A Full Earth Map, With Areas "Resized" To Maximize Game Play

[Ozymandias]

I asked a, "Gee-I-haven't-done-this-in-awhile question along this line a while back," but I have what might be an interesting idea about making a new style of global map. I would keep the geography recognizable, while not having the number of Tiles in Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa dwarf those in either Europe or India - quite the contrary.

I'd like it to be as large as possible (isn't el mencey's 362 x 326?) without dragging the late game play to a crawl. So, in short - what's the largest size map, which won't have software written in 1999 dragging machines built in 2021 to a crawl?

Addendum - Shortly after beginning to develop this idea, @Blue Monkey has really picked up the proverbial ball and been sprinting with it. So, you need not worry about what I, the long-time, self-proclaimed, "Village Gfx Idiot," might have wound up attempting.

 

[Civinator]

Ozy, some time ago Quintillus worked out, that maps even bigger than 362 x 362 are possible. You can find it in his thread about a 420 x 312 earth map:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/earth-420-x-312-wip.652386/

The limit is 65,535 tiles and 362 x 362 is simply the largest number one can fit into a square Civ3 map and so that became the limit for the Firaxis editor.

When speaking about 'lag times' please take into consideration, that this - even on 'modern' pcs - strongly depends to the power of these 'modern pcs'.
It must also taken into account, that until today there exists no well working solution against the 512 city limit to cover these big maps - and on the other side even 512 cities can trigger "a hell of micromanagment" and trigger a 'lag time' caused by the human player when doing decisions in a turn.

Another factor of lag time (besides the trade net) is, if units will be built up massively during the game. I think in these cases the lag time should be measured by the last 100 turns of the game (and not the first turns).

For me, playing on a Win 10, 64 bit pc with an i7-6700K CPU (4 GHz, can be boosted up), 16 GB RAM, sizes of fixed maps of 180 x 180 up to 200 x 200 can be played best, considering all the facts above.

 

[Nanuk]

I was doing the same thing a while back. Trying to keep the map at max 200x200 (actually 222x222 or something like that, can't remember). Unfortunately, it got painfully difficult to follow the rules I set for myself on that map design. As follows;

1. Make Europe and the Middle East of sufficient size for the majority of the 31 civs that will be represented in the mod
2. Make the world map look as familiar to Earth as possible
3. Provide enough room for each civ to have at least 5-10 cities
4. Keep the map small enough to avoid as much end-game lag as possible

In my experience, I could not pull this off. There was always one or more parts of the map that looked... off. Something was squished, or warped, etc... I just could not be happy with any result. In the end, I ditched rule 4. I went with Yoda Power's 362x362 map, and wiped it down to base tile of grassland and coasts, and started modifying it heavily. There is still some warping of the map going on, but it looks much, much better than my attempts at 200 or smaller.

To make up for the loss of rule 4, I will eliminate as much resource trading as I can while still allowing Eurasia and Africa to be connected. Air trading is completely removed. Resources are permanent. This cuts down on the game recalculating things later on. I will also limit a lot of diplomacy options to reduce lag in-between turns. I reduced the amount of terrain types that can support cities down to only plains and grassland, and roads are also limited to these terrain types. To keep the land looking close to the real thing, some terrain types are in odd positions (some desert tiles in the arctic) but this makes some sense as volcanic terrain or barren terrain, it just looks odd graphically but the shape of the land looks better for it in the end. I also removed global warming degrading terrain to avoid any warping in-game.

 

[Civinator]

From the existing "large" Worldmaps in my eyes the 360 x 306 Worldmap with an enlarged Europe used in WW 2 Global and WW 2 Global Gold is the best one.

 

[Nanuk]

Unfortunately not available to download.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Ozy, some time ago Quintillus worked out, that maps even bigger than 362 x 362 are possible. You can find it in his thread about a 420 x 312 earth map:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/earth-420-x-312-wip.652386/

The limit is 65,535 tiles and 362 x 362 is simply the largest number one can fit into a square Civ3 map and so that became the limit for the Firaxis editor.

