Is there an overview somewhere which explains the concept and what it is designed to do?
I d/l-ed the application several months ago and the d/l has a step-by-step instruction of how to use it. But I am not sure what it is supposed to achieve.
My follow up question is whether it messes autopop up if I have already started to populate some tiles?
If it does, I guess that I should hold off until I figure out if I want to use the application or not.
Well, the autopop is very easy to use and works fine, so there never was a need to rewrite it:
Of course you must know to use the actors tool, too. No way without this.
Create a autopop map first, take and rename a extracted stock "empty" map (128*128 pixel) as "autopop" (or as you wish) for that and replace its map_t with the map_t delivered with the autopop package. Also create a "autopop" folder (or something like this) within a maps folder as a subfolder of the mainfolder to save the actors.static.
Set the load.ini City0 texture to the texture you want to work with.
In the maps very lower left corner (Zoom in, zoom in, zoom in. Damed. I said: Zoom in. Very, very lower, much lower, left now, very, very left, even much more left now, corner) you will find two sqares. Populate the bigger one. There even is a great autopop-inverter in the tools section to extract such populations from other maps ;-), so you don't have to start from the scratch. You will also have to set one bridge and a airport ground object (this red arrow) somwhere on the map, you will need this for the actors tool.
After some weeks (or days, using the autopop inverter first) of hard working the squares population will be finished. It's a damed big square. Don't populate the horizontal and vertical stripes marked with the sloped edges.
Take the maps static.actors, outact it and rename the outbuildings.txt als you want. Lets say test1.txt.
Throw this with with your maps map_t you want to populate and the other autopop files (autopop.exe, alleg42.dll) into a folder. Throw your own maps map_t with the pixels you want to populate, lets say Country0, which is greyscale 12, also in that folder.
Create a autopop.ini like this:
Country0 test1.txt 1600
mask = 0
Be carefull, this ini is case sensitive, so every character counts.
Run the autopop. You'll get a inBuildings.txt you can merge with other population files from other templates or handset buildings. If you already have set buildings at the same places, they will overlap.
Thats all.
You also may use more the on template txt file with the autopop at once:
Country0 test1.txt 1600
mask = 0
Country1 test2.txt 1600
mask = 0
AirField0 test3.txt 1600
mask = 0
Just try it, it's really ease (If you did it the first 20 times). Ask, if there are any problems.
Thanks for the explanation.
Am I right in guessing that autopop will then automatically fill every chunk of the tile in question with the same population you inputted into the program?
The alternative for "fast" populating would be to simply create a series of templates on the map you are creating and copy and paste them wherever you wish. Is autopop an improvement on this?
It's impossible to fill city textures by copy and paste. There are 64 different tiles in a 1600*1600 town texture and for a copy and paste method you first would need to fill a full set of the 64 tiles with buildings (otherwise you could not copy the proper arangement of buildings to every tile) and then try to find the right tile to paste them. And repeat this hundreds or even thousends of times, for every tile of your map ... I'll visit you in the clinics ;-)
Well, filling the 64 tiles is just the thing you are doing with the autopop map. The autopop.exe then calculates which tile is neded for every tecture tile of your map and shifts every single building. This is calculation (The arrangement of the tiles is predeterminated in every map), and machines are much better in this then we are.
The result (exept the copy & paste method doesn't work in reality - try it once and forget it) is the same, exept the autopop just needs seconds. You will never finisch.
Delete the Houses that go over the city. You'll be fine, and nobody will see it... But Autopop is more automatic, but takes much knowlege...
hock: