# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Software Discussion >  Grid Cartographer

## Hidden Asbestos

Hi, my name is David Walters I'm an independent game and software developer from the UK.

I've recently released a program called Grid Cartographer. I developed it originally as a mapping tool for cRPG games such as Wizardry and Might and Magic. It has been well received by the RPG community with a number of features being added after it's initial release. I'm now starting to look beyond that audience and into the broader realm of map making - making good strides towards that with the recent addition of custom tiles and exporting maps to image files.

I'm posting here as it may be of some interest to those of you who wish to develop maps in a grid and tile based manner. Perhaps to rapidly block out low resolution maps (in comparison to some of the beautiful illustrations I've seen on this forum) for your own computer or tabletop role playing game.

Anyway, here is a link:   Grid Cartographer.com

I'm very keen to get feedback on my software and thanks to everyone who give it a try!

edit: Here's an example of the sort of thing you can make with it:

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## cmrsalmon

I've been using the Pro version for a few days now. "Thanks" is such a small word for developing a functional, easy to use and tremendously useful piece of software.

But, thanks.

I finally got around to registering on the Guild to say that.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Hey everyone, it's been quite a while since I posted here but I've just released v1.3.8 of Grid Cartographer. 

Grab the update / free edition here: Grid Cartographer | David Walters Development 

Here's the full list of changes: 

* ADDED: New 'start' screen with quick access to recent files and new map type selection. 
* ADDED: 30 x 30 major grid lines setting for The Bard's Tale. 
* ADDED: Per-map file saving of block-based / edge-based setting. To make switching games easier. 

* PRO: Rotate and Flip actions (and keyboard shortcuts) now work when pasting and moving regions. 
* PRO: Rotate and Flip actions are context sensitive - if you have dragged out a selection then only that region will be affected. 

* CHANGED: The fill area tool now keeps the selection active, allowing you to drag it around and quickly paint several areas. 

Hope you like the improvements  :Smile:

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## Hidden Asbestos

v1.4.0 released!

Here's a link: Grid Cartographer | David Walters Development

Change Log:

* CHANGED: Border tool renamed 'Stroke'.
* CHANGED: Tweaked wording of 'remove custom tile set' option.
* CHANGED: Improved wording of exit with unsaved changes message.

* ADDED: Close button on brush selection menu.
* ADDED: Stroke toolbar icon.

* FIXED: Limit grid and top-left origin modes didn't work together.
* FIXED: Create border (CTRL+B) and top-left origin mode didn't work together
* FIXED: The 'Simple block' brush was showing in colour on the toolbar.
* FIXED: Some Windows message box icons were wrong.

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## Azélor

hey my antivirus tells me that these page contain malware !?
Nice dungeon map by the way.

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## Hidden Asbestos

> hey my antivirus tells me that these page contain malware !?
> Nice dungeon map by the way.


The page? not the download?  That's strange.  

I'm pretty sure it's a false alarm as I've not had this reported by anyone else. Not sure what I can do about that, thanks for taking the time to let me know though, I'll look out for more reports. What antivirus software is this BTW?  Maybe it doesn't like that I haven't paid to 'sign' the EXE?

Thanks for the complement on the map :-)  Here's another one, this is from Wizardry 6 - imgur: the simple image sharer

edit: I uploaded the installer here and it seemed to pass all the tests: https://www.virustotal.com/uk/file/2...is/1376929714/

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## Azélor

I have Bitdefender, I usually trust him but I do have problems with him from time to time. He is zealous.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Grid Cartographer Touch is now available for Android devices from the Google Play store.

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## olifante666

Indeed it's, easy to use. Nice software.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Here's a sneak peek of an upcoming feature for Grid Cartographer: Labels



I've extended the note tool with an option to create labels that are visible directly on the map.

There's still a bit of work left to do in finishing porting this feature over to Android as well as adding labels to the map image export, but it shouldn't be too much longer before it's ready.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Grid Cartographer v1.4.2 now available: Grid Cartographer | David Walters Development Enjoy!

Changes:

* PRO: Note editing toolbar. 
* PRO: Map Labels. Toggle a note into a label with the 'label' option on the note toolbar.
* PRO: Added Close button to the note toolbar as a mouse based alternative to <ESC>
* PRO: Map labels added to export (if View > Labels is enabled).

* ADDED: View minor grid lines toggle.
* ADDED: Click outside of the start / new-map dialog to dismiss it.
* ADDED: 'Eraser' text label on toolbar.
* ADDED: Additional information, when importing, about how custom tiles are divided into full color and tinted monochrome.
* ADDED: Help text information about Ctrl+<Return> shortcut to quickly add multiple notes.

