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[Vitamine!]

After studying Kevin_P's nice tutorials and working on an own map called "Northwestpoland" (including Warsaw/Warszawa) I still have some problems. One problem:

After making map_T not with the treshold of 255 to 255 for beachlines, I have black areas at all watersides - using a treshold of 127/128 to 255 (default). Trying to slow down the treshold to value 1/2/3, etc. to 255 don't solve the problem completely. Also experimenting with interpolation methods (no, linear, cubic) of scaling down map_T to its appropriate size had no success.

Please mates, help me solving those problems. I found no solution in any map_T theme, I found on web. I guess, it's a very easy thing, solving this problem - but I don't concieve the idea
Please, if any of you know, what I do wrong, please tell me what it is.

best regards
dumpti

[Vitamine!]

Okay, I wrote down the problem, like tabbycat suggested. I will post it here, maybe my problem becomes a bit clearer:

Making with GIMP v.2.8

Mapmaking problem --> black areas at waterlines

The problem: Map has instead of absent beaches at waterlines, black areas.

Problem anamnesis: Changing entries of the load.ini to test some UP 3 textures: [WOOD (0-4)], [FIELDS (city3, water0)]. Next, making a new map_T.tga with default treshold for deleting all beaches as base for experimentations with layers to make beaches on coastlines only.

Problem behavior while debugging: It does no matter how I made new map_T files, neither with default treshold (127 to 255) nor with "beach-treshold" 255 to 255, the black areas on waterlines don't want to go. As well as with any other treshold value. Some worked better, some worse.
Different interpolation methods by skaling the file to its appropriate size did not work.
There seem to be no way to make a beachless map, only by using the original map_T.tga with the older load.ini (see above).

By making the whole map new (making new basic files: map_c, map_T, map_h, etc) using the new load.ini it works! There are no beaches. But when I now make a map_T there with beaches, the black areas are back. Not until I change the new load.ini with the older one, then beaches work 

Upshot: I made 2 folders for my map: The original NothernPoland folder and a reference folder "northernPoland2".

Original folder: In the original folder I have black areas on waterlines by using a newer load.ini (see at anamnesis) together with a new map_T without beaches. When giving back the older load.ini, it works, when beaches are at map_T (giving back original map_T).
Reference folder: The reference folder uses a new map_T without beaches and the newer load.ini and it works! When making a map_T with beaches,
it has the black areas, too! Until I give then the older load.ini.

Assumption: ?

[Avala]

Hi, dumpty

The problem: Map has instead of absent beaches at waterlines, black areas.

Do you have applied textures for that area in your map T? Are your map T and map C matching exactly? Do you have applied values for textures for water and beaches on your map T?  That is usually the values for Water 0, 1 or 3.

[Vitamine!]

Hi Avala

Thank you for reply! You helped me finding the problem with your suggestions. In fact, there are two of them as follows:

First:

Indeed, the entries of beaches in the load.ini were altered by myself, unknowingly what this really do. My intention was/is to change the pazific-fighter look. Before altering this section of the load.ini was:

Water0 = water/MTO_Beach_Fields.tga,2
Water1 = water/water.tga
Water2 = water/CoralCoastLine.tga
Water3 = water/MTO_Beach_Fields.tga,2

This is the default of Kevin P's tutorial-load.ini I use as base for the future, final load.ini.

After altering, it looks like that:

Water0   = water/water.tga   
Water1   = water/water.tga
Water2   = land/summer/mount.tga
Water3   = land/Pacific/Okinawa.tga,2

I used uzins artwork "eastern baltic" map as master and copied its entries for water.

Second:

Indeed, I have a problem of fitting between map C and map T. I will show you this by some pictures, I made for you. Enlarge the pics by clicking on it:

Here, the template vor map C and map T unblured. (It shows some lakes in Kashubia):



and blured:



and the prestage of map T (MyMap_c after shrinking to map_T size with linear interpolation method, like Kevin P. teaches):



Now, you will see, when I use the selection of color tool with treshold 0 to give land color 0 0 0 and water color 28 28 28 (I skate over the color treshold for beaches, because it does no matter), there is no exact fitting by picking up white (it's similar with picking up black for water):



so, map T is becoming this after finishing the steps:





I can say, both, map C and map T doesn't fit. Okay... is the solution fiddling around with the treshold of the picking up by color tool? Or does there exist a trick to do it more compactly and especially specificly?

