Empires Terrain - Revision history

Andrewg at 20:56, 8 July 2019

2019-07-08T20:56:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:56, 8 July 2019
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	= ~~AEP~~ Map and Terrain =		= Empires Map and Terrain =

	== Creating a Scenario ==		== Creating a Scenario ==

Andrewg: Andrewg moved page AEP Terrain to Empires Terrain

2019-07-08T20:55:23Z

Andrewg moved page AEP Terrain to Empires Terrain

← Older revision	Revision as of 20:55, 8 July 2019
(No difference)

Andrewg at 20:55, 8 July 2019

2019-07-08T20:55:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:55, 8 July 2019
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	= AEP Map and Terrain =		= AEP Map and Terrain =
	~~The AEP map is a specialized instance of a [[MapDisplayUIControl]] used to display the map for a scenario.~~

	== Creating a Scenario ==		== Creating a Scenario ==
	To create a new scenario, click Editor from ~~that main menu~~ and then the + (Create a brand new campaign) button from the scenario selection screen. Enter the scenario folder name and display name for the scenario.		To create a new scenario, click Editor from Options Screen and then the quill (Create a brand new campaign) button from the scenario selection screen. Enter the scenario folder name and display name for the scenario.

	To use an existing map for this scenario, click Use map: <New Map> and choose a [[#BAM\|BAM]] file.		To use an existing map for this scenario, click Use map: <New Map> and choose a [[#BAM\|BAM]] file.
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	* Logical Map Width - this is how large the map will appear to be in game, it is independent of the resolution of the map textures		* Logical Map Width - this is how large the map will appear to be in game, it is independent of the resolution of the map textures
	* Logical Map Height - may be set smaller than the width to create a non-square map, the upper portion of the map textures will be used		* Logical Map Height - may be set smaller than the width to create a non-square map, the upper portion of the map textures will be used
	* Import Borders from SVG (Advanced) - optionally specify an SVG file that contains border polygons to create initial borders. Note: SVG importing ONLY supports a list of polygons indicating a list of bordered regions. There are many other ways a map could be constructed and saved in ~~a valid~~ SVG that will not be imported, if you are planning to use SVG importing, be sure that your software and approach results in this particular format.		* Import Borders from SVG (Advanced) - optionally specify an SVG file that contains border polygons to create initial borders. Note: SVG importing ONLY supports a list of polygons indicating a list of bordered regions. There are many other ways a map could be constructed and saved in an SVG that will not be imported, if you are planning to use SVG importing, be sure that your software and approach results in this particular format.

	If you have not imported borders, or wish to edit borders, choose Border mode from the upper left palette in the editor and follow the directions below the palette.		If you have not imported borders, or wish to edit borders, choose Border mode from the upper left palette in the editor and follow the directions below the palette.
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	Before a map can be played, you will also need to associate the bordered regions with entries in an existing Regions.CSV file located in the Data folder in either the current scenario folder or the game folder. Switch to the Region mode from the palette. When you select a region, the Region Properties panel will be displayed. To associate the region to a row in the table, select the row by name from the Template list. You may also need to add or remove connections between regions to allow movement on the map (importing an SVG automatically creates connections between regions which share two or more consecutive border points). This is also edited in the Region mode under Connections in the Region Properties panel. The anchor points within a region can also be edited, the meanings of the anchors are specified by script and can be used to indicate city location, army locations, etc.		Before a map can be played, you will also need to associate the bordered regions with entries in an existing Regions.CSV file located in the Data folder in either the current scenario folder or the game folder. Switch to the Region mode from the palette. When you select a region, the Region Properties panel will be displayed. To associate the region to a row in the table, select the row by name from the Template list. You may also need to add or remove connections between regions to allow movement on the map (importing an SVG automatically creates connections between regions which share two or more consecutive border points). This is also edited in the Region mode under Connections in the Region Properties panel. The anchor points within a region can also be edited, the meanings of the anchors are specified by script and can be used to indicate city location, army locations, etc.

	The Unit ~~Placement~~ and Scenario Properties modes of the editor are read-only modes displaying properties set by other CSV or script files.		The Unit mode and Scenario Properties modes of the editor are read-only modes displaying properties set by other CSV or script files.

	== Files ==		== Files ==
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	=== Map Image ===		=== Map Image ===
	The map image is the base texture for the map and may be in any supported image format. The RGB channels of this texture determine the ~~colour~~ of the terrain (land and water). If the [[#Detail_Map\|terrain detail shader]] is used, the alpha channel is used to indicate which regions of the map are treated as land and which are treated as water. Alpha 0 is water, alpha max is land. If a smoother transition is required, providing intermediate alpha values will fade out water or terrain detail effects.		The map image is the base texture for the map and may be in any supported image format. The RGB channels of this texture determine the color of the terrain (land and water). If the [[#Detail_Map\|terrain detail shader]] is used, the alpha channel is used to indicate which regions of the map are treated as land and which are treated as water. Alpha 0 is water, alpha max is land. If a smoother transition is required, providing intermediate alpha values will fade out water or terrain detail effects.

