Hi all,
Recently Shreck has been working on the KAW project and I stopped in there to see what I could do.

He requested I develop some kind of height model editor, for the EAW16.hm

Now I do know about the info for EAW16.hm file layout itself, (i.e. 2 bytes for all tiles)
but to go about making a simple editor more info is required,

I want to make a program to edit , possibly by copying pieces of existing EAW16.hm files.

Of course I am wondering if anyone has made one already? (Gurney, Jelly,etc.?)

Then when placing to make a simple equalization of the bytes for the heights that transition between hills and flat lands, so to make the addition fit into the new file.

So what I am asking is what do you think the minimun area for say a "rolling hill" , "hills" , "mountains" etc should be, etc. or any assistance you can provide.

I can not spare a lot of time to build a full .hm editor - I am as suggested going to only make one that can supply this type of "patching" method.

((p.s. Yes i have "Prunes Notes" but am not willing to use his methods as it is too complex and not my forte' ))

Thanks!

-S!

You need to edit a .HM in photoshop or paintshop pro the best HM editors ever. The file is a greyscale 16 bit .RAW picture (no header/no channelling/non interleaved). After loading it, you set your paintprogram to 8 bit, edit the picture with black and whites and everything in between. Then set your paintprogram to 16 bits again and save the picture as .RAW (IBM/not interleaved) and rename the file to EAW.TM. If your editor can't use plugins in greysacale set it to 8 bits RGB and after you're done to 16 bits again and then to greyscale.

VonBeerhofen

O.K. ,
Thanks!
This seems an easier desciption than Prune's notes..

What I will do then is probaly make an option for the editor to do something like this:
(since the map / EAW16.hm file is huge and don't necessarily need to edit the whole map - just apply patches as I discussed)

Make a smaller sized file for the area to be edited, and the then take the results as you outlined and apply them to the EAW16.hm

..Still some ideas of how big "patch" areas to set it for - I can probaly can easily do small, medium, large setting - but still need to decide the sizes?

-S!

Well,some further info....
here is a view of an HM VonBeerhofen was kind enough to "whip-up" for me for another scenario....


Now,you'll notice a darker "transition area" between the mountains(this is very mountainous terrain in game)and the coastline...this could actually stand to be wider as there are spots where the sea-land heigth increases to where the sea is drawn up above sea level....
so,I am thinking there would be an X pixel minimum of 2 in all areas,2 being the minimum to guarantee coastline at sea level when abutting hilly terrain....
I hope that makes sense,and is along the lines of what you're looking for!
Thanks for your efforts!
S!....Shreck

rgr that, Shreck

Now a quick question:
I must admit ignorance of the Korea peninsula terrain.

I was thinking it is mostly low level, with a few mountains more in the north, is that correct?

-S!

heavens no
Roy,the info is copyrighted stuff,so I'll just zip this up and gmail it to you...
in a nutshell everything from tropical like sandy beaches,to some of the harshest terrain on the planet...and a serious bit of mountain range too.....hence why it gets the full treatment...heavily modified/new terrain,etc...its like a different world
mail on the way!
Shreck

Ah,
Now I see a map on the internet of it..
Very mountainous!!

-S!

Hi guys,

if you want it less mountainess, apply a bit of blurr and the tops will be rounded off. Apply less contrast and the terrain flattens. Apply some darkness and the terrain will sink. That's all there is to it. Want larger beaches, cutout the seapart, apply a blurr, convert to PCX and add the blurred part to the sea, then overlay it as black with a bit of noise over the HM I send Shreck and you have the coastline you want. You can also fill in some more black for lower parts, blurr it and overlay it ontop of the picture. This will tone down these blurred black parts to very low hills. Use templates to make smooth transitions between flatland and mountainous terrains and mix both layers. Use white spraycan to paint a few heavy peaks, blurr it a bit to make tops less sharp, add a bit of noise to make it more irregular. I hope you guys understand that it only took me 5 minutes to spraycan this .HM, took about an hour to make it look nice and fit Shreck's map.

VBH

Hey Mighty Wizard Dont take my interpretation of what you yourself said was a "quick fantasy fill in".........as a negative in any way....
are you kidding?
I go for my "relaxation flights" there
its really quite something with your tropical flora in it too
I just need to paint in some more appropriate beaches
residents of the state of Florida would be mighty distressed at their new found mountainous topography....but then again,maybe it would spare them a little hurricane destruction
Shreck

No offense taken Shreck,

I just wanna show you that there is no need for an editor as a good paintprogram can do whatever you like to the terrain, even move parts aside or up or down or fit it to another map. All you can do in a PCX you can do to the HM or parts of it.
Creating an editor seems a huge waste of time. It's kid's stuff in photoshop. Try to get a true topograpic map and fit it to your islands, now that's a bit more work but hey if you want realism then that's the way to go. I might even have this part somewhere if you want it.

VBH