Lord_Azazel
Prime Swatter
Gr3yHound said:
omg!
hehe i took a screenie of a forum with 1337 threads..
anyway GJ Junuxxx.com
The Atlas Project
- Thread starter Junuxx
- Start date
hehe i took a screenie of a forum with 1337 threads..
anyway GJ Junuxxx.com
Junuxx, Hope you've had sometime to relax this weekend. Well I have done some reviewing of the .25 version. Which I must say I like to see several of the new features coming in. It's amazing the power of this tool.
1) What control are we going to have on the mountain placement. The maps I have produced seam to spread the hills out pretty evenly(meaning only several hills group together and then this covers the entire land). Will the mountain shape have a group option and a evenly option?
2) I started to appreciate the idea about the hide preview option.
3) The start near coast waters is a great idea. Is there a way to randomize the start location without having to re-randomize the terrain. Currently that is the only way I found to do it(Meaning you can't just restart the same saved map to have a new location(Civ4 feature
). Also with the coastal waters turned on the start location appears to be only around the poles. With Coastal waters turned off this doesn't seam to be a problem. With coastal waters turned on I haven't been able to produce one yet that started off, off of the icecap\tundra area, around 10 tries and several different map types.
4) Is it possible to maybe put a white dot on the map that would symbolize the start location, and then a way to regenerate that location?
5) As the complexity continues to increase on the map view, a possible alteration to the view might be desired. Kinda along the lines of the map preview idea. Like turn the view of things off or on. Like Trees, desert, hills, so on and so forth. Maybe a tab might be in order with a bunch of check box's that would represent each color (terrain\resource\start location).
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but I wanted to leave a good message and not a two liner.
Additional note: I found an interesting piece in the file Planet.Civ4WorldBuilderSave
SyncRandSeed=20781619
Civ4 config ini says this about the above
; Random seed for map generation, or '0' for default
MapRandSeed = 0
; Random seed for game sync, or '0' for default
SyncRandSeed = 0
I wounder what it means by Sync. Sync with what?
Tbear2520
1) What control are we going to have on the mountain placement. The maps I have produced seam to spread the hills out pretty evenly(meaning only several hills group together and then this covers the entire land). Will the mountain shape have a group option and a evenly option?
2) I started to appreciate the idea about the hide preview option.
3) The start near coast waters is a great idea. Is there a way to randomize the start location without having to re-randomize the terrain. Currently that is the only way I found to do it(Meaning you can't just restart the same saved map to have a new location(Civ4 feature
). Also with the coastal waters turned on the start location appears to be only around the poles. With Coastal waters turned off this doesn't seam to be a problem. With coastal waters turned on I haven't been able to produce one yet that started off, off of the icecap\tundra area, around 10 tries and several different map types.4) Is it possible to maybe put a white dot on the map that would symbolize the start location, and then a way to regenerate that location?
5) As the complexity continues to increase on the map view, a possible alteration to the view might be desired. Kinda along the lines of the map preview idea. Like turn the view of things off or on. Like Trees, desert, hills, so on and so forth. Maybe a tab might be in order with a bunch of check box's that would represent each color (terrain\resource\start location).
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but I wanted to leave a good message and not a two liner.
Additional note: I found an interesting piece in the file Planet.Civ4WorldBuilderSave
SyncRandSeed=20781619
Civ4 config ini says this about the above
; Random seed for map generation, or '0' for default
MapRandSeed = 0
; Random seed for game sync, or '0' for default
SyncRandSeed = 0
I wounder what it means by Sync. Sync with what?
Tbear2520
Junuxx
Emperor
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2005
- Messages
- 1,154
Hey all!
I did relax a bit this weekend, but I'm going to work hard on a releasable next version tonight
Thanks tbear for your very useful comments.
some responses:
1. The hill (and mountain) placement part is pretty primitive, nearly random. I'll improve on it when some other important functions are in place.
2. Good to hear that It wasn't a difficult change but it did force me to reorganize the program in a much more memory-friendly way, which was a good thing too.
3&4. I'm sorry to report than in version 0.25, starting locations are in no way saved in the WBS file. Any starting locs you got on the maps were chosen by the game. I realize I should've greyed out the control. The current version represents them by a red dot, and "Generate Misc" regenerates starting locations and resources only. Does that sound okay or is a seperate resource/starting location generation a lot more desireable?
5. Definitely a good idea. Put it on the list
I think Game sync is the random seed used in combat and so on. The one affected in Civ3 with the "preserve random seed" toggle.
@GreyHound: awesome screenshot
I did relax a bit this weekend, but I'm going to work hard on a releasable next version tonight
Thanks tbear for your very useful comments.
some responses:
1. The hill (and mountain) placement part is pretty primitive, nearly random. I'll improve on it when some other important functions are in place.
