whats the mazimum size i can have my map?

[shane ward]

I did post a map that took about over 5 mins to cross the map. Very big and took the game to it's limits.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Sounds like very large maps could be useful for more global looking maps with like small continents, and then incorporating portals to make getting around it more efficient for both players and the AI. Larger maps must also make strategy planning a bit more interesting as well for both players and map makers.

The winter utility looks very interesting as well, but I'm still having some problems getting my maps to match the size of the BMP files the're created from. I originally made a 512x512 map okay, but when I increased the BMP size to 1024x1024 the resulting .TRN file still came out more like 512x512 again. Do I need to delete the .TRN file again to get it to be 1024x1024?

It's kind of neat though to be able to create such custom looking maps like those I've seen in some other peeps maps using images like skulls and bones. Kudos to those that take time to create such cool looking maps. BNG

PS: What I'd really like to see, are some land and sea maps that integrate both land and sea vessels as playable options in future maps/mods. TV has some really cool sub types that are currently under utilized. He has probably one of the coolest recyclers I ever seen, and it's nothing more then a simple sphere object that produces some of the most unique water vessels I've ever seen or played.

 

[Red Devil]

I remember that map, Shane.  Huge, interesting, different, and well done.

[mrtwosheds]

Do I need to delete the .TRN file again to get it to be 1024x1024?

Yes, the terrain is only created once, after that it is simply modified. If you are using winter it is based on the .bmp size.
I go through a process of modifying the .bmp and then creating the map in bz2, then delete the .trn and repeat until I get to something I like, It is worth putting some effort into this phase of map creation with winter in order to reduce the amount of manual sculpting to be done in the editor.
Making the height map, the texture maps (greyscale) and the colour map (colour!) from variations of the image can produce stunning results.
Once you have a set of .bmp's that make a map you like, you can /shellmap 256 it. ( replace 256 with the size of your map) (without edge path!)
This produces a new .bmp that also has terrain shadows on it, It will need some tweaking (brightness contrast etc), but this can be used as a final colour map to paint all the terrain shadows in the right place so they are still there even with lighting off.
You need to decide where the sun will be before you do this, setup the sun.color 255 255 255 and the ambient.color as the shadow. set up the maps actual lighting colours afterwards.
Careful and patient use of this technique can save weeks of manual editing and produce great looking maps.

[Red Devil]

You can also make the sun rise and set using the DLL, which is cool.  There's an FE map that does that; Trent?

[mrtwosheds]

Does that have any noticeable performance hit?
And can you get the sprites and lights to move reliably together?

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Awsome MTS, I'll give your suggestions a try. Winter sounds like an awesome map generating utility over just making maps in the BZII editor. I began wondering if there were other map generating utilities like the one that came with CNC Red Alert 2 which basically makes flat land maps with water when blue is used as a color in the BMP file. I'd like to make series of 1024x1024 maps for some IA missions I'd like to make for BZII.

[Angstromicus]

There seems to be some confusion as to how to use the winter editor with BMP's.

Take the map size and divide by 8. That's how big the BMP should be, IIRC.

[Nielk1]

I would think each pixel is for each vertex point on the map, so, how is the size listed?

[bigbadbogie]

nice pikky 2sheds - i love the tree

[TheJamsh]

what exactly IS 'winter' and where can i get it?

[mrtwosheds]

I thought bzscrap, but I can't see it...
A google search revealed that some f**kwit has made a virus with the name winter.exe...

hmm try this...
http://www.4shared.com/dir/6953059/863c220e/sharing.html
Its just a little utility made by silverb1rd, it converts .bmp into bz2 terrain.
I think overminddl1 made one too..It may be better to use that, winter is a bit weird and non visual.

[OvermindDL1]

Yea, mine is around somewhere, it supports everything the original does, plus is not limited to 8-bit maps (mine supports 16-bit, which is exactly what BZ2 supports, just need a 16-bit editor to edit those without destroying them back to 8-bits), and a few more capabilities that vastly simplify a few normally difficult operations for people.  Just search around for ODL1Winter and you would probably find it.
Generated by OvermindDL1's Signature Auto-Add Script via GreaseMonkey

[TheJamsh]

turns a bitmap into 3D terrain? HUH :S?

[Nielk1]

Back then BZ2MD was phpBB2 and used a Smartor photo album mod, there was a screenshot of a BZ2 terrain editor that was in full 3D, but had amazing features and ease of use tools. Since we can clearly edit BZ2 terrain code, why has this program not been released or one like it?