Tutorial: How To Add a New Climate:
- You will need (V) Vercingetorix's PAK Extractor and (A) Alpaca's Strings.Bin Converter to access these files.
1. First, gather up the files needed. Here's your shopping list:
· ../data/descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt (V)
· ../data/descr_climates.txt (V)
· ../data/descr_climates_lookup.txt (V)
· ../data/text/climates.txt (A)
· ../data/world/maps/base/map_climates.tga
· ../data/world/maps/base/map_ground_types.tga
2. Now, open descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt and add your new climate to the bottom. Mine, for example, was:
Code:
climate frozen_arctic
{
cultivated_low snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
cultivated_medium snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
cultivated_high snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
fertility_low snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
fertility_medium snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
fertility_high snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
forest_dense snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
forest_sparse snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
hills snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
mountains_high snow_thick.tga snow_mountain.tga
mountains_low snow_thick.tga snow_mountain.tga
swamp snow_thick.tga arctic.tga
beach beach.tga
scorched scorched.tga
impassable_land impassable_land.tga
impassable_sea impassable_sea.tga
}
The codename of your new climate zone, i.e. - frozen_arctic
Ground type specified in ../data/world/maps/base/map_ground_types.tga
*Ground type texture used in Summer strat map
*Ground type used in Winter strat map
*Notes:
- These tga's can be found in ..\data\terrain\aerial_map\ground_types\ so you can choose which you want to use.
- When setting your summer/winter texture, if you only set summer's that will used for both summer and winter.
i.e.:
3. Now open descr_climates.txt. First, add your new climate to bottom of the list at the very top, for example:
Code:
climates
{
mediterranean
sandy_desert
rocky_desert
unused1
steppe
temperate_deciduous_forest
temperate_coniferous_forest
unused2
highland
alpine
tropical
semi_arid
arctic
frozen_arctic
}
Now add your climate section to the very bottom of the file, for example:
Code:
climate frozen_arctic
{
colour 207 132 255
heat 2
winter
strategy summer sparse_tree conifer_a_winter.cas 7
strategy summer dense_tree conifer_a_impassable_winter.cas 6
strategy summer canopy conifer_a_canopy_winter.cas 15
strategy winter sparse_tree conifer_a_winter.cas 7
strategy winter dense_tree conifer_a_impassable_winter.cas 6
strategy winter canopy conifer_a_canopy_winter.cas 15
battle_vegetation
dense_forest highland_dense_forest_win
dense_scrub highland_dense_scrub_win
battle_winter_vegetation
dense_forest highland_dense_forest_win
dense_scrub highland_dense_scrub_win
env_map data/battlefield/envmaps/grass.dds
}
The codename of your new climate zone, i.e. - frozen_arctic
The unique RGB color that will declare your new climate in ..\data\world\maps\base\map_climates.tga
The effect (fatigue) value your climate will have on armored units. Ranges from 0-4, with zero being no effect at all.
The summer/winter tree models used in the specified ground types (sparse trees, dense trees)
I'm not sure what these numbers are for at the moment.
This specifies the vegetation models used on a summer battle map.
This specifies the vegetation models used on a winter battle map.
4. Now open descr_climates_lookup.txt and add your new climate code name to the bottom of the list, for example:
Code:
mediterranean
sandy_desert
rocky_desert
unused1
steppe
temperate_deciduous_forest
temperate_coniferous_forest
unused2
highland
alpine
tropical
volcanic
semi_arid
frozen_arctic
5. Now open climates.txt and add your new climate code name and *in-game display name to the bottom of the list, for example:
Code:
{alpine}Alpine
{highland}Highland
{mediterranean}Mediterranean
{rocky_desert}Rocky Desert
{sandy_desert}Sandy Desert
{semi_arid}Semi-arid
{steppe}Steppe
{temperate_coniferous_forest}Temperate Coniferous Forest
{temperate_deciduous_forest}Temperate Deciduous Forest
{tropical}Tropical
{volcanic}Volcanic
{frozen_arctic}Frozen Arctic
*Notes:
- I'm not sure where the in-game display name for a climate is used during play, but you should go ahead and put this in anyways.
6. Now open map_climates.tga and add your new climate RGB to your map where you wish it to be used on the strat map. The strat map tree models and battle map tree/vegetation models you specified in descr_climates.txt will be displayed in the areas you paint in with your new RGB color.
7. Finally, open up map_ground_types.tga and add in the ground types where you wish them to be displayed in the strat map. The .tga textures you specified in descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt will be displayed where you paint your ground textures, depending upon the type used. Use this portion of Myrddraal's excellent mapping guide to select what ground types to use and where:
Code:
map_ground_types.tga
- This is where you set the textures for your campaign map (i.e. Fertile, desert etc). There are 14 different ground types defined using different RGB values. The dimensions of this file should be twice the size of map_regions.tga + 1 pixel
The RGB values are:
Fertile Low - Grey-Blue (0, 128, 128)
Fertile Medium - Light Green (96, 160, 64)
Fertile High - Olive (101, 124, 0)
Wilderness - Black (0, 0, 0)
Mountains High - Light Brown (196, 128, 128)
Mountains Low - Brown (98, 65, 65)
Hills - Olive-Brown (128, 128, 64)
Forest Dense - Dark Green (0, 64, 0)
Forest Sparse - Green (0, 128, 0)
Swamp - Bright Green (0, 255, 128)
Ocean - Dark Maroon (64, 0, 0)
Sea Deep - Dark Red (128, 0, 0)
Sea Shallow - Red (196, 0, 0)
Beach - White (0, 0, 0)
Impassable Desert? - Grey (64, 64, 64)
Now, fire your map up and take a look. You should see your new climate zone in the area you added it to. Hardcore mappers can design their own .tga ground textures to use in your new climate zone. Put them in ..\data\terrain\aerial_map\ground_types\ and reference them in descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt. Hopefully this tutorial will help. Thanks again to all who helped me figure this one out. Special thanks to Vercingetorix and Alpaca for their excellent tools and Myrddraal for his invaluable mapping guide.