StellarMaps: create stylized and customizable maps for your Stellaris AARs

[MichaelMakesGames]

StellarMaps is an open source application that creates customizable maps of your Stellaris saves. You can find the latest release here.

Current features:

• Country borders, names, and emblems
• Map modes (unions, trade, relations, etc)
• Sector borders
• Occupation
• Symbols for country capitals, sector capitals, and populated systems
• Hyperlanes and hyper relays
• Wormholes, gateways, L-gates, and shroud tunnels
• Terra incognita
• Background starscape graphics
• Solar system maps (WIP)
• Customization options for all of the above
• Save your settings as multiple profiles
• High-res PNG and SVG export
• Support for modded colors, names, and emblems

Here is an example map:

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

Please don't be shy! Share your bugs, ideas, and feedback, or just share a cool-looking map you made with the application

 

[Macavity116]

Question: do I need to download all 8 files listed under "Assets" or just the installer?

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

Question: do I need to download all 8 files listed under "Assets" or just the installer?

Just download the ...setup.exe file (assuming you're on Windows). The other files are for Mac and Linux

 

[Macavity116]

That's got it working, thanks.

A little easier to use than the old Stellaris Map Generator website. UI is more intuitive, had to reinstall once to figure out that the app needed to be told where to look for Stellaris saves.

So when do we get to see your Stellaris AAR with imagery by StellarMaps?

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

That's got it working, thanks.

A little easier to use than the old Stellaris Map Generator website. UI is more intuitive, had to reinstall once to figure out that the app needed to be told where to look for Stellaris saves.

So when do we get to see your Stellaris AAR with imagery by StellarMaps?

I'm not much of a writer, just a map-enjoyer. But maybe I'll give it a go on my next campaign!

The app should find saves automatically. It might need to be told where to look for the Stellaris game data though (if it's not in the standard Steam install location), so I assume you're talking about that. I'll look into making that clearer!

Do let me know if you find anything else confusing, or if you have any feature requests! I hope together we can make this the best Stellaris map application

 

[Macavity116]

I'll give you props. The app is versatile. Generated three maps of my current savegame. I could see the Terra Incognita feature being slightly useful for cheesing Ironman games. (say, quickly confirming the location of the Ultima Vigilis system or the Disconnected Trinary)

I also compared the standard map settings to the circular galaxy mode. On larger Galaxies, circular mode smooths out a lot of that bulbous border gore around the edge of the galaxy, at the expense of "inflating" certain empires to make them look bigger than they really are. (Compare Minamar Specialized Industries in the next two screenshots) However, I think that's a galaxy generation issue that users will just have to learn to love.

I'm not much of a writer, just a map-enjoyer.

No harm in that. I'm sure if this app had been around in 2019 or so, all of the maps in Faith in Chaos, The Stormbreakers, and The Last Heroes probably would have been made with StellarMaps instead of my lackluster MS Paint skills. But this was a fun exercise, so I'll keep StellarMaps around for my next Stellaris story. Thanks for making this!

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

I'll give you props. The app is versatile

Thanks!

I could see the Terra Incognita feature being slightly useful for cheesing Ironman games

Yeah, but that's not something I'm too concerned with. I'm more worried about making sure you don't accidentally spoil things for yourself (hence why terra incognita is on by default, from the player's POV).

Ironman can be cheesed pretty easily with save editing already, so I don't think it's worth the effort for me to try to prevent that in StellarMaps. Especially since turning off terra incognita is useful if you want to make a map of a 99% explored galaxy and don't want a few random blobs of terra incognita in it.

at the expense of "inflating" certain empires to make them look bigger

Every map needs a Greenland
More seriously, I will probably try to improve that over time, but it's a hard problem. For now it's "good enough" so I'm focusing my efforts elsewhere.
It used to be very bad on the new(ish) "starburst" shape galaxies, but with the 0.6 release, I made it so it doesn't try to fit an actual circle for starburst galaxies. Still room for improvement!

I'll keep StellarMaps around for my next Stellaris story. Thanks for making this!

My pleasure, thanks for giving it a try!

 

[zloty_111]

This is perfect and beautiful and I love you! It will make my life (while making maps for fun) so much easier!
One question - would it be possible to have an option to export to vector graphics file like svg?

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

This is perfect and beautiful and I love you! It will make my life (while making maps for fun) so much easier!
One question - would it be possible to have an option to export to vector graphics file like svg?

Yes, I'll look into SVG export. Internally, the map is generated as an SVG so in theory SVG export should be very simple. However, when I try to open it in Inkscape, it is kinda broken. I think I must be using features that aren't implemented in Inkscape... What editor do you use?