* CHANGED: Theme change and zoom in/out now allowed during note editing.

* FIXED: Stroke option on toolbar now only works with a valid marked area. Edit > Stroke menu unaffected.
* FIXED: Excessive blurring on VDU theme.
* FIXED: Undo to before a custom tile set was imported now clears any selected custom tile from the ground brush.
* FIXED: Not absorbing clicks on the toolbar in note mode - causing the note cursor to move.

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## lastofthemany

I see you have and android version... 
Is there an i-version in the works?

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## Hidden Asbestos

> I see you have and android version... 
> Is there an i-version in the works?


Hi, thanks for enquiring. Sadly there is no iOS port in development right now. I'd love to make one in the future but as of right now I don't have any of the necessary equipment. I'll post back here if the situation changes.

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## Hidden Asbestos

I've just released the first Linux Beta of Grid Cartographer. 

Right now you can grab a copy from my forum here: 
David Walters Development ? View topic - Linux Beta

I'll put it on a more general release once it's been tested a bit more. 
Enjoy!

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## Hidden Asbestos

Update v1.4.5 of Grid Cartographer is now available for Windows and Linux. ( Grid Cartographer | David Walters Development )

The main changes are:
* Fixed a major problem exporting images using custom tiles.
* Rewrite of the note editor text box to allow for selections, clipboard (Windows only) and double-click to select words.

- Enjoy!

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## Hidden Asbestos

Hi everyone, I've just released v1.4.7.

Link: Grid Cartographer | David Walters Development

Change Log:

* FIXED: Notes becoming detached from tiles when rotating a selection.
* FIXED: Start dialog is now dismissed if loading a map from the command line.
* FIXED: Drawing a custom tile over a block based door would create new walls.
* FIXED: Not reseting ground brush when loading new file, potentially leaving an invalid custom brush setting.
* FIXED: Rotation and Flip menu commands causing the move/paste mode to stop.
* LINUX: Fixed bug where menu entries may not be correctly disabled.


v1.4.6 changes:

* PRO: Added 'blue on white' premium theme.
* CHANGED: Tweaked the other themes a little.

* FIXED: Errors with edge walls when rotating.
* FIXED: Rotating or flipping any type of one-way door now correctly preserves direction.
* FIXED: Clearing a marked area adjacent to a block based door may have deleted it.
* FIXED: Cut or Copying from a marked area adjacent to a block based door may have included it.

- Enjoy  :Smile:

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## Hidden Asbestos

Hi all, it's been a while since I posted here. Since then I've released v2 of Grid Cartographer. It has tons of new features, a redesigned user interface and is now available for Mac OSX.

I've just released v2.0.3 and I hope you can give it a try: Grid Cartographer 2 | David Walters Development

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## jkat718

Congrats, Dave! You are now $12 richer! This is a fantastic utility, I can't wait to see the looks on my players' faces when they see clean, clear dungeon maps next session. A couple issues/glitches/bugs I noticed, however:
The wood texture is different on the top and bottom, making a strange pattern in the texture when tiled.The gray arrows/X's on doors do not change with the rest of the icon, but the arrows in the Travel section do. (Not sure if this is intentional, just thought I'd mention it),When markers are hidden, walls and doors in the middle of squares disappear, too (Again, might be intentional).The Terrain textures don't seem to math their names. In order, they look like: "Inside" looks like it should be called "Dirt," and "Rock" looks like it should be called Cobble(s)/Stone Brick(s)/Flagstone(s). Also, Slime would work better as an overlay, rather than a base texture.Editing labels needs work. It's too difficult to go back and edit pre-existing text blocks, and the blocks themselves should have freeform placement and sizes, as well as multiple rows (maybe).

Besides the five points outlined above, this program is fantastic! Great work, Dave, and thank you.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Hey jkat, thanks very much for your support. I hope your players are impressed  :Smile: 




> The gray arrows/X's on doors do not change with the rest of the icon, but the arrows in the Travel section do. (Not sure if this is intentional, just thought I'd mention it),


Can you explain this a bit more, I'm not sure what you mean by 'change'?




> Editing labels needs work. It's too difficult to go back and edit pre-existing text blocks, and the blocks themselves should have freeform placement and sizes, as well as multiple rows (maybe).


I agree that the editing isn't quite perfect yet. I'm working on multi-line notes (not labels) for the next update and plan to revisit the system again in further updates. I'm not sure I'll add free-form placement soon but agree the selection could be better, and have plans for things like colouring and possibly different sizes too.




> The Terrain textures don't seem to match their names


I agree, these tiles could do with a refresh in some way. Not to necessarily remove them but relegate them to a 'legacy' category.




> When markers are hidden, walls and doors in the middle of squares disappear, too (Again, might be intentional).


Yeah this is intentional. The map data is trying to be compact and I've combined the block walls with marker icons (since it seemed unlikely that you'd want both in one tile) but it does lead to this effect when you hide the marker layer.

Thanks again!

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## jkat718

> Can you explain this a bit more, I'm not sure what you mean by 'change'?


Sorry, missing a word. They don't change color.




> I agree that the editing isn't quite perfect yet. I'm working on multi-line notes (not labels) for the next update and plan to revisit the system again in further updates. I'm not sure I'll add free-form placement soon but agree the selection could be better, and have plans for things like colouring and possibly different sizes too.


This shouldn't be a priority, but Ctrl+Shift+Arrow should select individual words.




> I agree, these tiles could do with a refresh in some way. Not to necessarily remove them but relegate them to a 'legacy' category.


Good idea.




> Yeah this is intentional. The map data is trying to be compact and I've combined the block walls with marker icons (since it seemed unlikely that you'd want both in one tile) but it does lead to this effect when you hide the marker layer.


Okay, that makes sense.

*EDIT:*
Quick question: What are the differences between the "Annotation," "Interactive," "Effects," and "Features" options?

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## Hidden Asbestos

> *EDIT:*
> Quick question: What are the differences between the "Annotation," "Interactive," "Effects," and "Features" options?


Nothing really they're all markers, I've just grouped them like that to try and help the user. I plan to add more icons to these categories over time.

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## jkat718

> Nothing really they're all markers, I've just grouped them like that to try and help the user. I plan to add more icons to these categories over time.


Oh, okay. I was wondering if they had anything to do with the fact that the rotating room, turntable, and pressure plate markers are animated. What are the chances of having semi-transparent textures, overlayed over the ground? For example, placing Dirt ground, with Slime over it, or Water over Stone?

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## Hidden Asbestos

v2.0.4 has been released!  Key changes are:

* Multi-line notes
* Colour tinted ground blocks
* New 'setup' tab with per-map grid settings.

Full Change Log:
David Walters Development ? View topic - Update v2.0.4

Enjoy!




> Oh, okay. I was wondering if they had anything to do with the fact that the rotating room, turntable, and pressure plate markers are animated. What are the chances of having semi-transparent textures, overlayed over the ground? For example, placing Dirt ground, with Slime over it, or Water over Stone?


This should be possible already by setting the alpha of a custom colour tile and painting it on the marker layer. However I would suggest creating a pre-baked slime + dirt / water + stone custom tile outside of the GC and importing it in as a terrain layer. This will let you put other markers on top.

ps. I added ctrl+left/right to v2.0.4, it's a useful shortcut!!

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## jkat718

> * Multi-line notes
> ps. I added ctrl+left/right to v2.0.4, it's a useful shortcut!!


Thank you!




> * Colour tinted ground blocks
> This should be possible already by setting the alpha of a custom colour tile and painting it on the marker layer. However I would suggest creating a pre-baked slime + dirt / water + stone custom tile outside of the GC and importing it in as a terrain layer. This will let you put other markers on top.


Okay, thanks. I'll check it out.

*EDIT:*
Now that ENTER creates a new line in Notes, is there a keyboard shortcut for Accept, or do you have to use the button on the top right?

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## Hidden Asbestos

> *EDIT:*
> Now that ENTER creates a new line in Notes, is there a keyboard shortcut for Accept, or do you have to use the button on the top right?


Currently there is no shortcut but I'm strongly considering adding one in the next version. Probably CTRL+Enter.

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## jkat718

CTRL+Enter makes sense. Would it be possible to add the option to create additional layers? Or at least adding in a GM-Only layer? That way, to print player maps, you only need to turn off one layer, rather than finding each marker you want to hide and deleting it. If I'm ever being too demanding, feel free to tell me to back off.  :Very Happy:

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## Hidden Asbestos

> CTRL+Enter makes sense. Would it be possible to add the option to create additional layers? Or at least adding in a GM-Only layer? That way, to print player maps, you only need to turn off one layer, rather than finding each marker you want to hide and deleting it. If I'm ever being too demanding, feel free to tell me to back off.


Thanks for the request. I'm not sure I'll be adding in additional layers soon but I do plan to move onto working on a new 'regions' feature which I think can solve the problem of making a GM and Player version of a map.

