Geofiction Base Maps using Wilbur

[waldronate]

Wilbur's flow algorithms are pixel-based and become visually implausible when pixels get too large. Most systems that incorporate a physical model have the same problem. What I'm (badly) pointing out is that continental shapes are an interplay between the strictly local processes of erosion and water flow working against the large-scale process of mountain building. Wilbur has useful tools for the erosion part (subject to the strict limits of the model), but it is up to you to use the tools in Wilbur for the mountain building part.

I can't say much about getting good results at a continental scale because I haven't yet come up with a good way to do it. Wilbur's erosion algorithms give good results where the ground slope is more than a few degrees. However, most continents have a slope much less than that. The Mississippi River, for example, drops 0.28 miles over a distance of 2300 miles. That's an average slope of less than 0.007 degrees (the last 750 miles drop only 0.01 miles, which is far, far less of a slope). This small slope is well outside what Wilbur can handle effectively.

One thing that you might try is to use multiple layouts instead of a single one. For example, place a platform at low altitude, then do mounds for mountainous areas followed by some noise and erosion. The mountain texture is hard to get plausible with small-sized maps. See tha attachment for an example of an implausible large-scale map done using this process.