New since the last feeble attempt to provide this service (namely version 1.0):
Iconz4Maps now uses the scriptable Finder that is part of System 7.5. This means that new icons appear immediately, without having to do any manual pushups like closing and opening folders.
Entire folders containing map files can now be given custom icons, just drag the desired container onto the Iconz4Maps icon.
Holding the option key down while dragging a file or folder will cause Iconz4Maps to remove any existing custom icons.
Lots of guuumps in the manual icon creation (the old way that doesn't use the scriptable Finder) code have been eliminated, especially those that made it seem to be incompatible with RAMDoubler. It still could be, I don't use CrashDou...err, RAMDoubler myself, and haven't tested it.
The up-sides:
This is a simple drag-and-drop application that creates custom icons for Bolo map files based on the terrain of the map. It has almost no interface, and will just quit if you double-click the application file--you have to drag map file icons onto the application icon. Because it is a drag-and-drop, it requires Sys. 7. A 68020 or better CPU is also required. Best of all, its free.
Iconz4Maps is "Accelerated for Power Macintosh." It is a "fat binary," so it will work on both 68000 and Power Macs.
The icons made always fill the entire icon boxes (32x32 and 16x16 pixels), and certain terrain is not figured in the calculation that determines the square around the map for the new icon--namely, start squares and shallow water. If your map has lettering or other terrain that is really not part of the island on which the game will be played, it will be part of the icon (sorry, no way around this).
The down-sides:
As mentioned above, if you don't have the scriptable Finder, a new custom icon may not be visible immediately because the Finder caches the information it uses to draw folders. A solution is to close the folder containing the map files with the new icons, and then reopen the folder. The new icons should now be visible. The brute-force way to make the Finder display them is to restart your Macintosh, but this should not be really be necessary.
Custom file icons require six separate icons added to the file that total 2240 bytes, plus a minimum of 430 bytes overhead (the resource map). These can easily be three times the typical size of about 1000 bytes for a small map. Also, because the Finder has to look up from disk the icon for each map the first time a folder is displayed, it can slow down the display significantly. If a folder contains more than a couple dozen files with custom icons, the time required can be very long.
Legal mumbo-jumbo:
Iconz4Maps is free, but I retain all copyrights. It may be freely distributed as long as this document is distributed also. It may NOT be sold commercially or distributed for a fee, alone, or as part of a collection of software.
Please send comments, bug reports, complaints, etc. to:
