Map Generator Model

[Mark_Everson]

Hi Rüdiger:

Sorry, I didn't mean to badger you... much Yep, cylindrical means what you said. Just another idea I had is that plates could be given a 'drift term' in their random motion. So even though the motion is random, on average it goes in a certain direction for each plate. If there isn't something like this, if you start out with a big block you'll basically end up with a big block with some small channels between the pieces. Anyways, good luck on messing around with it!

[Lord God Jinnai]

Mark:

I understand working on the cylendrical first, mainly cuz its easier since its been done before. I'm just saying that if clash is going for realisn where it doesn't interfer with player fun, i don't see how my idea interfers with it as it would be totally optional.

Again, i am not saying that it should be worked on until we have most of the stuff done for the cyledrial map.

[Rüdiger]

I heard from a friend of mine, who studies geology, that the continental plates are moved by "hot spots". Hot spots are locations, where hot magma flows up from the planets core to the surface, pushing the continental plates away. I think I will implement something like that to determine the movement of the continental plates, it seems much better than just a random movement.

Since I will rewrite the whole Map Generator I will change a few things, that aren't ideal in the old code. But I'll stay with the concept from the beginning of this thread.

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EASY TO INSTALL = Difficult to install, but instruction manual has pictures.

[Lord God Jinnai]

Rüdiger:

There are a few flaws in your last statement, but nothing to worry about for game dynamic purposes. Its just that when attempting to model plates like that, you must also be aware of the fact that the magma also can suddenly (in geologic terms) switch directions, even 180 degrees and also do so mid-plate so you'd have 2 smaller plates.

You should also be aware of strange things that happen like on the india//austrailian plate where india can only move ~1" per year while austrailia can move sometimes up to ~4" a year, so that may cause a rip and create a new plate.

[Mark_Everson]

Sounds great Rüdiger. And I like the quotes too .

[Lord God Jinnai]

I don't think its bad to start them off random directions, but generally a plate should go in the same direction once started, but still allow for turnaround and splits.

[Rüdiger]

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the MapGen to producing nice results, today (night). No sweat. Tomorrow is another day... I think I will put the sources onto a web page, so you can have a look at them and get an impression of the program. Somehow the ideas I had weren't working out as I thought. Seems like I have to do some further tests.

LGJ:
Yep, maybe I should introduce some of these ideas into the code for my next test.

Hmmm, it's four o'clock in the morning, I think I need some sleep.

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Weeks of coding can save you hours of planning.

An ironic "Microsoft Solution Framework" course attender

[Rüdiger]

LGJ:

Ok, the way I described it was a bit oversimplyfied. I dind't want to go to the extend as you described it, I just liked the general idea. I definetley don't like randomly moving plates.

All:

I actually started coding yesterday and I'm slowly getting a grip on Java. Swing is still a little unusual to me, but I'm getting along. I hope I have something to show the people, tonight. Though it will only model the height of the tiles, and it uses only simple models. But from there it shouldn't be to hard to add some water to get land and sea. And then an ecology simulation can start, determining the type of the tiles.

Do you like the quotes I add to my posts, or do you think I should stop adding them? Just wondering...

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Personal Web pages are the '90s equivalent of home video, except that you don't have to visit someone else's house to fall asleep - you can do so in the comfort of your own home.

Ray Valdes

[Rüdiger]

Ok, I have put up a web page where you can see a picture of the Map Generator and can also download the source code.
The Map Generator is not yet finished, so don't start yelling what a piece of crap it is, though I am always happy to hear your ideas, suggestions and thoughts about it.

The address is:
http://wwwcip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/~sirukell/

I hope it works.

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C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg.

Bjarne Stroustrup

[LDiCesare]

I haven't looked at the code yet, just the picture (that's easier for me ). Are all your plates at the same height? It seems all continental plate centers are underwater. I understand they should most often be in flatland or underwater. Do you have a plate offset height or is it just bad luck on this particular picture?
P.S. I don't know anything in geology, so please bear with me if I am being stupid again.
P.P.S. I love your quotes.

[Rüdiger]

LDiCesare:

The height is saved per map tile, each map tile corresponds to one continental plate. The plate centers are more like plate handles at the moment. It can even happen, that the "center" is completely outside of the plate itself.
I don't know much about geology myself, but I know that my map generator is extremly simplyfied at the moment. And unfortunately the results aren't very good yet.


All:

I'm soon going to update the source code on the page. I made some small improvements, but I fear I have to start again with a better concept.

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Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?

[Lord God Jinnai]

I'd like to make 2 suggestions, both of which should be fairly simple.

1> Add some kind of line for plate edges.
2> For those of us (like me) who can't understand much of coding beyond the math equations, can you save a zipped file of how it shifts the plates over time?

[Mark_Everson]

Hey Rüdiger:

Pretty cool stuff! I think it clearly has potential. I think LGJ's suggestions are good, if it's not too much trouble to implement them. Do I get it right that every tile is a plate? That seems a bit odd... But anyway, you are off to a good start, and it looks like it'll turn out great. I'm looking forward to seeing the next step!

[Richard Bruns]

I downloaded the code, but I couldn't figure out how to run it. How do I run the code and/or edit initial plates so I can test it? The picture looks good, but I'd like to see the change in the terrain.

Whenever hot spots are under the ocean, they tend to generate island chains, like Hawaii. I think that would be good to add, since the oceans tlook a little bare now. Islands can be extremely important in warfare and exploring, as WW2, showed.

Are there any plans for integrating this with the disasters model? For example, the fault zones, where plates meet, are where the most earthquakes and volcanoes will occur. The hot spots are also a source of volcanoes. Perhaps, at the end of the map generation sequence, the code would label the tiles that are prone to these disasters and send that list to the disasters model.

[Rüdiger]

Ok, I did not have time for coding today. I thought you would download and run the code. Hmmm, maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should try to make an applet out of it, then everyone could see the results. The program already has the abilities LGJ asked for. I think I will convert the program to an applet and add a reasonable user interface. Please be patient, seeing the program in action will answer a lot of your questions. I will do it as soon as I have some spare time again.

Sorry, no quote today.