The map editor in Cities in Motion 2 has been redesigned from the ground up. The familiar terrain tools are still there, but this time they are made to serve building bigger maps. Along with those tools also come a set of new features as moving away from the grid-based map layout has presented new possibilities for level editing.
Landscaping is more flexible than ever with the terrain tools, you can use them to modify the landscape by raising and lowering, smoothing and flattening it. There are several new brushes that allow you to create features that look natural and blend in well with the rest of the landscape–modifying the terrain first with a round brush and then adding detail with an uneven brush. Creating interesting looking mountains and shorelines has never been so easy and fun!
Creating the large features first...
...and then adding in the small details.
The terrain tools also include a versatile random generator for the landscape. There is a set of filters that can be adjusted to create a completely unique map base in no time. Want a map with multiple islands? Just tweak the options and you are set! Maybe more terrain and less water with smoother hills? Done! These filters allow for quick map generating and work as a wonderful base to build whatever one wishes. And afterwards, you can tweak and modify the terrain manually as much as necessary.
Random generated map base.
But what are maps without the cities? Empty maps, that's what! So, now that we have dynamic cities in CiM 2 we also have some new features that come into play when creating them. The new road tool is the biggest change in the map editor. The grid-less map layout is most visible when creating roads since there are no barriers in creating different shapes. The roads are as organic as the rest of the terrain and they are also automatically propped for your convenience. You don't need to change between different road tools, such as underpasses, bridges and whatnot, when creating your network of roads as the road tool automatically blends it all together so that you can concentrate in building the actual network instead of trying to figure out how to connect that bridge to this road. Also, now that the map editor handles most of the menial tasks for you, you can get deeper into designing the flow of the road network using the various types of roads.
The road tool interface. Here you can select what type of road you want to build from a set of different road types and customize what features it will have, i.e. bus lanes, sidewalks and parking spaces. You can also add and remove lanes.
It is possible to place each and every building manually if that is what you wish but considering the size of the maps (we are talking roughly 4 times bigger than the largest maps in CiM 1!) it can become quite the heroic deed. However, in addition to the manual city building, there is also the possibility to generate the buildings. This is especially handy when testing what you have built so far, so you can see how the city develops and changes, how the road network manipulates the city, and so on. Quite possibly the best way is to combine both manual building placing with the generator tool, that way you can control the key areas of the city and let the generator do the rest. Of course, you can go back to detail work afterwards.
The building/prop tool. Here you have all the buildings divided into categories. You can also find individual props there should you need to use them. The "Iteration count" slider is used with the "Generate buildings" function. It determines how many passes it makes while placing the buildings in to the map.
There are multiple ways to use the map editor, each serving a different purpose. You can concentrate on the big picture with the help of the generating tools or you can dive into the deep end and take the hero's quest to build everything manually. The choice is yours.
Landscaping is more flexible than ever with the terrain tools, you can use them to modify the landscape by raising and lowering, smoothing and flattening it. There are several new brushes that allow you to create features that look natural and blend in well with the rest of the landscape–modifying the terrain first with a round brush and then adding detail with an uneven brush. Creating interesting looking mountains and shorelines has never been so easy and fun!
Creating the large features first...
...and then adding in the small details.
The terrain tools also include a versatile random generator for the landscape. There is a set of filters that can be adjusted to create a completely unique map base in no time. Want a map with multiple islands? Just tweak the options and you are set! Maybe more terrain and less water with smoother hills? Done! These filters allow for quick map generating and work as a wonderful base to build whatever one wishes. And afterwards, you can tweak and modify the terrain manually as much as necessary.
Random generated map base.
But what are maps without the cities? Empty maps, that's what! So, now that we have dynamic cities in CiM 2 we also have some new features that come into play when creating them. The new road tool is the biggest change in the map editor. The grid-less map layout is most visible when creating roads since there are no barriers in creating different shapes. The roads are as organic as the rest of the terrain and they are also automatically propped for your convenience. You don't need to change between different road tools, such as underpasses, bridges and whatnot, when creating your network of roads as the road tool automatically blends it all together so that you can concentrate in building the actual network instead of trying to figure out how to connect that bridge to this road. Also, now that the map editor handles most of the menial tasks for you, you can get deeper into designing the flow of the road network using the various types of roads.
The road tool interface. Here you can select what type of road you want to build from a set of different road types and customize what features it will have, i.e. bus lanes, sidewalks and parking spaces. You can also add and remove lanes.
It is possible to place each and every building manually if that is what you wish but considering the size of the maps (we are talking roughly 4 times bigger than the largest maps in CiM 1!) it can become quite the heroic deed. However, in addition to the manual city building, there is also the possibility to generate the buildings. This is especially handy when testing what you have built so far, so you can see how the city develops and changes, how the road network manipulates the city, and so on. Quite possibly the best way is to combine both manual building placing with the generator tool, that way you can control the key areas of the city and let the generator do the rest. Of course, you can go back to detail work afterwards.
The building/prop tool. Here you have all the buildings divided into categories. You can also find individual props there should you need to use them. The "Iteration count" slider is used with the "Generate buildings" function. It determines how many passes it makes while placing the buildings in to the map.
There are multiple ways to use the map editor, each serving a different purpose. You can concentrate on the big picture with the help of the generating tools or you can dive into the deep end and take the hero's quest to build everything manually. The choice is yours.
) network.
