Introduction

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Requirements

In order to use Himeji Map Viewer, you must have Java 8 or newer installed on your computer. Many users who have been playing Minecraft for a long time may have it installed already, but newer users may not have had to download it in order to play. Since early 2015, Minecraft no longer required Java to be installed in order to play.

to check if your computer has the correct version of java installed, follow the following steps for your OS:

Windows

  1. Open the start menu by pressing the Windows key
  2. Type "cmd" to search for the Command Prompt, then select it
  3. Type "java -version" into the Command Prompt to get info on your version of Java

If the output says "java version "1.8.x"" or higher, then you will be able to use HMV. However, if your output says "java version "1.7.x"" or lower, or if the command isn't recognized, please install the latest Java version.

Mac

  1. Press the Mac icon in the top-left corner of the screen
  2. Select "System Preferences..."
  3. Select "Java" from the preferences screen
  4. Select the "Update" tab at the top of the Java screen
  5. Check the version of Java written on the Update tab

If your Java version says "Java 8 Update x" or higher, then you will be able to use HMV. However, if your Java version says "Java 7 Update x" or lower, or if the Java option isn't in the System Preferences window, please install the latest Java version.

Linux

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Quick Start

This section will go over the steps for rendering a map without changing any settings. These instructions only cover Windows usage, as I don't have experience using Mac or Linux computers.

  1. Download HMV.jar from the GitHub repo.
  2. Place HMV.jar in your desired folder. HMV will generate files in that folder.
  3. Double click HMV.jar to run it.
  4. Click the "World" button to bring up a folder select window and select your world.
    1. If your world is not in the default saves folder, navigate to the world folder.
    2. Click the folder with the name of your world.
    3. Click "Open" at the bottom of the window.
  5. Click the "Output" button to bring up a file select window and choose where to save the image.
    1. Navigate to where you want to save your map images.
    2. Type the name of the image in the "File Name" box.
    3. Press "Save" at the bottom of the window.
  6. Press the "Start" button at the bottom-right of the window to start rendering.
  7. When the program is finished, there will be a message at the bottom of the window.

The Settings Window

The settings window is made up of four tabs: Rendering, Pop-ups, Preferences, and Memory. To get more information on a specific tab, please go to its section below.

Changes made in the Settings window are not automatically saved. To save any changes, either press the "Save" or the "Apply" button at the bottom. "Apply" will save the changes, but keep the window open. "Save" will save the changes and close the window.

Pressing the "Default" button will reset the values of the current tab to their default settings. The changes will not be saved until either the "Save" or "Apply" buttons are pressed. If the "Default" button was pressed by mistake, you can close out of the window without saving to undo the change.

Settings: Rendering Tab

The Rendering tab contains four main settings for how the map will be rendered, along with options for handling missing biomes and blocks.

Render at Night

This option allows you to choose whether or not to take a block's brightness into account when rendering the map. Turning it off will make every block draw at max brightness - including blocks that are underground.

The "Night Brightness" slider allows you to set how dark to make blocks that aren't lit at all, with 0% being pitch black and 100% effective turning the option off.

Render Biome Colors

This option toggles whether certain blocks will be affected by the biome they are in. The block's base color is blended with the biome's color for the block's category. Blocks that are affected by biomes are broken into three categories: Grass, Foliage, and Water. For more information, view the "Block Flags" section below.

The "Biome Intensity" slider allows you to adjust how much blocks are discolored by their biome. At 0%, there is effectively no change in color. At 100%, the block's color will be entirely changed to the biome color.

Render Blocks Underwater

This option toggles whether blocks that are located under water will be rendered or not. When turned off, water will appear completely opaque and hide whatever is underneathe it. When turned on, the color of the block under the water block will be blended with the water's color.

The "Water Transparency" slider will affect how much the water's color will blend with the block underneathe it. At 100%, the water will be entirely invisible, rendering as if there was no water at all. At 0%, the water's color will completely overtake the block's color, effectively making the water opaque.

Please not that the slider being at 0% does NOT make the water opaque. Blocks will still be affected by the shading and highlighting option covered in the next section.

Render Shadows/Highlights

This option toggles whether blocks will either be shaded or highlighted based on their elevation in relation to the blocks around them. Blocks that are higher will be highlighted, while blocks that are lower will be shaded.

The "Shadow Intensity" slider will affect how dark blocks will become when shading is applied. The lower the value, the darker the shading will be. At 0%, there will be no shading applied. At 100%, the block will become pitch black.

The "Highlight Intensity" slider will affect how bright blocks will become when highlighting is applied. The higher the value, the brighter the highlighting will be. At 0%, the block will not be highlighted. At 100%, the block will approach completely white.