	=== Height Map Image ===		=== Height Map Image ===
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	=== Normal Map ===		=== Normal Map ===
	Optional. Normal map applied over the entire map. The filename is based on the map image filename <map_image>_N.ext. It may be in any supported image format.		Optional. Normal map applied over the entire map. The filename is based on the map image filename <map_image>_N.ext. It may be in any supported image format.

	~~=== Specular Map ===~~
	~~Currently unused. Glossiness of an entire map can be adjusted with the TERRAINSHINE entry in CAMPAIGNVIEW.TXT (0 to 1, default 0.06).~~

	=== Detail Map ===		=== Detail Map ===
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	=== Alternate Weather Image ===		=== Alternate Weather Image ===
	Optional. An alternate weather texture substituted for the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] based on gameplay values. The filename is based on the map image filename <map_image>_Weather.ext.		Optional. An alternate weather texture substituted for the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] based on gameplay values. The filename is based on the map image filename <map_image>_Weather.ext.

			=== CAMPAIGNVIEW.TXT ===
			This file is located one level higher, in the shared or scenario Data folder. Refer to Data/CAMPAIGNVIEW.TXT in the game installation for reference. It allows several cosmetic changes to how the map is presented:
			* ZOOM: default camera zoom distance
			* ZOOMINLIMIT: closest camera zoom distance
			* ZOOMLIMIT: farthest camera zoom distance
			* CAMERAPITCH: camera pitch at the default zoom distance
			* CAMERAPITCHMIN: camera pitch at the closest zoom distance
			* CAMERAPITCHMAX: camera pitch at the farthest zoom distance, overrides CAMERAOVERHEAD
			* CAMERAOVERHEAD: zoom distance to set the camera to be looking straight down, if CAMERAPITCHMAX is NOT specified
			* FARPLANE: max draw distance
			* CLEARCOLOUR: clear color in hex behind the map
			* TERRAINSHADOW: non-0 to enable shadows cast by the terrain (useful if the Map Image doesn't contain prebaked shadows)
			* TERRAINSHINE: glossiness of the map (0 to 1)
			* OVERLAYWEIGHT: the strength of the map overlays (0 to 1)
			* BANNERSCALE: the scale of the army banners on the map
			* BANNEROFFSET: the distance (x and y) of the army banners from the army model
			* BARRERSTEP: the distance (x and y) between banners at the same anchor point
			* WORLDLIGHT: controls an ambient light (AMBIENT) and directional light (DIRECTION and COLOUR) for the map
			* CLOUD#: controls a layer of cloud shown over the map
			** COUNT: the number of clouds
			** MIN_HEIGHT: the bottom of the cloud layer
			** MAX_HEIGHT: the top of the cloud layer
			** SIZE: average size of each cloud
			** SPEED: average rotation speed of each cloud
			** VARIATION: amount of variation between clouds (0 to 1)
			** UNIFORM: if 0, the clouds are more dense near the edges of the map
			** TEXTURE: the texture containing the cloud images
			** ATLAS_SIZE: the number of images in TEXTURE to select from, vertically and horizontally (ie 2 means TEXTURE is a 2 x 2 atlas)
			* DECORATION#: specifies the name file (FILE), size (SIZE), position (ANCHOR), and spin speed and direction (SPIN) of the 'decorations' shown on the map using SetRegionDecoration (ex objective markers)
			* ROADS
			** ANCHOR: which anchor point within the regions the road network goes through
			** SIZE: the width of the roads in the road network overlay
			** REQUIRED_TRANSPORT: the minimum TRANSPORT level in a pair of connected regions required to draw a road in the network overlay
			* CITIES
			** ANCHOR: which anchor point within the regions the city is drawn at
			** SIZE: the scale for the city models

	== Slicing ==		== Slicing ==
	To support very high resolution textures, the Map Image, Normal Map, Specular Map, and Height Map Images may be sliced into multiple tiles. The naming of these files is based on the untiled filename. The top-left corner has the same name as the untiled filename, the remaining files have the x and y coordinates appended with _x_y. For example, if the BAM specifies a map image texture of "map.dds", the 2x2 tiled versions are:		Experimental. To support very high resolution textures, the Map Image, Normal Map, Specular Map, and Height Map Images may be sliced into multiple tiles. The naming of these files is based on the untiled filename. The top-left corner has the same name as the untiled filename, the remaining files have the x and y coordinates appended with _x_y. For example, if the BAM specifies a map image texture of "map.dds", the 2x2 tiled versions are:
	* map.dds: top left (0,0)		* map.dds: top left (0,0)
	* map_0_1.dds: lower left (0,1)		* map_0_1.dds: lower left (0,1)