To add a footnote - in the help for Quintillus' Editor he specifies that the dimensions must both be even numbers of tiles. Very long & very skinny is possible. What's more relevant for our purposes is that making the biq rectangular may help with potential lag. Here's why:

To understand lag it's important to understand what is happening between player turns. The AI checks through every possible path when deciding how to move units. This entails checking the 8 tiles surrounding the unit, then checking all the tiles those connect to, then every tile all of those connect to ... Airports, teleportals, and other translocation improvements of their ilk add to the complications. The AI also checks for access to resources for each city. When there are a lot of intersections of roads & railroads the route search is multiplied - analogously to the unit movement search. Furthermore, it does this one civ at a time. It's like the old tale of doubling the number of pennies on each successive square of a chess board. Except that in this case there's not one penny at the start, but however many units & resources the AI needs to check for each civ in succession.

Water tiles especially cause a great deal of lag. Both because - generally speaking - naval units have no terrain restrictions, and the way the AI checks for access to resources via trading-port buildings. This is where constructing a rectangular map can help alleviate lag.

Fewer water tiles mean fewer paths & connections to check. Naval units' movement rates can be reduced to match, preserving the gameplay balance of travel time. So especially at the wrap-around map edges eliminating as many water tiles as possible will help with between turn lag. Cognitively we read the map left to right: the player perceives that the distance of the wrap-around is much longer than the number of tiles across the actual map geometry - thus avoiding visual distortion while it eases the lag.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Au contre, @Nanuk

 

[Nanuk]

Au contre, @Nanuk

Nice! Thank you.

 

[Civinator]

This is the original map, but I think it is not the map with the enlarged Europe in that map, done by Cellku.

I attache an older WW2 Global Gold biq with that map. It cannot be run without the other files of that scenario, but it should be sufficient to extract the map with the editor.

 

[Ozymandias]

Gentlemen, thank you one and all! - Here my (incomplete) illustrative thoughts:

Spoiler First, here's a standard world map: :

Spoiler Now, here's where 90% or so of where "Civ History" occurs, outlined in boxes: :

Spoiler This looks "kaleidoscopic" & is incomplete - Yet look at India & Australia - :

My thoughts are as follows:

• Change the map (game play) size of the important areas, to the lesser, to the least, on about a 4:2:1 ratio.
• Europe etc. achieves is a game/historical sized, as will India and Eastern Eurasia.
• Next down in scale would be, at perhaps a 4:3 scale as opposed to Europe, would be the Full Gulf Of Mexico, northern South America, and Eastern North America.
• Lowest "scale" (the " :1 bits) would be everywhere else.
  
• Land above the Arctic Circle will be eliminated, excepting:
  • Northern Scandinavia
  • Iceland
  • Either a reduced, properly scaled sis-a-vis North America, the southern part of Greenland
• Next lowest scale would be - everywhere else.
• Using Quintillus' editor:
  • Ocean tiles will abut almost all of the western coastlines of Europe and western Africa (etc.) with Sea and Coast tiles used to accurately reflect history.
  • Movement for Ocean tiles would be "4"
  • Liberal use of impassable tiles to again reflect history: impassable Desert and Jungle tiles
  • As "Plains" - as used/described in Civ don't really exist as Biomes, Plains will be repurposed to look like Grassland, yet have increased Movement Costs, and used where Appropriate.

I eagerly await feedback.

 

[timerover51]

Greetings Oz, I play on TETurkhan's Test of Time a lot, and that is 256 X 256. The only way I have found to limit the lag, especially in the latter part of the game, is limit the number of Civilizations to to 4 to 6 at the max. Even using Home City start only, the lag is noticeable at the start and gets worse. The added Barbarian, and all of my Dinos, add to the lag as well. Limiting where cities can be built helps some, but the AI still goes wild building cities wherever possible.

In my view, it is not so much the size of the map as the number of Civilizations on it. If you want to have all 31 Civilizations on the map, it is going to be slow.

