by jorb » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:44 pm
Map data is a potential pit of despair from an implementational standpoint. As is the maps are basically sent as .png files and then simply rendered client side. My guesstimate would be that there would be massive transfer issues if the clients sent a basically arbitrary number of requests for arbitrarily large maps at local map resolution. I suppose one idea could be to send raw data instead of rendered images, and then implement the map rendering client side, but the issue, I'd wager, would still be there. One could probably also extract the map handling from the main game server, and handle it with a dedicated server, a problem there is that a dedicated server would still have to confirm with game data that the client in question is actually allowed to see the map requested. But all of that is of course on loftar's table.
At present, I have to recommend using 3rd party software, sadly.
The windows are also not resizable because only a window that could theoretically display an arbitrary amount of information has any need for that kind of functionality. Most of ours, all the critical ones, display a fixed amount of information.
"The psychological trials of dwellers in the last times will be equal to the physical trials of the martyrs. In order to face these trials we must be living in a different world."
-- Hieromonk Seraphim Rose