Warzone 2100 Forums

florian wrote: I've started preliminary work on that now. Still gathering ideas/requirements and working out a good concept for an editor that does not devolve into placing each tile separately.

In my relative ignorance, might I suggest a layered editor for a future version?

A layer editor would compile new maps based upon layer information. Information such as:

- altitude (left mouse = lower, right mouse click = raise - same user interface of game can be used to house specific tools - cliffs can be auto-calculated based on altitude difference between adjacent tiles (flat, shallow incline, moderate incline, steep incline, cliff face - depending on how precise you want the map altitudes and gradients to be))

- roads/ tracks (based upon vector lines across the map - which can less or more developed, and less or more broad in size)

- special natural terrain - types of forests, shrubs, where applicable.

- special urban terrain - placement of structures on map, including those associated with bases.

- special other terrain - definition of special points and effects (for instance, oil resource with range of zero, lava points with range of 1, mysterious magnetic field with a range of 5 squares (ok so its not part of the game - but possibilities are everywhere).

- blanket conditions - weather and climate - and setting sea level and precipitation level could result in calculation of what is under water, both at sea level and above sea-level basins (based on altitude of terrain (if whole map is a basin with edges above sea level then it calculates on precipitation and evaporation if so desired) - faulting along the map (quake damage), etc.

- - - - - - -

Just ideas - a layer compiler would be able to flatten information and speed up map development in comparison to tile-by-tile development.

Hello, still massively out of the loop due to other commitments, but I will return eventually I promise!

The editor itself would be close to what you describe - you can describe areas and the generator will lay out the terrain for you.

So you can say "I'll have a cliff here" and "A patch of dirt here" and "A road using these tiles". I will also include some ability to fine-tune the map tile-by-tile. With regards to the height-map, I suppose I will include the basic features such raising specific tiles and a range of tiles (a soft height brush); along with some global features such as "blur", etc.

The editor will be able to read/write the actual maps, but I may include some other format which preserves all the high-level information - especially with the ability to fiddle with single tiles it would be impossible to re-construct it completely from scratch in most cases.

I don't intend to have support for anything but MP maps, at least for the first version; if other people want to take it elsewhere I won't stop anybody

.

Even though I'm a good-hand with 32EW and have gotten used to its "quirks", I do so look forward to working with this new editor - it's like a wonderful dream come true. Or more like made REAL by your vision and hard work..

Regards, whip
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So one little thing, this is not compatible with Windows?

Also, downloading four different programs just to get it working?

Am I the only one...?

eyestrain92 wrote:So one little thing, this is not compatible with Windows?

Also, downloading four different programs just to get it working?

Am I the only one...?

Welcome to open source software, my friend.

So am I misled by thinking eventually we may get a user-friendly Windows Diorama or should I just continue waggling my fingers at mapmakers?

eyestrain92 wrote:So am I misled by thinking eventually we may get a user-friendly Windows Diorama or should I just continue waggling my fingers at mapmakers?

No, we'll eventually have a Windows Diorama. It'll just take a really long time. Unless you do it yourself.

As I said, welcome to open-source software, my friend.

I have been playing with Diorama a little bit lately generating maps for 2 player skirmish. The maps it turns out have been both interesting and playable. Definitely worth your while if you want some new territory to fight over.

One minor problem: the default names are a little long for the map chooser widget.

stiv wrote:I have been playing with Diorama a little bit lately generating maps for 2 player skirmish. The maps it turns out have been both interesting and playable. Definitely worth your while if you want some new territory to fight over.

One minor problem: the default names are a little long for the map chooser widget.

I wonder if we should start uploading maps made by this nice little program, so other people can enjoy them?

Good idea!

Windows...?

For windows builds, see here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5757

No updates since 2010 - can this topic be de-stickied?