Map Modding & Map Editor 101

[Carlberg]

(Not sure if this is the best place for map editor bug reports)

Got an interesting crash, I changed the map size to 10240x4096, everything works fine as I've changed all the files to that size.
The crash is when I paint with the "Material Brush" on the part that is outside the original map zone. The odd thing is that the "mixed brush" and heightmap drawer works fine.

It's kind of obscure and as the mixed brush works can be circumvented.

I added the crash folder.

It's fine to report bugs here, but we currently do not support resolutions exceeding 8192 x 4096. While it may "partially work", it may have unforeseen bugs which we artists know little about and will probably not get fix priority due to being out of the scope of support.

 

[Carlberg]

I blanked out all of the map files I could find and got to sculpting a map this past week.

It'd be nice to see one of the artists show off good ways of painting nice-looking terrain. I've had issues getting terrain textures to blend together nicely.

It's takes a bit of practice. I think we'll be doing more modding streams in the future, hopefully we can go more in-depth on how the different systems like that work
You can also experiment by tweaking the material textures or adding your own ones.

Otherwise, I'm thinking that using Photoshop to kitbash heightmaps together is going to produce nicer results for a base mesh than doing everything inside the editor? E.g. getting a height map of the French Alps and taking bits of it to use as mountains, or taking hilly bits of England to use as hilly regions in my map.

Taking pieces from a real world heightmap can give some good natural noise to a region that is very hard to make up on your own. So I think that's a good approach when creating a fictional environment.

My other issue has been a persistant blue hue over the terrain when zoomed in. I'm thinking it's the PBR lighting being screwball with a blank abedo map, which is what I am assuming that colour map hidden in the gfx folders is for?

Could be, would depend on what hue that is. Either it's the distance fog which is handled in the environment.txt file, for post effects. Or it could be colors from the color map like you mentioned, the color map acts like a layer in Photoshop set to overlay, a good way to add color variances to the world map.

Oh, one final thing. I imported a height map and the entire map was above the water line until I forcefully increased the entire map's vertex count by one step. Not sure what I did wrong there.

Not sure either! Changing of the resolution can be fickle, and I believe if you go out of bounds with resolution it will give you a faulty calculation. Right now the system counts on some provinces being of lower resolution and some of higher. If all are the highest the system cant calculate it accurately, thus flattening or raising all. I'd usually recommend saving before editing resolution to make sure those bugs dont sneak in, as a restart is usually needed.

 

[Carlberg]

So, I'm trying to figure out what in provinces.bmp can cause the game to crash.

If I try to make a 'blank' map, or a one-province map, the game crashes. If I edit provinces.bmp too heavily, it crashes. I'm not entirely sure what I'm missing or if there is a mask file I am glossing over somewhere.

Do you get any errors in documents/paradoxinteractive/imperator/logs/error.log?

So I have been using the editor but having trouble with it, and am wondering if there is a way to deal with this?

http://prntscr.com/nl28qb As you can see the terrain itself is flat. But old province lines are raised where... the land was raised... this is basically how the map looks whenever I save and export the map then leave and come back. Did use a height map I made before to have a base to work from but this is quite odd. I don't even know where this stuff is exported if anywhere.

I wonder if this is just an issue because of my documents folder not being in C and paradox still not fixing that.

Ah yeah, some of those changes you need to save and export, then restart for the editor to realize the changes. We've already fixed this in a newer build, that it updates in realtime instead, so it'll roll out in the future with a patch.

Been trying to get the City location working but failing. If I dont change the city_locator I get cities showing up all over the map, so they can appear. But when I try to add them manually one by one on at the center they don't appear where I put them according to Eye Dropper tool that shows some coordinates. Also tried the coordinates from the province.bmp.

Also they dont generate, I don't get any folder inside documents/imperator. Any idea what could be wrong?

Did you try this while running with

-develop

as a startup option?

