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Which is the best map making soft for a newbie mapper?

I've been trying Dragon and mapgenerator 2 and have had much problems with transitions.(maybe due to the fact I haven't found a tutorial on mapgen yet)
Are we supposed to do them by hand using worldforge?

Is there any way to get clean ones without using pixel by pixel modifications?

Is there any soft that allow one to get a clean (just to be filled with buildings and spawns) map from a bmp file?

Well Johan, forst of all the 'best' software is more matter of opinion than anything.

Dragon has limitations to transitions, being it can only handle 2-way type. That means you have to finish a lot of transitions with World Forge, or other type of Map Editor.

Map Generator does not have these limitations, but it also is still being developed, so the overall functionality is not quite complete. It is however, very much usable in its current shape.

If you want the opinion of the better tool to use from long term map makers, (or at least this one) then the choice would be to stick with Map Generator. It is not far along from being the best map making tool yet.

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I still don't grasp all these people coming out of the woodwork that just started their first map but are already up to the compiling stage.
Anywho....as Dian said transitions are not finished for mapgenerator. It is still a work in progress. Dragon is pretty much done. There are some more transitions that could be written but you aren't going to see another mod for Dragon (at least not out of me).

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Silly Stormcrow, doesn't everybody draw something super quick and sloppy and compile it to see what it looks like, then go back and try again for real?

In fact I have been trying those softs in order to be ready when the true work on the map will begin.

I'm glad to join a community which has worked for the developpement of easy to use mapping solutions.

I've been working as a consultant for geomarketing for a year and now trying to creaye a brand new world for an uo shard.

In fact the reason why I started to compile was more about knowing what was the work to do in front of me rather than doing a fast map...

Thank you for your answers, but I still have a question about mapgen:

Is there anywhere a tutorial for this, either in english, french or german?
I've understood the concept of making altitude and terrain draft, but about the way people get better results with it than with dragon is still out of my comprehension

Dragon has made better coast than mapgen which is rather surprising...

Not yet, but I understand one is on the "to do" list. If no one else steps up, I'll write one once all the transitions are done.

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Thanks

Maybe if I did a step by step explanation of what I'm doing could it be helpful to get the mistakes I've done highlighted and perhaps would it be an help to write this tutorial?

I will post my step by step method to my test map tonight or tomorrow.

Better coasts in Dragon? Are you kidding? Make sure you have the latest scripts. Also it is very important to note that you need to delete the old transition folder before you unzip the new ones. I have done a lot of renaming and changing orders and if you just overwrite the data you aren't going to get the right results.
See my post on the news page about the coastlines, if you are getting different results then you don't have the latest data.

No tutorials currently. Although much that pertains to UOL also pertains here. Certain things from Dragon still need to be followed, particularly 2 tiles wide minimum of a terrain. No single tiles sticking out anywhere.

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You were right for the soft Storm

Now my coast are far better!

Two more questions...

Is the tutorial about caves still useable with mapgenerator, even if it was designed for dragon?

And are the transition for grass to mountain limited to a minimum high of the mountain? Should my mountains be higher than 20 to not have the ability to go on them? And how do you get blocking transitions for a difference beetween two grass?

You cannot walk on mountains at any altitude.

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No, none of the old tutorials really apply anymore.
The cave one for sure. You can actually paint your mountain caves now.
You paint an area of mountain, then mountain cave where the cave should be, and a cave entrance at the mountain edge (at least 2x3, 3x5 is about average). Mapgenerator will do the rest. Bear in mind the entrance scripts are not finished.

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