Andrewg at 17:18, 15 September 2017

2017-09-15T17:18:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:18, 15 September 2017
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	=== Specular Map ===		=== Specular Map ===
	~~No longer used~~. Glossiness of an entire map can be adjusted with the TERRAINSHINE entry in CAMPAIGNVIEW.TXT (0 to 1, default 0.06).		Currently unused. Glossiness of an entire map can be adjusted with the TERRAINSHINE entry in CAMPAIGNVIEW.TXT (0 to 1, default 0.06).

	=== Detail Map ===		=== Detail Map ===

Andrewg at 17:17, 15 September 2017

2017-09-15T17:17:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:17, 15 September 2017
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	=== Specular Map ===		=== Specular Map ===
	~~Optional, requires a normal map~~. ~~Specular map applied over the~~ entire map~~. The filename is based on~~ the ~~map image filename <map_image>_S~~.~~ext~~. ~~It may be in any supported image format~~.		No longer used. Glossiness of an entire map can be adjusted with the TERRAINSHINE entry in CAMPAIGNVIEW.TXT (0 to 1, default 0.06).

	=== Detail Map ===		=== Detail Map ===

Andrewg at 22:13, 10 January 2017

2017-01-10T22:13:22Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:13, 10 January 2017
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	=== Detail Textures ===		=== Detail Textures ===
	Optional. Detail textures blended with the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] and [[#Normal_Map\|global normal map]] to provide additional terrain detail at high zoom levels without requiring a massive map images. They are named detail0.tga to detail7.tga and detail0_N.tga to detail7_N.tga. Only tga format is supported. The detail textures are treated as greyscale images (only the red channel is used) and are tiled over the map image based on the [[#Detail_Map\|detail map texture]] on land areas of the map.		Optional. Detail textures blended with the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] and [[#Normal_Map\|global normal map]] to provide additional terrain detail at high zoom levels without requiring a massive map images. They are named detail0.tga to detail7.tga and detail0_N.tga to detail7_N.tga. Only tga format is supported. The detail textures are treated as greyscale images (only the red channel is used) and are tiled over the map image based on the [[#Detail_Map\|detail map texture]] on land areas of the map.

			=== Alternate Weather Image ===
			Optional. An alternate weather texture substituted for the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] based on gameplay values. The filename is based on the map image filename <map_image>_Weather.ext.

	== Slicing ==		== Slicing ==
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	* map_1_1.dds: lower right (1,1)		* map_1_1.dds: lower right (1,1)

	If slicing is used, Map Image, Normal Map, ~~and~~ Specular Map must all use the same number of tiles. Height Map Image tiling is independent.		If slicing is used, Map Image, Normal Map, Specular Map, and Alternate Weather Image must all use the same number of tiles. Height Map Image tiling is independent.

Andrewg at 17:20, 16 November 2016

2016-11-16T17:20:48Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:20, 16 November 2016
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	Optional. Detail textures blended with the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] and [[#Normal_Map\|global normal map]] to provide additional terrain detail at high zoom levels without requiring a massive map images. They are named detail0.tga to detail7.tga and detail0_N.tga to detail7_N.tga. Only tga format is supported. The detail textures are treated as greyscale images (only the red channel is used) and are tiled over the map image based on the [[#Detail_Map\|detail map texture]] on land areas of the map.		Optional. Detail textures blended with the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] and [[#Normal_Map\|global normal map]] to provide additional terrain detail at high zoom levels without requiring a massive map images. They are named detail0.tga to detail7.tga and detail0_N.tga to detail7_N.tga. Only tga format is supported. The detail textures are treated as greyscale images (only the red channel is used) and are tiled over the map image based on the [[#Detail_Map\|detail map texture]] on land areas of the map.

	== ~~Tiling~~ ==		== Slicing ==
	To support very high resolution textures, the Map Image, Normal Map, Specular Map, and Height Map Images may be sliced into multiple tiles. The naming of these files is based on the untiled filename. The top-left corner has the same name as the untiled filename, the remaining files have the x and y coordinates appended with _x_y. For example, if the BAM specifies a map image texture of "map.dds", the 2x2 tiled versions are:		To support very high resolution textures, the Map Image, Normal Map, Specular Map, and Height Map Images may be sliced into multiple tiles. The naming of these files is based on the untiled filename. The top-left corner has the same name as the untiled filename, the remaining files have the x and y coordinates appended with _x_y. For example, if the BAM specifies a map image texture of "map.dds", the 2x2 tiled versions are:
	* map.dds: top left (0,0)		* map.dds: top left (0,0)
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	* map_1_1.dds: lower right (1,1)		* map_1_1.dds: lower right (1,1)

	If ~~tiling~~ is used, Map Image, Normal Map, and Specular Map must all use the same number of tiles. Height Map Image tiling is independent.		If slicing is used, Map Image, Normal Map, and Specular Map must all use the same number of tiles. Height Map Image tiling is independent.

