Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Thanks, ExitJudas. I've had to take a few days off from intense map-drawing, but am set to resume shortly.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Huzzah keep up the excellent work Zepath.......this map will be my most played when it comes out for sure.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

im gonna keep tabs on this thread for sure!

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Any news or updates on this map project??

Shameless bump to keep this near the top of the first page :-)

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Bump indeed =D

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Nothing major at the moment, Mordici. And thanks DigitalSin http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I've been swamped under work and visiting family and only slowly putting Naggaroth together. In order to speed things along I may have to release the map with only the Darklands westward (thus including the Old and New Worlds, the Southlands, and the Wastes) and the proposition of a complete world map somewhere down the line. Otherwise, I'll have you all waiting until the New Year!

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

If you don't hurry up, I'll set the Lizardmen on you. Then we'll see who's laughing as they sacrifice you to Sotek! BWAHAHA!

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Oh heck...just release what you got. We'll wait impatiently for the rest!!!!

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

DigitalSin & jimkehn: I'm polishing up those regions already drawn for release in a truncated map and will try to devote some late nights to it this weekend. Shouldn't be long before you have something to play on -- with the rest to come, of course.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Sounds good! I didn't mean to come across as pushy, I was slightly tipsy, if you catch my meaning..

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Hehe, I get ya DigitalSin. I needed a bit of pushing anyhow http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

ok. *push push*

can't wait. get going. etc.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

.........still waiting........

8^)

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

jimkehn: Not much longer now. I have a fully functional version of the map prepared (not yet of the complete world) and am polishing it up for release in the next day or two.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

zepath.....just so you know....I know or care nothing about warhammer, but your map is gorgeous...graphically. Hopefully it will work with stock Dominions!!

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Thanks, jimkehn, I hope it lives up to your expectations in the graphical sense. You'll have to let me know your impressions.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

This is a bump to announce that the vanilla version is released! Please report bugs as you find them. I haven't been able to play test much yet as I am working on the "adventure" version of the map and recovering from honeymooning.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

I too am very much looking forward to your map. I really like the color and look of the previews you've shown us and expect it will breathe new life into Dom3 for me. I don't recall if you've told us already; will you have placed #features into special locations on the map? I really like the idea of truly marvelous areas you lust to control but are extremely heavily guarded.

Edit: Doh! I apparently left this window open for an hour or so with my post half written. After posting my comment/query, I discovered that the map had been posted and my question answered during that hour! Thank you ever so much for this. And I eagerly look forward to the fleshed out version.

Re: Map-in-Progress: World of Warhammer
 

Panpiper, special provinces just of that sort are exactly what you'll find in the "adventure" version of the map. I'm still working on that version at the moment as crafting the defenses and rewards of some 200 provinces in keeping with Warhammer fiction is not a quick job. Stay tuned, however, it is coming! That's exactly the sort of map I want to play too.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

congratz

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Questions.

1. The Chaos Gate in the North seems kinda weird. Shouldn't it be a lot farther north than that? From what I recall of the maps in the chaos army books, the northern wastes are pretty huge and the poles themselves are massive. I know in your map (because it's not a globe) the northern wastes have to be spread out across the whole northern edge of the map and the southern all the way across the south, but I thought they were a bit 'deeper', that the Chaos Gates were further away from the marauder tribes and world in general.

2. Are you going to include the entire warhammer world in a future update? Khuresh, Ind, Cathay, Ogre Kingdoms, Naggaroth, Lustria, the full expanse of the chaos wastes etc?

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Sombre: Regarding the shape of the wastes, Games Workshop has the same map found in their Hordes of Chaos army book online. The address is: http://us.games-workshop.com/games/w...ap/default.htm

Looking at that top-down depiction of the poles there is clearly an issue with map projection, as you say. I've had to depict them stretched out and will note this is precisely how they are shown in GW's -rectangular- maps of the World. In the end, I figured one would have to go quite a bit out of their way in order to reach the northern gate (unless they're playing as Jotunheim or have sailing commanders). It came down to leaving the gates out for the sake of authenticity or putting them in for the fun of it.

To the second question, I hope so. I want to get the bugs ironed out of the current (abbreviated) map and produce the "adventure" version before I continue with the rest of the world. Continuing, however, is definitely a goal. As I'll be traveling for much of December, away on training exercises all of January, and then preparing to move to another state the following month I didn't think I could realistically get the full global map put together and released in a reasonable time frame. That's why I've gone with this smaller selection for now.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Congrats, zepath. The map looks awesome, well done dude.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Shucks Zepath, I hate to give you negative feedback as I love the idea of this map and the previews have been so wonderful, and it is obvious how much work you've put in, but I just tried playing on it and frankly, the current size and resolution of the map is, ouch, unplayable. Everything is so incredibly tightly packed with sprites and such that it is virtually impossible to see what is where. Figuring out what map sections connect with what was a matter of seeing where I could click and when it came to caves, even that often didn't work.

