SUPER annoying graphical glitch!

[Greizer85]

Ahem. Now that the pleasantries are concluded, I will let the screenshots speak for themselves:

http://imgur.com/a/dGpaD
(Dammit, how do you embed images on this forum? Just click it...)

Basically in these two areas on my newly made world map (Papua New Guinea and Australia), the mountain/hill graphics are being duplicated in hexes where they have no business of being. I viewed them with a Scout and they remain glitched while visible as well - highly annoying, since I aim for absolute accuracy when it comes to terrain forms!

You haven't heard the worst though: this glitch is actually spreading! At first there were just two extra mountains in Australia... Now all those other mountains have gradually appeared; each time I test the map in-game there's more mountains.

The cause of the issue eludes me (I'm not a tech-savvy person by any means, I just like making maps), but it could have something to do with the fact that Australia and New Guinea lie on the 'fault line' where the world wraps around itself (if that makes sense). I won't be able to move them because that would screw up their map locations... Hopefully another solution can be found. Any ideas? I didn't search for threads regarding this, but I don't recall ever seeing this glitch before. Hopefully it's not a new 'disease' introduced by BNW.

Regards,
Greizer

EDIT: They're not real mountains btw; I tested it and they can be walked on and farmed etc just fine... If you play only in Strategic View then there is no issue at all; but since most people prefer the regular graphics, I'd still like to solve this issue before I continue developing my map.

EDIT2: Whaddayaknow, I found this thread while googling for the problem: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=9838360#post9838360

Doesn't seem like there's a solution posted... If I'd have known this before I started making the map, I'd have made sure that there are no land tiles near the world wrap borders. As it is now you will just have to live with the extra mountains... Them 'spreading' is most likely a random occurrence due to the graphics being 'regenerated' each time you load the map for a new game, so at least it's unlikely that the whole world will be rendered a rocky mess!

EDIT3: Resolved it by adding 3 tiles to the edge of the map... Sure was fun replacing all those Atolls in the Pacific. I aim to keep the map size down so I hate having to do this... Imo it's a shame that this bug still exists since it seems it was already present in Vanilla.

 

[Bobert13]

This problem comes from replotting tiles on the map seam. Are you creating a static map with hand-placed resources and bonus tiles? If so, you should only be having this issue If you're replotting a mountain tile to hills/flat. The graphics .dll cannot remove heightmap and texture information from tiles within two from the seam for some reason. We as modders have no ability to alter it though.

 

[Greizer85]

This problem comes from replotting tiles on the map seam. Are you creating a static map with hand-placed resources and bonus tiles? If so, you should only be having this issue If you're replotting a mountain tile to hills/flat. The graphics .dll cannot remove heightmap and texture information from tiles within two from the seam for some reason. We as modders have no ability to alter it though.

So you're saying that if I had placed the nearby Hills/Flat terrain with a single click, the glitch wouldn't have manifested itself? I had no idea the WB 'remembered' your placements like this. Combined with the quantity of ocean in the usual seam area, this would also explain why the glitch is rarely encountered. Thank you for the info; it would be *very* helpful to have it stickied somewhere, seeing as the issue cannot be helped once it manifests itself.

Even though it's good to know this, I'm so po'd right now that I think I might just go outside and yell all day... To think that I could have had 3x59 useless sea tiles less on my map had I done things right the first time, and now can't is just..!

EDIT: A side-effect of this debacle is that due to the extra space the land form of Siberia got improved by 897% , so I guess there's some rays at the end of the Trans-Atlantic tunnel.

 

[Bobert13]

It would seem so (no pun intended). I don't have any experience with actually using the WorldBuilder to do hand-placed maps, but I do know these are the circumstances that cause "ghost tiles" during normal, in-game, map generation. It would appear that this issue carries over to the WB.

I've all-but-eliminated this issue in the PerfectWorld script by using some alterations that minimize the chances of this occurring. You may want to consider creating a screenshot of your map and then starting from a blank slate in the WB if you're not fully satisfied with your map in it's current state. As an alternative, you could make your map a script that outputs the same exact thing, though that would require far more work.

 

[Greizer85]

I've all-but-eliminated this issue in the PerfectWorld script by using some alterations that minimize the chances of this occurring. You may want to consider creating a screenshot of your map and then starting from a blank slate in the WB if you're not fully satisfied with your map in it's current state. As an alternative, you could make your map a script that outputs the same exact thing, though that would require far more work.

Thing is, I've already re-drawn parts of this map for many, many times; altogether I must've put 300-500 hours to it (more than I've actually played the game! ). The perfectionist in me wants to do what you suggest, but on the other hand I'd like to finally finish my map and let people play on it (myself included). The very idea of the map is to shrink down the oceans and inhospitable tundra-filled areas of the world, while retaining realistic land form, so in that sense it's a bit embarrassing if I let this snag remain there, adding 'empty' tiles to the map. But then Siberia looks so much better now and I got to add some more islands to the Pacific... Decisions, decisions.

I know nothing about making mods or scripts of any kind, so that's out of the picture. Though it would be nice to make my map into a Huge map for purposes of the science penalty (I want it at 3% rather than 5 or 4). It's no longer related to the subject of this thread, but do you happen to know how to accomplish this? Currently my map seems to be designated as a Large map, if the in-game setup screen is anything to go by.

 

[Bobert13]

How are civs getting placed? The number of potential starts may be the deciding factor for map size. I'm really not sure on this as I've never dealt with anything but the scripts.

 

[Greizer85]

I've only placed 'random civs' in the start locations so far. Although there are like 40 start locations, and I can pick any civ, it might be that only 10 get placed because I've not specified the civs. I will have to test this.

As I don't want to make my map into a mod, I will only have 22 civs on it at any one time. More than that I think is too unbalanced anyway (you will run out of Great Works in no time at all, and cannot build wonders reliably on even Emperor, let alone Deity or Immortal). So there will be 2 or 3 versions of the map to ensure that as many civs as possible get included. That's why I haven't placed the civs yet, but I will try and place some and report the results later today.

 

[Nutty]

Though it would be nice to make my map into a Huge map for purposes of the science penalty (I want it at 3% rather than 5 or 4). It's no longer related to the subject of this thread, but do you happen to know how to accomplish this?

I noticed a dropdown in the Misc tab in WorldBuilder to set the World size. It's "Automatic" by default. I didn't understand what it was for since it didn't seem to do anything, however I assume this is what you're looking for.

Or you could just resize the map.

 

[Greizer85]

I noticed a dropdown in the Misc tab in WorldBuilder to set the World size. It's "Automatic" by default. I didn't understand what it was for since it didn't seem to do anything, however I assume this is what you're looking for.

Thank you; I'd have never found this myself. I will test the effect in-game, but I think this is it. Can't think of what else it could affect.

For the record, setting the civs onto the map had no effect on the reported world size (it stayed at 'Large'). So it is indeed good that you posted this advice.

Or you could just resize the map.

Before making such jokes, you should consider the possible ill effects on the target's health. To think that I would resize my map and distort the carefully adjusted land forms in the process is tantamount to treason in my nation... Be glad you don't live there! Though I might grant you an amnesty based on your vital part in enlarging the planet.

On a more serious note, I hate how on the usual Huge world maps it takes forever to move your units (thus risking obsolescence on Standard speed), and how the game slows down to a crawl in the later eras. This is why my map is a mere 59x95 tiles in size... Or 59x98 after adding those few extra tiles to correct the appearance. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when I'll upload it... I'm at the point where all that remains to be added are the resources and city-states. It's proving quite tricky though, and I want to be as thorough as with the geography, so expect the map by Christmas at the earliest (what better present, eh?).