[Utility] Some tools I made to make a map from scratch easier

[Loc_n_lol]

I made a series of little tools to assist me in the making of a mod, and I wanted to share them with those it might interest...

The idea is that you make a handful of (simplified) bitmap and text files that provide all the basic info about your world, and it creates the files necessary to make it actually run into the game. And hopefully look good.

Here is a preview of the results in-game, and the image I used to generate this in the corner : https://imgur.com/a/cF6HW

Here is an overview of how it works :

First you need Java to run this, which you can download here https://java.com/download/ if you don't have it already.

Secondly, you can download the package here : https://www.dropbox.com/s/llhmb2xps1l8nns/CK2MapTools.zip?dl=0 Unzip anywhere you like.

What's inside :

• At the root of the CK2MapTools folder, there's a few batch files. See below for how it works.
• There is also a zip file containing a mod to test your map. It was made with the files generated by the example included. You can extract it into <your documents>\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings II\mod\
• The input folder is where you put the source data, mostly bitmap files. It contains example files but you can delete them once you get how it works.
• The output folder will be created automatically. Once you're finished, copy the content of the output folder straight into your mod folder.
• The src folder contains the source code, if you can make sense of it you might want to improve / customize it...

How to use :

Read the readme included, because that's a big wall of text. But in a few pictures, this is what it does : https://imgur.com/a/9xc1W

 

[tsf4]

OMG! You might very well be a saint. As a longtime modder, this is fantastic news, especially the conversion of images to prov.bmp

 

[Idhrendur]

Oh, very cool!

 

[tsf4]

For settlements, would you be able to just make an entire piece of land red and have it make lots of provinces ?

 

[Loc_n_lol]

For settlements, would you be able to just make an entire piece of land red and have it make lots of provinces ?

That would make a lot of 1pixel provinces, not sure how it would turn out in-game but probably not great. Also you might run out of available colors at some point.

 

[tsf4]

Ok. I am just trying to figure out the settlements, because I would want all my land to become provinces, yet I prefer to not map out every settlement, since I really dont know where I would want them to go. Any advice?

 

[Loc_n_lol]

The whole map will be covered in provinces no matter what (unless you have unreachable islands without any settlements on them), the more settlement dots you have in an area, the smaller and more numerous the provinces will be.

It's trial and error mostly. The red dot is where the city/councillor/army will be located in-game so it's best to put them on even ground. It's probably better if you start with too few and add some to fill up empty-looking areas or those with weirdly stretched borders. If you want coastal cities, put the dot about 2 pixels away from the sea.

 

[ngppgn]

Very interesting. Thank you specially for including the source code!

 

[Dragonsploof]

I'm having trouble with creating the provinces map it is stuck on initialization for ages.

 

[Loc_n_lol]

I'm having trouble with creating the provinces map it is stuck on initialization for ages.

Sounds like you might be stuck in an infinite loop because it can't find a unique color for a province. Did you paint all of your water pure blue maybe ? If not, maybe I can take a look at your settlements.bmp to see if I can figure out your problem ?

 

[AverageChicken]

I can't find the readme in the linked dropbox zip, am I missing something?