Terrain Editor Documentation

[Skuzzy]

I have attached a file of a working document, containing a start to the various file formats of the new terrain editor.  Need help in getting it complete.

It is in an older Microsoft Word format.  http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/skuzzy/TerrainEditing.doc

[Easyscor]

Word 97-2003. THANK YOU.

I'll be posting my first run later today. It will include some elaboration, terrain building for the beginner but not any of the Atlas features.

Well, poo. I tried to post a zipped sample and it failed.

[Skuzzy]

Word 97-2003. THANK YOU.

I'll be posting my first run later today. It will include some elaboration, terrain building for the beginner but not any of the Atlas features.

Well, poo. I tried to post a zipped sample and it failed.

I have increased the attachment size, temporarily.  Should be able to now.

[Easyscor]

Thanks, I was at 12MB before but this is going to grow fast even without embedded jpgs.

[Skuzzy]

Okay Easy, it is fixed now.

[Easyscor]

Thanks Skuzzy,

I suspect the collaboration here might get a bit complicated. I'll be labeling all my versions TE Easy###.doc I'm embedding an index for quick and easy lookup.

In the first pass I'll lay out the basics that any new MA builder must absorb. Then I'll move to elaborate on options and quality issues i.e. setting a town to match the terrain elevations.

Other contributions and comments are appreciated.

Oh, and I'll see if I can reduce the file size. I don't know why it started out so large but I'll try to rebuild it.

[JimmyD3]

  Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!! I have been patiently  waiting for something like this.

[Easyscor]

The completed Quick Start Guide is ready for review. There will likely be additions and corrections, possibly built-in links to the expanded descriptions but this should give anyone a good grounding in the TE, which is all it's supposed to do.

bustr, at about 16 hours, err, more like 13 or 14 of steady work so far, you can see why I insisted on a phone call or other methods of communication, and this Quick Start only scratches the surface.


TE Easy003.doc

[Easyscor]

hehe, I've already found a minor error.   

[Greebo]

Great job on the documentation but I can see one problem. On the "Make a CBM for the TE" section there is no mention of reducing the map's colours to 256 with a graphics editing program. I just tried placing an unmodified TE-generated map into texsrc and the TE did not recognise it.

It might be an idea to add that there should not be two square field objects placed in a single red square and that no two square field objects should be placed so they touch each other.

[Easyscor]

Great job on the documentation but I can see one problem. On the "Make a CBM for the TE" section there is no mention of reducing the map's colours to 256 with a graphics editing program. I just tried placing an unmodified TE-generated map into texsrc and the TE did not recognise it.

It might be an idea to add that there should not be two square field objects placed in a single red square and that no two square field objects should be placed so they touch each other.

I thought you'd eventually try again. I've stopped using indexed color bitmaps on all my terrains. The TE creates a 32 bit deep bitmap including the alpha channel. The only thing you will notice when you follow my instructions is that the TE will take a few seconds longer to load your terrain.

See the attached jpg and duplicate the dialog box on your FE, then enjoy. I expect you to tell us if you can bump map the CBM. 


Edit: btw, until the sector grid and numbers are optionally dynamically built by the game, be advised that a 2048 CBM will look wonderful until you see it on a system with the maximum texture size set to 512. Then the sector lines and all text become garbled. I like to include City names and as they are embedded in the CBM, they suffer the same corruption. I'll include a note about the limitation in the next version.

[Easyscor]

Next, I'll be working on the Terrain Texture Tab and eventually a short description of the oba format. The Texture bumpmap etc channels are all yours Greebo.

[Greebo]

Sorry but I am still not seeing 32-bit CBMs in the TE and the dialog box has the same settings I am using. All that I see in the map window is a light blue background. I left it for over a minute to load and also tried saving the terrain and then reloading it, but still no CBM. As soon as I replaced the 32 bit map with the old 256 colour map it worked fine again.

I'll have a look at writing an effects channels explanation once your next documentation version is ready.

[hitech]

Sorry but I am still not seeing 32-bit CBMs in the TE and the dialog box has the same settings I am using. All that I see in the map window is a light blue background. I left it for over a minute to load and also tried saving the terrain and then reloading it, but still no CBM. As soon as I replaced the 32 bit map with the old 256 colour map it worked fine again.

I'll have a look at writing an effects channels explanation once your next documentation version is ready.

Greebo is that a 32 bit image from the TE, or did you make it from an outside editor?

HiTech

[Greebo]

It is the untouched map direct from the TE. All that I have done to it is to rename the file.

The other slightly odd thing I have noticed about the map bmp the TE generates is that Bright will not load it. I have to load it into Paint Shop Pro and save it there first and then Bright will load it.