I am hoping that you have a higher resolution version of your map as we really need a map image with at least twice the width and height, likely more than that.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

I just loaded it and looked around - I was surprised by what panpiper said, because I though tthis map looked awesome. I agree that better resolution could be nice, but some people might feel opposite, and I didn't think it was a problem. Southern Europe had some places where I wasn't sure where province boundaries were, which could be a problem.

I love the letter and seal at the bottom right... awesome touch!

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

panpiper: I was waiting for this comment. Well into drawing the map I started to realize how compact things would appear once the Dom3 sprites were superimposed over the map image. I could have then dropped it and begun all over again, working at a higher resolution, but chose to labor on and see how things came out. Some features -are- quite small relative to the typical Dom3 map.

Technically, blowing the map up to twice its size should be an easy task. I will look into this for those who, like yourself, are interested but want more pixels. If it turns out alright, I'll put up a larger version of the map image for you.

Zylithan: Thanks! Hopefully a larger version of the map image will allay those concerns.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Try playing around with the defaultmapzoom command and see what you can do with that.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

A straight pixel resize to 200% should do the trick, but it might look a bit blocky.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

I did a resize of 200% and with a single level of the blur filter (Photoshop), the blockiness disappears. The problem of course it that the white dots have to be reapplied as the blur filter will render them greyish as opposed to white. Then the province connections have to be redone. I almost started trying to do this myself, but then realized that there was likely no way I could do it without screwing up the intended relationships.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

I've tried a few resizing methods so far and ran a draft form of a larger map image through the editor. It's looking good, size-wise, but I need to get to bed now for an early morning. If I can pull off the resize perfectly and lay the white dots (also resized and trimmed) down on it, the same .map files will work. I'll update on this tomorrow evening.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

yeah, resizing is horrible because of those little white dots. i had a bad time with that once.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Congratulations Zepath for completing the map. I'm sure it will become one of my favorites.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

I've done a 200% resize with a weighted average resize (somewhere between blocky pixel resize and the filtered, blurring resize functions). The white dots played along and I ran the larger map image through Dom3 with the same .map file without an issue. The attachment at the top of the thread now includes the larger map file in place of the original. Let me know what you all think of the difference.

Thanks WraithLord!

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Oh and I almost forgot to say: Thanks Zepath, this is real high quality work. I look forward to the full warhammer world map. Take your time with it so you don't burn out :]

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Thank you ever so much for the larger map Zepath. This does indeed make all the difference. And thank you for doing it so quickly.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

May your road always be covered with thousands of flower petals.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Awesome, Zepath--many thanks.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

All I can say is WOW! This is the rough draft and this map is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Absolutely stunning work zepath. I cant wait for the adventure map.

I agree with Sombre to take your time and do the adventure map right. I want it to surpass the Faerun map in all aspects. If you do that you will have the best Dom3 map to date IMHO!!!!

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Is there an adventure version of faerun ? I've 'only' got the normal version (I love red dragons), and I would like to put my moisty hands on the adventure version.(if it exists)

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

No adventure version yet. I should fix the problems I've found so far and make the adventure version too, but no time and too many things to do. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Well, Dang it!!!! I unzipped both the .map and .tga files in the maps folder and when I go to create new game it doesn't show up!!! I did it just like all the other maps I have downloaded and had no problems before. Anyone know what I could have done wrong????

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

EDI(the amazingly cute & intelligent red dragon) : No hurry, I was just wondeing if it existed already, I'll continue using this superb (and already full with pleasant details(ie : like this cavern leading to many regions)) map , and start testing this WW map.
Once again, a big THANKS to modders and map makers.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Never mind. I figured it out. I put them in the wrong Dom3 folders!!! 8^)

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Thanks a ton, Zepath.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Very nice!

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

I'm glad the map is being well received so far. The resolution/resizing issue was a problem at first http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif and my thanks are to Panpiper for being so forthcoming about it.

As an update on the map, I have been working on the adventure version, setting up legendary figures like Mannfred von Carstein and Balthasar Gelt for you all to knock down. Major provinces (like Altdorf, Khemri, Zharr Nagrund, etc.) will feature very difficult defending armies led by unique and fiction-appropriate heroes with indy forts and at least three thematic magic sites (drawn from the stock list) some of which will permit special summons. Population types will be geared so that controlling the provinces belonging to specific races the Warhammer fiction will give you access to basic Dominions troop types of that sort. Control the Southlands jungles, for example, and you'll be able to suplement your forces with reptilians. Overrun the Chaos wastes and you'll be able to draft barbarians and demons.

