DXMap is a 2D graphical engine. It is a versatile and applicable tool that serves both static and moving representations. In particular the representation of maps in strategy games is supported (top down perspective). DXMap uses DirectX starting from version 7 for an efficient graphical display. A direct use of the DirectX interface becomes redundant by DXMap. A condition for the use of DXMap is the installation of DirectX starting from version 7. It was actually tested with DirectX 9. DirectX can be downloaded from the Microsoft Website (http://www.microsoft.com).
DXMap provides the following graphical solutions, which also can be switched off alternatively:
1. Graphic representation of any size, which can be viewed completely with a scrolling mechanism.
2. Composition of several pictures with transparent ranges, that form a new picture as an overlay.
3. Representation of sequences, which result in a kind of film by being successively indicated.
4. Movement of bitmaps over the map area with an automatic representation of the way.
5. Distinction between fore- and background, so that first has the priority before the latter.
6. Evaluation of mouse messages.
7. Beside graphical representations also texts and lines can be displayed.