 

[zloty_111]

Yes, I'll look into SVG export. Internally, the map is generated as an SVG so in theory SVG export should be very simple. However, when I try to open it in Inkscape, it is kinda broken. I think I must be using features that aren't implemented in Inkscape... What editor do you use?

Inkscape

Two more things:
When I loaded my save, empire names were listed as "Localization failed" (image), while one empire is called "AofB", even though in the game it's named "Covenant of Vool'u-Umu". Not a big problem for me, I would remove these labels anyway, but it's a bug nevertheless. Maybe mods are causing this?

Another thing - I moved one system (via save game editing) because it was messing my border. And while border in game is updated correctly (image), on StellarMap it is still the old way (image). It's freshly loaded save, borders are reprocessed again just to be sure.

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

Inkscape

Two more things:
When I loaded my save, empire names were listed as "Localization failed" (image), while one empire is called "AofB", even though in the game it's named "Covenant of Vool'u-Umu". Not a big problem for me, I would remove these labels anyway, but it's a bug nevertheless. Maybe mods are causing this?

Another thing - I moved one system (via save game editing) because it was messing my border. And while border in game is updated correctly (image), on StellarMap it is still the old way (image). It's freshly loaded save, borders are reprocessed again just to be sure.

Good, I was worried you might be using Adobe Illustrator which I don't own. I'll try to get it working with Inkscape.

Yeah, I've seen that happen with someone else. I do think it's related to mods. It's on my to-do list to investigate/fix for the next release. Would you mind answering and trying a few things?

• is your game installed in a non-default location? (Eg on a separate drive, or not installed by Steam.)
• do you have any mods enabled?
• If you answered yes to both of those, can you try disabling all mods (in the Paradox launcher) then restart StellarMaps?
• If my theory is correct, you should now be prompted to choose your Stellaris install location. You can then re-enable your mods and once again restart StellarMaps

Regarding the moved system, it looks like the position of the system is the same in the 2 pictures. Are you trying to the northern and southern parts of the gray and blue border to connect?

 

[zloty_111]

Good, I was worried you might be using Adobe Illustrator which I don't own. I'll try to get it working with Inkscape.

Yeah, I've seen that happen with someone else. I do think it's related to mods. It's on my to-do list to investigate/fix for the next release. Would you mind answering and trying a few things?

• is your game installed in a non-default location? (Eg on a separate drive, or not installed by Steam.)
• do you have any mods enabled?
• If you answered yes to both of those, can you try disabling all mods (in the Paradox launcher) then restart StellarMaps?
• If my theory is correct, you should now be prompted to choose your Stellaris install location. You can then re-enable your mods and once again restart StellarMaps

Regarding the moved system, it looks like the position of the system is the same in the 2 pictures. Are you trying to the northern and southern parts of the gray and blue border to connect?

1. The same location as Steam
2. Yeah, 50-ish, but mostly graphics
3. I disabled the mods
4. It asked me to choose install location. And bloody hell it worked! And reenabling mods didn't break anything.

Speaking about labels - what about option to capitalize all letters and/or change color and/or adding Bold, Italics etc.?

About the moved system - yes, it updated its position correctly in your app, but not borders. You can see in game borders are connected, but not in SM

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

It asked me to choose install location. And bloody hell it worked! And reenabling mods didn't break anything.

Thanks! That gives me a pretty good idea of what's going on.

Speaking about labels - what about option to capitalize all letters and/or change color and/or adding Bold, Italics etc.?

A couple of these are in my to-do already. Adding the others!

About the moved system - yes, it updated its position correctly in your app, but not borders. You can see in game borders are connected, but not in SM

I don't know how exactly Stellaris draws the borders. Borders aren't in the save file, only solar system locations, so I've needed to write my own algorithms for turning that into borders, and there will inevitably be differences compared to the in-game borders. My algorithm uses Voronoi cells as the first step in producing borders. Essentially, each star "claims" the area that is closer to it than to any other stars. Notably, my algorithm is not sensitive to hyperlanes at all, only star coordinates, whereas in-game borders seem to be sensitive to hyperlanes (sometimes to comedic effect). I am considering how I could modify my algorithm account for hyperlanes, but I don't have a concrete plan yet.

But enough background info! Your best chance to get the borders appearing how you want would be to move those 2 stars in the gray/blue closer together. That should squeeze out the bit of green border that's poking between them currently.

 

[VILenin]

Very cool tool, thanks for sharing it @MichaelMakesGames !

