New Campaign World

[Redrobes]

Neon, I finished off your map today. Made a few tweaks to GTS based on it so it was useful to me too. Found yours a bit harder than usual - dont know why, probably because I was trying to keep the overall shape intact. Anyway, I said it would change a little and it has but its eminently recognizable after the erosion. Hope you like it. The full zip version is here but its 40Mb.

You can run it up in 3D with Dragon Flight. After it loads, press 'G' about 3 - 4 times and then maximize and press '4'. Press '6' if you can and '8' if your graphics card can stand it as these up the res of the screen pic. The color image is the full 4K square unlit version tho.

EDIT -- Oh yes, you will have to add in the smoke / steam trails as it would depend on the prevailing wind direction.

[NeonKnight]

Thank you very, very much!

[Robbie]

Seriously RR...quit teasin us...when will we be able to shower you with money and buy our own copy of GTS?

[Redrobes]

Seriously RR...quit teasin us...when will we be able to shower you with money and buy our own copy of GTS?

Theres some volcanoes in this map. Theres 4 on the top which I told it to extinct at some point and left the middle three on. Now when I set this up I put in the commands to add some lava at the requested spots and then 'go'.

No lava.

Faff faff faff... Do you know I couldn't figure it out - I got the fraggin debugger on the code to see what happened and lo there was a line of script which adjusted stuff so that the volcano would have been way out in the ocean miles off the map.

The program can be made to give great results but its a beast to drive. I cant drive it in a completely straight line and I wrote it ! I am convinced that the overall process is the right way of doing it but it needs to be tamed a lot more before it can be set free. Some people say ViewingDale is quite tricky to use but I think that one is pretty easy after an initial hump of learning and its got a GUI. This is just a command line driven scripting language. The only errors it gives are syntax not terrain parameter types. It wont say that its too hot, too cold, too much permeability and so on - you just wait for ages and get a flood or a barren wilderness. It's not a pleasant ride at the mo - you would need to package me (and a code debugger it seems) with each one sold. Making a terrain using the app is more like debugging a dodgy program until its perfect. You have to have an understanding about whats making it not work right and then adjust that bit knowing that the changewill have a knock on effect and the process repeats until desired result. Not the way most people want to build terrain I think.

[Robbie]

We still love you.

[RobA]

You have to have an understanding about whats making it not work right and then adjust that bit knowing that the changewill have a knock on effect and the process repeats until desired result. Not the way most people want to build terrain I think.

Just bundle up a version that will randomize parameters within ranges...random world creation... if you don't like it, try again!

-Rob A>

[Redrobes]

Just bundle up a version that will randomize parameters within ranges...random world creation... if you don't like it, try again!

Ahh the randomizing bit is the easy bit - I have my Noddy freebie program InstantIslands to do that job. The problem is that just noise by itself is not enough to be realistic. You can mix n match your noise types and this can take you a bit further but at some point you have to run a simulation of sorts to get terrain out instead of bumpy noise. The most essential is some form of erosion as this can eliminate stuff with is obviously impossible and that gets you something looking haf decent. To go further tho requires at least some form of fluid calculation and maybe some environment stuff like weather or temperature. And you can keep going more and more complex. These are the parameters that have less latitude for adjustment and so are not easy to randomize to get a working system. Its like the Earth and its biosphere - small adjustments mean global disaster, wipe out of all current living organisms and a whole raft of new ones that acclimatise to the new state. I suspect that if I randomized these and run it through with random initial conditions then I would provide millions of deserts or oceans but very few balanced terrains.

Perhaps I should try it and see. Most of the time I am asked to provide a map looking like something somebody has in their mind, but assuming that theres no preconceived ideas, I wonder what they would work out like. Will try that soon (ish).

[Robbie]

I've always thought that a combination of functionality from a program such as FT, GTS, and add in some of the calculations that determine wind and water currents effects on climate with coriolis effect and whatnot would be a BIG seller amongst fantasy gamers.

RR, you and Joe Slayton should both team up and start your own company and develop that tool...

[Redrobes]

RR, you and Joe Slayton should both team up and start your own company and develop that tool...

Now wouldn't that be somethin' but I am sure that there would be some difficulties working with GTS and for ProFantasy at the same time.

[SeerBlue]

Hmm, I really like that island, it reminds me of something or someplace, but I can't pull it from my tired old noggin,,,,is the zip file free to play with, peruse, perhaps storm the beaches,,,,,wait Snap doesn't have a Navy, no beaches will be stormed, but maybe landed upon in a raft of empty Tatershine kegs....
SeerBlue

edit, I still get a kick out of seeing the way GTS braids the water channels and heaves up the glaciers, pure art.