Creating an ST Map - Best Utility Tool?

[Feared_1]

Maps look better when you don't have huge globs of the same texture thrown around. I like going around with the editor and making shadows and things myself. That's just the way I see it.

Winter, to me, is for things like resizing the map or making it symmetrical in the VERY beginning of making your map, not making little changes here and there to "polish" it.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I haven't figure out how to use it yet, but it looks ideal for making custom looking maps with special terrain features like contoured terrain from photo based images and such. Perhaps, someone could post a sample tutorial or Two based on how they use Winter to create such maps?

I had some experience with C&C on making custom maps from BMP images, but it's version of a map editor supported this internally. Winter, is a third party utility that can be used with BZII, but instructions on how to actually apply it are somewhat of a mystery except the few peeps that have figured out how to use it. A little help please? 

[mrtwosheds]

Its functions are fairly straight forward, its how you use them that makes a difference.

Just open any map, in ODL1winter and click the export all button, this will give you 6 .bmp that define that map. This should give you some idea of what each one does.

You then just have to get creative with your graphics program.

1. Make a height map, experiment with it and the height settings in winter, until you get a terrain roughly the shape you want it.

2. Texture it with just 4 textures. (define them in the .trn file and paint the whole layer in the editor)
One very ordinary one for layer 0 (that has a pool to match) the base layer that is not altered by ODL1winter.
Use the next most dominant texture, like a rocky one, for layer 1
Use another for layer 2, like sand or grass
Use the 3rd one for another more decorative texture .
If I want more than 4 textures I usually put them on layer 3 making sure they don't meet anywhere, but don't bother to do this yet.
Save and export all with winter.
3.I would then take the heightMap .bmp and use it to modify the alphamap layers 1 and 2, so the rocky texture is only painted on the hills, the sand where it is flat, and the layer 3 texture wherever you want it.
Use the editor to fine tune the texture placements, making sure to use only the one texture on each layer. Or use your graphics program to make more complicated patterns of textures.

I made a nice effect on one of my maps, using 2 different but similar rocky textures on layers 1 and 2, by making a sort of checkered pattern on one alphamap and inverting it on the other, so the textures alternated along and up a hill.

For layer 3 you may well want to paint it after the others in the editor, placing the other different textures where you want them over the other 3 and making small height adjustments to the terrain.
Now your map is textured in a way that can be altered easily and all the complex stuff is on one layer only (3).

After you have the height and textures how you want them, then go to the console and spend a few hours or days setting up the lighting, fog, dome , clouds etc etc. to get you map looking the way you want it to. Only after this would I bother with the color of the map, using the technique I described above. And if you used colour textures, that technique will paint them all the right colour too, but you may need to desaturate or adjust the colour map to get it looking good.

[Clavin12]

Where would I put ground textures that I have made for use in say Dunes. Also can I use a bitmap or does it have to be something else?

[mrtwosheds]

Put your textures in addon, or the maps folder, or your pak file.
Winter likes bitmaps for making the map, but dxtbz2 is best for the actual in game textures.

[TheJamsh]

2sheds couldn't be more right about doing colouring AFTER you've done the skydome and lighting.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Thanks, MTS for posting the how to on using ODL1Winter. Really helps when someone points out and explains a few key points. I'd  really like to learn the height map part to make a few image style maps where the image defines the contours of the map itself. I don't really understand layer's but I guess they must some how be somewhat transparent to blend the different textures used in a typical BZ map. BNG. 

[mrtwosheds]

I don't really understand layer's but I guess they must some how be somewhat transparent to blend the different textures used in a typical BZ map

Layer 0 is solid texture this is the one you see on low terrain detail.
Layer 1 is drawn on top of it, in full white (255 255 255) areas its texture will be solid, in full black (0 0 0) it will be invisible.
Layer 2 is drawn on top of 0 and 1
Layer 3 is drawn on top of 0, 1 and 2.

It can get really confusing in the editor because you can paint any number of textures on any one layer and quickly wind up with a confusing mix of different textures on different layers. If you just stick to one texture per layer at the start it becomes much easier to track what is where later on.
I always try to layer textures in a logical way, a very plain texture on 0, rock on 1, then soil or sand on 2 and  grass or snow or whatever on 3.