Windows front end: Options->Map

[backwardsEric]

A change has been submitted, https://github.com/angband/angband/pull/6389 , which alters what 'M' does in the Windows front end when tiles are in use. It will display the map that Options->Map in the current front end displays rather than the default map. The map from Options->Map tries to display every grid (using shrunk-down tiles if necessary). The default map does not try to render every grid and uses hardwired priorities for different types of terrain/monsters/objects to decide what to render when combining multiple grids into what's displayed for a position in the map. The pull request also removes Options->Map since what it did can be accessed with 'M'.

My guess, since I do not regularly play with the Windows front end, is that the pull request could be undesirable with a small screen (or a small main window on a big screen) and the Gervais or Shockbolt tiles: the map rendered with 'M' will use shrunk-down tiles that are difficult to interpret. For players who use the Windows front end with tiles, what would you want? Do you ever use Options->Map? Do you prefer it so much over 'M' that you'd be better off if that is what 'M' did? Or do you mix using 'M' and Options->Map depending on the situation?

[PowerWyrm]

Not a good idea. Not only the M key displays the default map for all other front ends, but the Options/Map version is VERY slow to display. I don't see why the Win client should differ from all other ones, that's why I think keeping the current behavior is better.

[backwardsEric]

The SDL and SDL2 front ends do override the default behavior of 'M'. The SDL front end has been doing it for 13 years (introduced by https://github.com/angband/angband/c...b640843fe4fa0d ; the hook in ui-term.h for overriding the map display was introduced shortly before that by the same author). It still uses the default algorithm but maps each tile to a single character's worth of display in the generated map when big tiles are being used. The SDL2 front end has been doing it since it was added 7 years ago. Its algorithm looks similar to what Options->Map does in the Windows front end: try to render each grid for the map, scaling down as necessary to fit.