 

[Carlberg]

[pdx_packedheightmap.cpp:777]: Failed loading indirection map 'map_data/indirection_heightmap.bmp'

My heightmap won't load in mod form, I used the editor to import and repack my heightmap but when I try to run it just shows ocean whenever I try to put the game folder files in a mod folder form.

Did you copy the indirection and packed heightmap to your mod as well, after saving and exporting in the editor?

 

[Carlberg]

Is there any way to create the indirection_heightmap.bmp and packed_heightmap.bmp outside the editor? The editor crashes for me when using dimensions larger than 8k x 4k (I understand it's not supported) and I'm wondering if there's a workaround I can use.

None that i'm aware of, the two files are calculated in conjunction by the engine itself.

 

[Carlberg]

Right so I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to modding, and I can't figure out how to get this to work.
I'm trying to change the size of the map, so that it's taller than it is wide.
- I have changed the dimensions in the defines file.
- I have a heightmap of the correct size and I've replaced the provinces file with one of the correct size and completly black.
- I have changed all the mask files to be the correct size, and they're all black. Rivers and terrain files are also blank.
- I have changed the size of the surround_mask to be the correct size.

When I start the game however, it keeps crashing while loading at Init Map Graphics.
Am I missing something? Perhaps there some files I've forgotten to change, or is changing the map size not possible yet?

It's currently not possible to mod define files as they get overruled by the game. By the look of things this will be solved when our next major patch comes out.

 

[Carlberg]

A few quick questions then if you don't mind:
1) How important are these two files? Will I get the same effect if I create a smaller version and then scale up to a larger version outside of Imperator? For example, would exporting a packed heightmap for an 8k x 4k map, then scaling it up in GIMP and resaving create the same effect?
2) What function do these two files play? I'm guessing the packed heightmap makes it load faster, but what does the indirection map do?
3) On a separate note, how/when are map locations generated? If I scale the map up later, will the entire coordinate system need to be redone automatically or will the coordinates not change if, say, the lower left corner is fixed?

1. & 2.) Very.
The heightmap.bmp is used by the editor, but the game never actually reads the heightmap.bmp in the game due to it's humongous size. When the exporter saves the new files, it looks at the area resolution in the editor, and then cuts the heightmap into a set of smaller squares, the size depending on how much detail it needs. This becomes the packed heightmap. The indirection I'm not entirely privy to the exact function, but I believe it acts as the coordinates and resolution setting for the map. Both are vital and I'd never recommend trying to replicate them manually, for your own sanity's sake, as it'd be a nigh impossible task. You can edit the heightmap.bmp in GIMP and then load that into the editor, but you shouldnt edit the indirection or packed one after.

3.) Map locations, i'm assuming for the city, unit and etc. locators.
These are supposed to generate when a new province lacking these have been added, but there's also a few commands one can use if you're in -develop mode.

mapobjects.generategamelocators fort
mapobjects.generategamelocators city
mapobjects.generategamelocators combat
mapobjects.generategamelocators port
mapobjects.generategamelocators unit_stack

These would then end up in documents/paradoxinteractive/imperator/generated

If you change the map, then yes the coordinates will most probably be off. Nudging cities and other map objects into place is usually the last step in the process. If they're in entirely wrong positions, you can open the map object files and delete their instances, and they'd be possible to regenerate like above, they'd then appear in the center of their province.

 

[Carlberg]

Wow thanks for the detailed help! Is there a list of commands somewhere when you're in -develop mode? I haven't been able to find one so I've been resorting to restarting the game every time I update a file.

Does this include ports if applicable? Or does the game know to place those at the boundary of water and land?

Sorry for being redundant, but just to confirm, does this mean that (probably) with the June patch we'll be able to have custom map sizes?

Emper - Ports end up in the center of the province, so you'll probably need to double check which sea it connects to.

Torneberge - Probably, our programmers have had a look at the defines loading issue, so as long as that fix comes along with the patch, then map dimensions should become viable to mod. (Within supported parameters).

 

[Carlberg]

What effect was used to make the blue and yellow fade for the surround_mask.dds (controls where the clouds are)?

