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[agracier]

OK, so I have downloaded and installed Java on that computer and have now successfully completed the Manan tutorial (YAY!!!), so one speed bump out of the way just for another to arise. My plan to use the heightmaps from the editor of Bf1942 has hit a small snag in that they are saved in .raw format....well, gimp doesnt do that....I am 95% sure I have seen the heightmap as a picture before.....perhaps with photoshop? Going to have to dig that out from where ever its hiding and install that too (woohoo....)

... find a program that can convert a .raw file and then save it as a bmp or jpg or whatever strikes your fancy. Bmp is large in size, but it is a lossless format if I'm not mistaken ... or something like that ... then you can start working on the files ...

As fr airfields, you can of course make them whatever length you wish. The only thing you have to consider is what you wish to achieve: historicity, arcade action or some kind of fantasy thing ... it's of no consequence if you're making a map for yourself ...

As a tip it might be best just to make a simple one island map first, get it working so that it's flyable and you get to know the pitfalls ... then do the project you've in mind ....

[Phoenix9491]

I have actually, using the heightmap from BF1942 actually worked quite well, have to use the smudge/darken/ligthen tools some to refine the edges, but overall suprisingly good....i will upload the test map soon

[Phoenix9491]

Currently having a problem with my bridges.... The Ramos don't seem to want to be on land....

[agracier]

Currently having a problem with my bridges.... The Ramos don't seem to want to be on land....

Bridges that are game generated are an awful mess to make properly ... apparently they need to done over water that is situated at 0 meters height ... and in many maps that just isn't the case.

So best is to leave bridges for the time being ... concentrate on others aspects of map making ...

[Phoenix9491]

Ah, ok, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it in the sense of terrain and placing roads/objects, and some with the tiles, however, where is the texture located that is usedin cities/towns with the roads and such?

[agracier]

Ah, ok, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it in the sense of terrain and placing roads/objects, and some with the tiles, however, where is the texture located that is usedin cities/towns with the roads and such?

you can place urban/village textures in any slot you wish except the woods RGB24/26 and the water slots rgb 30/31 ... it matters not one whit ... all you have to make sure is that the texture slot you wish to use to assign village/town/urban textures accords with the linked rgb value ...

Now traditionally, rgb 16/17/18/19 are reserved for village/urban/industrial textures ... the names say it ... but that's just tradition ...

But you have to understand that the slots and therefore the rgb values of the pixels will simply refer to the texture assigned to them ...

Just make sure that you work your map_t in layers, one layer per rgb value - so that you can move layers up or down as needs be, change them easily, make extra layers for same rgb values if needs be ... and make sure you know what each layer is supposed to represent in the scheme of your map ...

[Phoenix9491]

Ah I see, it is odd though that several of the textures in the list come out the same when applied (city and town 1-3, and a couple others all come out as a sort of dirt/rock texture)

[agracier]

Ah I see, it is odd though that several of the textures in the list come out the same when applied (city and town 1-3, and a couple others all come out as a sort of dirt/rock texture)

You've got to be very careful when merging/flattening all the different layers into a single layer tga file ... if the rgb values of pixels, for whatever reason, start to fall outside the normal range of the load.ini values, then you're going to get all kinds of weird results.

And you've also got to careful that you maintain the correct rgb values when placing pixels by brush as well ...

Check that all pixels point to the correct line in the load.ini as well. If you have unassigned rgb values, the the game engine starts to look for other textures to use as replacement and then you get ugly results ...

For instance, if you have some rgb 7 pixels on the map, but no texture assigned to mid3 in the load.ini, then the game will start using other textures to fill in the mid3/rgb 7 pixels ... but not always with good results ...

[Phoenix9491]

Ah, I see

[agracier]

Also, now that I think of it, you have to be careful there are no transparent pixels on map_t either.

A good way to avoid this is by using the layers method, whereby the bottom layer for map_T is rgb 0 which is assigned to low0 in the load.ini. This layer then covers all land areas on a map, so that every bit of land gets a working rgb value.

Then with subsequent layer (low1 / low2 etc ..) you start to paint in smaller parts of the map, but because of the placement order of the layers, when merged the higher layers will cover the lower layers.

Sometimes it's very useful to make a layer in map_t using the height map, map_h ... this can be turned on or off according to what you are doing. It is useful when you wish to paint terrain according to height - say paint over mountain ridges with a particular texture or fill in river valleys or swamps ... Map_H helps in correctly placing hand painted pixels ...

Here's a screencap showing how the HEIGHT layer (which is a copy of map_H) is activated and on top of which woods rgb 24 layer is being painted ... all other layers are off.

When merging the layers to make map_t, HEIGHT layer is turned off ...

[Phoenix9491]

Thanks, quite helpful

[Phoenix9491]

just in case anyone is still following this, an update

have built the map and all, now just getting down to making the towns and such and texturing, quite a tedious process at times!
probably should look into getting one of the autopops that i've seen around for my towns and such
with making some of the airfields and docks however, I've hit an interesting problem, idk if i'm doing something wrong or what, i go to copy it to make my life a little easier on the lonnng runways and dock areas but when i right click and paste......nothing....i can right click and unselect all, but no objects appear and there doesnt seem to be any reaction at all when i click paste....is there something more to it than just right click copy, right click paste?

i will try to post some screens before too long of the progress made
general specs, the map is a bit over 800kmx800km, island chain running from SW corner to NE, 4 major islands, and numerous smaller barrier islands, 26 airfields (if i am remembering correctly), 5 (?) of which are seaplane fields, 3 or 4 of the airfields have up to 3km runways for heavily laden heavies and/or large flights to take off, 3-4 medium-large sized cities and about 6 or so smaller towns


ps whats a reccomended site to post screens on to then post here?