bmp2ctp2 program and Alex scenario

[Savant]

OK. I just read your thorough description of the procedure Harlan. Now, may I take some aspirin and do a few shooters to kill this pain? :*

Me thinks my Ph.D. is in some unrelated area to computer graphics. Me thincks my head will hert moar if I tri to figer this out.

Better leave it to the chefs I say while I go and bus tables!



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'Blood will run'

[Harlan]

Savant,
Nobody has taken me up on my offer to make an example map from the .bmp map image I made. So if you have some map you want but you can't bother with the converting, let me know. Make sure to include the dimensions you'd want, too.

[ThaddeusAlexander]

I'm sorry about this, maybe i'm blind to the obvious, I don't know...I cannot get the program to work. How exactly do I convert and .bmp file? When I try to open the program, all i get is a quick flash of a black window that is probably (as far as I can make out) a DOS window. I unzipped everything correctly, but it just doesn't seem to want to work for me.

I'd love it if you could help me out...thanks
Good Gaming
Alex

[Fluffygreycat]

Thaddeus - I seem to have the same problem.

Is it a file pathway thing? Do we have to create a .bmp file with a certain pathway relative to the map utility first? Is this program creating a .txt file that we have to move to the CTP maps folder?

Sorry to be such an ignoramus. But I downloaded the map [and downloaded PaintshopPro and now have a scaled-down version of this map at 600*300] and I'm just concerned that I may have this file in a place where the DOS file can't find it. You aren't given the opportunity to select a source file or a destination file while the program is running; like the man said, you just see the flash of the black screen.

[OmniGod]

Here's a thought Alex... maybe you have to use it in DOS?? I think somewhere in the readme file it tells you the commands required and that generally happens in DOS...

quote: BMP to CTP2 Map Converter ------------------------- Usage - bmp2ctp2.exe [-1] input.bmp output.txt [-1] - [Optional] Flag for 1 to 1 conversion. The default behavior is to skip every other horizontal pixel to retain the proper aspect ratio. 1 to 1 conversion will not skip any pixels. input.bmp - Required The name of the BMP file to be converted output.txt - Required The name of the CTP2 map file to be created

Just a thought...

And the resultant file minus .txt is the map... at least that's my understanding... do I win a prize Harlan?

Omni - apparently a 3599x1865 is too big for CTP

??? What is the maximum size, Harlan?
[This message has been edited by OmniGod (edited December 06, 2000).]

[Harlan]

I guess the official readme.txt is pretty much useless, now that I take a closer look at it. Here's the missing pieces, as far as I know.

- Start up DOS.
- Have the BMP file you're made in the same directory as the BMP2CTP2 .exe file.
- Have the DOS prompt line be that directory as well.
- Type: bmp2ctp2.exe [-1] input.bmp output.txt (with input.bmp and output.txt being the names you gave of the files.
- Start up CTP2
- In the chat window box, type in: /importmap output.txt
- The map should now be replaced with the map you've made

I may be forgetting something here, its been a while since I've done it (Don, any thing else?)

It may look hard, but really isn't. Takes a couple minutes, maximum.

You may also have to change the line in Const.txt saying how big each of the four map sizes are if your map is different from one of those map sizes. We had to do that in alpha and beta stages of the game, but maybe its something they were going to fix, I don't know.

PS- I have no idea how large too large is, but I'll bet good money someone out there is gonna find out soon.

[Savant]

If you have the time and are willing, I'm grateful Harlan. It would be a great thing for me to have a map that accurately renders the mediteranean basin. I hope that such a map would also be popular for basing a variety of scenarios.

I guess the map specs would be large to gigantic to provide good detail of island and coastal features.

The map would include the following borders and be a flat map version.

North: Oslo Norway/St Petersburg so that all of Denmark and the baltic nations could be included. This would also include Ireland and Scotland, and a fair portion of Sweden. Specifically this would be 60 degrees Latitude North.

South: Sinai peninsula so that all of the Med coast of Africa is shown as far as Morocco and to the Persian Gulf. This would correspond to roughly 30 degrees Latitude North.

East: Would include the Caucasus mountains, all of Mesopotiamia and most of Western Persia. Specifically, this amounts to 50 degrees Longitude East. Something shy of this is good too, say 40 degrees but would cut out Persia and most of Mesopotamia and might limit it's use for ancient and more contemporary scenarios. The 50 degree version would probably be most useful for a wider set of scenarios.

West: Should include Portugal and Ireland, so this would correspond to roughly 10 degrees longitude West. A map that extends to 15 degrees would probably be better for WWI and WW2 scenarios as that would include some portion of the Atlantic for submarine warfare and the like. But for ancient and medieval scen's, the 10 degree limit would ve perfect. Either setting is great.

If this is do-able, let me know. I think it would be a frequently used map for purposes of historical scenarios. I think your terrain features as they currently stand are great and can be modified by individual scenario makers as they see fit based on the era - ancient, modern, etc. Personally, I'd like the Dutch to keep a foothold in Europe, so I would let them keep their reclaimed land even in 300 AD.



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'Blood will run'

[skorpion59]

A couple additional items:
1)When you start CtP2 to import the map into it, you must create a map the same size as the map you plan on importing.
2)The import map must be located in the [CtP2]\ctp2_program\ctp directory.


For example, if your input map is 70x140, you must start CtP2 with the standard Gigantic map size.

If your map is a custom size, you must specify this in the [CTP2]\ctp2_data\default\gamedata\const.txt file before starting CtP2. Say your map is 150x300. Change MAP_SIZE_GIGANTIC 70 140 2 to MAP_SIZE_GIGANTIC 150 300 2. Now start CtP2 with the Gigantic map size.

