WaterMap bitmap secret

[UllyB]

First I bumped into the subject reading the KB, then I read in a terrain readme that the SF2 NA brought something interesting for carrier operations, this precious watermap bitmap, with those spawning zones for carriers, for each side (the yellow and green zones). I tried to make one but it doesn't work (I tried to make other zones for VietnamSea, like in the example given in KB), only that guy bitmap worked but he didn't say how he has done it exactly. How do you make a eligible watermap bitmap for a terrain with those zones? What is the secret ? The way I understood it is that the engine "knows" to read those colors. How's that ? What am I missing ?

Thanks in advance!

Edited July 23, 2020 by UllyB

[+Gepard]

To be honest, it seems to be not possible to make a correct watermap. The bmp which SF2NA is using has a little bit different format than the usual bmp.

[Wilches]

It's Indexed not RGB.

[UllyB]

I managed to make a usable watermap for VietnamSEA map. I made it in Photoshop. I didn't even need to transform it in RGB , in order to modify it. I did it directly in indexed state and then saved it. In the meantime I will work, experimentaly,  to build/modify watermaps for some terrains which won't support carrier operations.

VIETNAMSEA_WATER.7z

Edited July 23, 2020 by UllyB

[UllyB]

UPDATE

I tried to make a watermap for Sweden/Baltic Rim , which doesn't support carrier operations. Well, for USN works, the carrier is always in water, but for Russian it doesn't work. It seems it's not that simple. I noticed in Photoshop, when you work on the indexed file, in indexed mode, an Ox and an Oy pink invisible axes. I don't have a clue what they do and what is their role in the indexed file.

[+Gepard]

5 hours ago, Wilches said:

It's Indexed not RGB.

Indexed does it mean RLE Encoded?

[snowburn]

2 hours ago, Gepard said:

Indexed does it mean RLE Encoded?

No, that is the compression.

To use indexed color in Photoshop go to "Mode" then select "Indexed Color".
In this mode i think you are limited to 256 colors from a preselected list.
 

[UllyB]

That is what I thought in the first time, you switch to RGB mode , edit, save  and transform it into indexed, but it's not that. I made the one above in index mode directly, without transforming anything, I just saved it after I made it. But for some reasons, it doesn't work in any map (the one I made for VietnamSea map however works well, even changing the spots proportionally with the new placement bitmap). For now the reason it doesn't work it eludes me. But I won't give up.

I noticed that the bitmap I made for Vietnam has the exact amount like the original, 257Kb. The other one, made for Baltic Rim has 256Kb no matter what. Maybe this is one of the reason it doesn't work...

Edited July 24, 2020 by UllyB

[snowburn]

im sure you must not switch to RGB then back to indexed because the color palette will be wrong, but i dont know why editing directly on the original image didnt work.

maybe you must load a color table like this post:

i think the game uses color index #0 for ground, #1 for blue deployment area, #2 for red (im just guessing here)

 

[UllyB]

1 hour ago, snowburn said:

im sure you must not switch to RGB then back to indexed because the color palette will be wrong, but i dont know why editing directly on the original image didnt work.

maybe you must load a color table like this post:

i think the game uses color index #0 for ground, #1 for blue deployment area, #2 for red (im just guessing here)

 

It worked, but only for VietnamSea. Try the bitmap I uploaded and compare it with vanilla one, in game. The bitmap made by me even gives you a stable variation in deep sea for carrier deploying. For Baltic Rim I  made a bitmap that works for USN only, the Soviet carrier is moving hopelessly around, on water and land. I tried to make one for GermanyCE. It doesn't work at all. Only TK knows why LOL. I will search furthermore for a solution. Interesting your observation about color indexes and map symbol sharing. I'll think about it. Following your theory red is for water area, black for land area, that strange yellow for enemy spawning areas and green for ally spawning areas. So far so good, it should be straightforward, except it isn't. LOL. It has to be something we miss. I am thinking about matching the bitmap value, all of them have 257Kb.

Edited July 24, 2020 by UllyB

[+Menrva]

It is the easiest thing ever, yet you guys are talking about it as if it were black magic. The water bitmap is 8bit, and Photoshop is known for messing them up during saving. If you want to create a working water bitmap, you must use the exact colours from IcelandNA's water bitmap. Open and save the water bitmap in Microsoft's Paint, and that's it.

Sweden does not have enough water space (red), so any water bitmap will not work good enough. The terrain is only 60% of RL, and the sea areas are too small for the in-game fleets which are used to wide open oceans. You might make a _water bitmap which spawns ships over water, but on such terrains you'll see them over land occasionally, it's guaranteed. Better not to feature something broken. If it worked with no issues, I would have included a working _water bitmap for that terrain package I released, don't you think? Besides, it is only used for game-generated single missions. For campaigns, you can have fleets regardless of a _water bitmap, because the campaign data must contain the fleet's coordinates on the terrain.

I'm not going to explain any further than this. This matter was discussed to death countless times, and any being with a functioning brain will use the search bar of CombatACE to find any relevant threads containing the key-words water, bitmap, fleet, etc.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Menrva