SC4Terraformer, a tool for regional handterraforming

[AAK 1]

I don't know why this is, but terrain at exactly 255m appears black, but other elevations are correctly colored.

[jplumbley 5]

@AAK This is because you have the contours turned on. The contours are set at 5m intervals so 250, 255, 260 are all going to be black.

[ErikkuV 0]

Hello I'm having a few problems with running this program.

I'm getting the "DirectX error can't be loaded" error, and nothing shows up in the log.

I have all .dll files that I need and I'm up to date on my DX.

I am not sure if it's another program conflicting, although I have not one program running that would depend on DirectX to run properly

And my graphics card is an ATI Radeon X200.

...and it's XP Pro.

Is that enough information? I can gladly supply more. I really don't understand the situation, but do you know of any programs that for some reason use DX and would be conflicting it (besides games and programs that appear quite graphics intensive)

Currently all I really have running is Last.fm, AIM, WLM, XChat, and a few background processes, but nothing unusual that would require DirectX in order to use it. \= Help?

[Mr. Wednesday 0]

I'm having the same problem:

* DirectX cannot be loaded, running either exe

* Running dxdiag shows that I'm running 9.0c

* ATI RADEON 9800 (pro, I think)

* XP Pro

* Empty log file

[moganite 4]

While it may be running 9.0 c you will need to have a version that is from april 2006 or later

I recomend you update Direct x to the latest one.

[jmdude1 20]

i am able to run the program fine except for 1 thing...i think! if i load a map which comes with the game, everything is fine, blue water and green land. but when i load a custom config.bmp (1 made in ms paint [10x10 large cities] or i have one from flamesrock's 'mindanao' map) the opening flat terrain is black, instead of green. what am i doing wrong?

[Vandy 110]

Originally posted by: jmdude1 i am able to run the program fine except for 1 thing...i think! if i load a map which comes with the game, everything is fine, blue water and green land. but when i load a custom config.bmp (1 made in ms paint [10x10 large cities] or i have one from flamesrock's 'mindanao' map) the opening flat terrain is black, instead of green. what am i doing wrong?quote>

 

Hi, JMDude.

Base on what you've reported, it sounds like you are using SC4Terraformer Version 1.1.  If this is the case, I believe what you need to do is press the "G" key to turn off contour lines.  

On a perfectly flat terrain (that hasn't been terraformed or, if you will, altered) the land will look black.  If press the "G" key to turn off the Contour lines (this key acts as a toggle to turn them on or off), they are replaced with standard grid squares.

Once you actually use one of the SC4Terraformer tools to alter the flat terrain, it will turn green and take on the characteristics of the tool you've used.

This should solve your problem, JMDude.  If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Regards,

Vandy

[jmdude1 20]

thx so much. everything worked out for me. i also read that i needed a (any) region.ini file as well as my config.bmp which probably helped, or maybe it was for an older version, its kind of hard to find a good up to date start up guide. im gonna visit your terraforming cj now for more tips. thanks again!

[nathanscottdaniels 0]

How do I stop the region from looking like crap when I load it in SC4? The color's don't change to the SC4 colors and textures until I open and save every one of my 30 cities which can take up to 45 minutes!

[Vandy 110]

Hello, Nathan.

Originally posted by: nathanscottdaniels How do I stop the region from looking like crap when I load it in SC4? The color's don't change to the SC4 colors and textures until I open and save every one of my 30 cities which can take up to 45 minutes!quote>

 

What you are referring to above is normal for SC4Terraformer.  Once you've completed your terraforming and load the region in SC4, the actual view of the region will remain in SC4Terraformer "colors".  As you've already indicated, it is required that you open each city individually in SC4 and save them.  This will "convert" the city to the currently installed terrain mod in use in SC4.

If you have any other quesiton, please fee free to post them.

Regards,

Vandy

[jplumbley 5]

Originally posted by: nathanscottdaniels How do I stop the region from looking like crap when I load it in SC4? The color's don't change to the SC4 colors and textures until I open and save every one of my 30 cities which can take up to 45 minutes!quote>

 

Why do you think rendering a map with the vanilla way took so long?  SC4 would take your JPEG and open and save every city while applying each portion of the JPEG to the terrain.  There is no "quick fix" for this, but atleast now you dont have to wait those countless hours waiting for a map to render.  You can now do it in steps, be thankful you are not a mapper creating the Region Overview of a map of 144 large city tile.

