Map: A little artisanal map... with 1225 provinces

[Daynarr]

Edi said:
Or do you know how to do the same in GIMP?

Just load the map, go to filters-blur and select blur. It does job fine. However, I still have to check if it messes up white pixels.

[Agrajag]

Smart Blur is different from regular blur, I'm not sure about the precise algorithm, but as far as I can see, it only blends adjacent elements if they are already sufficiently close in color. That means that different shades of grass blend together well, but mountains won't blend.
Like I said, it isn't perfect, a few buildings got blended, and a few spots that needed some blurring were left as in the original, but I like what I got.
I'm going to set the map to upload and leave the computer while I go about my day, I'll see how things worked out when I get back home.
EDIT: http://rapidshare.com/files/7419784/oe2.rar.html
Its not a miraculous change, but its pretty nice

[Daynarr]

Ok, tested it and normal blur in Gimp really messes up white pixels. If you use it you won't be able to play on that map. Unfortunately there is no smart blur in Gimp.

Agrajag, thanks for the file.

[Agrajag]

Daynarr said:
Ok, tested it and normal blur in Gimp really messes up white pixels. If you use it you won't be able to play on that map. Unfortunately there is no smart blur in Gimp.

Agrajag, thanks for the file.

You are welcome

And the white pixel problem isn't solved thanks to the smart blur, all the smart blur does is blend things in a way that is less likely to blur things that you want to remain focused.

For the white pixels I just used the magic selection tool (allows you to select all instances of a certain color [or color range] on the image) to copy all the white pixels to a new layer, then blurred the original layer, then made sure there are no new white pixels (by using the magic selection tool again on a white pixel, and then making every white pixel into a 250,250,250 pixel), then put the white pixels back.

[Ballbarian]

In GIMP, use select by color to select the white pixels, copy & paste to another layer or a blank image of the same size as the original map, perform whatever blurs you want and then paste the clean white pixel layer back over the map.

Hope that helps.

[Agrajag]

Ballbarian said:
In GIMP, use select by color to select the white pixels, copy & paste to another layer or a blank image of the same size as the original map, perform whatever blurs you want and then paste the clean white pixel layer back over the map.

Hope that helps.

You forgot to mention that you need to check the blurred image for no new white pixels, and change those.

[Gandalf Parker]

Absolute white (255,255,255).
A blur usually blends pixels to the next pixel so a white dot would become a grey smudge. Im not sure that any blurring would create pure white but its probably good to check.

Beware of alpha channels also. Ive created maps where nearly all of the map, or sometimes just the water, was transparent so that I saw the woodgraning background there. Very ugly.

[Agrajag]

Gandalf Parker said:
Absolute white (255,255,255).
A blur usually blends pixels to the next pixel so a white dot would become a grey smudge. Im not sure that any blurring would create pure white but its probably good to check.

It is good to check, because last time I didn't check I ended up with a non-functioning map :X
I suppose that maybe a 255,255,255 adjacent to a 255,255,254 (for example) could create an extra white pixel. Or maybe the program uses some strange blurring algorithm :X

[Twan]

Attached new version of the map file.

* some terrain or neighbor errors fixed
* desert, tundra and rain forest sites used for provinces of these terrains (and some terrain changes, ie the frost forest provinces are now forest with a tundra site instead of forest + waste)
* all neighbors of very big cities (30k+ pop) should now be nostart

I'm waiting for the Unit ID and Sites DB lists to developp special poptypes and provinces.

I've started to prepare units for a Greyhawk mod (it will replace the units linked with many poptypes, so Oeridia will have its own recruitable indies with random garnisons made of them, the following map files giving a specific poptype to many provinces ; in addition special locations will have special guards - I'll try to replace poptypes by poptypes in relation, so if you prefer to have Hoburgs than D&Dian gnomes and halflings you will have hoburgs in their provinces if you don't use the mod -).

Anyway it's a big work and I think a final version won't be finished before some months.

[MythicalMino]

does this lock anyone elses' game up? Everytime I pick this map, my game locks up like crazy....I don't get any type of error, just that it locks up and I have to ctrl-alt-delete....then shut the program down via processes.