It's an effect of the different color channels, if you inspect them you can see the red and green are blurry and the blue channel is a sharp variant of the mask.

Hello.

Question about the vanilla map.

I merged the grey and color flatmap by using an alpha mask on the grey parts . I then merged the calcs, recreated bitmaps,and saved as DDS using a compression factor that made the file the same size as the original "flatmap.dds".

The game however will not load a save not started with this mod. And a save started with this mod cannot be loaded without it.

Yet achievements works.

Is there a trick to making the game consider the color map as not different from the grey map, allowing seamless activation/deactivation of the mod, or is it unavoidable ?

Thanks.

I'm not quite sure I follow I'm afraid, I know of the colormap.dds that controls the overlay texture of the map. But which is this grey map you're referring to? The heightmap or flatmap?
DDS compression should be DXT1.

 

[Carlberg]

The grey map is named "flatmap" and the color map is named "colormap" in /gfx/map irrc (I'm at work).

I merged the 2 so that the "zoomed out" view in-game appears as a satellite view of the world.

Okay, then I'm on the same page. As it is right now the colormap.dds is just acting as a nuance texture, similar to a Photoshop layer set to overlay. So it's not possible to use that to replace the map textures, as they take prescedence over the overlay colormap.dds

However, I did create an example mod replacing the world map with the flatmap texture, it can be found in this post: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/perfomance-map-mode.1170592/#post-25389974
It involves replacing all ground textures with two halves of the flatmap and assinging it to either half of the world (due to the texture tiling system only working with square textures).

 

[Carlberg]

Not sure we understand each others

Here is my mod : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1753842831&searchtext=Satellite

The color map successfully replaced the grey flatmap in zoomed out view.

However contrary to other graphical mods, a game started with this mod wont load after you deactivate the mod.

Was Wondering if there is something I'm missing since both files (color and grey map) are structurally identical.

Hmm, I tested downloading your mod, started a new game with it enabled, restarted with it off, but the save still worked. So I'm afraid I cant reproduce it :S

Have you tried verifying the game cache and disabled any other mods/changes that might be active?

 

[Carlberg]

Am I able to share my modded map in my mod in 1.1? I used the map editor then copied all the changed map files into mod folder but its not affecting my mod.

In 1.1 you'll find a new button called "Save As" next to the regular save button

It will allow you to save all relevant files straight into your mod project.

 

[Carlberg]

Is there an easy way to replicate this process?

It was done with a projection we put into Maya and then deformed with a rig.
I think you could do something similar in Photoshop with a puppet warp, but that wouldnt be quite as precise.

 

[Carlberg]

Weird issue with adjacencies on an expanded map.

My map is now 10000x7000 due to adding China and everything functions in terms of displaying map, units, cities, forts, etc.

The adjacencies themselves work fine in that units can traverse them with no problems, but the display of the little yellow paths will crash the game if the coordinates of the X value are too high. I confirmed several times that just by swapping the coordinates to display somewhere else (basically on top of another, working adjacency) the game will load.

If the x/y coordinates are above a certain value (error begins somewhere between 7656 and 8239 X value), the game will crash once it gets to 100% loaded trying to enter the country-selection lobby. Yes, I changed the defines values for the map size to accommodate the new map and really I am sure everything else works fine except the adjacencies will crash the game if you want them to display with too high of an X value. I realize this has no impact on vanilla since the map is the size that it is, but it would certainly be nice if the game would accommodate larger maps.

Maps that are larger than the vanilla games resolution are currently not supported, smaller maps should work without any issues though.

I'm not sure if this could be caused by a data node that cant handle those values, but it's probably something that's causing issues under the hood in the engine. I would suggest you make a bug report of this in the bug forum. (I would ask a programmer myself, but I'm on vacation and thus away from the office).

 

[Carlberg]

Is terrain.bmp being used for Imperator? I assume it works same as in other titles, however it doesn't cover the whole map.