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: jplumbley

Originally posted by: nathanscottdaniels How do I stop the region from looking like crap when I load it in SC4? The color's don't change to the SC4 colors and textures until I open and save every one of my 30 cities which can take up to 45 minutes!quote>

 

Why do you think rendering a map with the vanilla way took so long?  SC4 would take your JPEG and open and save every city while applying each portion of the JPEG to the terrain.  There is no "quick fix" for this, but atleast now you dont have to wait those countless hours waiting for a map to render.  You can now do it in steps, be thankful you are not a mapper creating the Region Overview of a map of 144 large city tile.quote>

Not sure if you're on the team with Wouanagaine making SC4 Terraformer, but I was wondering if it were possible to have an option to go through that process. I go and open/save each city immediately after anyways, and it would be handy if it were all done automatically.

[jplumbley 5]

Originally posted by: beebs

Originally posted by: jplumbley

Originally posted by: nathanscottdaniels How do I stop the region from looking like crap when I load it in SC4? The color's don't change to the SC4 colors and textures until I open and save every one of my 30 cities which can take up to 45 minutes!quote>

 

Why do you think rendering a map with the vanilla way took so long?  SC4 would take your JPEG and open and save every city while applying each portion of the JPEG to the terrain.  There is no "quick fix" for this, but atleast now you dont have to wait those countless hours waiting for a map to render.  You can now do it in steps, be thankful you are not a mapper creating the Region Overview of a map of 144 large city tile.quote>

Not sure if you're on the team with Wouanagaine making SC4 Terraformer, but I was wondering if it were possible to have an option to go through that process. I go and open/save each city immediately after anyways, and it would be handy if it were all done automatically. quote>

 

Sure you can do it already.  Its called Export to a JPEG and then enter SC4 and do it the old way.  Of course this means your map will lose accuracy by going from 16-bit to 8-bit.  And you will have to wait for the region to open and save every tile.

Since Wouanagaine is not working on SC4TF anymore and it is more or less "complete" this will not become a function.  In fact, this is probably not even possible since SC4TF would have to be able to start SC4 without you clicking the SC4 startup icon.  One of the reasons SC4TF was created was so that you wouldnt have to wait for the game to open and save every city tile.  It was made to make it possible to play the game without rendering the whole map at once and do it in steps.

What SC4TF does is create the Save Game files.  It only writes the generic terrain height information that SC4 can read.  SC4TF also saves a JPG of the city tile, since it can only take a picture of this tile with SC4TF colors thats what shows up in SC4.  If this JPG was not made by SC4TF the region would look like a flat "New Region".  This is because SC4 has not opened and actually rendered the data yet.  So, to give the illusion that SC4TF has rendered the map these JPGs are there.  They are removed when you open and save the city because they are replaced with what SC4 has made.

A possibility that may tickle your fancy is reading the Readme.  There is a way to change the colors that are displayed by SC4TF.  I dont remember the steps offhand but I know the Readme has it.

Hopefully this has been enlightening and explains how SC4TF works behind the scenes a little bit.  But I wouldnt expect any new things coming to life in SC4TF for a long time.  Wouanagaine has started a new job and is on hiatus.  Aswell he is working on a new tool for the BSC.  It is called the X-Tool (a revolutionary tool bigger and better than SC4TF was to mapping) and is being designed to replace a few existing tools and help out with the creation of CAMeLots.  But there is no date for release due to the fact he is on hiatus due to RLS and his new job.

[Vandy 110]

HI, Beebs.

Originally posted by: beebs

Not sure if you're on the team with Wouanagaine making SC4 Terraformer (SC4TF), but I was wondering if it were possible to have an option to go through that process. I go and open/save each city immediately after anyways, and it would be handy if it were all done automatically. quote>

 

One thing to remember here is that when you open a region in SC4 that was terraformed by SC4TF, the SC4TF application is no longer running or "involved" in opening the region in SC4.  In other words, SC4TF is not doing any of the processing of the region once opened in SC4 -- rather, SC4 is the responsible application that is rendering the region.

