The Random Map Generator and Maps

[Edi]

Okay, so I'm jumping in really, really late and everything, but I've a question:

What kind of files are the Dominions II maps? The original used targa image files, are Dominions II maps following this tradition?

I'm asking because quite aside from Dominions II going to be the king of fantasy TBS games for the foreseeable future, if the map issue works like in the previous Version, I'd be buying the game just for this, because I would have use for an RMG like this literally for decades to come.

Edi

[Daynarr]

The map files are exactly the same format as they were in Dom 1 (TGA, or Targa). You can use maps made for Dom1, but you will need to delete colors in top-left corner for they have no purpose in Dom2 (they may cause game to generate province there). As far as I know, Dom2 supports much larger maps then Dom 1 so all maps need not be 800x600, in fact larger are preferred. Scripting files (.map) are different though with new commands and units so they need to be rewritten.

[Edi]

*drool*
*insert bloody huge "WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!" here*
*insert insanely long happy dance here*

You know, you just made my day, Daynarr. Best news I've heard in a long, long time. You see, good RMGs with immediate out of the box printability are very rare, never mind ones that actually generate *graphical* maps, so Dominions II might actually have a niche market even outside strategy gaming circles for people who need maps, but aren't skilled with graphics tools and/or just plain drawing them by hand.

Such as the traditional RPG gaming crowd (designing a campaign world map is a ****ing pain in the ***!), and even writers. Maps produced by people with the RMG are their property after all (just like the contents of text documents produced with MS Word are the author's property and not Microsoft's), and can be used for purposes *other* than playing Dominions II.

I'm an aspiring writer who couldn't draw anything competently if his life depended on it, and maps (especially random ones) always give me tons of ideas. I'll be abusing the RMG mercilessly when I get Dominions II, in the meanwhile I'll be using the Dominions I RMG by Keldon Jones for those purposes.

So, I'll be in a double debt to Illwinter, first for producing a kick-*** strategy game that curb-stomps everything else out there (including my all-time favorite, AoW, which is better than Dominions: PP&P in some respects but not quite as good overall), and now giving me tools that I've been coveting for *years*. I've also got some other friends who will be seriously looking into this aspect even if they'd not be interested in the game itself (though I daresay they will be).

Edi

[Pocus]

I dont quite follow, the sole RMG I'm aware of is the one of a fan, Keldon Jones.

[Edi]

I was under the impression that there would be a native RMG included in Dominions II capable of producing the sort of maps that we see in the screenshots. If I'm mistaken, then ignore the irrelevant rantings. As it is, Keldon's RMG is so far quite satisfactory, but I thought there was going to be something better in the offing, that's why the excitement. Apparently I'd gotten bad info or the wrong impression of what I read. Oh, well...

Edi

[Psitticine]

I'm afraid there's nothing built-in in terms of a random map generator in Dom II. Maybe Mr. Jones will update his Dom I map generator someday, but who knows? Maybe you could drop him an email and ask if he has any plans to do so.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Daynarr:
The map files are exactly the same format as they were in Dom 1 (TGA, or Targa). You can use maps made for Dom1, but you will need to delete colors in top-left corner for they have no purpose in Dom2 (they may cause game to generate province there). As far as I know, Dom2 supports much larger maps then Dom 1 so all maps need not be 800x600, in fact larger are preferred. Scripting files (.map) are different though with new commands and units so they need to be rewritten.

Im interested in this since I make extensive use of randomly generated TGA and randomly generated
MAP files. Possibly a gimp or a ghost script could be created which would... just tihnking out loud here... replace the color string in the old format with a flat land color. Hmmm no that might create a really tiny water province? or would it create just a stream in some other province?

I suppose it could snag the color in position 17 and fill in bits 1-16 with that same color.

[Psitticine]

Nope, it shouldn't be that difficult to make a pretty good random map generator from Dom's needs. I'm starting a killer quarter at school today (I'm both teacher and student . . . eesh) so I'm not going to have time to devote to such a project on top of everything else I've got going now, but there must be somebody about with the skills AND the time.

[Gandalf Parker]

A good place to start might be with the source code for the old map generator.
http://www.ont.com/~keldon/dommap.html

[blackwulf]

I NEED HELP!

In preparation for DOM 2 I have started playing DOM 1 again. I was made aware of Keldon’s Random Map Generator in this thread. I downloaded it and think it’s great. However I had downloaded it to my desk top and wanted to have it in a sub-folder of Dom 1 so I copied and pasted the exe into the folder and went back to delete the original file and it will not let me. No matter what I do including regediting all entries of dommap I cannot remove/uninstall/delete dommap.exe from my computer.

As a side not I had played around with the "run_dommap.sh" shell
Script which is mentioned in Keldon’s read me at his site.

I am running win XP and while this is a minor annoyance I really would like to be able to uninstall this program from my system.

I’d appreciate any suggestions. I emailed Keldorn but don’t know if he is still active and have yet to receive a reply.

Thank you
Blackwulf