 

[Civinator]

Ozy, this map project looks interesting.

How big in pixels would you estimate should be the box including Europe and Northern Africa ?

 

[Ozymandias]

Ozy, this map project looks interesting.

How big in pixels would you estimate should be the box including Europe and Northern Africa ?

You're asking the Resident Village Graphic Idiot about pixels??

- But, more seriously: The projection which el mencey used is (in general) terrible, and the one I've been C&P-ing around with for the past four hours or so ( ) isn't anywhere near optimal either. Nonetheless, on el mencey's 362 x 326 map, Europe, from N to S (tip of Scandinavia to African coastline) & from W to E (Ireland to about Moscow) is ~60 tiles each way, for about 3,600 in total. Yours Truly's, on the same size map, should work out to about 90 Tiles either way, for 8,100 tile in total - about 225% larger. - How does that work out for you, Old Comrade?

 

[Civinator]

Sorry Ozy, I used the wrong English word. I meant tiles and not pixels, but you understood my real request perfectly.
In my eyes the distances in Europe are the most important, as most of the C3C civs are located in that area.

90 tiles for the distance Ireland - Moscow in a worldmap is very good! The distance between these two spots in the WW2 Global Gold map with an enlarged Europe is 65 tiles and it nearly reaches that distance in the SOE map (that only covers this part of the world) with 104 tiles. So in your new world map a level of detail for the center of Europe would be possible, that is nearly the level of the SOE map in the screenshot below.

 

[Ozymandias]

Actually, it was a comment you had made, not along ago, that got my mind going. (With, possibly, some nearly forgotten disappointment from years ago. I'd wanted to make a "WW0 - 7 Years' War Global" mod, but 90% of the surface area of any of the "traditional" maps, then available, was worthless - and, once again, Europe would have been, far too small, in tiles.)

And, of course, no thought of the scale of SOE ever crossed my mined ...

 

[Blue Monkey]

TL : DR I can make a map for you with those changes and convert it to a test biq. It's takes a while but is just a simple process.

@Ozymandias - If you would like a roughed out biq (basic terrains - no forests) with the adjusted regional sizes I can do that for you by the following ...
1. DL both the original & the boxed.
2. Make a new version of the original - with the boxed image as a guide by layering regions & re-scaling. (if you're not sure what I mean the "village idiot" explanation is that I make copies of the parts of the original that cover the same region as your boxes but without the borders. I scale each one then shuffle them around like separate puzzle pieces) *
3. Smooth out the gaps where the pieces meet.*
4. Make a copy of that new version & "paint" it with the colors used by the Q-Editor **
5. Convert it to a biq.

* I've got a modicum of experience with this:

Tibet is squashed vertically, the Brahmaputra watershed is squashed vertically.

** I've done this often enough that I already have a palette guide set up. If you want a really detailed explanation of the workflow (using layers, painting terrain, etc.) check out what's quoted in the spoiler. I've quoted it as originally posted. The one difference to how I work on it now is the references to using the BMPtoBIC utility & the Firaxis Editor. Both of those are combined in the Q-Editor.

N.B. - the explanation may make a VI's head hurt, but just looking at the pictures may be enough.

Spoiler :

Hopefully this will explain my current way of making maps. Especially why certain questions are relevant at specific stages. The most important thing to understand about this way of working is that it is a process of gradual refinement. There are multiple passes to make the resulting map closer & closer to the ideal. Making a map from actual geography is the most painstaking because of prior expectations and the facility of detailed critique that is not present with a non-Earth map.

There are two types of layers. The “painted” layers - when assembled - make the game map. The reference layers are whatever source maps are relevant to the design. The two key layers are Plains which is the assembly base and Satellite which is the image used in initial discussions and is the standard that all other reference layers must match.