[Avala]

If I understood you correctly, the problem now is solved, but you are asking how to better align the maps?

There is Coast Align Tool

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,6105.0.html


for aligning the maps, although I am not sure if the tool works for map T. I had no problem with map aligning with my maps because I made my maps from the scratch with Microdem and photoshop. But, just to be sure I did made textures in map T little bit larger then it must be according to map C.

For example, if you have river or lake coast and you need beaches around them, make the space for their textures on map T one pixel bigger then they are. So that textures covers more area, just in case. There is no way that you can set textures in IL2 very precisely (except by hand in some cases)

That is, if I understood you correctly.

[Vitamine!]

Yes and no ^_^

We found the problem, this is true. But not the solution in detail. As you can see here http://www.pic-upload.de/view-17318014/pic5.jpg.html I found no real satisfying technique how to avoid the white-grey space around the lakes which caused the problem by using the "select by color-tool".

Coast-aligning makes no problem ingame I know and use the coast-align tool.

I will fiddling a little bit around how to pick up rivers and lakes as exactly as it is needed on map_T, avoiding the "huge beach" problem (or, when I make nonsense with load.ini, the black area problem).

Maybe you have an idea, how to pick inland waters more exactly on map_T to give them watercolor?

When I now, how to do it, I will post a picture, flying over the kashubian lake dictrict.

[Vitamine!]

Now, I found a solution! I am very glad now. 

I did the following:

1. Open MyMap_c.tga --> scale down to quarter size with linear interpolation.

2. Choose "Tools" on menue bar and choosing the treshold there. Set from 127 to 255, to 255 to 255.

3. Pick up all black color with the "select by color" tool, (shrink its treshold to 0 before using) und press ctrl+c

4. Open a new layer above and press ctrl+v when it's selected.

5. Choose the rubber with option "hard edges" (I don't know, what it is called in English ^_^ perhaps it has another name) and delete all inlandwaters or what ever you like. I shrinked the opacity of the new layer down to 50 percent for having a better visibility, when editing the coastline (maybe when you want, that not the whole coast shall have beaches).

6. Now, set the oppacity from the new layer of 100 % again and melt the two layers to one. Save as map_T.tga without RLE-compression as usual.

[mandrill]

dumpti,

First of all, I cannot see your screenies because of advertising plastered all over the centre of the monitor screen on that upload site. Why don't you use photobucket?

Second, I have mismatch problems with map_t and map_c all the time. Simply manually click another texture onto the black area in your FMB. The black area is simply area that hasn't been covered with a land texture and all you have to do is manually apply the land texture and you cover the black area.

[Uzin]

dumpti,
First of all, I cannot see your screenies because of advertising plastered all over the centre of the monitor screen on that upload site. Why don't you use photobucket?

The same here. 

[Vitamine!]

Oh, I cannot see any advertising by this pic-hoster 

Yes, I will use photobucket, then

In an half hour, I willshow it

[Vitamine!]

Here some Impressions of the solution. Rivers and lakes aren't on sealevel. They are on its nature hight.

Hel Peninsula


future Gdynia/Gdingen


future Danzig/Gdansk


Kahubian Lakes (sample)


Kashubian Lakes II (sample)


Obra Lake District (unfinished)

[Uzin]

Hi, dumpti,
the problem with pics is also in your Reply#3 above. It is obviously because you are registered on that site and we others are not.
At photobucket, you can also give us small pictures, not only these large ones.

To the rivers in their natural height: it is nice, but how you will place there bridges : Those of default Il2 are all positioned at sea level, those modded, which may be placed in natural level, do not allow the trains or cars to cross the rivers.