TE question: height map to HFD?

[Wrench 9,811]

is it even possible? To "export heightmap as bitmap", then REimport to create a new terrain (skipping the DEM importation bit, as I can't find the damn DEM site!!). Then, using autotile to fill it in with the proper regional tiles (ie: VNSEA)?

 

Meaning: using said imported heightmap to create a height field for a new terrain? (as the original one is so totally fucked up, that not even I can save it)

 

otherwise, yet another terrain for the dustbin of modding history (unless I can find the a DEM for it, and start fresh!)

Edited December 11, 2013 by Wrench

[+Baltika 85]

Yes, have done it on more than one terrain to create "Full-scale" terrain, e.g. Iceland02.

 

You create terrain using DEM data, export the HFD as bitmap, mess around with the bitmap to whatever you want (including resizing), then import bitmap as HFD.

 

If you already have an existing HFD, you can skip the DEM part and just mess with the height field bitmap.

 

I also use GIMP to convert the TE exported height field bitmap to a topographic palette, to make it easier to edit the heightfield in GIMP, thusly for WIP Balkans terrain:-

 

 

(NB posted as a jpeg to save space in the upload - convert to .bmp to use in TE)

 

 

Using that palette in GIMP, I do most of my airfield flattening by hand, as the TE airfield flattening tool is usually a very blunt instrument, especially in mountainous terrain.

 

When re-sizing terrain, you can expand the exported heightfield .bmp then re-import it to a new terrain with bigger borders.

 

Just remember, 2 pixels in heightmap equals 1km in TE, so you have to create a new terrain to fit the size of your .bmp, or the import won't work.

 

 

For example, the posted wip Balkans heightmap is 3000x3000 pixels.

 

You create a new terrain in TE which is 1500x1500km, then import the Balkans Heightmap bmp to use as heightfield rather than import DEM data.

 

 

Or, you can cut a chunk out of the posted Balkans heightfield.bmp which is, say, 1000x1000 pixels.

 

Save that chunk as a new .bmp.

 

Using TE, create a new terrain which is 500km x 500km.

 

Import the new.bmp to TE, et voila, new terrain created, using just the chunk you cut out of the old Balkans Heightfield as your heightmap.

 

 

 

Just out of interest, what terrain are you looking at?  I have stack of DEM files saved in my TE folder, if you really want to start over.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Baltika

[+Baltika 85]

Also, remember to set these values correctly in TerrainEditor.ini for your chosen terrain:-

 

[bitmapExport]
HeightScale=10

 

[bitmapImport]
HeightScale=10

 

 

TE can only handle 256 different height "steps"

 

So, you have to set the Heightscale= value to an integer which is worked out by dividing the max height peak of your chosen terrain (measured in metres) by 256, then round up to nearest whole number.

 

So, say your chosen map has a Max height peak of 3675 metres:-

 

3675/256=14.355

 

Set BitMap Import/Export HeightScale to 15, or else you will get chopped off mountain peaks when importing/exporting.

[+Baltika 85]

Here's a current link to DEM data:-

 

http://www.webgis.com/terr_world.html

 

Thanks to ignacioc91 for finding this

[Wrench 9,811]

Excellent! That the link I've been looking for (just in case I have to start completely over!)

----------------------------------------------

 

this is the exported height field bmp, converted to RGB and jpg. What I'm trying to do, is to not have to start with a fresh DEM, but use this as the base, and create a HFD/TFD from this.

 

If I have to of course, I will. The original terrain, even when updated to SF2 standards (data ini statements, targets ini tweeks, etc) simply won't run. Gets to 100% and crashes.

 

Obviously, for WW2, eastern India (including what is now Bangladesh -as it was still India then) and Burma/SEA/

Need someplace for Heck's 'Burma Banshees' P-40s to play in (to say nothing of RAF SEAC units)

Edited December 11, 2013 by Wrench

[+Baltika 85]

Hmm, not sure what's going on here.

 

I tried to convert this to create a new terrain, but it won't load into TE for me.

 

This heightmap is 1000x1000 pixels, so it should be a simple case of creating a new terrain TE, size 500km x 500km, then selecting the import heightmap from bitmap option.

 

But the imported heightmap is just showing up blank.

 

TE is picky about format, so I have converted to .bmp, indexed colors, 8-bit depth, but still no go.  Maybe something is being lost in the conversion process to jpg and back?

 

 

 

Or, can you create a new terrain folder with the old hfd and tfd files, but using the SEA textureset and texturelist, and see if autotexture will work?

[Wrench 9,811]

tried that ...

 

it does and it doesn't. The bay of Bengal gets filled with jungle islands, with means hand (re)tiling pretty much the entire map.

and then it still locks/crashes at 100%.

 

well, at least I've got the DEM now!!

Edited December 11, 2013 by Wrench

[Wrench 9,811]

here's the actual exported bmp

maybe that'll work??

Edited December 11, 2013 by Wrench

[krfrge 742]

Wrench,

 

Maybe try loading the bmp into TE, then loading up the textues. Once you have the textures loaded, go to the Texture list [select] then click on Texture List Type and bring the SEA tiles to the top of the list, then click on View, then View Texture Tile. Sometimes I had to do that to get rid of the oceans being filled with jungles,

[Wrench 9,811]

continuing in the same vein...

having spent the last 5 days (and we're talking 12-14 hour days) fiddling with the old Burma map.

It just NEEDS so much re-working, both in the height field for the various river flood plains, and retiling to 'make it look right, I think I've decieded that a completely NEW version of the terrain is needed, that greatly expands to the west to include the Ganges delta and Calcutta, along with all the important bits in east Bengal (Bangladesh), and Burma. And the various Allied bases along the coast (Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Akyab, etc)

 

The hard part is, the E60-N40 dem gets cut off in the middle of Thailand; which is kinda important, for the Japanese airfields at Bangkok, and the central plain (found a map!!) are located there. To say nothing of the large bases in (French) Indochina.

 

What I did, as you can see, with the E60-N40, cut off.

 

what I'd REALLY like, is seen in the grey/blue one, outlined in white. I made the (gif--> jpg for posting) by putting the 2 gifs together from the E60-N40 and E100-N40 dems.

 

This would give the region required, with the possible exception of NOT having Kunming in China (not that big a deal, really), but covering Indochina, Thailand, Burma and eastern India. Side effect, the Andaman and Nicobar become (semi) usable

 

(on a side note, the 'curve' of the bay down near where Bangkok would be, has painted in. For some reason the top of the Malay peninsula and the bay were square. DEM issue, I'm sure)

 

So, the main question is ...

 

how the hell the hell do I do this!!!!   For all the TE/terrain work I've done, I've never stitched 2 together before and successfully imported them!

 

any and all help is appreciated! The WW2 players could use something like this, and it has the side effect of being updatable for 'modern' scenarios (India vs East Pakistan, etc and so forth)

 

thanks!

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Dang Wrench, I always had my DEMs backed up since the beginning. ... multiple independent backups that is.

 

You can import exported stuff. That's how I did the 12MMM, twice in fact....one for making a butchered "fake" height map for tiling and one "real" height map for generating the 3D map. I not sure what you are trying, so apologies if this isn't helpful, but why not import 2 horizontal arranged or 4 horizontal+vertical arranged DEM files at one time?

 

like this...it should be big enough, no?

 

12

 

...or...

 

12

34

[+Baltika 85]

Hi Kevin,

 

New map, no problem.

 

TE will stitch the DEM files together for you.

 

 

Here's the drill:-

 

1. Setup your new terrain folder in the usual way.

 

2. Open TE.  Go to File/New dropdown.

 

3. New Terrain Dialog will open.

 

4. Set terrain map size (2000km, for your indicated area - that is one big map)

 

5.  Leave Texture Tile Resolution and Height Field Resolution as stock (2000m and 500m respectively)

 

6. Click "OK"

 

7.  Go to Edit/Import DEM on the TE toolbar

 

8.  Import DEM Dialog will pop up.

 

9.  Enter Lat/Long for top left of map (I used 82E 31N for this map)

 

10.  Leave map scale at 100%

 

11.  Heightscale I bump up to 110%, I like mountainous terrain!

 

12.  Click OK on the dialog.

 

13.  When you click OK, a selection window will pop up with the TE logo top left and the word "Open."  At the bottom left of this box, in the selection field, highlighted in blue, is the name of the DEM file TE is looking for.  in this case, it says E060N40.dem.  Navigate to your saved DEM file, highlight it in the main panel, and click on "open" at bottom right.  TE will process that file then ask for the next dem file in sequence.  Work through each of them in turn.

