The World Map Community Project

[Ketzerfreund]

Umm... WarriorOne, campaign_map_playable_areas is supported by the Pack File Manager, so you don't need to wade through the file in hex.
And indeed, 'tis an interesting file; it has those two columns of true/false values that may be the key for opening up the trade theatres for true colonization. Of course, those areas would also need their own proper *_lookup.tga files...

[Dud doodoo]

Any luck?

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

From what I saw lookups only changed my hud. I simply just took the America lookup and edited the color for georgia_usa to actually match more what today's Georgia territory is like. It showed up prim and proper in the radar.

[Ketzerfreund]

Umm... Huh? There are no colours displayed in the game but the ones of the factions... Could you clarify, please? Or, even better, a screenshot?

[Jones King]

europe_lookup.tga in the campaign maps folder governs the colors and map of the radar on the campaign map.



As you can see I changed the shape of Denmark to a sharp angle and changed the size of Prussia's Brandenburg territory all the way up in Denmark. The campagn map however is not effected by this change. Only the radar map

[Takeda♔Shingen]

@ketz
Just has creat a great ESF. editor..now more easy understand how make new faction swiss or more add city..look on modding tools.




no crash but i need know how can move poland-lit. unit from this city to maybe warz. city.
have add west prussia to prussia..but in game poland still own there city..think coz poland unit is still in this city..need move unit from west prussia..hopefuly!

[Ketzerfreund]

Just wanted to post that, too.
Here's the link again for everyone: EsfEditor.

Have taken a look into regions.esf. Highly interesting. Will experiment on that. If Switzerland is to be unlocked, some of it's dense forest has to be turned into light forest to clear some paths through the area.

But I'll also take a look at startpos.esf now. It's just as relevant, after all.

As you can see I changed the shape of Denmark to a sharp angle and changed the size of Prussia's Brandenburg territory all the way up in Denmark. The campagn map however is not effected by this change. Only the radar map.

Hmm. Bugger. But thanks to the EsfEditor we might find ways in regions.esf to do more.
I still don't get what you and GeorgiaPeanuts tell about "colours on the radar map". It's faction colours displayed there, after all. I think if the lookup tgas don't change anything about the campaigh map as such, colours are at least used for region naming according to ..db\regions_tables\regions; there you can see how the region names are listed with the rgb values of the colours used in the lookup files.


Well, well... The access we have to regions.esf now at least takes us a step further regarding region editing, if not mapping as such (except for terrain, at least). All this stuff does not help us with creating new landmasses, yet, what this project is primarily about...

We'll see...

[Errabundi]

Finally we can change something IN the game! Thanks guys!

[Takeda♔Shingen]

george has add scotland but he try still with royal family etc LOL
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=242397

[Jones King]

I've made changes with regions, ownership and so on. I'll post a preview when get I home again.

[Jones King]

Ok succeeded in adding province and ownership to a new country.



as you can the map shows me that Denmark owns the province estonia, but if you have been watching this thread you would know that doesnt mean that you control it ingame, let alone have ownersip of it ingame.

but, this can be solved by changing some ID's and then you'll end up with this:



I now control and own that settlement and region. Yes there's a swedish army present but thats easy to remove

[Ketzerfreund]

YES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!
I'VE ERRED!

So, you may ask, why am I so happy about the fact that I was wrong?
As the regular contributors and readers in this thread may remember, I've met the assumption that the campaign map might be a huge puzzle of models. Those many *.rigid_mesh files made me think that.

I WAS WRONG! HURRAY!

Now, I've just tested something on a whim. Also, it struck me that noone had actually tried that so far - or at least didn't tell about it (which would be bad! ).
In post #8 on page 1 of this thread I had shown a downsized ..\data\heightmaps\default.tga.

Well, look what happens if you paint around in it:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So.

The question remains, however: What are those *.rigid_mesh files for? Will editing of the heightmap suffice, or will we still have to model the coastlines, as all those filenames (see page 2) suggest?

And how do we get rid of all those "over-parchmented" terrae incognitae, so that added landmasses in the heightmap can actually be seen in-game?

[TTorpedo]

Great finding!

[occer]

Can't wait for this project to reach its potential.

[Ketzerfreund]

I'm just happy that at least not the whole world map is made up of models. We do have that heightmap to shape the relief of the landmasses.

However:
The coastlines are models, or at least small meshes that outline the continents. You can't reshape the coasts via the heightmap. Tried that. If you paint the heightmap completely black, you'll still end up with the usual landmasses and coasts - it's just that they will be totally flat.

I'd like to widen the Strait Of Gibraltar a wee bit so that a random fleet positioned there can't block everyone, even the ones it's faction isn't at war with... That will be a nice place to experiment on.

[CDMan477]

Good to see the proress here guys. I've been reading this since day one considering I personally won't consider this game complete till South American, African, and East Indian colonies are adequately represented in the game.(yeah, giant gold anchors don't work for me)

I'd like to widen the Strait Of Gibraltar a wee bit so that a random fleet positioned there can't block everyone, even the ones it's faction isn't at war with... That will be a nice place to experiment on.

Isn't that the point of the zones of control for armies and navies. Considering the limitations of a turn based engine, it limits the ai and player alike from simply sailing through the channel even if literally protected by numerous fleets.

[Ketzerfreund]

The problem is that there is one position in the strait, the small narrow gap that has the landbridge on top of it, where a neutral faction can put a fleet and nobody can pass just because the campaign model of the fleet takes all the spare room. This has nothing to do with the influence zones. It's just that there's "physically" no room for two fleets pasing each other.

[harshman_chris]

I have great hopes for this project, because my project requires the ability to make a new campaign map, I don't think I need to say which one, it should be clear, lol.

Good Luck

[CDMan477]

The problem is that there is one position in the strait, the small narrow gap that has the landbridge on top of it, where a neutral faction can put a fleet and nobody can pass just because the campaign model of the fleet takes all the spare room. This has nothing to do with the influence zones. It's just that there's "physically" no room for two fleets pasing each other.

Oh, ok I misunderstood you. I thought you wanted to physically move Britain north. Yes you're right, although it hasn't happened to me yet, I always did say to myself that the gap between ne France and se Britain could potentially cause a congestion. What do you hope to do. Simply remove some of the land making the gap and extra ship or two larger? Move Britain slightly nw? Britain seems disproportionately large compared to the mainland to begin with.

[Ketzerfreund]

Umm... CDMan... The Strait Of Gibraltar... That's between Spain and Morocco.


But making Britain smaller might be a good exercise to get acquainted with the mapping system. Think about all the settlements and towns/ports that would have to be moved accordingly, including the region's outlines...

Having done that once - given we've figured out how, that is - will help everyone who is interested in doing campaign mapping in the future become fluent with the work.