Order of the Layers
image: Layers In Map Working File

Spoiler :

The reference layers stay below the painted layers and are used as needed, for example relief references are used when painting the hills & mountain layers. The only exception is Palette. This stays on top for easy access to pick colors that match the Bmptobic requirements - although it’s frequently made invisible so the other layer s are easy to see.

Plains is used as the base for a couple of reasons. It is often used partially transparent. While painting on a third layer a reference layer can be viewed relative to the coastlines & overall game map. Grass could serve the same purpose, but the color makes the reference layers more difficult to read. Also, Grass is painted in part to guide placement of waterways & forests. If it were the base it could not be removed from view to compare those layers with the references.

Painted layers are ordered so that when the image is flattened details and relationships between various terrains are as nearly as possible ideal for use by the various mapmaking utilities. For example Mountains is painted as more precise details relative to the broader pattern of the hills. With that layer higher in the stack Hills will not obscure the more carefully placed mountains.

Forest including jungles and marshes are painted as smaller areas with reference to Grass. Bmptobic uses separate colors for the various vegetation types- there is enough contrast to normally allow them to share a layer. A second forest layer can be added above Plains & below Grass as needed for plains forest. Tundra can either be a separate layer or part of another depending on how extensive and how precise its boundaries need to be. As with mountains & hills the order of flora layers ensures proper extent & placement.


Mechanics of the Process
image: Converting An Image To A Map (BIQ)

Spoiler :

• Assemble the working file. Reference layers may need to be realigned / scaled/ distorted to match the key layers.
• Paint by layers. Flatten an image with just the painted layers.
• Convert to a bitmap with the proper index. Scale and add water borders as needed so that the image matches the requirements of Bmptobic.
• Convert to map by using Bmptobic.
• Open bic in Map Tweaker & crop unneeded area so map has desired dimensions.
• Open in Firaxis editor. The terrain will appear blocky & cut off. Change one tile & the coastlines and other terrain graphics return to normal.
• Edit terrain as needed.
• Repeat process until working at a level of detail where only the editor is needed.

A look at the second image reveals why a lot of refining is needed in the editor. The painted image gets reduced to a bitmap wherein one pixel equals one tile. The particular terrain graphics set can make a huge difference in how pleasing the map is. This is especially true for coastlines and with the shape of isolated features like islands.


Painting Process - The Creative Side

• Plains and a rough version of Water are created by picking color areas from Satellite. They are copied & pasted as separate new layers, then filled with the appropriate color. At this point images may be posted for brief discussion of map size, coastline, etc.
• Water is the top painted layer because it is where the coastlines & inland water bodies are done in detail. At each phase all other layers can be painted without having to worry about “coloring inside the lines”. When the image is flattened Water “crops” any sloppiness.
• Hills then Mountains are painted. A wip is posted somewhere within this stage. After discussion a second pass is made which will be key in determining how all the other layers are painted.
• Grass is painted. Any available climate & meteorological references now come into play. The rain-shadow effect has a lot to do with placement. Grass is also painted as a rough guide to rivers/floodplains and forested areas. Part of this grassland may later become other terrain types. Rain-shadows, rivers and general lines of elevated ranges also help define transitions between Desert & Plains.
• At this stage all painted areas are very approximate & many adjustments will need to be made in future stages. At the same time this is a good point to take a look at map coverage of the various terrains and the playability of key strategic areas. This is the first time that it is worth a critical look at the shape of coastlines. Before this point terrain variety was insufficient to compare what is needed versus what is present. A wip is posted for discussion about this layer of details.
• Forests, including other flora are added next. At the same time the other layers are adjusted and refined. Another wip is posted & discussed.
• More refinements and adjustments of the painted layers takes place. Terrains which are of very limited extent - such as marshes - are now added. This is probably the last stage at which anything is painted. Tile by tile refinement begins. The majority of work now takes place in the editor (no more painting & utilities). Rivers get placed. LM terrains are added. WIPs are posted as needed until the map is satisfactory.