Andrewg at 21:41, 14 October 2016

2016-10-14T21:41:18Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:41, 14 October 2016
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	* detail6: Red values 202 to 237 / 255		* detail6: Red values 202 to 237 / 255
	* detail7: Red values 238 to 255 / 255		* detail7: Red values 238 to 255 / 255

			For best results and performance, detail0 - detail3 should be exactly the same resolution and detail4 - detail7 should be exactly the same resolution.

	=== Detail Textures ===		=== Detail Textures ===

Andrewg at 18:23, 6 October 2016

2016-10-06T18:23:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:23, 6 October 2016
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	= AEP Map and Terrain =		= AEP Map and Terrain =
	The AEP map is a specialized instance of a [[MapDisplayUIControl]].		The AEP map is a specialized instance of a [[MapDisplayUIControl]] used to display the map for a scenario.

	== Creating a Scenario ==		== Creating a Scenario ==
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	* [[#Height_Map_Image\|Height Map Image]]		* [[#Height_Map_Image\|Height Map Image]]
	* Height Scale - a multiplier applied to the height map values		* Height Scale - a multiplier applied to the height map values
	* Logical Map Width - this is how large the map will appear to be in game, it is independent of the ~~actual~~ resolution of the map		* Logical Map Width - this is how large the map will appear to be in game, it is independent of the resolution of the map textures
	* Logical Map Height - may be set smaller than the width to create a non-square map, the upper portion of the map textures will be used		* Logical Map Height - may be set smaller than the width to create a non-square map, the upper portion of the map textures will be used
	* Import Borders from SVG (Advanced) - optionally specify an SVG file that contains border polygons to create initial borders. Note: SVG importing ONLY supports a list of polygons indicating a ~~sequence~~ of bordered regions. There are many other ways a map could be ~~drawn~~ in a valid SVG that will not be imported, if you are planning to use SVG importing, be sure that your software and approach results in this particular format.		* Import Borders from SVG (Advanced) - optionally specify an SVG file that contains border polygons to create initial borders. Note: SVG importing ONLY supports a list of polygons indicating a list of bordered regions. There are many other ways a map could be constructed and saved in a valid SVG that will not be imported, if you are planning to use SVG importing, be sure that your software and approach results in this particular format.

	If you have not imported borders, or wish to edit borders, choose Border mode from the upper left palette in the editor and follow the directions below the palette.		If you have not imported borders, or wish to edit borders, choose Border mode from the upper left palette in the editor and follow the directions below the palette.
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	=== Detail Textures ===		=== Detail Textures ===
	Optional~~, detail~~ textures blended with the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] and [[#Normal_Map\|global normal map]] to provide additional terrain detail at high zoom levels without requiring a massive map images. They are named detail0.tga to detail7.tga and detail0_N.tga to detail7_N.tga. Only tga format is supported. The detail textures are treated as greyscale images (only the red channel is used) and are tiled over the map image based on the [[#Detail_Map\|detail map texture]] on land areas of the map.		Optional. Detail textures blended with the [[#Map_Image\|global map image]] and [[#Normal_Map\|global normal map]] to provide additional terrain detail at high zoom levels without requiring a massive map images. They are named detail0.tga to detail7.tga and detail0_N.tga to detail7_N.tga. Only tga format is supported. The detail textures are treated as greyscale images (only the red channel is used) and are tiled over the map image based on the [[#Detail_Map\|detail map texture]] on land areas of the map.

	== Tiling ==		== Tiling ==
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	* map_1_0.dds: upper right (1,0)		* map_1_0.dds: upper right (1,0)
	* map_1_1.dds: lower right (1,1)		* map_1_1.dds: lower right (1,1)

			If tiling is used, Map Image, Normal Map, and Specular Map must all use the same number of tiles. Height Map Image tiling is independent.

Andrewg at 17:40, 6 October 2016

2016-10-06T17:40:15Z

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 To create a new scenario, click Editor from that main menu and then the + (Create a brand new campaign) button from the scenario selection screen.  Enter the scenario folder name and display name for the scenario.
-To use an existing map, click Use map: <New Map> and choose a [[#BAM|BAM]] file.
+To use an existing map for this scenario, click Use map: <New Map> and choose a [[#BAM|BAM]] file.
 To create a new map, specify the following:
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 === Map Image ===
 === Height Map Image ===