Bill Wright's PUD Browser Page
Warcraft II PUD Browser
What is PUD Browser ...
PUD Browser has been developed to fill a gap left by the Warcraft II editors
by displaying PUD maps at approximately full screen size so they can be used
as a tactical guide for multi-player game play and quickly browsed for evaluation.
The main maps displayed by the Warcraft II editors are too large to view the entire
map at once and the mini maps are too small and lack sufficient detail, plus, the
editors have no direct print capability. PUD Browser supports printing on both
color and black & white printers, the direct generation of GIF files from PUD's,
and the generation of statistical PUD Information files.
The screen shot below shows the detail level of PUD Browser displayed maps.
Revision History ...
Version 1.1 (5/26/97)
- Added sizes of starting mines and expansion mines to text window and PUD Information
File
- Added resource information to map print outs
- Fixed starting position graphics for small resolutions to be small square instead of
horizontal line
Version 1.0 (4/27/97)
- Added the direct generation of GIF files from PUD's
- Added the generation of PUD Information files
- Added additional statistical information about the PUD to the text pane
- Added a reload button to reload the currently opened file
- Added map size, in pixels, to the status bar
- Added browse progress indicator to the status bar
- Improved print quality for black & white printers
- Fixed problem with checkerboard effect in 16 and 24 bit color modes
- Fixed problem where the print menu item and button appeared to be inoperative
and nothing happened when selected
Version 0.2 beta (1/5/97)
- Print PUD maps on both color and black & white printers - one PUD/page
- Added toolbar buttons to select 'Start Position' or 'All Units'
- Change cursor to cross when showing gold mine or oil patch value
Version 0.1 beta (11/19/96)
- Display a PUD file in a resizable split window with the graphical map in the
left pane and a text description in the right pane
- Capability to sequentially browse a selectable list of files in a particular
file folder (i.e. subdirectory)
- Show amounts in gold mines and oil patches in the status line of the main window
when the mouse passes over them
- Show start positions (or optionally all units) for all players
Downloads and Links ...
Download
PUD Browser version 1.1 for Windows 95.
Daniel Lemberg decoded the internal binary format of PUD files. You can download the
PUD File Format here.
To view the Warcraft II built-in scenarios (e.g., Continent to Explore, Plains of Snow,
etc.), they must first be extracted from the Warcraft executable program file as PUD
files. You can accomplish this using Daniel Lemberg's Peace program. I have already
done this and have given the files recognizable names. You can download the
built-in PUD files here.
An effort has been completed to collect a set of good multi-player PUD files and make
them widely used for multi-player internet games. To find out about this, visit the
KPUD Page
The Development ...
PUD Browser is a collaborative development effort of
Bill Wright and
Jim Weirich. For those interested in such
things, it was developed using Visual C++ 4.2 and the Microsoft Foundation Class library.
Special thanks go to Daniel Lemberg, author of
the Warcraft II Expansion Editor and other utilities, who reverse engineered and
published the internal format of PUD files. Without his effort, the PUD Browser project
would never have been undertaken.
Feedback and Information ...
We're very interested in any feedback you might have about what you like or don't like
about PUD Browser and any suggestions for future capability. To contact the authors:
Bill Wright (aka
MugWump)
(billw@one.net)
Jim Weirich
(jweirich@one.net)
Visitors since 12/20/2000
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