Map Editing

[Grallon]

Hi,


I've recently acquired the game & would like some infromation about map editing and modding in general.

I've downloadd the 2 pdf guides... not very informative. If I take an external map and create a map doc with all the commands in it, how am I supposed to divide the provinces into separate, playable entities ? I've seen custom made maps where the tga graphic seemed to have been manually edited to trace bordes but how does the game aknowledge them ?

I understand there's a max limit to the number of nations. So like in Civ we need to replace the existing ones correct ?

Are there more in depth guides out there for modding ?

Finally, I can't seem to find the in game save & load command ?!


Thanks



G.

[Endoperez]

About maps: any picture can be a map. However, the game only reads one thing out of them: the color white (255,255,255). Every white pixel is a province. The provinces are numbered a spesific way which gives them numbers. The province numbers won't change unless white (=new provinces) is added or removed from the tga.
The neighbourhood is determined with #neighbour pr1 pr2 tags in the .map file. You have to determine the neighbouring provinces manually. However, the game also reads red or mostly red colors (I haven't checked this out myself) as borders. That gives a starting point, but presumably isn't good enough in most cases.

Yes, only 17 nations can exist. This will change for DomIII, which will allow (much?) higher number of nations.

I don't know about any real guide for modding, but looking at some complete mods should help you out.

And finally, the game doesn't have that kind of a save&load command. When you Save&Exit, only the commands you gave for that turn are saved. Only files that a game "save" has is the situation of the whole world, nations, etc in fthrlnd, the part of the situation a spesific nation has (jotun.trn, machaka.trn, abysia.trn...) and the commands human player has given to a nation (jotun.2h, machaka.2h, abysia.2h...). Previous turns aren't saved.

However, if you or an automated program makes a copy of the game directory, it can be just pasted back and it works like traditional "save". There is a Java program which saves & reloads Dominions games, but I haven't used it and don't remember its name.

[NTJedi]

I did some map editing in my last game and feel almost ready to make my first map... yet I have some questions.

A)
What type of graphic software do I need to open and create maps with ?? ((the ones I've tried so far don't open tga files))

B)
Since it looks like the .pdf map editor has not been updated with the patches. What other map commands have been added with the patches ??

C)
How does a map developer create events for a specific province ?? What maps have examples of this ??
((events such as a province which frequently has assasination attempts or frequent earthquakes))

D)
A Sphinx cannot be moved by any means to another province correct ?? ((important for the unique map I will be making))

E)
Any suggestions for what can be done within the .map file for helping the computer opponents with starving ?? ((Hopefully this is fixed within DOM_3))

[Endoperez]

A) You can use Irfanview or similar program (Irfanview is for viewing pictures, and is quite small. It seems to have all kinds of plug-ins, but I don't need them) that can open and save pictures in many different formats.

C) You can't. However, adding sites or, in *very few* cases, a special unit might produce the effect you want. There are many sites that affect the scales. Some of these increase Misfortune. And Doom Horrors cause bad events to happen more often whereever they are located. That's about it.

D) Astral Travel might, but I don't think that counts in even if it does.

E) Well, you could add Farm of Pleny or even Vale of the Silver Cattle to every province (IIRC VotSC doesn't produce gems). Mods do have the option of multiplying available supplies worldwide, but I don't think maps have similar command.

[Torvak]

NTJedi said:
A)
What type of graphic software do I need to open and create maps with ?? ((the ones I've tried so far don't open tga files))

I recommend Gimp. It's free and very powerful once you get used to it.

[Turin]

Endoperez said:

E) Well, you could add Farm of Pleny or even Vale of the Silver Cattle to every province (IIRC VotSC doesn't produce gems). Mods do have the option of multiplying available supplies worldwide, but I don't think maps have similar command.

farm of plenty seems to be bugged and has no effect. I guess other supply sites don´t work either.

[Grallon]

Endoperez said:
About maps: any picture can be a map. However, the game only reads one thing out of them: the color white (255,255,255). Every white pixel is a province. The provinces are numbered a spesific way which gives them numbers. The province numbers won't change unless white (=new provinces) is added or removed from the tga.
The neighbourhood is determined with #neighbour pr1 pr2 tags in the .map file. You have to determine the neighbouring provinces manually. However, the game also reads red or mostly red colors (I haven't checked this out myself) as borders. That gives a starting point, but presumably isn't good enough in most cases.

Are you saying I have to draw the borders manually !?!?

Or is that I only have to mark the map with those white dots... whatever those are...

And not even a save/load mechanism !> Christ what a clumsy interface



G.

[NTJedi]

ONE LAST QUESTION:

Which nation(s) is the most disliked and least used within the community ?? ((needed for my future map.. design may change))

[Nerfix]

Tien Chi or Ulm.

[Endoperez]

If you take a picture (just a picture, can be anything but maps work the best), and want to make a map, you have to do this:

Change all pure white pixels to almost white (from 255,255,255 to 254,255,255), and add a single white pixel to every province you want there to be.
Then, use the DomII's Map Editor to try to quess the neighbours or the provinces. It might work, but there probably are some mistakes. If there were red borders around the provinces of the map, it works much better, but you don't have to have the borders in there.
If you want to fix the mistakes the Map Editor will leave, you have to check out every province in Map Editor, and if it has a neighbour it should have or a should-be neighbour isn't a neighbour, you have to click on the picture of the map.

You have to mark every would-be province with one white pixel. You don't have to draw borders, but if they exist it is easier. And if you want to be sure everything works like it should, you have to check every province. I don't think it would take that much time, if one already had a picture from which to make the map.


And the save/load mechanism "issue" isn't about interface. It works, or rather, it doesn't work that way because it isn't supposed to. If you make a mistake, you can't just reload it away. Also, the developers link to, ergo they must like, several roguelikes (combat-centric rpgs with ASCII instead of graphics and permadeath, think Diablo II on Hardcore, on highest difficulty), AND the game is meant to be played in multiplayer.
This hasn't bothered me much, as it keeps me from making save/reload/reload/reload/reload/reload/quit I might be doing otherwise. Even if I decide to just quit, I have just saved quite a lot of time.