Always happy to hear requests, I just have a huge list already and so it's more a matter of time than anything :-)

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## jkat718

Here's an export of my first GC2 map:









It's a two-level guard/jailhouse, with a secret bunker in the basement and a small watchtower on one corner. There are notes for everything, including D&D stats for every door and the contents of every chest.

Going from the top (of the list, but the bottom of the building), we have:
The basement (with secret bunker and high security cells)The main floor (with guard rooms, storage, and low security cells, one of which has a secret door in it)The second floor (with the sheriff's/captain of the guard's room)The watchtower (with a supply chest)

If anyone's interested, I could upload the map file here.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Hey everyone. I've just released v2.0.5, a free update focused on improved grid settings. 

Adjustments to the major grid size now allow for any size from 2 to 64 tiles in either axis independently. You can also limit the grid to a number of major tiles along both axes (instead of just 1 tile as in past versions). Changes have also been made to enhance the axis values settings. 

I've also added the shortcut CTRL+Enter (CMD+Enter on Mac OSX) to complete a note without needing to click the tick button on the UI. 

DOWNLOAD HERE: Grid Cartographer 2 | David Walters Development

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## Hidden Asbestos

It's been a little while in the making but the v2.0.6 update is now available for all platforms. This is a free update for existing v2.x series customers.

Grid Cartographer | David Walters Development

* New 'regions' feature allowing for multiple map stacks within one file.
* Full support for all keyboard languages and layouts with font support for Asian languages.
* Rewrite of the undo system to massively boost performance on large maps.
* Loads of fixes and minor improvements in many areas.

full change log: David Walters Development ? View topic - Update v2.0.6

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## Hidden Asbestos

Grid Cartographer has been progressing well and is now at version 4.

I've just released update v4.0.3:
http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.c...hp?f=20&t=1746

You can find out about v4 in general here:
http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.c...art/?aim=about

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## Hidden Asbestos

Better late than never, Grid Cartographer is now on Steam Greenlight 
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil.../?id=865153291

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## heruca

Congrats!

I recently heard that Steam Greenlight is going away, though.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Thanks!

Yeah it is going away in a few weeks, I think - but right now Greenlight is the only option to get on Steam so I'm going with it until we're told more about Steam Direct. Fingers crossed!

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## Hidden Asbestos

Hooray, Greenlight was successful!  Thanks for the votes everyone.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=865153291

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## Hidden Asbestos

*Grid Cartographer v4.0.4 is now available!*

Download: http://gridcartographer.com

Quite a big one, highlights are:

 Fog-of-War
 Draw opaque hidden / fog tiles in several built-in styles. Export images with/without fog for players and Dungeon Master respectively. Works on both square and hex grid types. Game Link
 New auto-tracking profiles for Wizardry IV and Wizardry VII. Notification that a game is detected for clearer operation. Option to quickly switch to split screen view and setup a new map. Scripting (Preview)
 First giant step towards scripting support, powered by a customised version of Squirrel. Scripted data export. Built-in example provide exports tile maps to .CSV. Console window with a simple command line interface inspired by CP/M and DOS. 100+ pages of scripting documentation in PDF format. More scripting features will be added in future updates! Check out the new scripting forum for more scripts and help writing your own. Enhanced Mesh Export
 Native support for Unity and Unreal Engine 4 via the .obj mesh format. Auto-scale to Unreal units. Material/sub-mesh splitting controls for more control. Meshes now include explicit Vertex Normals. Streamlined theme selection
 Theme selection now has its own Setup menu page. Option to apply map theme (and fog) changes to all regions with one click. Automatically use the last selected theme and fog-style for new maps. Grid Cartographer 4 now requires a 64-bit operating system.
 32-bit operating systems are no longer supported. This applies to both the Gamer and Pro editions. Many bug fixes
 Greatly reduced CPU usage on Linux and macOS systems. Linux version now has partial support for HiDPI displays. Restored the clipboard preservation behaviour of older versions. Allow some keyboard shortcuts to work in the file menu (such as load and 
save).

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## Hidden Asbestos

On Saturday it'll be 4 years since Grid Cartographer v1.00 launched. To celebrate I'm running a sale. 25% off new copies.

http://gridcartographer.com/buy/

Thanks to everyone who has supported this project over the past four years!

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## Hidden Asbestos

Here's v4.0.5: http://gridcartographer.com/download/ 

This is mostly bug fixes as I want to stick to a one-month release cycle. The bulk of the work has been behind the scenes making the file selectors handle multiple file formats, not very exciting at the moment but it opens the door for future work.

