Alternate TFD Terrain Tilemap editor/viewer

[+gerwin]

No, sorry.

First thing on my TODO list for Strike Fighters is to finish the HEMTT truck model I started.

[Centurion-1]

Hello Gerwin,

Any chance you had a look at that feature I asked for? Sorry to pester you like this.. but I think it would take out a lot of guesstimation from terrain work.

[+gerwin]

Fair enough. :)

I just added support for a ReferenceMap, which can be displayed just like the TileMap and the HeightMap. Details are in the manual.

[Centurion-1]

Awesome!

I bet a lot of terrain makers will thank you for this!

[Centurion-1]

Say hello to easy city placement!!!!

[Major Bloodnok]

Thanks for the great update, Gerwin.

 

It is a fantastic tool.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Major Bloodnok

[+Menrva]

Thank you very very much, Gerwin. Your tool has become necessary for any terrain work and now, with the new feature, terrain modding in Strike Fighters has even reached new heights.

[krfrge]

Gerwin,

 

As always, WOW!

 

Many thanks.

[+gerwin]

Thanks guys. Good to see the tool is still in some demand.

The reference map feature was just a quick adjustment, I think it took about 2 hours.

Centurion, I disabled the editing commands while in reference map mode. Is that proper or should I allow (blind) tiling or something?...

 

Hope this month will allow me some time to look a the TOD's again, as to read the tree and building locations.

[Centurion-1]

I don't know yet.. I guess it could be cool to be able to paste for example river tiles while in ref map mode and then go over them and just rotate them later. Either way, this is a huge improvement for terrain modding for sure!

[+Soulfreak]

Yesterday i worked a lot with your great tool Gerwin!

I really love it!!!

On little advise, which i think makes the use a lil bit more comfortable

When putting the "I"nfo key, can you add that in the information box of the current texture also

shows up the position (number) of the texture in the terrains data.ini?

[+gerwin]

AFAIK that bit information is displayed on the bottom left, at any time: "texture: ##"

[+Geezer]

Jpeg support has been added. Of course Jpeg compression has its advantages, when used under the right circumstances, like higher res tilesets.

 

Adding Jpeg capability could significantly improve the tilesets and maps.  I used four already existing 1024 art files to make one 2048 art file, and slapped it on an FE 500m tile in Max.  Results below.  Your hi-res improvement could be huge.  It would probably mean revising or making new art, but the results would dramatically improve the sim's appearance.

 

 

 

[mue]

 

Hope this month will allow me some time to look a the TOD's again, as to read the tree and building locations.

 

You may find this helpful. I opened a new topic: http://combatace.com/topic/84706-tod-file-format/

[Dunois]

I use both SF2 and IL2

I'm not a complete map builder, I only like to customize some places in maps by adding or moving some objects.

I did this in IL2 by using the Unlocked FMB which allows easily to modify maps.

And with your tool, it seems that we're getting close of a long time needed feature, that TD forgot to offer.

It will allow in particular, to get rid of these "standard airfield" and cities, killing game immersion in comparison of the very old IL2.

 

Keep it up!

[+EMCON360]

A Great Tool And A Good Time Saver.

[+quack74]

^{I use the TFD tool for First Eagles. I want to make an overlay map of a specific region I already use. How do I know what dimensions to make the reference map I want to pull from Google Earth?}

Edited February 7, 2015 by quack74

[+gerwin]

You may find this helpful. I opened a new topic: http://combatace.com/topic/84706-tod-file-format/

 

Thanks, that is definitely helpful!

I'll compare it it with what i noted myself.

 

 

^{I use the TFD tool for First Eagles. I want to make an overlay map of a specific region I already use. How do I know what dimensions to make the reference map I want to pull from Google Earth?}

 

The manual says:

"In addition to the TileMap and Heightmap, the program can display a ReferenceMap named *_ref.bmp. When found it will be loaded and can be shown through switching the editing mode, with the M key. This Bitmap must be in a fixed size ratio compared to the TileMap: 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:8."

So it is a matter of exporting the tilemap to a bitmap, and load it in an imaging program with layers. For best results scale it up so it is 8x the size of the actual tiles (ratio 1:8).

In another layer one puts the map from google earth, make it transparent so you can see the tilemap as well. Then you use scale/transform/rotate/distort until the google map matches the tilemap below. remove the transparency and save it for import in TFDtool.

Good luck.

 

....

 

I am sorry to say that the past months did not allow me much time for hobbies; Since the contract for the house I rented was revoked. So I had to move to a temporary place, and soon to a new place of my own.

[+quack74]

Thanks gerwin I got it now.

[jeanba]

Hello

 

I started to use this wonderfull tool for editing a beta map.

I try to delete trees from texture for airfield

For the moment, I duplicated the textures which were a porblem, set the field AlphaObjectTexture= to none,

the new texture is for instance  :

[Texture151]

// Texture 078, no tree

Filename=Valley5.BMP

HasWater=0

Color=0.487013,0.400121,0.295277

SolidObjectTexture=ME_Farmland.BMP

AlphaObjectTexture=

 

and then I apply the new texture using the page up keys which is a little tedious.

 

Is there a better way to do it ?

 

Can I simply enter the texture number ?

 

Thank you in advance

 

And thank you again Gerwin, you are the     

[+gerwin]

and then I apply the new texture using the page up keys which is a little tedious.

 

Is there a better way to do it ?

 

Can I simply enter the texture number ?

 

Have you tried using copy-paste? set one tile to the desired texture using pgup/pgdn. Then press 'c' to copy it to the 'clipboard'. Go to another location and press 'v' to paste that same tile there.

 

But like you said, adding a number input dialog to the program would have its benefits too. I will consider it.

[jeanba]

Yes, I consider "copy paste", but for the moment, I need to create a texture, which is not on the map !

In my process, I want to make a systematic check of the airfields : check airport one, and replace "tree texture" by "no tree texture", then shift to airport 2 ...

In this context, it is a little difficult to check airport number 25, look for which of the 24 previous airport used the same texture, go to this airport, copy the texture and go back to the new 25 !

It is faster to use "page up" key

[+gerwin]

I see.

There is now version 0.96 of the program, which allows tile number input through the tile info dialog. It is accessed with the enter key. Hope that works better. :)

[jeanba]

Thank you, I will use it soon !

[+Sundowner]

Thanks for the update....every improvement helps.