NES World/Regional Maps III

[Luckymoose]

What are you talking about?

The water color. It indeed gets old. In one of Nuclear Kid's NESes it kept getting darker blue every update until it was nearly black. For some reason.

 

[Oruc]

The water color. It indeed gets old. In one of Nuclear Kid's NESes it kept getting darker blue every update until it was nearly black. For some reason.

how is it old? Its different to most neses water colour.

 

[Dachs]

The water color. It indeed gets old. In one of Nuclear Kid's NESes it kept getting darker blue every update until it was nearly black. For some reason.

Probably the compression format. It did that for me during ToukonNES I back in the day.

 

[Luckymoose]

how is it old? Its different to most neses water colour.

Because it is the color the old primitive maps used. We have better colors now in the age of 2008.

 

[Oruc]

Because it is the color the old primitive maps used. We have better colors now in the age of 2008.

. .. .. .. . when did you guys become such conformists.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

. .. .. .. . when did you guys become such conformists.

No, we just don't like it when our eyes bleed.

 

[Dachs]

No, we just don't like it when our eyes bleed.

You know, in Advance Wars: Dual Strike, the water can be orange.

 

[Warman17]

Well some of whats on the map, including water color I suppose, is just a stand in until I can transfer the file into a MSPaint since I'm more skilled with that. I'm using GIMP right now so I can just draw over whats already on the WoW map. Yay Layers feature.

 

[Symphony D.]

No, we just don't like it when our eyes bleed.

What he said. Why bother simulating staring into a flare when you can actually go and do it?

 

[Warman17]

Heres the finished map with nation names so you can tell whats what. Theres about 90-100 of them btw.

large dots = cities
medium dots = towns
small dots = villages, military outposts, fortified areas
tiny dots = mines and a couple other type of strategic areas, but that aren't really populated

edit: looks like I forgot to name 3, can you blame me

Spoiler :

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Nice map there!

 

[flyingchicken]

Warman17, are all those official places?

Anyway, an attempt at a continent/tiny world that looks uncannily like NA+MA:

Spoiler Erebus geographic map :

Orange = mountains/main elevated areas/guidelines
Red = volcanic

Any comments/suggestions?

 

[Warman17]

Warman17, are all those official places?

Anyway, an attempt at a continent/tiny world that looks uncannily like NA+MA:

Spoiler Erebus geographic map :

Orange = mountains/main elevated areas/guidelines
Red = volcanic

Any comments/suggestions?

Not all of them. Hyjal for example doesnt have a map for it. A lot of areas of the world aren't even WoW at all (Gilneas, Kul Tiras, coastline of Winterspring) and some 'settlements' I added aren't really there. For example in Winterspring (northeast western continent where the winterfall are) I gave Darnassus a port to the sea and a road leading down to their settlement in the hinterlands of the region since it seemed odd for them having a settlement in the middle of no where like WoW with no real connection to any other part of their empire.

 

[Symphony D.]

So, since I bothered to figure it out, here's a quick and dirty guide to taking a Fractal Terrains map and converting it into a usable, scaled, pretty NES map while keeping the useful data that program gives.

I managed this using the FT Pro Demo, ArcGIS, and Photoshop 7.0, technically only the Demo and ArcGIS are absolutely required for this procedure, though I would strongly recommend an image program with layers (either PS or GIMP) if attempting it.

I don't expect anybody will, but it's going to be here for reference sake anyway.