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## Hidden Asbestos

v4.0.6 free update is now available for all platforms: http://gridcartographer.com/download/

Key new features are:
* Custom tile groups - select multiple with CTRL and right click > New Group.
* Merge files / Export single regions.
* Hide tabs on region bar with new right-click menu
 (very useful to reduce clutter in the 'Might and Magic' series, etc.)

- enjoy!

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## Hidden Asbestos

Grid Cartographer 4 Pro is coming to Steam. Here's the full announcement:
http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=20&t=1803

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## Hidden Asbestos

v4.0.7 is finally available. As usual it's a free update for all v4.x customers.

407 has the following major changes ... which sound like nothing when written in a list, oh well  :Smile: 

* New resizable split view-port system.
* Improved console display with colour support. [PRO]
* Updated Game Link protocol - DOSBox R15 required.
* Many fixes and tweaks.

Download: http://gridcartographer.com/download/

Also: I'm calling this the Steam release candidate. If you find any bugs then it would be awesome if you could report them. It will help make sure the Steam launch goes well and makes a good first impression. My next task is to do all the admin and writing English words about GC and then putting it up on Steam. Then I can carry on with GC4 on both distribution channels.

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## McDeath

Just purchased.  Looks good.  I can't imagine what maps i would have made some 20 years ago when it was like 24/7 CRPGing.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Version 4.0.8 is now available! 
Release Notes

The major change is to add a volume control and pause/reset/power-off menu for Game Link. 
You'll need to update Custom DOSBox to R17 to continue using it. 

This will also be used as the Steam release (on the 19th): https://store.steampowered.com/app/684690/

--- 

As you may know, LibRetro support is coming. It's going well and a ton of work has gone into it so far, but still has some important bits left to do and isn't ready for the public yet - I didn't want to delay the release any further. Hopefully this will appear properly and unrushed, in the next version or so.




> Just purchased.  Looks good.  I can't imagine what maps i would have made some 20 years ago when it was like 24/7 CRPGing.


Thanks!

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## Hidden Asbestos

v4.0.9 is now available! 

http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=31&t=1902

* New Game Link profile: "Gateway to the Savage Frontier", thanks to Grauken for all his hard work.
* Rewritten note and label editor to support automatic word-wrap.

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## Hidden Asbestos

Another week, another free update!  v4.1.0 is now available.

* Game Link profile for Ultima 1
* Scripting improvements and an example exporter for AppGameKit

Full release notes:
http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=31&t=1920

Download:
http://gridcartographer.com/download/

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## Hidden Asbestos

v4.1.1 has been released.

* Re-written "auto-wall" Block tiles - support for walls being edited after drawing.
* Filter box for the brush palette side panel.
* DOOM IWAD import for custom terrain tiles (from Doom, Heretic, Hexen, etc.).
* New markers: "Spring" (jump-pad) and "Tent"
* Hex "Mountain", "Vegetation" and "Trees" terrain now look much better.
* Export single regions to XML. New right-click sub-menu for export on region tabs.
* Improved 'UIKit' scripting library with text-based dialog box support.
* Lots of bugs fixed!

Full change log here:
http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=31&t=1931

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## Hidden Asbestos

The discount offer to upgrade from v3 to v4 Pro (website version) will be closing *October 31st, 2018*.

This is your last chance to upgrade from v3:
http://gridcartographer.com/buy/upgrade3.php ($17.99)

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## Hidden Asbestos

My website is running a Halloween Sale! Enjoy a 20% discount for all new customers and Pro/Steam upgrades
 => http://gridcartographer.com/buy/

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## Hidden Asbestos

To finish off the next update, I'm working on a complete re-write of the text/label tool. This new feature will make for some prettier maps.

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## Hidden Asbestos

"Grid Cartographer, not just for cRPGs"

http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=20&t=2089

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## Hidden Asbestos

Grid Cartographer is now ON SALE! - 33% off all versions including upgrades.
http://gridcartographer.com/buy/

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## Hidden Asbestos

Update v4.3.8 is now available!

* Import Donjon generated dungeon maps [pro/steam]
* Old school White on Blue map theme
* 17 built-in fonts (open license) [pro/steam]

Download + Release Notes: http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=31&t=2126

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## Hidden Asbestos

Update v4.3.9 is now available!

* "Eye of the Beholder 2" (DOS) auto-tracking.
* "Spirit of Adventure" (DOS) auto-tracking.
* Preview edge drawing in editor viewport.
* Custom tile import improvements.
* Console improvements, including .BAT files.
* Fixes and performance improvements.

Download + Release Notes: http://gridcartographer.com/forum/vi...hp?f=31&t=2131

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