Once CtP2 is started, go into the Editor(cheat menu). Turn Fog of War off then clear the map(terrain and units). Wait a couple minutes for all the settlers to die off. Then hit the apostrophe key to bring up the Chat Window. Click on the Chat Window and type "/importmap mapname.ext"(minus the quotes). Mapname.ext is the name of your input map, it can be anything and doesn't even require an extension. When you see the map in the main window, click outside the Chat Window and hit apostrophe to close the Chat Window. Turn on Fog of War and then turn it back off and you now will also see the map in the miniwindow. Create your map scenario.

Helpful hints:
When you type "/importmap mapname.ext", 1 of 3 things will happen. 1)The map will show up in the main window, this is what you want. 2)No map and it says 'George Washington says (whatever you typed into the window)'. This means you typed the /importmap command wrong. Try it again and make sure it is forward slash. 3)No map and nothing happens. You typed the map name wrong, the map is not in the correct directory or most likely, the map size does not correspond to the current CtP2 map size.

To find out the size of an input map, open it with Notepad Plus (highly recommended but any text editor will work). The first line is the map size. NOTE: While this looks like a normal text file, it isn't. So don't change any of the comma-delimited fields.

Watch your map sizes carefully while manipulating and converting them. A 70x140 map is actually 70x70 tiles in CtP2 (thus the reason for having the -1 switch in the BmP2CtP2 program).

If I think of other Tips, I'll post them.
If you are having problems, email me or post here.

[Nsae Comp]

Harlan can you send me the worldtest1.bmp as ctp2 map file, because in the readme there is no expaination how to make the bmp into a ctp2 mape file.

Or can you explain me how i can make the bmp with the bmptoctp2.exe into a ctp2 map file.

Thanks for any help i can get!



My e-mail is : NComp@gmx.net

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Keep Smile and keep cleare in your head.
Everyone is its fate - and its environment - blacksmith
[This message has been edited by Nsae Comp (edited December 07, 2000).]

[skorpion59]

Nsae,

Looks like our posts crossed in transit. I believe you should have all the info you need now. If not, let me know what part you are still having problems with.

If others are having problems understanding, converting, etc, please speak up. This is second nature to me so I might leave out key areas which need explained better.

Now who was writing all the Mod Guides....

[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited December 07, 2000).]

[Fluffygreycat]

OK, the program works.

I have been able to resize 80% of the core area of the map down to 672*336, and have been able to import that map to CTP2.

Anything smaller than that becomes too "smashed" to show any detail [unless you are just going to cut out a section of the map, like the Mediterranean or the Far East, to craft your scenario].

Thank you very much for all of your assistance.

The only strange thing is that most of Northern Europe [I assume the forested parts] came out as kelp beds. Probably the colors are very close. No biggie - a nice outline of the coast of France and Germany in kelp was easy enough to tile over!

[Nsae Comp]

skorpion59
My problem is:
I can't start the bmptoctp2.exe, when i start the program it only pop's up shortly and then it is gone again.
Do you know what could be the reason why that is?

:|


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Keep Smile and keep cleare in your head.
Everyone is its fate - and its environment - blacksmith

[skorpion59]

Yep, you are trying to run it in Windows which won't work (probably clicking on the exe from explorer).

This is a DOS program and has to be run from a DOS Prompt. There are many ways to get to the DOS Prompt. The 2 easiest (to expain) are Start, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt or Start, Run and then type in 'DosPrmpt.pif'.

Start would mean the Start Menu (hit ctrl-esc to open it). Once it is open, you will see both the Run and Programs entries.

[Harlan]

I've been mucking aroud with map making this evening, in hopes of making a map as per Savant's request. I learned that indeed, the forest of my map now is actually kelp bed. I figured out why, too. Apparently, Activision changed the terrain types slightly between last I checked and when the game was released. And good thing, too! A few colors play musical chairs (switch colors), leaving the last color, what was Coral Reef, now something called Special! Check it out in the Terrain.txt file: there are now two terrain types at the end of the file called Special1 and Special2.

I'm not at all sure what they are, but they're very welcome. When I tried painting terrain with the old Coral Reef color, something exactly the same as Grassland appears instead, but it has its own characteristics and stats, which you can change by editing the Terrain.txt file. Ditto for Special2, but I'm not sure what the right color for that is if you want to import it. According to the text file, Special2 currently looks like Desert. Can one change what these look like by changing the Tileset Index line of the Terrain.txt file? Hmm.

This creates some interesting possibilities for mods and so forth- a little bit of flexibility until when or if they allow one to change the terrain graphics willy nilly (Mr. Ogre has promised to do that when his plate of work cleared up). For instance, one could have good Grassland and not so good, just like in Civ2.

[Harlan]

Savant,
I now have your map for you. However, I still don't have your email, so I can't send it to you- let me know what that is.

It may not be exactly what you requested, because I wanted to make a map that would exactly correspond with the gigantic size (70 by 140). This meant it had to be square, so I had to include all of Scandinavia and not so much Atlantic Ocean. However, the map is in a very rough state (you need to convert the rivers, connect the dots on where rivers didn't come through too well, and tidy things up generally) so if you want it some other way let me know. It should only take me an extra 10 minutes of so to pop another one out having a different cut on Europe, now that I've gone this far. (The main difficulty is to make sure just the right amount of river comes through for the proper scale- I have a way of widening or narrowing them before I convert to CTP2 format).

By the way, Fluffygreycat, for the conversion process, Forest is now completely black. Swamp is also a slightly different shade. I'll post an improved terrain color guide once I know them all, but it will take some investigating to figure out what the colors are for the two I don't know: Dead Tile and Special2.