I'm putting it here, now that you've said it's ok...and keep in mind, I do enjoy the current version, but I see many areas that could be improved to make it more useful and more enjoyable.
In no particular order...
1. proper saving of files (ideally, I could save 30000 x 15000 pixel map without lines/glitches/etc. as a jpg/png/tiff/bmp OR include an automatic mechanism to re-join the individually output files...and don't hide away things like "saving as jpg/bmp" behind hard-to-determine ctrl schemes (like having to hold down ctrl to change to saving as bmp files)...keep it in the open with menus or gui-options. I'm tired of having, after rejoining 32+ files for each layer of my map, to touch up every border on the rivers layer because rivers don't meet).... any chance of psb support for these massive files?
2. My pipedream is to be able to identify fault-lines at the beginning of map generation, then have the program simulate continental drift...and the resulting land-height shifts, mountain and volcano generation etc. Time consuming, sure, but more realistic - hope so! That could be as simple as identifying original landmass shapes, direction and rate of movement, and an amount of time that has passed....calculate the movements, 'guestimated' changes where land masses meet (which moves up/down/over/under etc), and then apply the smoothing and erosion that may have happened over time. Dreaming too hard?
3. A quick way to output only land mass, or only water mass areas (with the rest of the map transparent or a definable colour
4. For individual import/export areas (i.e., terrain colour/texture files) to rememember the last loaded files and folders locations (recent files...).
5. A way, for each terrain generated, to store a variety of map views. That way I could, in one file, return to my "North American continent" view, or "City #33 view" etc.
6. Lots of people are doing it - included the functionality that creates the html and individual image files for a google map-style display....super bonus points if it allows me to add symbols for individual locations etc.
7. The ability to place vector or other image overlays at specific locations on the map which remain individual and re-positionable entities (on layers?) (e.g., stars for cities, words for labels, or the map of a city, compass rose) which show up between specific zoom ranges....for example, at "the whole map" stage, you see a label for countries that you've created, from 60-80% of the map on screen, you also see a star and label for each city, and at 30-60, you see the roads you've layed out (using overlays), and 0-30 you start seeing the city maps you've created and placed...or trees you've added (vector or transparent pngs). (Of course this all gets output in the google-map-style setup for zooming in and out, etc).
8. a 64 bit version for those of us who like LARGE maps with lots of detail....and want to generate with more detail etc. than the current version can handle without choking and crashing and dying catastrophically (and without warning you a value may cause problems as it does now). I suspect that many of the users on here have more than 3GB or ram...we want to use the full power (speed/memory) of our computers to make our lives easier.
9. a better river-overlay system (true vector output?)...
10. an export scripting language for (non-programmers) that lets you cue up exports (i.e., export map with these settings showing only land, now only water, now rivers, now overlay layers as above, now outlines of land...etc) to allow repeatability and comprehensive data-sets to work with in photoshop etc.... I typically save most of those versions right now, and then join the individual files together to make my large file FOR EACH save, and then can import them into photoshop...full-size saves (30000x15000 would make me ecstatic) for each type would be wonderful. Right now it's easy to make a mistake, forget a setting (or to hold ctrl to save bmp) and all that....and having to reset your settings each time is frustrating. I'd love to combine this with #5 above, to generate the standard files for my "Atlas"...which I could then import and apply scripts to in PS...to get my consistent-look Atlas pages generated without unnecessary (and easily missed/forgotten/messed up) steps.
11. some way to "nudge" your map to make minor shape adjustments.....
12. That ability to set your starting position as a seamless-full-world map.... or forget seamless, and just go for a section of the world as the starting point at full-res (i.e., just an island or continent).
13. make sure all map projections work properly, especially when saving at ALL resolutions...
14. A brush with adjustable feathering, and brush size adjustments that are a) smoother and more fluid to do on the fly (with a graphics tablet?), b)consistently display on the screen .... and perhaps have store-able presets?
15. forgot to mention reasonable upgrade price (i.e., 1/3-1/2 of new)
16. a raise for Waldronate
17. More variables (with labels and good explanation of function) that can be controlled - especially if some can be in layman's terms (i.e., land mass size, mountain height, lake frequency, lake size, volcano frequency) and the ability to save those preference files for future use on other new maps
18. a dream...? give it a height map from another map (greyscale) and have it generate an algorithm to give you a similar map (i.e., same proportion of water to land, height range and distribution -are height changes gradual or rapid, clumped like a mountain range, or stretching out over the width of a continent...or apply those ratios to #2 above
19. I'd love it if rotating the 'glove' to get different views didn't produce edge artifacts at the original sides/top/bottom of the map....it's a globe and should be truly seamless.
20. Rotating this globe should shift the climate info (i.e., ice packs at northern and southern poles) AND/OR (your choice) the view.... when I'm first creating my map (or later in it's life if you want to simulate a global catastrophe) I may want North America to become the new South Pole, I may just want a different view while the South Pole remains the South Pole climate-wise, or I may want to do both.
21. Climate that is based on a bit more science (i.e., ocean current/wind-flow and the Earth's rotation should be added to the algorithm so that it moves behind just land height/latitude).
22. Give me control over "how real" it is. Allow me to adjust 'precision of calculations' so that I can do quick renders or ones I leave running over night for exacting detail...with a proper indicator (I'm good with a checklist) of which stage it's on and an estimate of calculations remaing (i.e., completed 15/139439 calculations) for each stage....EDIT: Perhaps if the continental drift stuff gets working, a simulate by year/decade/century/millenium to adjust precision....
23. lake/river formation based on climate
I know not all things above are going to happen - but I'd love to see as many of them as possible down the road!
Thanks for the chance to contribute ideas/requests.
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