2. Good to hear that
It wasn't a difficult change but it did force me to reorganize the program in a much more memory-friendly way, which was a good thing too.3&4. I'm sorry to report than in version 0.25, starting locations are in no way saved in the WBS file. Any starting locs you got on the maps were chosen by the game. I realize I should've greyed out the control. The current version represents them by a red dot, and "Generate Misc" regenerates starting locations and resources only. Does that sound okay or is a seperate resource/starting location generation a lot more desireable?
5. Definitely a good idea. Put it on the list
I think Game sync is the random seed used in combat and so on. The one affected in Civ3 with the "preserve random seed" toggle.
@GreyHound: awesome screenshot
Junuxx said:
If the seperation is to much then thats fine. But with the seperation of resources and starting locations it would give a greater degree of control
But I think the question is the code. If the start location is presented souly on the resource location then this might be easier to just enterlock the two.
Tbear2520
Junuxx
Emperor
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2005
- Messages
- 1,154
Uploading the newest version in a few minutes!
I must say it's a BIG update.
What's new in version 0.30:
- Mountains
- Starting Locations added, with adjustable number of locations and minimum distance
- User control over tundra size, mountain amount, hill/mountain amount
- Presets split up in size and style
- Added an easter egg! Go find it!
I'm now at 2133 lines of code in total, and doubting what to do: start adding resources or play a game of civ 4 for a change? Hm...
I must say it's a BIG update.
What's new in version 0.30:
- Mountains
- Starting Locations added, with adjustable number of locations and minimum distance
- User control over tundra size, mountain amount, hill/mountain amount
- Presets split up in size and style
- Added an easter egg! Go find it!
I'm now at 2133 lines of code in total, and doubting what to do: start adding resources or play a game of civ 4 for a change? Hm...
Visceral Monkey
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2005
- Messages
- 25
Been away on Holiday and just tried out the newest version.
Awesome!
I was thinking while away for Turkey day and thought up a few new features some people might or might not want to see when you get the other basics down:
Planetary Anomalies: I know there are some people who want a civ game to always play the same, that is they want to memorize a strategy and stick with it. However, as we all know, geography and random chance plays a huge role in how empires rise and fall. As for random chance, there isnt much we can go with that on a map generator. Geography though is a different beast. I'd love to see a feature that can add different map anomalies if the user requests them.
For instance:
Mountains and mountain ranges in oceans. Nothing usable, but lone or multiple peaks poking out in the vast oceans.
Impact craters: Large circular craters on land where in the recent past there might have been an asteroid or comet impact. You could set the severity and number of said impacts.
Random terrain in weird places: I know they were working on a fantasy map type that did this, but I'm thinking something on a smaller scale. Say a forest that shows up in the middle of the desert, or an ice flow in the middle of the ocean, etc. Or in a related version, the entire map is done in shallow water except for huge areas of deep water, were there may or may not be hidden lands.
The whole idea is to add mystery and chance into the map generation process. Of course, some people would never like this, so it could be an option.
Something else to think about adding: The ability to save your map settings as named pre-sets so you could just select them in the preset list. I suppose you could do that now by just loading a saved map you liked and generating a new map off those settings, but you get the idea. People could also trade pre-sets for the really good ones..
Awesome!
I was thinking while away for Turkey day and thought up a few new features some people might or might not want to see when you get the other basics down:
Planetary Anomalies: I know there are some people who want a civ game to always play the same, that is they want to memorize a strategy and stick with it. However, as we all know, geography and random chance plays a huge role in how empires rise and fall. As for random chance, there isnt much we can go with that on a map generator. Geography though is a different beast. I'd love to see a feature that can add different map anomalies if the user requests them.
For instance:
Mountains and mountain ranges in oceans. Nothing usable, but lone or multiple peaks poking out in the vast oceans.
Impact craters: Large circular craters on land where in the recent past there might have been an asteroid or comet impact. You could set the severity and number of said impacts.
Random terrain in weird places: I know they were working on a fantasy map type that did this, but I'm thinking something on a smaller scale. Say a forest that shows up in the middle of the desert, or an ice flow in the middle of the ocean, etc. Or in a related version, the entire map is done in shallow water except for huge areas of deep water, were there may or may not be hidden lands.
The whole idea is to add mystery and chance into the map generation process. Of course, some people would never like this, so it could be an option.
Something else to think about adding: The ability to save your map settings as named pre-sets so you could just select them in the preset list. I suppose you could do that now by just loading a saved map you liked and generating a new map off those settings, but you get the idea. People could also trade pre-sets for the really good ones..
Ad Hominem
Warlord
Junuxx said:
I would be willing to sacrifice a decent number of black goats in favor of the adding resources option.
