[Utility] WorldPainter Released!

[ForesterSOF]

While playing with it I found that making SciFi worlds like a desert world was not posible due the the terrain size you have for us to choose from.

Though the chances of using each setting on max (cover the whole world) is slim to none I would give the map maker the option to do it.

Other things to add would be a map info section, a zoom and edit feature, Bonuses to be by icon not all red squares, last a legend to what color is what.

I agree with the others that this is looking good.

[ForesterSOF]

The Save type for new WBsaves is read fine. The original WB maps are not.

This may be due to the save version is now 102 and the maps that shiped with Civ are Ver 101.

The Jungle in Desert can go both ways.

Do you want an Oasis in a desert or a situation like the SW desert area by a furtile coast or landmass.

In general I would put forest in desert then forest surround the desert as the soil and climate of the ecosystem changes.

[padillah]

Originally posted by Junuxx
None of the maps I checked yesterday could be loaded, actually. I tested some more and I guess that about 50% of the maps give errors. I have no idea what causes the errors though.

Examples of maps that can't be loaded:

my Microworld map
the 'Planet' map that ships with the game
the 'Greekworld' map that ships with the game
Of Reveilled's Colonization maps, the 'withHelp' and 'withStarts' varieties do work, but the third variety does not.

Thanks, I'll take a look tonight when I get home and see what's up.

By the way, I don't think forests and plains best scattered around.

I couldn't find anything to really base them on. Jungle appears near the equator but Forests really just pop-up where a tree seed hits. What do you base it on?

Also, I couldn't really get satisfying results with deserts. No matter what I tried, I would get a narrow band of yellow sticked immediately do the jungle.

I'm not as happy as I want to be with Jungle and Desert. Jungle and Desert are tied together but I tried to get them as seperate as I could. So what I did was I made Desert Size be Desert+Jungle Size/2 (half up and half down). Then I applied a varience to it based on how far from the equator it had reached minus how much jungle.

(Is that even remotly understandable?)

What you've probaly got is varience too high ( or too low, I can never remember). I was also entertaining the notion of simply picking a number of spots on the equator and growing the desert like I do the land. But then I ended up with circles of desert instead of strips like I wanted. Also, do you think the desert should go inside the jungle or the jungle inside the desert?

But a good job anyway. You've come quite a long way since your last release!

Thanks, I've been trying to get the basics covered but the Desert and Jungle distribution never really made me happy so I'd work on something else to clear my mind, then go back to it later. Eventually enough changed that I figured I'd better release it, like it or not, or I'll never get the darned thing done.

Tom P.

[Junuxx]

None of the maps I checked yesterday could be loaded, actually. I tested some more and I guess that about 50% of the maps give errors. I have no idea what causes the errors though.

Examples of maps that can't be loaded:

my Microworld map
the 'Planet' map that ships with the game
the 'Greekworld' map that ships with the game
Of Reveilled's Colonization maps, the 'withHelp' and 'withStarts' varieties do work, but the third variety does not.

By the way, I don't think forests and plains best scattered around. Also, I couldn't really get satisfying results with deserts. No matter what I tried, I would get a narrow band of yellow sticked immediately do the jungle.

But a good job anyway. You've come quite a long way since your last release!

[padillah]

Originally posted by ForesterSOF
Yes on the rivers and no on flood plains.

Try to emulate what nature gives us.

But "yes" on the flood plains is what nature gives us. Flood plains occur when a river in the desert overflows it's banks (this usually happens on a regular basis) This causes all the minerals and stuff from the mountain to flood the desert and enrich the soil. After sevceral years of this you have amazing farmland (that floods once or twice a year).

Like the Nile delta. Very rich farmland... full of mosquitoes and floods.

I like Junuxx' idea of a checkbox to switch it on and off. Looks like I'm going to have to write an .ini file to save all the settings for multiple use as well.

Yet one more good idea from you guys. Thanks again.

Tom P.

[padillah]

Originally posted by Junuxx
"load map" doesn't work for me :-(

Can you send me the save that doesn't work? (you can e-mail "padillah at hotmail dot com") I, obviously, have not had a chance to get to every combination of options and any examples of stuff I missed would be greatly appreciated.

About the resources: I think it's a good thing that you get the option to set each resource individually, but do I really have to? A plus/min-to-all button would be very useful.

