Ryandor.com

Hehe, in defense of Nebu, I do remember Xuri being known as the one "with that shard that'll never get finished..."

Then again, I'm pretty sure I hold that title now

So are you gonna do it over again?


Also, are there any utilities out there that just let you draw a map within the program without having to use stuff like photoshop?

I think the idea behind using Photoshop is that it already has such an advanced macro/brush/filter system. Reproducing all of it in a hobbyist program is unrealistic. Oh, and no, I do not plan to redo it.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

One of the "issues" with a true color image, for lage maps, the image size can get quite large and cumbersome to work with for some paint programs.


The images needed for Map Generator are just standard eight bit palette data. Any program that can edit/save eight bit color (gimp, paintshop pro, etc.) will work. Photshop is not required. I dont use Windows that much, but for all I know, Paint will work with eight bit color, so that may work as well.

What programs have problems?

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

What would be neat is a graphical paint program/editor that allowed you to draw your map and set terrain altitude by pointing, clicking, and dragging. Yeah I know that's probably complicating things, but man it would be cool.

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-= HellRazor =-
Shattered Sosaria is coming!
http://www.shatteredsosaria.com

With brushes for painting trees!

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Would be cool if we could develop terrain images in 3D graphics programs, convert the mapping to grayscale then use that for terrain altitude maps.

Your shard is nearer completion than mine.

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-= Ho Eyo He Hum =-

What started this renewed interest (in mapgenerator) was the sudden freedom of map sizes (at least up to 30,000 x 30,000 or there about).

Not counting any header information for the format, and assuming for just one moment uncompressed, the raw data would be for a true color:
3,433 Mbytes.

I am not aware of many systems that can support effectively opening up size programs (I acknowldge that even at eight bit color, it is 858Mbyte, also a challenge).

But I do know on my humble machine, a normal map0, at 32 bit color, was extremely sluggish in gimp. To the point of not being useable. At eight bit, it is very useable.

Xuri, you want to join a development team? We have an open position for storyline developer and concept visionary that pays about 95 bucks a month.

What is your system, if you do not mind my asking?

Also, did you try it in Photoshop?

I have never had a problem opening extremely large true-color images in Photoshop, as it, so far as I understand, keeps most of the image in page file -- so it is mostly just limited by your hard drive size. Of course, you would not want to limit people to using Photoshop, though.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Map Generator will automaticly create your Altitude.bmp

It will duplicate your terrain image using a base altitude (easily set in the scripts) for each color of the terrain image palette, and generate an altitude image with this. You will not have to recreate your map's altitude image manually. Once this is generated, you are ready to simply edit the altitude image for the different altitude shades.

Hope that makes sence. Its still a good bit of work. The trade off here is, your terrain image will be fairly fast to create compared to Dragon, leaving the most of your work/time shading the altitude's.

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Forget what you know, know what you forget.

Hm, when you say base altitude, does this mean ground tiles are set at 0, ocean and water tiles at -15, and mountain tiles at 80 with variations in heights?

That means that you paint your terrain (overall world map image) like say, grass as one solid green color. Within the scripts it will hold a base altitude value you can set, like say, 0. water would hold a base value of -5, etc. So an altitude image would be generated using these base values to start you off, basicly a replica of the world image, using these base values. Then you simply go through the altitude image similar to how you do with Dragon, only color shades represent altitude only.

I might be making it sound confusing, and dificult.. stormcrow or punt might be able to clearify it better.

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Forget what you know, know what you forget.

No way! Say it ain't so, you should be open by now :p

I'm on year... 4? You were going at it 3-4 years at least before we started lol.

I'll send some of my staff over your way, ok?

So long as they're "happy trees".

Does anyone else know/remember that tree painter on PBS? There was a Far Side comic about him, too... Ah, good times...

Ross... something Ross... they had an art gallery in the town I used to live in that taught his techniques lol :p

Yeah.. think he died a couple years back..

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Forget what you know, know what you forget.

Bob Ross was his name, big afro

When is map generator being released, and where will I go to find out.

ANd does anyone have any tips for making good looking transitions between swamp and sand?

For now, you can find the information about Map Generator at http://worldmaker.ryandor.com

Its not completly ready for a solid 'distro' type release, but it is 100% open source, as are the rest of punts tools.

You can however, download the current version, if you want to test it out as it is, now.

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Forget what you know, know what you forget.

Swamp and sand? No of course not. Why would swamp transition to sand? Total saturation with water to a total lack of water? There should be some other terrain in between.

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This space for rent.

Well gee... some people are creative....


You think the laws of physics have to be constant throughout all shards? That is why you fail.

What is a beach, then, if not sand meeting water?

I would just put a ring of dirt or grass around the swamp, then the sand.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net