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

New release, focused on new style options and usability:

Example map (featuring Star Wars: Legacy of the Old Republic):

Change log:

New features:

• Save map settings to multiple named setting profiles
• Preset map settings: Default, Unions, Circular, Light Borders, and Relay Metro Map
• Color adjustments can be used to adjust the lightness and opacity of all colors
• Select any Stellaris color in the various color settings
• Customize background color
• Customize hyperlane color, including dynamic country colors
• Draw hyperlanes in "metro"/"subway" style
• Option to align stars to a grid
• Optional glow effect for borders and hyperlanes
• SVG export (targeting Inkscape and web; known issue: if using the Orbitron font, you need to install it on your computer)

Notable tweaks:

• Min contrast preserves color hue
• Map zoom is no longer reset when you reprocess the map
• Consolidated and standardized color and stroke style controls
• Show the downloaded version and a link the most recent version in the top bar
• Now automatically finds non-default Steam installs of Stellaris

Bug fixes:

• Orbitron font does not work in-app, only in PNG exports
• Color/loc can fail without prompt to select install location when using mods
• One corner of each polygon remains un-smoothed

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

One question - would it be possible to have an option to export to vector graphics file like svg?

The above release has SVG export, compatible with Inkscape. Do note that you need to install the Orbitron font separately if you want it to work in Inkscape. I'm not very familiar with Inkscape myself. Let me know if there's anything I can do to make it easier to edit (like maybe there's a way to name or group the elements).

 

[zloty_111]

Nice, very nice! I'm testing it right now.

Few notes:
1. Colors clutter the list too much, especially Hsv colors. But I think we can live with that. But not gonna lie, it would be cool to have these colors shown in the list somehow
2. It would be very nice to have more control over adjustments - not only a slider, but also a direct numerical value. Also it is possible to put the same adjustement multiple times (the newest one is in control). Again - nothing critical, just an observation.

3. Metro style hyperlanes are gorgeous, but there are a few edge cases, which result in some weird lines (I don't see them with "align to grid" setting though). After editing it in inkscape I've noticed a lot (all?) hyperlanes are duplicated - is that intended?

Also sometimes the lines unnecessarily cross each other :

4. Export to svg works well, I think I'm going to make a new map this weekend, just because I already have half of it done, thanks to you. It makes my "job" so much easier!
5. Your app runs super smooth, it imported savegame in like 30 seconds, and reprocessing is done in 1-5 seconds. Great job!
6. What about adding the possibility to add custom stroke to icons (circles, diamonds, triangles and what not)?

 

[MichaelMakesGames]

Colors clutter the list too much, especially Hsv colors. But I think we can live with that. But not gonna lie, it would be cool to have these colors shown in the list somehow

Yeah, it can be a bit unwieldy, especially if you have some sort of more colors mod with non-descriptively named colors. I do plan on replacing the barebones built-in "select" control with a custom one that can display the actual color. Likely for next version.

It would be very nice to have more control over adjustments - not only a slider, but also a direct numerical value

Yeah, I'll look into this. Putting this in my 1.0 list.

Also it is possible to put the same adjustement multiple times (the newest one is in control).

Ah, yeah, that could be refined. I kinda changed how adjustments work part way through developing them; originally, duplicate adjustments served a purpose.

Metro style hyperlanes are gorgeous, but there are a few edge cases, which result in some weird lines (I don't see them with "align to grid" setting though).

Glad you like them! I wasn't sure anyone would use them, haha. Mostly I added them for my own amusement. I intend for "metro-style" and "align to grid" to be used together, and probably won't fix the edge cases with non-aligned metro lanes. I made the settings separate because some people might want to "align to grid" but not enable "metro style".

After editing it in inkscape I've noticed a lot (all?) hyperlanes are duplicated - is that intended?

Maybe. If you enabled "Glow", that duplicates (the bottom layer is blurred and the top one is not). Metro-style often results in partially overlapping lanes, but an entire lane should not be duplicated. If all lanes are duplicated and you don't have glow enabled, then that is not intended; I'll look into it.

Your app runs super smooth, it imported savegame in like 30 seconds, and reprocessing is done in 1-5 seconds. Great job!

Thanks! I hope to make some significant improvements to load time, as I work towards my 1.0 goal of generating time-lapses. (Re)processing on the other hand will likely get longer and longer as I add more features

What about adding the possibility to add custom stroke to icons (circles, diamonds, triangles and what not)?

Yes! Icons will get some attention for next version (I'll also add gateway/wormhole/L-gate icons

Export to svg works well, I think I'm going to make a new map this weekend, just because I already have half of it done, thanks to you. It makes my "job" so much easier!

Thanks and good luck! I look forward to seeing it. No credit required, but I'd appreciate it if when you share your map, you spread the word about StellarMaps!

Thanks for all the feedback! This is really helpful. My development efforts are significantly influenced by how people are using / want to use app

 

[zloty_111]

It took me longer than I thought, mostly because I changed my mind few times, on what exactly I want to show, but parts imported from StellarMaps were there from the beginning and saved few hours of my time. Here's link to anyone interested: reddit post