Spring RTS Engine

I have a rather interesting problem to show you all. Its been a while since i've released a new map, and I would like to present you all with the reason, and maybe, just maybe, you guys will be able to help me fix this problem.


Alright, first i'll show you what it's supposed to look like:
Minimap

Heightmap

(actual Heightmap size is 1537x1537 (24x24) )


And this, is what MapConv did... Scary O_o;;








Does anyone have any theories as to how this horror happened? I've tried a multitude of things over a three week period of trial and error. I'm fresh out of ideas, what do you guys think?

Forboding? IceXuick?

Anyone?

did you use the -i parameter? (or not?)

what format is your heightmap in? BMP 24-bit, or higher, or RAW ? i had those weird line problems with raw if i remember it right.

Try bmp 24 bit and don't forget the -i parameter (-l aswell)

here's my batch config, u'll notice i'm using JPG rather than BMP. I don't know if that would be an issue becuase all of my previous maps have used JPG as well.

mapconv -c 0.5 -n 300 -x -100 -o High_and_Low.smf -t HAL_Texturemap.jpg -m HAL_Metalmap.jpg -a HAL_Heightmap.jpg -f HAL_Featuremap.jpg -i

try bmp's

well maybe, althought you say it worked before.. But nevertheless, try bmp for once, maybe it strangly IS teh prob.

As i recommend to anyone, is that you use the 'correct' order of the parameters.

mapconv -f -i -l -c -x -n -o -e -y -m -a -t

Let me know if this works! This is how i do it, and it works. (you do have mothers mapconv, the latest you'll find.

if not, you can download it here:
http://icexuick.dagdief.nl/taspring/MothersMapconv.zip

trying bmps...

gimme 30min

29...

w00t, it works! but thats really weird tho, why would jpgs work in the previous maps, but not this one?

jpeg is ok for the texture but don't use it for anything else. Also if you don't use bmp for the heightmap eg raw it wont give an error if the sizes are wrong. Which is the other possibilty here, though the numbers you have quoted seem ok.

maybe since new release of spring?

My guess? Sheer random luck. This time, your JPEG had some compression artifacts that wound up being "meaningful" instead of just annoying.

lol waterfalls FTW :D

yeah! if only you could set multiple water-levels, or have REAL dynamic water, so boats and hovers actually can crash down these falls :D

A waterfall map could be very sweet :D

btw. fantastic map .. i hope it's balanced for top vs bottom

please turn it 90 degrees so it becomes left vs right :)

Well, at anyrate, IceXuick's suggestion worked, its compiled properly. And the clan and I did a few play tests, its definately not perfect, many of the kills and cliffs are difficult to cross, and my low water crossings don't exactly work either. Plus, some of my geo's on the north end stopped working, so i've still got a lot of work on my hands.

for geo fixing, try to change the location of the green pixel(s) in the featuremap a little bit. This often works. And if the featuremap is in jpg, you could also try bmp for that one as well :D.

If you have trouble with the height, the simplest way is compiling it again with a lower height difference..., that might help more units to get to more places..

EGADS!

USE SMFED FFS!!!

ok off of that... Quanto, go to fileuniverse and download mapconv (the latest you will find) It's also linked in my tutorial.

That archive includes SMFED and a few other useful tools. No need to recompile for height changes... That's crazy talk. BTW your texture looks great IMO!

In fact, your heightmap inspired me. Those cracks look quite realistic.

For future referance:
Surface Texture: jpg, bmp, and possibly png
Height: bmp or raw(8bit or 16bit-makes higher detail terrain)
Metal: bmp
Feature: bmp
Type:bmp
Tile:........ Bmp, would have to try other formatssuch as jpg and png

Otherwise looking good.

That happens when using a jpeg (heightmap) that has been saved in grayscale. (Atleast this is what I remember causing it for myself, I'm too lazy to test )