1. Open Fractal Terrains.
2. Generate a map you like; use the help function if you have trouble, it's pretty good.
3. When you're happy with it, zoom in two to three times (more is better, but too much is wasted) and lock in on a specific area to start, ideally the upper-left corner.
4. Print screen right before it finishes rendering the base terrain and starts applying bump and normal mapping.
5. Paste the screen shot into MS Paint and save or cut it out and put it in a large working window in GIMP or Photoshop to begin assembly.
6. Cycle through each display type you want and repeat this process. It is highly recommended you do not move the view until you have gone through each display type. It is also highly recommended you only display the river overlay on a single display type.
7. Move the view and repeat. Repeat until the entire map is covered in each display type desired.
8. Assemble the segments using a program of your choice. GIMP or Photoshop are easiest.
9. If you used the built-in river generation, check them to make sure they're logical to your satisfaction. The program isn't perfect.
10. Save or export each assembled display as a 256 color .gif.
11. Navigate to ".../ArcGIS/Coordinate Systems/Geographic Coordinate Systems/World/" and copy "WGS 1984.prj."
12. Paste the file somewhere else that's easy to get to.
13. Open ArcCatalog.
14. Navigate to your newly copied "WGS 1984.prj," right-click it, and select Properties.
15. Name it what you want, change its Datum Name and Spheroid Name to Custom. Set your planet's Semimajor and Semiminor Axes (equatorial and polar radii) in meters. Set Inverse Flattening as X, where X is determined by "([Semimajor-Semiminor]/Semimajor)=1/X." Leave the rest as it is.
16. Click apply.
17. Navigate to your .gif files. Right click each and select properties. Scroll down and select "Edit" under "Spatial Reference."
18. Give each file the projection you just created.
19. Open ArcMap.
20. Add each .gif using the "Add Data" function.
21. Bring up the Georeferencing tool.
22. Make note of the Layer selected and click "Add Control Points."
23. Start at the top-left corner and get the farthest most edge of the pixel as best you can. You can place the end-marker of the control point wherever you want for now; it's the start-marker where accuracy is important.
24. Do the same with the bottom-right corner.
25. Bring up "View Link Table" and edit the end-markers to "X Map: -180, Y Map: 90" and "X Map: 180, Y-Map: -90" respectively. The .gif in question should shift. Save your selection somewhere where you can find it.
26. Right click "Georeferencing" and select "Rectify;" the edited .gif will be saved.
27. Select another layer.
28. Go to the Link Table and this time simply load the saved selection and click "OK," it should perform the same shift automatically. Rectify again.
29. Repeat for every display image you have.
30. Delete all the existing layers and load the Rectified copies. They should be in the same locations and have "Rectified" in their title.
31. Set the desired output scale.
32. Go to View > Data Frame Properties > New > Projected Coordinate System.
33. Under Projection Name, pick the end display projection you want, whatever it might be. Under "Geographic Coordinate System" click "Select" and find your altered copy of "WGS 1984.prj." Hit OK and then Apply.
34. Once your system has converted, move to the top-left corner, and use "Export Map" instead of screencapping, but otherwise proceed as previously, turning your layers on and off using Window > Table of Contents.
35. Repeat until you have a complete cross-section of all your display images.
36. Reassemble them as you see fit.
37. Clean up your rivers if they are pre-generated or add them now.
38. Copy them to a new layer and paste them onto the display that is missing them (likely Elevation or Climate, depending on which you initially put them on).
39. If you want to ensure the two coasts perfectly match (machine translation is not 100% reproducible under these circumstances) an ideal way to check it is to draw your rivers on your Climate map, in the same color as "Shallow Sea," and copy the entire color to the Elevation map; fill in aberrant pixels and then recolor the pasted material to the Elevation map's standards. This is not strictly necessary but is useful for neatness and professionalism.
40. Make a copy of the Climate map, if possible.
41. Floodfill all land to the land color of your choice, and the sea to the sea color of your choice. The map should end up duotone. This will be the base gameplay map, the others will be references.
42. Add whatever other effects you deem necessary. You're done!

 

[Abaddon]

Waow, lots of steps.

I personally go for:

1. Open MSpaint
2. Play with until satisfied

 

[Symphony D.]

Good for you.

 

[Abaddon]

Thanks, tho i am sure your method produced a much more viable map for our "elite" NESers to get involved with.

 

[erez87]

Thanks, tho i am sure your method produced a much more viable map for our "elite" NESers to get involved with.

Not necessarily...

 

[Symphony D.]

By the powers invested in me as NESer by my peers and historical precedent, I hereby invoke them and declare this thread to be terminated, request its permanent shutdown, and move to replace it.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Are you saying that if others act illogically, you should too? Because closing this one long before it even starts to be an issue of forum speed is quite unnecessary.