 

14.  That will give you your basic hfd in TE.  To tile it, select your texturelist, VietnamSEA I guess, and create your citylist in the usual way.

 

 

Using the above settings, I made a new .hfd in TE, then retiled using the VietnamSEA tileset.

 

Saved the whole thing as a new terrain, then loaded it into gerwin's TFD tool to make this planning map:-

 

 

 

If you like, I can zip this up and fire it over to you.

 

Or, if you want a slightly smaller map, we can adjust the settings to suit - I couldn't resist fitting Singapore in there, given the map has to be square anyway.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Baltika

[Wrench 9,811]

oh HELLL yes!!!! That's what I'm looking for!!

 

so, THAT's why it asks for the DEM twice!!! I never knew that!!

 

If you could send those over, it would save me buttloads of time (since you've already done the base work...) It'd be a perfect replacement for the existing Burma map -- and great expanded.

Lots of usable space there, especially in Indochina!

[+Baltika 85]

Sure thing, will do.

 

Can you tell me, is there a snow tile which fits in with the VietnamSEA set?

 

This tileset could do with a snow tile for the Himalayas, otherwise Mount Everest is going to look a bit odd.

 

Easy enough to add in, but rather than re-create the wheel, I am thinking maybe something like that was done for the Indo-Pak mod?

[Wrench 9,811]

sure is!!!

 

you'll find them in the Central America/Panama terrain. I had to make them for the Andes mountains in Columbia. These are VNSEA named, in GH3 styling

 

VietnamJRSnow25

VietnamJRSnow50

VietnamJRSnow75

 

of course, I'll be adding my 'specials', the new  port tiles, half city river, paddy river, straight-beached GS tiles, etc. These are all listed AFTER all the stock tiles, so anything after tile 104 is the "new" stuff

Edited December 17, 2013 by Wrench

[+Baltika 85]

Perfect, thanks!

 

I had been looking at your excellent Indo-Pak terrain, but that will save some work.

 

I will get this "synched" to GH3 standard, add in those snow tiles, and fire it over to you.

[Wrench 9,811]

synching to GH3 is a non-issue, since the tiles are named the same.

 

this is the texture list I used for Philipines, China, Burma (of course, the last few tiles were added just for Burma), and the 4 snow tiles are missing -forgot about the VietnamSnow1 !!! They were all converted/repainted from GermanyCE A series tiles

[+Baltika 85]

Got it, thanks!

[Lexx_Luthor 57]

Wrench::

 

so, THAT's why it asks for the DEM twice!!! I never knew that!!

 

Are you serious? But then I've missed even bigger things in this huge game, wasted lots of work because of it too.

 

See here ... and CZECH OUT THE DATE ~~>   http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3059
 

DEMs ... 1 alone ..., 2 across ....  or 4 max (2 across and 2 down).

 

 

[Wrench 9,811]

was talking to Fubar on the phone the other day, and had him look at this thread, expecially the new map.

 

He made mention of something I'd never considered, or even thought of.

 

If properly scaled, THIS map could replace COMPLETLY! the stock VNSEA for Vietnam War use. Look at all the area it covers -- all of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and both Vietnams.

 

Some hellacious potential sitting right there!

[+Baltika 85]

Hi Kevin,

 

Check PMs, please.

 

WW2 CBI terrain build inbound.

 

Happy New Year to you

BTW, I have tweaked the auto-texture settings a bit, so, for example, you won't see paddy fields on the Malay peninsula.

 

But some things probably still need adjusting, for example, there are probably too many fields and not enough jungle on the Malay peninsula and on Sumatra.

 

Also, I have had to hand-tile around areas like Kathmandu and Imphal, as the jungle will just swallow up the city tiles when you run auto-texture and then transition texture.  If you place field tiles round the cities, then jungle round the fields, you can run transition texture without problems.  Problem arises because there are no city to jungle or field to mountain transition tiles.

 

Again, there may need to be a bit of further tweaking on the auto-texture settings for field tiles unless you want to hand-tile the whole darn map.

 

Slainthe!

[Wrench 9,811]

since I do massive amounts of hand tiling, that's no biggie!! (well, other than wearing out the mouse and my carpal tunnel....)

 

 

because there are no city to jungle or field to mountain transition tiles.

 

well, shoot!!! THAT's no problem!!! LOL!! (well, other than needing stary's jungle tgas/tods....) Actually, gives me ideas!!

 

I thank you kind sir!!