Anybody who wants to play SimCity 4 MP

[Adagio]

Well, I guess so, haven't tried it... and since the region I created didn't end up great, I'll just overwrite...

[Eli]

I'm for a pre-made region and not the blank one.

[Jonny]

If were going to use a pre-made region, I'd like to use New York.

[John-SJ]

Originally posted by John-SJ
Assuming we use the current region, I woould like the medium map just north of "Mayor Jonny".

Concerning the possibility of using a pre-made region, I vote yes! Which one? Hmmm, London has nice rivers and Fairview has a lot of coastline, I think those would both be good choices, maybe new York for coastline as well.

edit: Of course, this map is fine is fine if the vote goes with the current one as well.

John-SJ

Maybe you missed it before? Could I get the medium map just north of Jonny, please?

John-SJ

[vovan]

Well, I read the tutorial on creating regions with an elevation map in Photoshop by Mr. Quigley (), and decided to try it out. The result is attached. Looks pretty, but also like a very mean terrain. Probably not good for this particular game (although I made a city grid specially for it - no large citis, only small and medium), but if any of you want to try it out, lemme know.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by vovansim
Well, I read the tutorial on creating regions with an elevation map in Photoshop by Mr. Quigley (), and decided to try it out. The result is attached. Looks pretty, but also like a very mean terrain. Probably not good for this particular game (although I made a city grid specially for it - no large citis, only small and medium), but if any of you want to try it out, lemme know.

Looks great, though I didn't know you could change the grid... how do you do that?

If we use a pre-made world, I vote for New york and this one

John-SJ >> Sorry, missed that one, but it seems like most are for a pre-made map anyway... so everybody, cast your vote for a pre-made map (or upload a picture of yours, if you have one)

[Adagio]

Btw, here's my region

[General Ludd]

I found the tutorial on making regions in photoshop here. It's not exactly easy, though.

[vovan]

Originally posted by Osweld
I found the tutorial on making regions in photoshop here. It's not exactly easy, though.

Yes, that's the one I was referring to. It's really not hard with pgotoshop. All you need to do is follow the instructions, and when you draw, you need to adjust your tools a little bit to work more like the in-game god tools. That way, it all becomes cake. In fact, I think you can see how the region I created looks an awful lot like a bunch of brush-strokes.

[Adagio]

Thx for the link... though I can't get the map-part to work. When trying to load the map picture, nothing happens when pressing ok (the open file dialog box is still open, and I can still press ok)... when double clicking on the file, the dialog box closes, but nothing happens... Isn't the animations supposed to stop (to show it's working) or something?

[vovan]

Originally posted by ADG
Thx for the link... though I can't get the map-part to work. When trying to load the map picture, nothing happens when pressing ok (the open file dialog box is still open, and I can still press ok)... when double clicking on the file, the dialog box closes, but nothing happens... Isn't the animations supposed to stop (to show it's working) or something?

Yes, it is supposed to change the the same screen that pops up when you load a city - it would show the chunk of land, and say "Creating city" on top, or something like that. It also takes a horrible amount of time. On my Pentium IV 1.7GHz, it takes a little over five minutes.

I don't know what your problem might be, because if the dimensions are not right, it tells you so... Maybe you didn't convert the bitmap to grayscale before trying it?

[Adagio]

It works now, I just opened the wrong file...

It took almost 5 minutes to make it (double the size of the example on that page)

Here's the map, on how it looks now: (Think I have to get to know photoshop... not that good with the elevation painting)

[Adagio]

Btw, for my map, I have only used large terrain sizes... There's more land, that's not vievable on the picture


If someone would make another map (the BMP files) I could render the map (if you don't have a fast computer)... I have a 2.4 GHz

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by vovansim


Yes, that's the one I was referring to. It's really not hard with pgotoshop. All you need to do is follow the instructions, and when you draw, you need to adjust your tools a little bit to work more like the in-game god tools. That way, it all becomes cake. In fact, I think you can see how the region I created looks an awful lot like a bunch of brush-strokes.

Maybe there are better tools for it in photoshop, but using paintshop I can't even begin to imagine how I could reach the same amount of detail that the pictures in the tutorial have.

[vovan]

Originally posted by Osweld
Maybe there are better tools for it in photoshop, but using paintshop I can't even begin to imagine how I could reach the same amount of detail that the pictures in the tutorial have.

Oh, you are right about that. I can't imagine making the sort of detail in the tutorial, either. But hey, I don't mind, after all I am not an artist, and my name isn't Quigley. (No offense meant, that name always cracks me up... Ocean Quigley... *snicker*). Any ways, if you are having problems with Paintshop, there is a thread on sc4ever, where the guy explains how to customize your tools in it for better results. Read it and see if it is any help (in fact, I rehauled my photoshop tools by analogy and that helped a great deal.):

Originally posted by GP1183 in Region Editing Guide thread on sc4ever.com boards
Although they do have a Knowledge Library now on the topic, Heres an expansion. If you have Photo Shop, too bad, this only MIGHT apply to you. Paint Shop Pro Users, LISTEN UP!
I made a file called "Base" and its a .psp file. It has two layers, one for the topography (the terrain), and another for the sea level at 40% transparency (for the sea) as described in the tutorial. Now what it doesn't tell you is how to set up your tools. I configured mine to act almost just like a terrain editing tool in SC4. Theyll be labeled and described below.

Airbrush: Shape- Round; Size- 50; Hardness- 0; Opacity- 40; Step- 30; Density- 100.
Pick a high color value, something like light grey. Put it on an area of black, which should look blue if you set it up right. Now what happens when you click is a "terrain raise". Itll act like the Steep Hill tool in SC4. Itll raise the color, and eventually get to the selected value. This is helpful when making hills, Mountains (make the brush smaller or bigger), or Lakes/Rivers (pick a color with a value below 83.

Smudge: Shape- round; Size- Any; Harness- 23; Opacity- 57; Step- 1; Density- 100
Use it to make Mountains, Volcanoes, anything to do with Large, Craggy surfaces. Smoothen terrain, and anything you want.

These 2 tools can be adjusted to do anything. Mess around, and when people ask "hey, how'd you make that kickass terrain?" say "GP1183's Region Editing Guide baby, yeah!"