[tsb47]

Hi all,

First a BIG THANKS to all who have made map modding information/tools available. You guys rock! :!: If I can help with any maps etc let me know. I have some ideas about making GIMP easier to use to fill texture tiles in map_t.

Second I've just started with my first map (wellington, NZ), having a great time fooling around with it, but need some serious help on various issues.

I am a noob :o , but have read Dleg and Clockwatchers tutes, through most of the posts and have basics of getting a map to load into FMB plus, but many many questions still remain. Can anyone help with the following: (sorry a lot of questions... but I need a lot of help) :?:

Map_c

1. Is there any easy way of tucking the coast into the land (i.e. other than using the Height tools in map FMB)? NZ has a rugged and steep coast line and many holes appear in the first rendering of the map. Right now I have been filling these manually, but it is time consuming and unreliable! Presumably it has something to do with the interaction between map_c and map_h and the il2 algorithm used to generate the land...

2. Is there a better way of getting graduated foreshore/seabed intersection areas in map_c? I have been using two methods: (1) map_c, selecting land area, create border 1, set to RGB=130 or thereabouts - seems to give a very slim and pixellated foreshore! OR (2) using layers and gaussian blur to create a graduated foreshore/seabed depth, then overlaying land and blurring to smooth the edges - but this bleeds the land into the sea and fills in shallow harbours (which ahve to be dredged manually).

3. I noticed that in map_c only RGB's 80-130 cause graduated seacolour. RGBs 0 through about 80 are not visible, and RGBs 130+ are all land. Does anyone have any idea what these RGB values relate to? I saw a post somewhere suggesting they 130+ might have something to do with the density of some type of autogenerated trees?

Textures

4. On the point of trees, can someone explain how the [WOOD], [FIELDS] in load.ini and the /_tex/forests/ textures and the .trees.tga textures interact? How can I put nice tree lined fields in my maps cf. Slovakia map, the aweseom BOB map mod? Is this different to the normal autogenerated trees? If so, how? I saw a post saying that texture zoom can be altered by adding a ",[integer]" suffix to the texture definition in load.ini and that a ",-2" suffix would zoom out and turn off autogentrees.

5. I have downloaded vp_media's texture list for 4.09 - thank VP that work is AWESOME! But... is there a full list of il2 map textures somewhere, or is VP's list the full list?

6. I saw the link to Dr Jolly's .tga converter for viewing and saving the encrypted texture .tgas... but link appears to be broken is there an alternative? if not, can someone send it to me? Do ppl want me to create a texture list using that converter?

7. SURF. Wellington has both both surf and no surf areas. Using a graduated seabed/foreshore in map_c, and surf and non-surf coast in map_t, i noticed that the areas of surf appeared to be much shallower than the areas of no-surf. Has anyone got any info on how the surf/no-surf coast tiles interact with map_c (RGB values etc)? How can one control the direction of the surf?

OBJECTS

8. Haven't even got to this stage yet, but I saw the beautiful object placement in asheshouse's battle of france map. Really inspiring stuff. Especially how the house/bldg objects match the roads on the underlying textures exactly, and the trees line up in the fields in exactly the right places. How is this done?

9. In map FMB, I can't see a 3d view of the objects in the objects window ("show" is greyed out), so I don't know what they look like until I place them. Is this normal? Is there a fix for this i.e. so you can see objects in 3d window before placement? If not is there an objects list for the map FMB objects?

Map_F

10. Haven't been able to find much guidance on creating a proper map_f. not a pressing issues since I run on perfect mode. but would like to know for when I distribute my first proper map.

GIMP

11. Is anyone else having issues with GIMP in Vista? The GIMP website info tells me Ctrl+Alt+drag = drag selection. That, plus a number of other commands using Ct, Alt or Shift, don't work. Also my options don't save when I exit, frustrating as many setting need to be changed to work properly for IL2 texture editing (i.e. threshold = 0, aa = off, feathering = off)

I CAN HELP

11. If I can help with ppls projects or help answer questions please fire away.

Apologies :oops: for the long list of questions. Thought I better get them in one shot (rather than a machine gun)

Thx in advance

tsb47

[canonuk]

Ok, I'll try and answer some, but I've got to go to work so I'll be brief.

1) What I do is open the un-disected map_c in Photoshop, and reduce the scale by 25% (so it's the same as map_H) then select all the water. I then create a new layer and apply 'STROKE 2 PIXELS' in RGB0 outside the selection. I then copy that layer over into map_h. The result is all the land has a border of 0 height. Requires very little tweaking.

2) Not that I know. I just use varying levels of gaussian blur or the smudge tool

3) No idea. Never investigated that thorughly.

4) The 'WOOD' line controls the texture for the big expnses of woods. The 'layer cake' type. The tree.tga is applied to textures that share their filename and only works if there is no numerical suffix.

5) I think his is the full version. You can always make more textures.

6) Can't help

7) I think it's using RGB 31 on coastal areas that gives you surf. I think the transition between land and water also matters.

8) Investigate the AUTOPOP tool.

9) It's normal in unlocked FMB. You'll just have to place them in game, and then use 'PAGE DOWN' to cycle through them if you need to see them. And yes, there is an object list somewhere. Unlocked FMB gives the actual object names though, so you can sometimes work it out

10) Basically an RGB image of the same size as map_H that has the same colours as you real map, in the same places.

11)I'm XP

Phew....