new map generator

[Smauler]

Firstly, great work, paradoxharbinger . Unfortunately, I'm having a few problems with scripting. For example, my script: script.spt file containsCode:

---

pcount: 100

---

and results inCode:

---

script: ./script.spt ... success



pcount: 1000 ... success

---

That's a bit quirky, but it seems to work when you realise it adds about a factor of 10 to you pcount. However, I can't get some other stuff to work at all:
Code:

---

pcount: 10

filename: test2

---

results in:
Code:

---

script: ./script.spt ... success



pcount: 10



filename: test22 ... failed

---

The pcount isn't increased, and the filename is, and it fails. Changing the pcount to a higher value dousn't help. Just
Code:

---

filename: test2

---

results in:
Code:

---

script: ./script.spt ... success



filename: test22 ... success

---

Anyway, I'm a bit confused - seems as if if I put two variables in, it gets screwed. It's a little screwy with one, too. I've tried other scripting variables, with the same result. I tried switching to Unix style line breaks to see if that would fix it (I was clutching at straws here ), but same again. I may try downloading again, see if that fixes it.

Oh, my verion numbers are off too. In the title bar MapGen claims it's v 0.52.03082007, and in the program it claims it's 0.51.03082007.

If I'm doing something unbelievable stupid, feel free to point and laugh, but I can't figure it out


edit : And one last thing - I'm using Dominions 2... please don't drop support for it... pretty please?

[paradoxharbinger]

odd... could you attach a zip with all of the output please?

the version number may just be that i forgot to change an output line, that's no biggy. you're using th most recent right?

as far as dom2 goes, we'll see. it is probably just a mater of leaving out the dom3 terrain types, but i havent gotter quite as far as adding in the dom3 types yet.

@ all
sorry for the lack of updates, finals week is rolling around, so i've been bogged down with school related work.

[paradoxharbinger]

one thing ive spotted is that you dont have semi-colons ( after your command, that might throw it off. the scripting isnt very robust as far as error checking goes, so it's best to follw the rules to the letter, so commands look like this:

command: arg1 arg2 arg3;

colon after the command, arguments seperated by spaces, and a semicolon at the end of the argument list

edit: just checked, leaving off the semi-colon at the end will result in duplicating the last character, and if you have a command after one that does not have a semi=colon i can only imagine all of thew odd things that could happen. moral of the story is stick to the rules

[Smauler]

I think my eyesight must be going - completely missed the semicolon at the end. I just tested it, and it works fine now. I'll probably play around with it more tomorrow. Thanks.

[Gandalf Parker]

Here is a first effort of mine (well the first Im willing to show)
a Mid-Sized Wrapped Map
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMap..._Wrappable.jpg
and it can be downloaded here..
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMap..._Wrappable.zip

Its a 168 provinces and wraps both top-to-bottom and east-to-west. Its not very nice to water nations Im afraid.

Im eagerly waiting for things like sprites, and bunching up continents abit.

Id like it if the dom2title would use the map name. If I run a batch of 12 MidMap then I get MidMap_001 thru MidMap_012 but in the game start menu they all show up as PHMAP.

Will the seed be recorded in the .map file?
If I redo the map with the same seed but turn off features, will it affect the order that randoms get used? In other words, is everything that can be randomized using the seed even if its not turned on so that the end result will look the same even if that feature is turned off on the next run?

Gandalf Parker

[Gandalf Parker]

OK after a day of playing with paradoxharbinger's MapGen I have come up with something I like. Its 2000x1500 pixels.
1055 provinces of 895 land and 160 water
land players have a ratio of 49 prov each for 18 players
water players have a ratio of 53 each for 3 players

Its a fully wrapped map. That means the top connects to the bottom and the sides connect to each other.

Here is a view of it
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Max_001.jpg
and here is the download link if you want the map
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Max_001.zip

Gandalf Parker

[paradoxharbinger]

@ gandalf

the sedds arent recorded in the map file, that would be the .sds file i believe, its been so long i forge the extension. i also forget whether i actually implemented the bit that would load those seed files, probably not. but the maps will regenerate exactly as they first did. the point of using them was to generate as small file that could be easily sent, over dial-up say, instead of a monstrous image file.

the PHMAP, business, yeah that needs to be fixed, i'll take care of that as soon as possible, as well as getting the seed file to load up, that is really just a matter of deciding how i want to implement it, which is conflicting with a few things that have alrady been in place for a while, so needs a bit of planning.

as far as sprites go, they are working, i just do not have a set that i can distribute. and being a programmer rather than an artist, i dont really have the talent required to create a set, if i did you would probably rather i hadnt. so if any intrepid artists out there would like to donate some sprites for inclusion, all credit given to you, feel free to get in touch with me.

@ all

my semester has finally ended. ive been on hiedous because of the craploads of work all of the profs want to stuff into the last couple weeks, so apologies. that being said, i'm gearing up to start my summer job, which means all of the time i needed to spend for school after getting home from school can start to be allocated back to personal projects (mapgen, unit maker).

so i have been able to get a bit of work done (see above) in moving over to a new generating method, most of the groundwork is pretty much done, which means that all of the line segments know which other line segments they are connectedd to and all of the triangles and polygons know who their neighbours are, which is a good bit of what needs to be done. the next bit is getting things generate in a convincing manner, which actually the easier part, in my experience. any how, ive already got what i think is a pretty good river algorithm put together.

so for the next update, which may be the last incarnation of mapgen before it moves on to new the new algorithms, should include regenerating from seed files, the fixed map names and possibly some better script checking. small details to be sure, but after that, bigger better things.

ive said that the new algorithms would be alot faster, and they seem to be a lot faster. if that proves to be true, i'm looking at migrating the code from c++ to c# and then using mono (pending some testing, mentioned in the unit maker thread) to get the multi-platform release going.

alright i think that covers everything, im sort of on vacation now, so that release with the fixes might be out sometime next week, we'll see how work goes.

[Gandalf Parker]

Hmmm thats not what I was hoping from seeds. I was hoping for something like DomMap had. One seed number which defined the map. I could run a full color map for display, then a subtler one for play, and one for it again as blank provinces or borders only for special game progression displays.