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Thread: random world

  1. #21

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    Oh, something I forgot to mention in my last post... a little 'lock' button next to the Ice and Water variables on all applicable generators would be a nice add too. So that if you want a world with 72% water and 10% ice, you don't need to keep manually resetting those fields as you roll the dice.

  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leurnid View Post
    Oh, something I forgot to mention in my last post... a little 'lock' button next to the Ice and Water variables on all applicable generators would be a nice add too. So that if you want a world with 72% water and 10% ice, you don't need to keep manually resetting those fields as you roll the dice.
    there's a secret trick... click on the label text "Random Seed:" to re-roll just the seed value.
    >>< drow ><<

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by drow View Post
    there's a secret trick... click on the label text "Random Seed:" to re-roll just the seed value.
    I had figured out that I could adjust map rotation by clicking on the sample render, but I didn't think to try clicking on anything else.

  4. #24

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    I am using the regular fractal generator mostly, to produce Earth-like world maps for a reboot of a fantasy setting I have been working on for years.

    One of my goals is to maintain relatively earth-like land masses and distributions that allow for conventional and realistic weather patterns and biomes.

    An unfortunate problem with large land masses is that on mega-continents, at least in theory, most of the inland regions would be arid deserts or tundra. Large hemispheric oceans are also problematic, as the air moving across large regions of water pick up moisture and energy, and when they do make land-fall, produce severe hurricanes and monsoon conditions of unearthly proportion.

    Conversely, because of issues with projection methods and the generators tendency to produce mega-continents, many features such as islands and peninsulas seem minor, when in fact, they are actually as big or bigger than Europe, or even Australia. Also, lakes and inlets that appear fairly minor on the generator are actually comparable to the Great Lakes, Mediterranean, or Caribbean.

    To overcome those issues in the original Fractal World Generator, I use the icosahedral map projection. It produces the least significant scaling issues of the available projection methods. I also have a map of Earth using icosahedral projection that I keep in a browser tab so I can toggle over to compare relative land mass scaling and latitudes. The latitudes are handy to have as a frame of reference so I can estimate the general weather to expect along a given stretch of coast.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Another interesting thing that has occurred to me is that in the case of large polar bodies of water, a polar ice cap probably wouldn't reach deep enough to anchor, which means planetary rotation, ocean currents, and prevailing winds would probably cause the ice cap to rotate and shift, maybe erratically.

    *edit: Just found an alternate projection earth map that I prefer for comparison purposes:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    This came from the Wilbur website. I suspect that while the map isn't as rigorously projected (gnomonic, or whatever projection method was used), the % coverage of water seems to be more consistent with the Fractal World Generator's (when set to 71%, the actual surface area of Earth covered with water).
    Last edited by Leurnid; 02-17-2013 at 09:02 PM. Reason: added better graphic

  5. #25

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    I was really dissatisfied with the hex-grid overlays for icosahedral maps I was finding, so I made one of my own. I created it in AutoCAD to maximize precision, but the graphic exports in AutoCAD are mediocre imo, so I loaded that file into Inkscape, segregated layers and adjusted line weights, and saved it out as an SVG. From there, I turned on and off layers as needed and exported bmps (which are actually PNG files with transparency), and thus created my overlays.

    Icosahedron Hex Grid 1.svg

    I am (attempting) to attach the SVG so if anybody is interested, they can make their own adjustments to line-weight and control the size of their export file. If that doesn't work, I will include the PNG files instead.
    Looks like the SVG loaded fine. You can view SVG's in Firefox, and presumably other browsers as well. Most of the layers are on by default, turn off the hex grids you don't need and export as a bmp (PNG) in Inkscape.
    Last edited by Leurnid; 02-17-2013 at 08:27 AM. Reason: verified file upload

  6. #26

    Help

    I just wanted to say that drow rocks, the entirety of Donjon and specifically this fantasy map generator are absolutely brilliant, and that I have two suggestions:

    - Is there any way you can make the seeds of the fractal/sci-fi world generators match the fantasy one's? I say this because when I use the star system generator the seed of a terrestrial world that I click on comes up in the address bar, and when I paste it into the fractal generator it gives me the exact same world (presumably because it uses that same generator when I click on the planet), allowing me to use the rotating planet animation and/or a larger map (or a vision of what the planet would look like barren, chthonian, etc, pretty cool!). It would be brilliant if those seeds were also compatible with the fantasy generator, leading to the same geographical results, but with the added details.
    I can see many reasons why this could be impossible, but I hope it doesn't hurt to ask.

    - Before you made some changes to the Fantasy Map Generator (as far as I could tell, before the font changed), one could split the map in two anywhere and paste one half on the other side, making so that the partial hexes would connect fine, forming a full hex the same size as the others. Now, however, this doesn't happen, as I end up with a way thinner hex column at the cut section due to the fact that the extremes of the generated map, if stitched together, no longer form a full hex. I would like to know if it is fixable. Either that, or you might just include a rotate function like with the other world generators. I have provided examples of what I mean as attachments.

    P.S: The new font is a bit big, albeit cool, and I was wondering if one could alternate between the old and the new ones.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #27

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    sorry for the delay in responding, day job's been busy again lately.

    Quote Originally Posted by Draven View Post
    Is there any way you can make the seeds of the fractal/sci-fi world generators match the fantasy one's?
    they should, given the same seed and other parameters, including map size. the fantasy world generator uses height = 2000 px, 25000 iterations.

    Now, however, this doesn't happen, as I end up with a way thinner hex column at the cut section due to the fact that the extremes of the generated map, if stitched together, no longer form a full hex. I would like to know if it is fixable.
    that's not quite right... i'll take a look at it, my math is probably off by +0.5 somewhere.
    >>< drow ><<

  8. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by drow View Post
    that's not quite right... i'll take a look at it, my math is probably off by +0.5 somewhere.
    should be fixed now.
    >>< drow ><<

  9. #29

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    Ah, the height and iterations were the things I was missing.

    And yes, it is fixed! Bloody brilliant work.

    Is the font thing a no-no, then?

    Either way, thank you very much, and do keep at it.

  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by Draven View Post
    Is the font thing a no-no, then?
    the font selection is, at the moment, coded into the map style. it can be broken out as a separate selection, i just haven't had time to look at it yet. also, afraid that if i do, someone may ask for Comic Sans to be added.
    >>< drow ><<

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