Creating a World – Basic mapping from scratch

[Hrobatos]

tnx for the flag!!

[Vukodlak]

ok so I have followed your tutorial and have become stuck a bit here.

I have been using a different map...as in not your Iceland.gif but one of the area I'm more interested in (Croatia and surroundings)...and to re-size it to your default is impossible...or at least without having to distort the overall geography or loosing strips of land that are quite dear to me.

Questions:

I know that for the Iceland map your descr_terrain.txt file has the appropriate dimensions but how can I tweak the overall for maps of different proportions?
Does this matter in the sense of:
are the dimensions in the .txt file arbitrary and if so what are some parameters that i should think about for my desired map size (like walking distances and such)?

thx in advance.

[Gigantus]

to resize a map properly you need to set it to 'indexed' (GIMP) or 'nearest pixel?' (Photoshop). that way you avoid distortions that will crash the map.
Afterward simply set it back to RGB.

[Vukodlak]

to resize a map properly you need to set it to 'indexed' (GIMP) or 'nearest pixel?' (Photoshop). that way you avoid distortions that will crash the map.
Afterward simply set it back to RGB.

No thats not what I was asking asking...or maybe it is I dont know...
...sry, must be a bad case of my english as 3rd language stuff...

in the descr_terrain.txt file, that according to your instructions has these parameters:
"dimensions
{
width 225
height 250
}
heights
{
min_sea_height -3122.256
max_land_height 7511.272
}
roughness
{
min 50.000
max 200.000
}
fractal
{
multiplier 0.500
}
lattitude
{
min 22.000
max 56.000
}"
.
are these values arbitrary?
or are they somehow hardwired in the coding for having a playable map?

I am guessing that if the values are not (hardwired) that it would it be possible to have larger or smaller values than the ones shown here...and respectively have a bigger (or smaller) map than that one from your example of 2xsize+1= 451x501 pixels.

Would a map bigger than that work?

[Gigantus]

As I explained in the tutorial, only these figures are of interest for basic mapping:

width 225
height 250

You can change\adjust these numbers, the maximum value would be 510 for width and 510 for height.
After that apply the correct sizes to all map files.

I will check the tutorial and if necessary add this information.

[Vukodlak]

As I explained in the tutorial, only these figures are of interest for basic mapping:



You can change\adjust these numbers, the maximum value would be 510 for width and 510 for height.
After that apply the correct sizes to all map files.

I will check the tutorial and if necessary add this information.

Ive looked and looked and couldn't find a reference to it...maybe i have an earlier version of the tutorial or something.

Anyways, thanks for the tutorial!!! and your hands on help!!

...i am now just dreading my map...outlining the Croatian coast and islands!!!...not to mention the heights on that sucker.

[Gigantus]

Maybe try the Online Mapper from Worldwind.

That will give you a good template. You can play around with the various settings like borders, city names and the like and get a map that can be used for heights.

In the example picture, you could take two screenshots:

1. Removing 'Topography' (and update) would give you an easy to work with map_feature template
2. Removing 'Rivers' and 'Waterbodies' (and update) would give you an easy to work with map_heights template

IMPORTANT!! Save the screenshots in TGA format, else the colors will "smudge"

And my apologies, I did not mention in detail the width and height in this tutorial, it was a different tutorial of mine. Updated the old document here and uploaded it as PDF.

[Vukodlak]

ok this was my reaction when I saw the tool...

HOLY CRAP THAT IS SO MUCH EASIER!!!!!!....

LOL

thanks dude youdaamaaaaaan.

[Gigantus]

One is glad to be of service

[Tar-Narcano]

hi,
firstly thank you for the excellent tutorial!
Unfortunately an error occurs when I try to start the campaign.

The system log says:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

17:39:36.781 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
17:39:36.781 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Feb 25 2008 version development ===
17:39:36.781 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
17:39:36.781 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
17:39:36.781 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
17:39:36.781 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
17:39:36.781 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
17:39:36.781 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack
17:40:02.500 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/HersbruckTW/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 64, column 43
trying to make lesser character named character the faction leader. Only named characters please.
17:40:02.500 [system.rpt] [error] Uh oh. This isn't good. No idea why, but exiting now. Sorry pal.

I copied exactly what you wrote in the tut, except, that I have a different map and so have different coordinates.

Could you please help me with my little problem?

greetings

[Gigantus]

there is something wrong with a character in your descr_strat. Looks like you are trying to make a spy or priest the faction leader. Check line 64 - that certainly wasn't in my tutorial.

[Tar-Narcano]

I'm sorry, but I cannot find the mistake. It seems coorect for me, but maybe you know what to do:

line 64:
character William, named character, male, leader, age 40, x 51, y 33

I added my descr_strat.txt as an attachment.

[Gigantus]

Not sure: you have got a space and then a tab after character and before William, same with the french character. And there is no entry for the slave faction at the bottom of the fila.

[Tar-Narcano]

It was the space. Didn't know that this is important. Thanks!
What do you mean when you say a entry for the slave faction is missing? Settlements and characters?

[Gigantus]

Just the basic entry:

faction slave, balanced smith
ai_label slave_faction
denari 5000
denari_kings_purse 500

You need an entry like that for every faction that is listed at the top.

[Blablahead]

When I download it, all I get is a text document filled with a bunch of gibberrish. What am I doing wrong?

[Gigantus]

The gibberish is a PDF file. It requires Acrobat Reader or a similar reader. You could try Foxit Reader 3.0

[Blablahead]

Yeah I have Adobe Reader and when I use that to open it, it says:

Adobe Reader could not open "File Name" because it is not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged.

EDIT: Nvm, it was a problem with my .rar extractor, which I have solved.

Thanks for your help.

[Gigantus]

Glad you got it fixed.
One is glad to be of service

[Rafael_Brasil]

;X Sorry..I Dont have enough english to doing this..i stop in page 3 ;X


Only exists this tutorial?