M apProp
 
 
A  bout
MapProp is a Shell Extension for the windows File Explorer. When installed, the Properties... dialog you get for .map files will have a new tab labeled "Preview". On it, you can see a top down view of the map without having to compile it or load it in a level viewer. Tesselating and rendering still takes a while, but overall it is probably a time saver. To look comprehensible, any map element that has "common" anywhere in the texturename, is hidden.

Version 2.0 now also features Thumbnail / Webcontent-preview support, quake3 icons for .map files, and experimental Doom3 support.

Known issues

  • The preview only works on maps that don't use the brush primitive mode. Generally, if LEET can parse it OK, it'll work here -- save for differences in time of release of the two packages.
  • On Win2K, the thumbnails can get confused to the point that even F5 won't help. It looks like this is a bug with Win2K's explorer.
  • MapProp won't work if some other app already took over .map files -- see below.
 
 
D  ownload
 
This program is freeware : you can distribute and copy it at will as long as you do so at no charge, except for charges to cover the carrying media. The software may be repacked as part of a package as long as the original ZIP file is included unmodified.

Version 2.0, 20/01/2003

 If you're upgrading from an older version, it's best to uninstall it first.

  • Automatic installation -- mapprop-2-0-msi.zip 197842 bytes

    If your system supports MSI installers, grab the above zip file, unzip it, and run the MSI as Administrator. This is the cleanest way to install, and uninstall; MapProp will be added to the Add/Remove Software listing in the Control Panel.

  • Manual installation -- mapprop-2-0.zip 80454 bytes

    If for some reason the automatic install doesn't work, use the non-MSI zip instead. Unzip it to some directory, then open a dos prompt as Administrator, cd to the directory you unzipped to and type regsvr32 mapprop.dll. If you get an error, make sure you are Administrator, and make sure you have msvcp60.dll (115795 bytes) on your PC. To uninstall, type regsvr32 /u mapprop.dll before removing the directory.

In both cases, you will need to log off and log on again for Explorer to detect the new extension.

  • But it still won't work

     If you have no error messages and/or you can see the registry entries, and it still won't show a preview tab, then chances are that some other application has already rerouted the .map extension. For instance, MSVS.Net will associate .map with mapfile. To fix this, undo this association, or manually transfer the shellex entries from .map to wherever.
    The default value for .map should be (Value not set), like this.

Online version of this page at http://bpeers.com/software/mapprop.
 
 
C  redits
  • Thanks to MastahUK for beta testing
  • Thanks to Michael Dunn for his excellent Shell Guide
  • Programming : Bert Peers
 
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