In this strain, I will happily accept requests from anyone for the inclusion of particular characters, armies, or the like in the adventure version. My knowledge and references of the Warhammer World are sufficient to the task of filling the map with very special indy provinces, but I'd hate to leave out someone's favorite nemesis from this far more characterful version.

Also, if anyone catches any snags in the map or my spelling of province names while playing on the map, please let me know.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Make sure the large forests like Drakwald give the chance to recruit beastmen - or satyrs in this case. Cavemen would be nice in the chaos wastes and far eastern mountains representing trolls or ogres.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Sombre: Will do. My plan was to use Pangaean troops to represent the beastmen tribes and barbarians/tribal humans to fit the role of the uncivilized human Chaos-worshipers in the far north and south. Cavemen would be a nice supplement to those and I'll use them in the east as well for ogres. Of course, there are a number of troll troop types in Dom3 already and I could use them to fulfill the role of the ogres in some places. There is at least more variety among the trolls than the cavemen. My biggest unknown at the moment is how to properly represent the dwarfs. There are not nearly enough svartalf-like beings in the otherwise comprehensive stock creature list to fairly recreate the dwarven holds.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

I am super excited about the prospect of your adventure map, Zepath. I expect I will be weeks exploring it from the perspective of numerous races. Here follows random thoughts;

While I have little experience with the Warhammer Role Playing Game (I read much of the book, just never played), I have some experience with Warhammer Fantasy Battle and vast experience (albeit, ten years out of date now) with their figurine line (I sold them for ten years). I am not a fan of their battle rules system, however the mythology they've created for their universe is nothing short of fantastic. I am especially enamoured of 'Chaos'.

I would really like to see the north and south poles truly representative of the horror of the chaos spilling from the vortices. I expect this is likely not possible without someone building some race mods, either one each for the four chaos powers; Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, & Slaanesh or perhaps just two, one for each pole, each representing two of the powers, Khorne & Nurgle sharing one vortex and Tzeentch & Slaanesh sharing the other. If they share the poles, their starting positions could be the vortex itself with appropriate startsites. If they are four separate races, then they would effectively be fighting over possession of the vortices and so their positioning should reflect their natural hostilities; Nurgle vs. Tzeentch, and Khorne vs. Slaanesh. In this case the vortices need to be something truly worth fighting over and yet, terrible places to actually be. Combine for instance "The Vale of Infinite Horror" with "Throne of the World" and a couple other powerful thematic sites.

Of course this would need the attention of a talented race modder. Sombre has been building some Warhammer races. I wonder if he has given any thought to Chaos and how such races might be handled. Amos released a couple of interesting mods "Horror Scourge" and "Chaos Wars" that are at least somewhat evocative of Warhammer chaos. (All of Amos' mods are interesting, these two are just closest to actual Warhammer Chaos.) I wonder if Amos is following this thread and whether he would be interested. My guess is Sombre has so many other Warhammer races to tackle... ;-) Of course Zepath himself is no slouch as a race modder, but he's likely already overwhelmed by the adventure map work.

The question of how to deal with chaos mutations and chaos artifacts is also rather daunting. I do not know if there is any provision within the game engine for random (or otherwise) changes in units. Then there is the problem of the current engine having a rather restrictive number of new races and graphics that can be included in any game. I wonder if Kristoffer O. is still following this and if he could give us any indication if these current limits will be lifted or relaxed any time soon.

I am tempted to volunteer myself to help with mod work, but my skills haven't progressed much further than hacking other people's mods. I do have at least one potentially interesting idea for a race mod that might some day see fruition, but I am waiting on DrPraetorious' "Custom Army Design System" to be a bit more fleshed out, as I am notoriously incapable of creating balance without some system to guide me.

Hmm... Maybe I could release a race mod and let the more experienced folks out there vote on what the gold/resource costs should be for the units? I venture off topic. Thanks for putting up with my musings. And huge thanks to all those named in this post for everything they do and have done to make my life more enjoyable.

Re: World of Warhammer - Released!
 

Now the map is finished I'd have no objection to help fill in a few provinces for the adventure map.. I'm fairly familiar with warhammer fantasy and I'm getting more and more familiar with map editing and basic modding (just not creating race) so filling in thematic provinces is what I can do and like to do.

Of course I can understand ti completely if Zepath prevers to keep it all in his own hands... but if he needs a hand.. the offer stands.

PS IMHO this map should come with a few mods so the thematic provinces can be better "themed"

anyway if you want a few extra hands on the job.. just message me and tell me which province you would like filled and I'll send you a message with the modlines I'd use http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif