Map Modding & Map Editor 101

[Carlberg]

What effect was used to make the blue and yellow fade for the surround_mask.dds (controls where the clouds are)?

It's an effect of the different color channels, if you inspect them you can see the red and green are blurry and the blue channel is a sharp variant of the mask.

Hello.

Question about the vanilla map.

I merged the grey and color flatmap by using an alpha mask on the grey parts . I then merged the calcs, recreated bitmaps,and saved as DDS using a compression factor that made the file the same size as the original "flatmap.dds".

The game however will not load a save not started with this mod. And a save started with this mod cannot be loaded without it.

Yet achievements works.

Is there a trick to making the game consider the color map as not different from the grey map, allowing seamless activation/deactivation of the mod, or is it unavoidable ?

Thanks.

I'm not quite sure I follow I'm afraid, I know of the colormap.dds that controls the overlay texture of the map. But which is this grey map you're referring to? The heightmap or flatmap?
DDS compression should be DXT1.

 

[Siegfriedfr]

The grey map is named "flatmap" and the color map is named "colormap" in /gfx/map irrc (I'm at work).

I merged the 2 so that the "zoomed out" view in-game appears as a satellite view of the world.

 

[Carlberg]

The grey map is named "flatmap" and the color map is named "colormap" in /gfx/map irrc (I'm at work).

I merged the 2 so that the "zoomed out" view in-game appears as a satellite view of the world.

Okay, then I'm on the same page. As it is right now the colormap.dds is just acting as a nuance texture, similar to a Photoshop layer set to overlay. So it's not possible to use that to replace the map textures, as they take prescedence over the overlay colormap.dds

However, I did create an example mod replacing the world map with the flatmap texture, it can be found in this post: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/perfomance-map-mode.1170592/#post-25389974
It involves replacing all ground textures with two halves of the flatmap and assinging it to either half of the world (due to the texture tiling system only working with square textures).

 

[Siegfriedfr]

Not sure we understand each others

Here is my mod : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1753842831&searchtext=Satellite

The color map successfully replaced the grey flatmap in zoomed out view.

However contrary to other graphical mods, a game started with this mod wont load after you deactivate the mod.

Was Wondering if there is something I'm missing since both files (color and grey map) are structurally identical.

 

[Carlberg]

Not sure we understand each others

Here is my mod : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1753842831&searchtext=Satellite

The color map successfully replaced the grey flatmap in zoomed out view.

However contrary to other graphical mods, a game started with this mod wont load after you deactivate the mod.

Was Wondering if there is something I'm missing since both files (color and grey map) are structurally identical.

Hmm, I tested downloading your mod, started a new game with it enabled, restarted with it off, but the save still worked. So I'm afraid I cant reproduce it :S

Have you tried verifying the game cache and disabled any other mods/changes that might be active?

 

[Siegfriedfr]

Hmm, I tested downloading your mod, started a new game with it enabled, restarted with it off, but the save still worked. So I'm afraid I cant reproduce it :S

Have you tried verifying the game cache and disabled any other mods/changes that might be active?

Ok ran some tests :
with mod > without mod > with mod : it worked
without mod > with mod > without mod : it worked

I assume it's because i made several modifications do the files before being satisfied of the results and made several different save games in the process, and only the final version met the criterias to be seamlessly considered as equivalent to the vanilla flatmap file by the game.

 

[samve]

Hi everyone.
I'm currently working on a mod to generate random world maps. So far the creation of a height map (including packed and indirection heightmap) work fine. Also distributing provinces over the map is no issue. But when I create the definition.csv file (from scratch) and add it to the mod directory, the game gets stuck on the start up screen. Sadly the error.log file does not show any error's so I'm stuck at determining what goes wrong. Are some files that I have yet to update dependent on this file maybe? Or is there a certain format I am not following?

Spoiler: Show height and province maps

Spoiler: Show definition.csv sample

 

[AnimeGodIchigo]

Hi has anyone tried to extended the size of the hight map?
I want to expand the map if possible....
It seems to work till I want to open the map editor + if I extanded the provinces 100% in same way out right crashes on load up.

 

[Drogan]

Am I able to share my modded map in my mod in 1.1? I used the map editor then copied all the changed map files into mod folder but its not affecting my mod.

 

[Carlberg]

Am I able to share my modded map in my mod in 1.1? I used the map editor then copied all the changed map files into mod folder but its not affecting my mod.

In 1.1 you'll find a new button called "Save As" next to the regular save button

It will allow you to save all relevant files straight into your mod project.

 

[khardinal]

Are there any ways to mod dynamically the : gfx\map\textures\flatmap.dds file please ?
Thanks

 

[Drogan]

In 1.1 you'll find a new button called "Save As" next to the regular save button

It will allow you to save all relevant files straight into your mod project.

Tyvm did not think of that.

 

[Zerodv]

The base is a mercator projected heightmap from Nasa, but it's been stretched and curved on it's eastern half to make Arabia, Persia and India less squished. Thusly, india points a but more eastward on the actual heightmap.

Is there an easy way to replicate this process?

 

[Carlberg]

Is there an easy way to replicate this process?

It was done with a projection we put into Maya and then deformed with a rig.
I think you could do something similar in Photoshop with a puppet warp, but that wouldnt be quite as precise.

 

[Zerodv]

It was done with a projection we put into Maya and then deformed with a rig.
I think you could do something similar in Photoshop with a puppet warp, but that wouldnt be quite as precise.

I see, then I guess my other question would be if you still have the unmodified but warped heightmap file around, because as it stands the current heightmap has been modified creathing those depressed pathways through the Alps for example.

 

[Sobisonator]

Hi everyone.
I'm currently working on a mod to generate random world maps. So far the creation of a height map (including packed and indirection heightmap) work fine. Also distributing provinces over the map is no issue. But when I create the definition.csv file (from scratch) and add it to the mod directory, the game gets stuck on the start up screen. Sadly the error.log file does not show any error's so I'm stuck at determining what goes wrong. Are some files that I have yet to update dependent on this file maybe? Or is there a certain format I am not following?

Spoiler: Show height and province maps

Spoiler: Show definition.csv sample

I'm also getting this issue. I created a new province map with corresponding defintion and setup CSVs, but to no avail.

The mod crashes on startup and the error log (attached) is of no use...

 

[rivtaldm]

Weird issue with adjacencies on an expanded map.

My map is now 10000x7000 due to adding China and everything functions in terms of displaying map, units, cities, forts, etc.

The adjacencies themselves work fine in that units can traverse them with no problems, but the display of the little yellow paths will crash the game if the coordinates of the X value are too high. I confirmed several times that just by swapping the coordinates to display somewhere else (basically on top of another, working adjacency) the game will load.

If the x/y coordinates are above a certain value (error begins somewhere between 7656 and 8239 X value), the game will crash once it gets to 100% loaded trying to enter the country-selection lobby. Yes, I changed the defines values for the map size to accommodate the new map and really I am sure everything else works fine except the adjacencies will crash the game if you want them to display with too high of an X value. I realize this has no impact on vanilla since the map is the size that it is, but it would certainly be nice if the game would accommodate larger maps.

 

[Sobisonator]

I've noticed my mod includes a few single-pixel provinces. Is that likely to be causing a crash?

 

[Carlberg]

Weird issue with adjacencies on an expanded map.

My map is now 10000x7000 due to adding China and everything functions in terms of displaying map, units, cities, forts, etc.

The adjacencies themselves work fine in that units can traverse them with no problems, but the display of the little yellow paths will crash the game if the coordinates of the X value are too high. I confirmed several times that just by swapping the coordinates to display somewhere else (basically on top of another, working adjacency) the game will load.

If the x/y coordinates are above a certain value (error begins somewhere between 7656 and 8239 X value), the game will crash once it gets to 100% loaded trying to enter the country-selection lobby. Yes, I changed the defines values for the map size to accommodate the new map and really I am sure everything else works fine except the adjacencies will crash the game if you want them to display with too high of an X value. I realize this has no impact on vanilla since the map is the size that it is, but it would certainly be nice if the game would accommodate larger maps.

Maps that are larger than the vanilla games resolution are currently not supported, smaller maps should work without any issues though.

I'm not sure if this could be caused by a data node that cant handle those values, but it's probably something that's causing issues under the hood in the engine. I would suggest you make a bug report of this in the bug forum. (I would ask a programmer myself, but I'm on vacation and thus away from the office).

 

[rivtaldm]

Maps that are larger than the vanilla games resolution are currently not supported, smaller maps should work without any issues though.

I'm not sure if this could be caused by a data node that cant handle those values, but it's probably something that's causing issues under the hood in the engine. I would suggest you make a bug report of this in the bug forum. (I would ask a programmer myself, but I'm on vacation and thus away from the office).

Ok, I will make a bug report. Thanks for the response; enjoy your vacation!