Map building tutorial

Hi kevinp,
I followed your instructions and uploaded my manam folder.
Thanks in advance for your time and support.
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The problem is as I thought, the water on map_T is RGB 15 when it should be RGB 31. The fact that it's not RGB 31 may have something to do with the painting program you are using, I'm guessing it's Photoshop (or something similar) rather than Gimp.
Others have had problems with the stability of the colours on map_T. Check out this page to see if it's any help

http://allaircraftsimulations.com/forum/...&start=105
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Hi Kevinp,
thanks for your quick reply.
My copy of Photoshop CS4 read map_T as rgb 31. I'll try to install GIMP, I'll create a file in GIMP rgb 31 and I'll re-open the new file in CS4 to see how It reads the rgb value (if It matches or not).
aside this problem, do you confirm that rgb values from 1 to 127 should represent in map_c the water depth?
Thanks very much again for your assistance and your time
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Hi all,
I made a simpli test creating a grayscale 8bit image creayed in GIMP and opened in CS4 and the result is :
GIMP RGB 31= Photoshop CS4 RGB 57
any comments? maybe different colour profile of different softwares
Cheers
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You are correct, RGB1 to RGB127 is water depth.

I can't really comment on the differences between Gimp & Photoshop because I am completely ignorant on Photoshop. It maybe better to ask for advice in the Map Mods discussion section, or just stick to using Gimp for making the map files.
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thx
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Hi kev,
Thanks for this tutorial...it was great..
After doing the manam island i decided to start work on a map of my own,and wondered if you could tell me your method for placing accurate rivers on the map_c file.
Do you just look at the greyscale and paint them in by hand in R.G.B.[0] in the valley's where it looks like they run before you do the white-out of the land?....Also can u give any addvice on good map referance for tasks like this?
Ive tried google earth but i having difficulty picking out the rivers when viewing from a workable height...not sure if it has an option to highlight rivers...hav'nt found one yet :roll:
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I don't know the answer to this question because I have never made a river. I think it's something that is best done with Microdem as lakes & to a lesser extent rivers can be made to show up very clearly by using the different tools in Microdem. I would suggest you ask Agracier for his advice on this as he has much more experience making different types of map than I have.
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hijack1968 Wrote:Hi kev,

Do you just look at the greyscale and paint them in by hand in R.G.B.[0] in the valley's where it looks like they run before you do the white-out of the land?....Also can u give any addvice on good map referance for tasks like this?
Ive tried google earth but i having difficulty picking out the rivers when viewing from a workable height...not sure if it has an option to highlight rivers...hav'nt found one yet :roll:
Try this source:
http://www.maps-for-free.com/
I used it for my EastBalt map. Select water source by colour, put into layer, you can paste it to your map.
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I first do an extensive search on line to find a good geographical map of the area as close the historic date I'm mapping.National Geaographic can helpful as they have excellent maps and can be located by specific year. University libraries can be a good sources also. Google earth can be misleading because of the dramatic human intervention with river courses caused dams and irrigation projects created since the war years.
I then scan and trace or down load and trace the map feature I need like rivers, cities, even contour of high groun. Trace these as seperate layers and super impose the on map H for rivers. The ed_map can be created the same way by layering each feature and then transfering the layer to the T map for terraine features after scaling to correct size. I do the ed_map first and use it. In all cases be sure to make back up copies of your work before and after making addition incase something goes wrong. It is possible to create the entire map by the layering technique. The trouble with the micro is that it is base on the ground as it today and can include many features that just weren't there in the past.
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hijack1968 Wrote:wondered if you could tell me your method for placing accurate rivers on the map_c file.
Do you just look at the greyscale and paint them in by hand in R.G.B.[0] in the valley's where it looks like they run before you do the white-out of the land?....Also can u give any addvice on good map referance for tasks like this?
Ive tried google earth but i having difficulty picking out the rivers when viewing from a workable height...not sure if it has an option to highlight rivers...hav'nt found one yet :roll:


Making rivers on my_mapC is a time consuming task and I usually do it by hand, using a paint brush tool at 3 pixels wide and then painting them on the large size my_mapC but with a tracing layer of map_h resized to the same dimensions as my_mapC.

I usually try and get a feel of the area by using Google earth, Google Maps and also with the overlays you can download at this site:

http://www.maps-for-free.com/

If you use these overlays it will take a bit of resizing to get them to the same scale as my_mapC, but it works out pretty well with some patience.

Mostly however, I use map_h as the main guide for making rivers. It doesn´t take much of an eye to spot the way that valleys twist and turn and where usually rivers run. I paint the rivers in y hand and if in doubt about their placement I will take a look at GE or GM ...

Sometimes you can also pick RGB values on the map_h layer, using a magic wand tool at 0 tolerance and then clicking on obvious river beddings. You will get a selection of same RGB values which should usually be river beddings.

Since I paint all rivers on a separate layer, you can then import the selection of same RGB values to the rivers layer and then fill in with an RGB 0 bucket fill tool.

I often use all of these methods on one and the same map, all depending on the geographical area and the size and extent of the river systems and what works best and most efficiently depending on the terrain.

There´s always something to be said for desert maps too don´t forget ... few or no rivers make things easier ... ha ha
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Thanks guys for your advice, this new information will be a great help to me.
Looks like i got some work ahead of me..."Why did i have to choose central europe" :lol:
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Thank you Kevin, my Manam works at first time, you're the genius!!!

Watch some pictures at the link below:
http://www.maw-superaereo.it/forum/il-2 ... mappe.html

Only a question for this time: I've worked on a mission builder based on 4.09 Hsfx v.4 modded one, What is the destination where to put the new folder Manam to work on the flying version of the game 4.09 HSFX v.4?
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I haven't installed HSFX so I can only guess where to put the Manam folder.

I think there should be a folder in your game called Files & inside this is the maps folder. You can put the Manam folder in the maps folder. There should be an all.ini file already in the maps folder which contains a full list of maps. You need to write the name of your map in it.
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main game folder/MODS/MapMods/Maps/yourMap folder

To use your map in HSFX, just structure your folders as above. :wink:
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