I am not going to sacrifice my firstborn though
There thats what I usually see. I've tried some other java apps and they seem to work fine. I'm on my labtop, its a p4 3200, 1GB ram, ATI x600, Win XP SP2.. so yeah no idea why this is not working for me. Is there somewhere i can tweak java settings?
Anyways the problem continues say if i were to minimize or put another window over this one. than go back I would see nothing. Kinda sucks cause i really like what im hearing about this tool and want to make some maps
MerakSpielman
Warlord
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2005
- Messages
- 217
The only realism issues I can see from the (few) screenshots in this thread is that the contenents tend to be all of similar shapes - slightly off-circle, but generally round sploches. That is to say, it looks like it was "grown" from sprinkled seeds, rather than developed over eons by plate tectonics and erosion.
But still, very good work!
But still, very good work!
Junuxx
Emperor
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2005
- Messages
- 1,154
@Visceral Monkey:
Thanks for the ideas. I had thought about impact craters, but not all of these features. It's a good idea, but resources have top priority now.
@MadHaTr:
Thanks a lot for the feedback. I haven't seen this problem before. Can you tell me which Java version you have installed? You can check this in the Control Panel or by opening a Command Prompt and typing 'java version'.
It should be version 1.5.0.
I can't think of any other possible reasons at the moment, hope this works
@Merak Spielman:
Yes, I know, the continent shape are terrible and blobby. There's a to do list in the first post, and 'improving continent shapes' is already on it. And yep. they are indeed grown from sprinkled seeds at the moment
Thanks
Anyway, I'm now working on a website for the project, with some more documentation and screenshots.
Thanks for the ideas. I had thought about impact craters, but not all of these features. It's a good idea, but resources have top priority now.
@MadHaTr:
Thanks a lot for the feedback. I haven't seen this problem before. Can you tell me which Java version you have installed? You can check this in the Control Panel or by opening a Command Prompt and typing 'java version'.
It should be version 1.5.0.
I can't think of any other possible reasons at the moment, hope this works
@Merak Spielman:
Yes, I know, the continent shape are terrible and blobby. There's a to do list in the first post, and 'improving continent shapes' is already on it. And yep. they are indeed grown from sprinkled seeds at the moment
Thanks
Anyway, I'm now working on a website for the project, with some more documentation and screenshots.
Junuxx
Emperor
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2005
- Messages
- 1,154
I might have to choose another name for my project. "The Atlas Project" already exists as a group of stock market analists, it seems: www.atlasproject.com
VimesUK
King
MerakSpielman
Warlord
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2005
- Messages
- 217
Somebody else has a random map... Fallblau. And it seems pretty good. Perhaps you two should combine efforts?Junuxx said:@Merak Spielman:
Yes, I know, the continent shape are terrible and blobby. There's a to do list in the first post, and 'improving continent shapes' is already on it. And yep. they are indeed grown from sprinkled seeds at the moment
Thanks
Check out some of his randomly generated maps in this post. from this thread.
I'd suggest you two join forces, doubtless you have both thought of things the other hasn't, and it's not like the mod community is in competition with each other...
Junuxx
Emperor
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Well... I have seen what Fallblau is doing, and while it's good work, it's quite different from what I am doing. Fallblau created a python script that essentially gives some different input to the map generator the devs have written. I am making an completely independent map generator. So we're not really doing double work, and only slightly in competition.
Anyway, I made a website for the project. It's not quite finished but I'd like to show it to you anyway. Please take a look here
Anyway, I made a website for the project. It's not quite finished but I'd like to show it to you anyway. Please take a look here
ok well i can't open the window from control panel... and in cmd i get an error..
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>java version
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: version
i uninstalled and reinstalled and still have the same errors.. so its a good possibility that my java is the problem.. no idea what to do. so... while i can still generate maps... i have to actually play em before i get to see em. and i can't use either of your 2 other menus.. i'll have to look on the java site sometime to try and come up with a solution.
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>java version
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: version
i uninstalled and reinstalled and still have the same errors.. so its a good possibility that my java is the problem.. no idea what to do. so... while i can still generate maps... i have to actually play em before i get to see em. and i can't use either of your 2 other menus.. i'll have to look on the java site sometime to try and come up with a solution.
Son of Moose
Warlord
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
- Messages
- 157
Junuxx
Please forgive me if this request has already been raised.
Would it be possible for you to permit Atlas to create an all terrain map (such as "Great Plains") or at least to allow for a bigger single continent.
As you can guess, I don't really like having too much water in my maps.
Please forgive me if this request has already been raised.
Would it be possible for you to permit Atlas to create an all terrain map (such as "Great Plains") or at least to allow for a bigger single continent.
As you can guess, I don't really like having too much water in my maps.
