Mouse Maps are really easy to use, but
if you have a tile with a set ratio,
such as 2:1, then you can create a simple
function that'll figure the coordinates
for you. I don't know if this is something
you were talking about.

Check out my page under the files section
for the article I wrote a while ago: http://www.lightbefallen.com

Jim Adams

------------------
Jim Adams
Co-Designer 'The Light Befallen'
tcm@pobox.com
http://www.lightbefallen.com

below is the portion of a recent iso demo that i made that deals with mapping mouse coordinates to tile positions. it uses a diagonal map (aka diamond shaped, the type used in SimCity2k, AoE, etc.)

	case WM_MOUSEMOVE:		{			//get mouse coordinates			int xPos = LOWORD(lparam);  // horizontal position of cursor 			int yPos = HIWORD(lparam);  // vertical position of cursor			int fwKeys = wparam;        // key flags 			//adjust xpos to reference off of tile 0,0			xPos-=(MAPROWS*TILEWIDTH/2-TILEWIDTH/2);			//calc mousemap row and column			int MMCol=xPos/TILEWIDTH;			int MMRow=yPos/TILEHEIGHT;			//calc mm row and col remainders			int MMColR=xPos%TILEWIDTH;			int MMRowR=yPos%TILEHEIGHT;			//adjust MM coordinates if a remainder is negative			if(MMColR<0)			{				MMColR+=TILEWIDTH;				MMCol--;			}			if(MMRowR<0)			{				MMRowR+=TILEHEIGHT;				MMRow--;			}			//calc cursor position			ptCursor.x=MMCol+MMRow;			ptCursor.y=MMRow-MMCol;			//find color in mousemap			COLORREF crTest=GetPixel(hdcTile[TILE_MOUSEMAP],MMColR,MMRowR);			switch(crTest)			{			case MM_NE://northeast				{					ptCursor.y--;				}break;			case MM_SE://southeast				{					ptCursor.x++;				}break;			case MM_NW://northwest				{					ptCursor.x--;				}break;			case MM_SW://southwest				{					ptCursor.y++;				}break;			case MM_CE://center				{				}break;			}			//make certain that cursor is in bounds			if(ptCursor.x<0) ptCursor.x=0;			if(ptCursor.x>=MAPCOLS) ptCursor.x=MAPCOLS-1;			if(ptCursor.y<0) ptCursor.y=0;			if(ptCursor.y>=MAPROWS) ptCursor.y=MAPROWS-1;			//force a repaint			InvalidateRect(main_window_handle,NULL,FALSE);			if(fwKeys&MK_LBUTTON)			{				TileMap[ptCursor.x][ptCursor.y]=1;				DrawMap();			}			if(fwKeys&MK_RBUTTON)			{				TileMap[ptCursor.x][ptCursor.y]=0;				DrawMap();			}			return(0);		}break;

in this code example, the map uses tile coordinates where tile (0,0) is the topmost tile of the map. x increases to the southeast, and y increases to the southwest.

this example also has the client area of the window the same size as the complete area of the tilemap, so there is no screen coordinate to world coordinate transformation, and in most cases, there would be.

so anyway, the example goes through the following steps:

1. Translate world coordinates to make (0,0) reference the upperleft corner of Tile(0,0)

to do this, we subtract (MAPROWS-1)*TILEWIDTH/2, because this sum is added when we transform tile coordinates into world coordinates

2. Determine MouseMap Column, Row, and Column and Row remainders.

MMC=x/TILEWIDTH;//columns
MMR=y/TILEHEIGHT;//row
MMCR=x%TILEWIDTH;//col remainder
MMRR=y%TILEHEIGHT;//row remainder

2A. Fix any negative remainders

due to the way integer division works, we have to make sure that the remainder is a positive value, where 0<=MMCRso:

if(MMCR<0)
{
MMCR+=TILEWIDTH;
MMC++;
}
if(MMRR<0)
{
MMRR+=TILEHEIGHT;
MMR++;
}

3. calculate rough tile coordinates based on MMC and MMR

//clear the coordinates out
TileX=0;
TileY=0;

now, for each mousemap column to the east, add 1 to x and subtract 1 from y, to the west, subtract 1 from x and add 1 to y

for each mousemaprow to the north, subtract 1 from x and subtract 1 from y, to the south, add 1 to each of x and y

so,

TileX=MMC+MMR;
TileY=MMR-MMC;

4. we tweak this rough tile position to get the actual tile position, using the mousemap

since i store the mousemap as a bitmap on a system memory DC, we get the pixels color at (MMCR,MMRR)

COLORREF crTest=GetPixel(hdcMouseMap,MMCR,MMRR);

next, adjust the TileX, TileY based on the value of crTest.

i made a few constants to specify certain colors found on the mousemap, to make lookup easier.

MM_NW: TileX--;
MM_NE: TileY--;
MM_SE: TileX++;
MM_SW: TileY++;
MM_CE: no adjustment

so, thats the method i use.

for fixed ratio tiles, as mine are(64x32), an alternate way is to use Jim's method, which is optimized for tiles with a ratio of 2:1.

if you want to get my isometric example program (the one i mention in this post is Isometric Example #5), the source code and workspace for VC++6, just email me for the time being. soon, these examples, workspaces, and articles about them will be published here on gamedev, so stay tuned.

Hey,
Does anybody know how to draw isometric slope tiles used in games like SimCity2000, SimCity3000, and RollerCoaster Tycoon. The slope tiles are the tiles that are sloped upward or downward to produce mountains or hills. Was there a special method used to
draw these???? In newer games like SimCity3000 there are like 30 types of slopes tiles, at all these different angles, what method was used to draw these???

My second question is to TANSTAAFL, I've read your isometric tutorials, and they really helped me to start an isometric engine. Thank you! There is only one problem I'm having right now which is the mouse. I read your tutorials on mousemaps(at the bottom of the isometric tutorials), I understood how this would work with staggered maps, but not with diagonal maps. In one of the tutorials you wrote about how to do the mousemaps with diagonal isometric maps, but I couldn't understand it. If could you please show me how to use mousemaps with diagonal isometric maps with more detail, I would really really appreciated it!

Thanks alot,
Later
Da_KiD

Thanks Jim & TANSTAAFL!

TANSTAAFL could you please email me the source for that mousemap example at

email - datisme@notme.com

Jim, I saw your game, and you used slope tiles, like in Simcity2000, how did you draw these type of tiles???

Thanks for your help,
Da_KiD

email - datisme@notme.com