the xml files for that game box, and can find nothing there that would dictate scaling, other than the respective settings for the dpi value of the map and countersheets.

I suspect that it might be the dpi setting for the map, which I am not sure of, but think that it is 100 dpi, as that is what is indicated on the Summary page of the file properties window. I know the counters were scanned at 150 dpi. I have tried setting the map scale at 75, 100, 150, 300, and 600 dpi in the game-box.xml file, but nothing gives the right setting. Are ONLY 150, 300, and 600 dpi scans usable?

Any suggestions as to why these counters are not scaling correctly when being transferred to the map? Once they are placed on the map, they scale with the map zoom. It is just that they are WAY too big for the hexes on the map.

Thanks for your help.

Paul

[GJK]

Hi Paul,

As you suspect, the counters and map aren't scanned at the same DPI. The counters may even be at 300 DPI by the sounds of it, but it doesn't matter, if they aren't scanned at the same DPI, then one or the other will be larger in size. You have two options here:

1) Rescan the map at a higher DPI (preferable but a lot more work)
2) Down-sample the counter scans (or rescan).

I'm a Photoshopper, so maybe you can translate these instructions to PSP, but what I would do to down-sample the counter scans would be to draw a square selection box within a hex on the map (in PSP/Photoshop) of the approximate size that you think the counters should be. Copy that selection to a new canvas/file and get the dimensions. Say they are 65 px in width (height is irrelevant).

Now, open up a countersheet in PSP, draw a rectangular selection box around a counter, copy to a new canvas and see what size it is. Say it is 100px in width. Well, now you know that you need to resize your countersheet x .65 (65 / 100). So if the entire countersheet is 2100 px, then you need to resize it to 1365px and then set it back up in your XML file for the gamebox and then the counters will fit inside the hexes.

In either case, you'll have some work to do as ZunTzu isn't going to scale the counters to fit in a hex on the mapsheet - how could it possible know since a "hex" isn't even defined to the program.

[PRchrdsn]

...
As you suspect, the counters and map aren't scanned at the same DPI.
...
In either case, you'll have some work to do as ZunTzu isn't going to scale the counters to fit in a hex on the mapsheet - how could it possible know since a "hex" isn't even defined to the program.

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the information. I thought that by defining the dpi in the xml file, the code would be using that information to do an "on the fly" translation/conversion of scale, but that possibly it could only do it for values that were predefined (150, 300, 600) or definite fixed multiples of each other. It appeared from the instructions on making a gamebox that the map and counters could be different resolutions. I am pretty sure that I scanned the counters with a 150 dpi setting. Going back through the instructions, I should probably have used a 300 dpi setting. I guess that I will have to do a map scan and attempt to piece together a map. I am not real good at that kind of work, but will give it a go. <sigh>

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

Paul