WIP- Covenant- "The Mouth of the World"

[Tucker Omberg]

This my first attempt at a metropolis in CD3. I'm around 20-30% done with it so far, but I'd like to know what you talented people think so that I can make modifications to 25& rather than 100% of the map, or scrap the whole thing if it's not turning out well.

Some notes:
-The Canals were inspired by those in Amsterdam and St. Petersburg
-The Walled Gardens to the West might be a bit anachronistic, are they distracting?
-Right now, all the buildings are in the CD3 B "Wooden Red" style. Later on, I'll go back and add multiple styles of houses. Is there a quick way to do this in CD3, i.e. change the style of an existing building without deleting and redrawing it?


Let me know what you all think, this community has been a giant inspiration to me! Thanks!

[Tucker Omberg]

Here's the work I've done the past couple days. Just adding more buildings, particularly to the coastline. I also redid the flora in the gardens to be more to scale (no more giant trees!).

My goals in the next week are:
-Finish buildings in the easternmost third of the map (Left of the major road running N to S)
-Extend the walls into the harbor to make it more defendable
-Figure out why CC3 is crashing whenever I try to export the map with shading and aligned fill styles on

Thanks for taking a look! I'd still love to hear opinions/suggestions of more experienced Guild Members.

[Mouse]

Hi Tucker.

Nice start on the map - but I see you could possibly do with a bit of help with the software side of things.

Let me ask a couple of questions that might get the ball rolling with sorting out this crashing on export problem:

CC3... or CC3+?

What kind of file are you trying to export (png/jpeg/ etc) and in what format - just a straightforward export of everything, or a rectangular section?

What kind of resolution are you pushing it to? (If you set the x and y pixel limits to 10,000 in both directions you really are asking a lot, since that will generate an export file that could be anywhere between 30 and 50 MB, depending on how much antialiasing you are using).

What do you mean by "shading"

If Waldronate sees your plight, listen carefully to every word he says. He's a Profantasy coder and knows a thing or two about the way it all works.

[Weery]

Hi,

Nice work so far. I'm far from an experienced member on here but I like the layout of your streets and think they have enough variation to make the overall map interesting to look at at.

I don't use CC3 but if it has some method to make your buildings 'sit down' onto your map more I think that would look good.

Good job and look forward to seeing how you progress

[Tucker Omberg]

@Mouse:
-I'm using regular CC3, version 3.42, CAD version 6.20.0
-Trying to export into a .png file, at both the 2000x1600_Alias25 and 1500x1200_Alias50 settings, with the "restrict image to map border" option ticked
-"Shading" refers to the option in the draw speed settings menu "disable shading". I keep it checked when working on the map, but tried unchecking it to export

@Weery
-I think turning on the drop shadows achieve the effect you're talking about. I'll try turning them on in the next update, assuming I can work out the exporting issue!

[Mouse]

@Mouse:
-I'm using regular CC3, version 3.42, CAD version 6.20.0
-Trying to export into a .png file, at both the 2000x1600_Alias25 and 1500x1200_Alias50 settings, with the "restrict image to map border" option ticked
-"Shading" refers to the option in the draw speed settings menu "disable shading". I keep it checked when working on the map, but tried unchecking it to export

I'm thinking you may need more expert help on this than I can provide, because I can only speak from my own experience, which is mainly CC3+. I have been told that CC3+ is "far less crashy" over on the PF forum, by a PF coder (not Waldronate).

Aliasing at 25 -50!!! My goodness. You only really need about 5 just to knock the diagonals into shape (de-pixelate them). I don't even use it (but then I export at 5000 x 5000 and then reduce the image in CorelDraw just to make it small enough that I can manage to upload it to the Guild. Aliasing is just part of the process of reduction for me.

Just as an experiment, please could you try leaving the shading on (I have never bothered to switch it off even once), but turn off the aliasing altogether, then export at your usual image export size and tell me if it still crashes. I have a feeling its one or both of those things that may be causing it, and my 90% certain bet is on the aliasing

If that works, try using aliasing set at 5, and see if it crashes then

[Tucker Omberg]

Disabling antialiasing still had it crash, but I installed CC3+, and suddenly everything's working swell. I'd agree that it's "far less crashy". Here's a preview of the city with the effects on. I'd like to know if Weery thinks the drop shadows help with the "sitting down" illusion!
Thank you so much for your help and support!

[Weery]

Hi Tucker,

I personally prefer the shadows and think the walled garden demonstrates where they are working best for you. I think the effects overall soften the map (the waterways outer glow for example) and certainly make it more pleasing to my eye.

I think a texture on the grass could help again. But then I'm sure you have an overall direction you want to take things which may not include such things.

Thanks for posting your progress

[Mouse]

Disabling antialiasing still had it crash, but I installed CC3+, and suddenly everything's working swell. I'd agree that it's "far less crashy". Here's a preview of the city with the effects on. I'd like to know if Weery thinks the drop shadows help with the "sitting down" illusion!
Thank you so much for your help and support!

That's ok. It seems you more or less resolved the issue by yourself anyway

It may just be that I'm looking at this on a 15 inch laptop screen, but I can't actually see much more than just the general impression. There are a lot of hard lines in the detailed areas, so I can't really tell what is building and what is shadow - not enough to be able to say if they sit right.

One thing that might help is if you soften the edge of the shadows just the tiniest amount by editing the effect, so that they aren't quite as sharp as the buildings themselves. Otherwise, this is coming along nicely (and rather a lot faster than my own city) LOL!

[darcycardinal]

Disabling antialiasing still had it crash, but I installed CC3+, and suddenly everything's working swell. I'd agree that it's "far less crashy". Here's a preview of the city with the effects on. I'd like to know if Weery thinks the drop shadows help with the "sitting down" illusion!
Thank you so much for your help and support!

That is a tightly packed city, which i always love. It still could use some softening, but overall i like where the map is going.

-darcycardinal