GREAT IDEA!!! Thanks. I'm working on making it easier to see what plot you are pointing at as well.

I think rivers can start at mountains, hills or lakes, and they end at seas or lakes.
Flood plains should definitely be tied to riverside deserts. Or you should get a checkbox to toggle this.

I like the checkbox idea. I think I am going to make a generic method that takes a plot type and percent chance and distributes that type over all the land acording to that chance. Then I can make an "Ignore Terrain Rules" checkbox and just strew terrain around and see what comes up. AlexTG wants to play a random game, let him try THAT!

In any case I have two or three things (Forests, Goody Huts, Plains, and now Flood Plains) that are not really tied to anything, they're just scattered around. I don't know if I can commonize them though, one's a FEATURE one's a TERRAIN and one's an IMPROVEMENT.

We'll see.
Thanks for the great ideas!

Tom P.

[Junuxx]

"load map" doesn't work for me :-(

About the resources: I think it's a good thing that you get the option to set each resource individually, but do I really have to? A plus/min-to-all button would be very useful.

I think rivers can start at mountains, hills or lakes, and they end at seas or lakes.
Flood plains should definitely be tied to riverside deserts. Or you should get a checkbox to toggle this.

[ForesterSOF]

Yes on the rivers and no on flood plains.

Try to emulate what nature gives us.

[padillah]

QUESTION: For those of you listening, should all rivers start at a mountain?

Should they all end at the sea?

Should Flood Plains be tied to rivers or generated by themselves?

Just a little feedback.
Tom P.

[padillah]

Originally posted by ForesterSOF
Another goodie could be the ability to convert single player maps that it makes in to the multiplayer py stuff.

I'd have to see a ultiplayer map to determine if I can or not. These "maps" are played out in Civ as "Scenarios" and I don't see anything from the format that would proclude them being used in MP.

As a matter of fact there are consesions made in the format that are for MP so I don't think they are different.

I'll work on enabling those settings.

Thanks for the feedback!

Tom P.

[padillah]

HUGE BUMP!!!

Thought I was dead, didn't ya?

Well, thankfully, I'm not. I've been tied up with work and had a spell where I couldn't release anything 'cause I kept forgetting it at work.

Well, it's updated and it looks great!

Now with RESOURCES!!!!

Each resource has it's own slider to control the amount of what gets placed. This allows you to play a map that has everything except iron (for tourtured souls like Vel that like doing things like that).

Or you can place an abundance of one resource over another. They follow all the standard guidelines of resource placement for Civ4 (as best as I could decypher from CIV4BonusInfos.xml )

All I have left are rivers (both quantity and length), goody huts (pretty easy, just pick a tile and plop them down), and Flood Plains and Oasis' (Flood Plains depend on rivers so I have to wait for them).

When rivers are added I will restrict resources to riverside when appropriate.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can add to make this a better product (...or if you are even using it).

Tom P.

[ForesterSOF]

Another goodie could be the ability to convert single player maps that it makes in to the multiplayer py stuff.

[padillah]

Originally posted by Bill3000
Uh, how is this going to differ from Atlas?

How's this for differeng from Atlas - you can manually edit the plots now in the new version of WP.

See, I have stuff planned, I just need time.

Tom P.

[padillah]

Well, the control you have differs greatly from Atlas and WP.

I don't believe there is a "coastal varience" in Atlas, just "Wild" and "Very Wild" etc.

Atlas currently doesn't make mountain ranges, WP does. In fact you can set the length of the ranges generated.

You can't set the number of start points from Atlas, you can from WP.

You can't resize the picture in Atlas, you can in WP.

I don't believe you can set the scenario "Description" in Atlas, you can in WP.

Also, please remember, this is in my spare time and I'm not even remotely done. There will be other differnces as I add features to this. I've not even gotten resources in yet. I'm planning to add resources, rivers, goodie huts, and a few other things.

I suppose, in the end, this is no different from Atlas. In as much as Atlas is no different from the WorldBuilder built into Civ. It's just another way to do the same thing. This is essentially the reason Linux and Windows will always be fighting - it's just a diferent way to do the same thing.

Is there a feature you were hoping for? I'll see if I can add it.

Tom P.

[Bill3000]

Uh, how is this going to differ from Atlas?