Utility: SemiRandom project beta release / announcement...

[Gandalf Parker]

Cool. Are you going to include the map options that are in the switches but not in the in-game tool?

[Ballbarian]

Yes.
Here's the screen shot that I posted with my bug report in the bug thread:

[Gandalf Parker]

Looks good.
And its not a switch but you might look at adding the commands for the color that displays the text names, and the default zoom, and wraparound.

[Ballbarian]

I had not considered that, but I will. Excellent idea.

[Ballbarian]

Ok, does anyone care to share a simple algorithm for converting to normal rgb from the decimal system used by Dom3 for the maptextcol command:
RGB(0-255,0-255,0-255)
#maptextcol <red> <green> <blue> with values between 0.0 to 1.0

I can get guestimations that are in general ranges, but not precise values without some rounding. It shouldn't be that hard, but I am tired and I don't want to spend all night trying to bend my mind.

[Agrajag]

So multiplying by 255 doesn't work? O_o
Did you try rounding to the nearest integer? Did you try truncating? How about rounding up?

[Ballbarian]

I think it is going to work fine by simple rounding. I was just trying to get the color displayed in the preview as close as possible to the result in game. Trying a little harder than was necessary last night.

[Agrajag]

Well, the game probably uses some sort of rounding itself, so if both of you round the same way, it should produce exactly the same colors.

[Ballbarian]

Playing around with name generation tonight and thought I would share the latest test run results for waste:

#landname 1 "Wei Wound"
#landname 2 "Clou Hills"
#landname 3 "Uwil Wastes"
#landname 4 "Chiseled Worm"
#landname 5 "Cluttered Tears"
#landname 6 "Oda Limbs"
#landname 7 "Impaled Land"
#landname 8 "Estin Obituary"
#landname 9 "Ich Gravestone"
#landname 10 "Impaled Pain"
#landname 11 "Nei Skins"
#landname 12 "Ttedon Entrails"
#landname 13 "Slain Death"
#landname 14 "Ripping Dooms"
#landname 15 "The Horrid Wastes"
#landname 16 "Lamenting Scalps"
#landname 17 "Stolen Waste"
#landname 18 "Mourning Illness"
#landname 19 "Devastated Skins"
#landname 20 "Doomed Illness"
#landname 21 "Pumars Times"
#landname 22 "Rov Black"
#landname 23 "Loathed Headstone"
#landname 24 "Slain Flesh"
#landname 25 "Unusable Heads"
#landname 26 "Ever Buzzards"
#landname 27 "Blist Deaths"
#landname 28 "Heogl Veins"
#landname 29 "Ugly Fears"
REJECTED: #landname 30 "Lsuc Fumes"

#landname 31 "Slashed Corpses"
#landname 32 "Rufru Ills"
#landname 33 "Detested Limbs"
#landname 34 "Murdering Flesh"
#landname 35 "Erse Death"
#landname 36 "Ligh Pain"
#landname 37 "Fair Deads"
#landname 38 "Dig Dead"
#landname 39 "Akedok Dead"
#landname 40 "Disile Scalp"
#landname 41 "Excreted Ashes"
#landname 42 "Ugly Hills"
#landname 43 "Dead Bride's Sores"
#landname 44 "Mud Sores"
#landname 45 "Ove Horror"
#landname 46 "The Gouged Flesh"
#landname 47 "Brittle Fleshes"
#landname 48 "Gouged Sorrows"
#landname 49 "Injured Torsos"
#landname 50 "Doomed Organs"
#landname 51 "Keipo Times"
#landname 52 "Blood Soaked Hills"
#landname 53 "Fea Fears"
#landname 54 "Shrieking Scalp"
REJECTED: #landname 55 "Nks Graveyard"

#landname 56 "Obaye Blemish"
#landname 57 "Excreted Hills"
#landname 58 "Horizon of Barrens"
#landname 59 "Reaper's Death"
#landname 60 "Ihelme Flesh"
#landname 61 "'siblo Barren"
#landname 62 "Leo Scalps"
#landname 63 "Impaled Hands"
#landname 64 "Rest Passing"
#landname 65 "Chow Headstone"
#landname 66 "Accura Dust"
#landname 67 "Gere Torsos"
#landname 68 "Hardened Obituary"
#landname 69 "Gilah Horrors"
#landname 70 "Rot Ills"
#landname 71 "Terfr Moans"
#landname 72 "Owude Worms"
#landname 73 "Utia Blemish"
#landname 74 "Ssi Moans"
#landname 75 "Eapor Pimple"
#landname 76 "Regurgitated Veins"
#landname 77 "Howling Headstone"
#landname 78 "Mourning Grave"
#landname 79 "Dying Barren"
#landname 80 "Opiqui Torsos"
#landname 81 "Hiel Time"
#landname 82 "Ket Buzzards"
#landname 83 "Digr Scalp"
#landname 84 "Side Wounds"
#landname 85 "Lamented Sand"
#landname 86 "Utter Greys"
#landname 87 "Searching Waste"
#landname 88 "Barren Maggot"
#landname 89 "Bloodied Horrors"
#landname 90 "Ish Organs"
#landname 91 "The Litter Sulphurs"
#landname 92 "Orahar Pimple"
#landname 93 "Horedi Corpses"
#landname 94 "Blood Soaked Deads"
#landname 95 "Han Gravestones"
#landname 96 "Dying Death"
#landname 97 "Bidden Headstones"
#landname 98 "Dark Death"
#landname 99 "Alden Maggot"
#landname 100 "Geitid Corpses"

The "REJECTED:" lines are the result of a string screen sub that I am testing. I also have a working yabasic version of Arajag's word generator (with modifications) that I am playing with.

[Ballbarian]

The random name generation has been improved considerably since the last post. I have also found and corrected several errors in the initial GAN sets. Mostly a few Faerun provinces where I had missed removing a few #setland commands.

I am considering some additional options:

One would be the ability to label certain province designs as being era specific and allowing the user to specify early, middle, late or no preference. This would allow GAN authors to design a province using LA Atlantis units without the province appearing in an EA game.

The other would be an option to obscure or obfuscate the appended special provinces by stripping them of all comment lines and replacing strings with the numeric ID where possible. The idea is that it would make it less tempting to browse the map file prior to attacking a given province and limit spoilers.

So the following map code:

-- Mithril Hall
#landname 95 "Mithril Hall"
#poptype 33 -- Lt. & Hvy Inf, X-bow
#killfeatures
#knownfeature "Great Gold Mine"
#knownfeature "Great Silver Mine"
#feature "The Vaults Beneath"
#feature "Gorge"

#commander 323 -- Dwarven Smith
#comname "Bruenor Battlehammer"

Would become:

#landname 95 "Mithril Hall"
#poptype 33
#killfeatures
#knownfeature 253
#knownfeature 254
#feature 524
#feature 257
#commander 323
#comname "Bruenor Battlehammer"

It would still be possible to sort it out for a determined person with a numbered list at hand, and as far as I know, it is not possible to do the same with items.

Now, before I spend time implementing these changes, does anyone have an opinion? Is it something anybody would want? I have no problem staying out of the map file while playing my turns, so I can live without the 2nd option. I also don't personally care about filtering eras in my own games, but maybe someone else does?

Your $0.02 (converted to your preferred currency) requested...