The "Lock shadow/highlight sliders" checkbox will lock the two sliders together. Moving one slider will set the other slider to the same value.

It's important to note that blocks underwater will still have shading and highlighting applied to them as long as the "Render Blocks Underwater" option is checked. This includes when the "Water Transparency" slider is set to 0%.

Default Options

In the case of missing blocks and biomes, a default action will be taken. Missing biomes will apply the default biome's color to applicable blocks. Missing blocks will be handled in one of two ways: Being colored Magenta, or being completely ignored and having the first block underneathe drawn.

Settings: Pop-ups Tab

The Pop-ups tab contains a handful of options for enabling and disabling various pop-ups:

Show save block file confirmation
Show a confirmation when saving the block list to file.
Show remove block ID confirmation
Show a confirmation whenever removing a block ID.
Show missing block ID warning
Show a warning dialog whenever a missing block ID is found.
Show save biome file confirmation
Show a confirmation when saving the biome list to file.
Show remove biome ID confirmation
Show a confirmation whenever removing a biome ID.
Show missing biome ID warning
Show a warning dialog whenever a missing biome ID is found.

Settings: Preferences Tab

The Preferences tab has a few options for customizing your experience with the program. You can select the default folder to open when selecting a world, selecting an output file, and whether or not you want something to happen when finishing a render.

Default Folders

There are very similar options for selecting the default folder for selecting a world and choosing an output file:

  • Open straight to the last folder used.
  • Open the default Minecraft directory.
  • Select a specific folder to open everytime.

When choosing the last option, a button and textbox will become enabled. Press the button to bring up a folder selector. Navigate to your desired default folder, then press "Open" at the bottom to select it.

Render Finish Action

There are a handful of actions that can happen after a render is completed:

Dont open images automatically after rendering
No action will be taken; the program will only show a completion message at the bottom
Ask to open images after rendering
A dialog will appear and give the option to open the image.
Always open images after rendering
Images will automatically open after rendering has finished.
Ask to open the image's folder after rendering
A dialog will appear and give the option to open the folder containing the image.
Always open the image's folder after rendering
The folder the image is in will automatically open after rendering has finished.

Settings: Memory Tab

The Memory tab has two options for managing memory and performance.

Max Threads

This slider controls the maximum number of threads allowed to run at once. The higher the thread count, the faster the render, but will also use more system resources such as RAM and CPU time.

Max Image Size

This slider limits the size of the image to prevent overly large images from crashing the program. While being rendered, the image is not being compressed - that is to say that the image in memory will not be the same size as the output. Each pixel represents a block and is 4 bytes in size. One chunk equates to one kB, and one region file equates to one MB.

There are not many cases where the image for a normal world will go above one GB. Keep in mind that the map shows ungenerated chunks as black, which still takes up memory. By traveling long distances in the nether, the overworld may have many "islands" of generation that greatly increase the render size.

Blocks

Blocks can be edited by opening the Color Editor window under Config>Block Colors. From this window, you can select a block ID from the dropdown list. Selecting an ID will fill in the color fields on the left side of the page. When the fields change, the preview panel on the right side of the page will update to display the color.

Colors can be edited by either entering a hex code into the "Hex" textbox, or by adjusting each of the three RGB boxes individually. When you are pleased with the new color, press the "Accept" button to confirm the change. Changes are ONLY saved for the session, unless the "Save" button is pressed. Pressing the "Save" button will permanently save all changes to file.

Pressing the "Remove" button will remove a block ID from the list for the rest of the session. A dialog will appear asking for confirmation for the action, which can be disabled in the Settings window. If the "Save" button is pressed after an ID has been removed, the removal will be saved to file.

Adding Blocks

To add a new block ID, open the "New Block ID" window by going to Add>New Block ID. Type in the ID for the new block in the ID textbox, then press "Add" to add it to the list. If the ID already exists, a warning will appear and the ID will not be added.

Please note that this feature is bare bones and still being worked on.

Block Flags

Blocks can be assigned to a flag to affect how it is rendered:

  • Invisible: Blocks will not be drawn
  • Grass: Blocks will be affected by a biome's grass color
  • Foliage: Blocks will be affected by a biome's foliage color
  • Water: Blocks will be affected by a biome's water color

To edit the list of blocks assigned to a certain flag, select the flag from the list on the bottom-left. Selecting a flag will change the list in the top to display all blocks that are assigned to that flag. Click a block from the list, then press the "Remove" button to remove it from that flag. To add a block to the flag, select its ID from the drop down list then press the "Add" button.

Additions and removals will be applied to the current session automatically, and will be reset when the program is closed. To save the changes permanently, press the "Save to File" button.

Biomes

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Adding Biomes

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Bounds Window

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