It’s a lot more complex to explain than it is to do. The cumbersome work of painting tile by tile or in diamond shaped blocks that the Firaxis editor requires is avoided. This is especially tedious when laying out the coastline. References are directly underneath the painting layer, rather than needing to look back and forth. Changes to one type of terrain don’t accidentally affect another because they remain on separate layers. The map can be quickly resized until well into the process. These advantages mean that maps - even oddly shaped maps - can be created and refined in a relatively streamlined fashion. Saves a lot of time once you've got the routine down.

Also, making a map for you will be a lot simpler than the example used in the quoted explanation. There's only the satellite image to work with, not the several reference layers used in the example.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Apologies if anyone read that while I was editing it. took several passes to get the images & links adjusted.

 

[WildWeazel]

Ozy, some time ago Quintillus worked out, that maps even bigger than 362 x 362 are possible. You can find it in his thread about a 420 x 312 earth map:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/earth-420-x-312-wip.652386/

The limit is 65,535 tiles and 362 x 362 is simply the largest number one can fit into a square Civ3 map and so that became the limit for the Firaxis editor.

This is barely relevant but it reminded me that I'd always thought it would be neat to play on a "Ringworld" type map: very long and narrow*, with both X/Y wrap and starkly different terrain on each "side" (top & bottom halves). I was too lazy to make a playable one though.

*as in 362x30 or so, but now you're telling me it could be 1000x64??

 

[Blue Monkey]

This is barely relevant but it reminded me that I'd always thought it would be neat to play on a "Ringworld" type map: very long and narrow*, with both X/Y wrap and starkly different terrain on each "side" (top & bottom halves). I was too lazy to make a playable one though.

*as in 362x30 or so, but now you're telling me it could be 1000x64??

The biq I made (link in post #6 above) is based on John Varley's Titan series rather than Ringworld. It's vertical with North-South wrap to make it more starkly apparent how different it is. East-West wrap wouldn't make sense for it because in Titan - as on Ringworld & Iain Banks' various orbitals - the landscaping has some sort of impassable terrain bounding it.

I consider it a rough draft. Perhaps some day I'll make a more elongated & developed version with the help of Quintillus' Editor. Meanwhile anyone is welcome to use it, change it , ...

 

[Ozymandias]

I've called myself, "The Village Graphics Idiot" for 20 years - - because it's true.

My basic idea remains the same, including using and heavily modifying the map I began with in Post #10.

Briefly recapping:

• Change the ratios of and areas to reflect (global power) global history, without letting 90% go unused.
• My solution: to resize land areas accordingly: changing land area sizes, enlarging the "important" and (literally) shrinking the others. As mentioned above (and using el mencey's 362 x 326 map as a rough referent) Europe (N-S from the northern tip of Scandinavia to all of the North African coast; and W-E from Ireland to Moscow) my approach increased Europe's size 225%, from 60 x 60 tiles to 90 x 90.
• Major shrinking would occur, e.g., westernmost North America & all but the Caribbean coast of South America; Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa

The problem became having Europe, the eastern coast of Africa, India, and East Asia all "fit" together .(granted, I' assuming that we all share some sense as to how vast and "Civ 3 pointless" Central Eurasia is). So, cutting and pasting at every, every step, I realized that I could accomplish my goals by rotating all of East Asia 90 degrees, counterclockwise, using SE Asia as a hinge. (Consider: no major war has ever significantly traversed the eastern edge of the Himalayas as the ground quickly turns to Jungle.) This leaves Central Eurasia as a triangle: from for a Silk Road as well as a Trans-Siberian RR.

Major use of blocking (impassible) and near-worthless Plains Tiles (no Improvements of any sort, including Roads and Cities.) with a high MF (4?)

Similarly, use @Quintillus's editor to place Ocean Tiles directly against land for the entirety of the West African coast; etc.

Now, I' seriously hoping that this doean't drive anyone blind or mad (I had to stop after about 12 hours across 2 days, but I'm hoping you can pretend this is a sketch - or some such V.G.I (tm) effort:

Spoiler On the Road to Mandalay ... :

... ...