Terrain.bmp is not in use, but Clausewitz gets cranky if it's not there, so it's safe to ignore and let it be. We'll probably be removing that file in the future, but we're prioritizing more important things for now.

Terrain type per province is set in

game\common\province_terrain

 

[Carlberg]

Thank you, that did help. I could start the game properly again and reach the console to generate the locators. Big help!

Another question, how to define uninhabitable and impassable provinces? I must have searched this forum to death (but could of course have missed something) and the files as well, but no luck so far.

That's handled in

\game\map_data\default.map

Either as a RANGE (define provid start and stop) or as single odd provinces in a LIST.

 

[Carlberg]

I find the instructions for provinces a bit lacking... If I want to make Provinces for a new map. is there anything else but the province.bmp I need to fiddle with? as of now I'm having crashing issues and the log is blank. when it last reported anything it said that the colors where wrong(not defined). I only use default colors since then and I have made numerous attempts, default map size and the heightmap is fine.

Anything else I need to look at?

Make sure you draw provinces without anti alias since every color present in the document needs to be accounted for in \game\map_data\definition.csv

 

[Carlberg]

I think @Snow Crystal might know more about things like that than I do. I work mostly with the visuals and the province painting and scripting is done by our content designers.

 

[Snow Crystal]

Hello there, @Wailot .

I can do a quick go-through of all the Script files that should/could be affected by adding a new province.

• provinces.bmp - Where you carve out a new province in the color you define in 'definition.csv'. (I believe it might crash if you have colors that have no entries in 'definition.csv'.)
• definition.csv - This file shouldn't have any entries that aren't used. If it has an entry that it otherwise cannot find, things can get a tad wonky. (For the dev version, I believe it only pings an error if it cannot find the color of an entry, not actually crashing the game or anything like that.)
• default.map - This is where you define things like wastelands, impassables, sea_zones etc.
• province_setup.csv - This is where you define the setup of a province when the game starts, and you can see at the top what every field does and what it should look like.
• setup.txt - If you are going to give a country a new province file, or otherwise give the province something at startup (special pops, buildings, etc).
• areas.txt - Define an area for the province to be a part of.
• regions.txt - Define a region for an area to be a part of.
• climate.tx - Define a climate for the new province.
• 00_province_terrain.txt - Define terrain for the new province. Otherwise it will default to Plains for land provinces, and Ocean for water provinces.
• ports.csv - Define a port for your new province, if you want one of those.
• locators:
  • city_locators.txt - Define where cities will be located in a province.
  • unit_stack_locators.txt - Define where a unit stack (when a unit just stands around in a province) will be located in a province.
  • combat_locators.txt - Define where a combat (when a combat takes place in the province) will be located in a province.
  • fort_locators.txt - Define where a fort will be located in a province.
  • port_locators.txt - Define where a port will be located, if your new province should have one of those.
  • animal_locators.txt - Define where seagulls will be located. The most important of all the locators.
  • vfx_locators.txt - This a VFX locator that is put in the center of every province, I believe it is used for some sound and/or animation effects?
• localization - There isn't a special file you need to use here, I think. As long as you remember to just add all the loc needed for your new province (province name, area name if you make a new area for it, etc).

I think these are all the files affected one way or another.

 

[Snow Crystal]

Snow Crystal, please give information about road modding (file roads.roads.).

Sure.

So to generate a roads.roads file (which it uses to understand where all the potential roads in the game should be), you enter the game in debug mode and write "Roads.GenerateAssets" in the console. Then the game will start working on generating the file, which will take quite a bit of time, and you need to wait until the white barely readable text in the top left corner disappears and the game looks a bit like this:

Simply close the game, and a new file will have been generated in your documents folder, and you simply grab that and put it into the right folder in your mod folder. If you want to check that it worked, you can re-open the game and try the console command "Roads.AllRoadsLeadToRome", this will immediately build every potential road in the game, and you can see if your new province have roads or not.

If you want to define specific roads on startup, you can open the setup.txt file, go down to "road_network", and define a road between province IDs.