Random Map Generator

[PhilD]

I haven't totally given up on the random map generator... just on helping Targa run it on his Windows box

By playing with the -d switch, you can easily have more "uniform" provinces; that is, the brown/green/etc dots won't be so isolated. Easier on the eyes, if you ask me, though the result is still quite bland - anything nicer would clearly need some image processing, which can be done with the Gimp, but I don't have the courage to go through the Gimp documentation to learn how to do this.

I should add a switch to make the random generator output a single color for land, like it does for sea; that would probably make life easier on the "hand" creators, and would not be too much work. But then, I wonder - should I leave terrain in the .map file, or not?

[Targa]

Any maps done by hand will require using the map editor from the game, so you don't even need a .map file at all.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ive been trying to get the maps blurred to be easier on the eye. But I cant get any way to blur while avoiding the white dots and borders. Is there any chance to...
A) write the targa, shell out to a blur command (imagemagick makes blur easy), then re-write the white dots?

or
B) write two copies of each map. The normal one, and then another of JUST the borders and capitals? I could blur the first then merge opague the second one.

In fact Im thinking that a black map with borders and capitals might be desired by some so they can decide what is water and what is land.

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Targa:
Any maps done by hand will require using the map editor from the game, so you don't even need a .map file at all.

The .map file contains the adjacencies between provinces. If you don't have one, you'll have to set all of them yourself.

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Ive been trying to get the maps blurred to be easier on the eye. But I cant get any way to blur while avoiding the white dots and borders. Is there any chance to...
A) write the targa, shell out to a blur command (imagemagick makes blur easy), then re-write the white dots?

or
B) write two copies of each map. The normal one, and then another of JUST the borders and capitals? I could blur the first then merge opague the second one.

In fact Im thinking that a black map with borders and capitals might be desired by some so they can decide what is water and what is land.

All of this should be doable easily in Gimp. Gimp CAN be scripted (there's a -b switch for "run batch", and a -i for "no interface); it's just a matter of learning the right function names

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by PhilD:
All of this should be doable easily in Gimp. Gimp CAN be scripted (there's a -b switch for "run batch", and a -i for "no interface); it's just a matter of learning the right function names

Yep, Ive actually got a little 5-step routine that does it great (thanks to Arralen). Its how I made the example WEvsTHEM example. The scripting code does look fairly simple so I guess I could take a shot at making one and asking for each function one at a time in those forums.

Im also considering washing the image thru a simple format, maybe raw C code image storage, figure out the code for each of the 3 colors I want saved, then using SED to run thru it and replace all that is NOT the 3 colors to black or transparent, then merge it back after the original is blurred.

[Targa]

Originally posted by PhilD:
The .map file contains the adjacencies between provinces. If you don't have one, you'll have to set all of them yourself.

Yep, which is why you have to use the game map editor (when it's fixed ). ie: If making a map by hand and using a land/water "outline" from a randomly generated map, you add such things as mountains by hand, which create choke points, so you'd have to set neighbors by hand. Though now that I think about it, it would probably be a good idea to start with a .map file, then modify the neighbors. Hey....that may be a workaround for the current lockup in the map editor. Give it a .map file so it stops trying to fiddle w/neighbors...gonna go check that out.