Nevada's Smoother Coastlines for the Strat Map v1.0 Released!

[Nevada]

Hi there.

Edgy coastlines are something that I was heavily criticised for on my IB 2 map.
I'm currently improving it there and now, with TA released, the coastlines really bother me, since the map is so beautiful, that the coasts are really annoyong (to me) in some places.

KK did a good job and I think he has enough to do even now, so I decided to fix it on my own.

P.S:I'm always pleased to hear opinions

Cheers,
Nevada


Version 1.0: River of Kings

Download Info:

This is version 1.0
It contains all of the work shown in the Screens:
- the mouth of Anduin
- The Long Lake
- The Sea of Rhûn
- The Sea of Nurn
- Umbar
- South Western Coast of Gondor
- Coast of Eriador
- The Grey Havens
- Sea in the West of Annulond
- Coast at Lond Angren
- Coast at Lond Daer
- Anduin River
- repositioned Esgaroth "into" the Long Lake

Install it in the mods folder of your Medieval 2 directory.
This will overwrite the map_heights.tga, map_features.tga, map_regions.tga and the map.rwm file in your Third_Age/data/worls/maps/base directory and descr_strat.txt.

If you want to safe these files, make backups of them.

It is savegame compatible and compatible to Patch 1.1.

Link to v1.0: River of Kings: (sry for the megaupload link, but Filefront didn't sccept the .rar for some reason)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=68NRIIX2

Installation:

Unzip the .rar in your main Medieval 2 directory (usually C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War )


Screens (Updated 6/20/09):

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The Mouth of Anduin:

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Desert Lake in Harad (Sorry, its name didn't come in my mind):

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Sea of Nurn:

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Sea of Rhûn:

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The Long Lake:

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Umbar:

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Southern Gulf of Belfalas:

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Dol Amroth:

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South Western Coast of Gondor:

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-name unknown-

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-name unknown-

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Central Eriador:

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North of the Grey Havens:

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The Grey Havens:

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South of the Grey Havens:

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Damn, forgot to make a screen before smoothing. Sry mates.

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Lond Daer and Lond Angren

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West of Annulond

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Falls of Rauros and Cair Andros:

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Pelargir and Osgiliath:

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Esgaroth - the town in the lake

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[Presbiter]

so mr nevade, good job

ans now pls tell me how you did that, coastlines are one of the most terrible things while mapping, i hate them

[Jean=A=Luc]

I approve of this.

[Radboud]

Great job, I think KK is too busy with improving other stuff for this mod (so your work is appreciated ).

[Nevada]

ans now pls tell me how you did that, coastlines are one of the most terrible things while mapping, i hate them

I thought that, too.
The coasts on my IB2 map were really annoying me and some fans. I'm also the Leader and mapper of a German mod and I wanted to clean up with the mess of coastlines then.

There isn't that much trial and error in it as most people (mappers included) might think.

SignifierOne wrote a nice Tutorial about it here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=241854

He explains the basic concept, but it's still rather complicated and I don't know how to explain it properly, too
TA's map is very "comfortable" for soastline smoothing, since all the coast tiles in map_heights are 1 1 1. So, in 75% of all cases, you can go with 3 colors:
0 0 230 for edges (pixels in the water, they should touch the land only with one corner)
0 0 235 for straight pieces (e.g. between edges or along a normal coastline)
0 0 255 for wateredges that are completely surrounded by land, 0 0 230 and 0 0 235.

Smaller adjustments still have to be made, I had to do so at the Anduin. But, as i said, you should go pretty well with this one.

I approve of this

Thanks.

[Nevada]

@Raboud: That was the reason for starting it.

[Radboud]

@Raboud: That was the reason for starting it.

Yeah, I guess I was stating the obvious.

[Mithrandir]

Looks good. I'll definately download this when it's ready.

[Louis Lux]

I don't mind the coastlines much (it's not too bad), I might use it nonetheless.
The thing that disturbs me is the water, I really don't like it. Could you include a regular water option to your mod?

[weissnicht]

nice Job. +rep for you

[sturmdg]

nice idea. looking forward to this... would rep u if i could

[Nevada]

Could you include a regular water option to your mod?

That's a nice idea.
I actually like the water the way it is, but I shall consider this option.

[jan_boruta]

But, on the other hand, it should remain an OPTION. As I like the new water, and probably I'm not alone

[Nevada]

But, on the other hand, it should remain an OPTION. As I like the new water, and probably I'm not alone

I like it, too. (As i said one post before...)

Edit: Updated 1st post with new Screens.

Edit2: First post updated with download for v0.1

[weissnicht]

nice job. It is Savegame compatible?

[Nevada]

I'm not sure if it is.

Could you start your game and have a look if anything changed in the areas I worked on? Thanks

[Haerski]

Thanks. It definitively looks better even if it's small detail. +rep

[Beorn]

Wonderful work! I can't wait to be finished...+ rep

[weissnicht]

I still thik, it is compatible, but I´m not sure. I had have only a short look. I test it in the evening

[Nevada]

I can say it definitely now:

It is savegame compatible. I started an old Rhûn campaign from yesterday as I hadn't the mod started and the coasts there are the imrpoved ones. Everything should work fine.

@Haerski and Beorn of Carrok: Thanks, more is sure to come!