I can also give you a good reason not to have the city tiles automatically rendered in the default SC4 terrain.  When I finish terraforming a region in SC4TF, it looks pretty good and I'm usually satisfied.  However, when I open the region in SC4 there are almost always area that I'm unhappy with and need to go back to SC4TF and tweak.  For example, water depths at the continental shelf and especially rivers, streams, lakes and ponds.  Sometimes, a mountain range looks great in SC4TF but not so great in SC4.  Again, back to SC4TF to do some tweaking.

I hope this helps your understanding of this particular "feature" of SC4TF.

Regards,

Vandy

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: jplumbley

Originally posted by: beebs

Originally posted by: jplumbley

Originally posted by: nathanscottdaniels How do I stop the region from looking like crap when I load it in SC4? The color's don't change to the SC4 colors and textures until I open and save every one of my 30 cities which can take up to 45 minutes!quote>

 

Why do you think rendering a map with the vanilla way took so long?  SC4 would take your JPEG and open and save every city while applying each portion of the JPEG to the terrain.  There is no "quick fix" for this, but atleast now you dont have to wait those countless hours waiting for a map to render.  You can now do it in steps, be thankful you are not a mapper creating the Region Overview of a map of 144 large city tile.quote>

Not sure if you're on the team with Wouanagaine making SC4 Terraformer, but I was wondering if it were possible to have an option to go through that process. I go and open/save each city immediately after anyways, and it would be handy if it were all done automatically. quote>

 

Sure you can do it already.  Its called Export to a JPEG and then enter SC4 and do it the old way.  Of course this means your map will lose accuracy by going from 16-bit to 8-bit.  And you will have to wait for the region to open and save every tile.

Since Wouanagaine is not working on SC4TF anymore and it is more or less "complete" this will not become a function.  In fact, this is probably not even possible since SC4TF would have to be able to start SC4 without you clicking the SC4 startup icon.  One of the reasons SC4TF was created was so that you wouldnt have to wait for the game to open and save every city tile.  It was made to make it possible to play the game without rendering the whole map at once and do it in steps.

What SC4TF does is create the Save Game files.  It only writes the generic terrain height information that SC4 can read.  SC4TF also saves a JPG of the city tile, since it can only take a picture of this tile with SC4TF colors thats what shows up in SC4.  If this JPG was not made by SC4TF the region would look like a flat "New Region".  This is because SC4 has not opened and actually rendered the data yet.  So, to give the illusion that SC4TF has rendered the map these JPGs are there.  They are removed when you open and save the city because they are replaced with what SC4 has made.

A possibility that may tickle your fancy is reading the Readme.  There is a way to change the colors that are displayed by SC4TF.  I dont remember the steps offhand but I know the Readme has it.

Hopefully this has been enlightening and explains how SC4TF works behind the scenes a little bit.  But I wouldnt expect any new things coming to life in SC4TF for a long time.  Wouanagaine has started a new job and is on hiatus.  Aswell he is working on a new tool for the BSC.  It is called the X-Tool (a revolutionary tool bigger and better than SC4TF was to mapping) and is being designed to replace a few existing tools and help out with the creation of CAMeLots.  But there is no date for release due to the fact he is on hiatus due to RLS and his new job.quote>

Hm. I should have realized that, I think. I will check out the readme again, though, that might suit my needs too.

Thanks for the quick overview on how it actually works too.. sorta clears up a few things.

Vandy: Yeah, I do see the advantages of that for sure. Just, for me, I usually do my tweaking in SC4, rather than go and load up the Terraformer again. To each his own, I suppose.

[movemysofa 0]

These questions may have already been asked, but I skimmed the last six pages and saw nothing, and further back would be info for an old version, so I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

First, most pressing: I created a rather exciting () region file and loaded it up in SimCity. Everything looks fine, but when I go to start a new city, it tells me the edges need reconciliation... I tried doing this, but it set the heights to nonsensical levels that had nothing to do with the neighboring tiles! Am I overlooking something, or is this just a SimCity bug? I know I can ignore the option to reconcile, but... still... it's enough to drive an obsessive compulsive personality like mine insane!

Secondly - Another region I created, I ended up wanting to knock down in size. I exported to png, loaded, cropped, started a fresh region, imported, and... it was so blocky! I'm guessing my graphics editor may have gotten rid of some subtle color information... but I tried doing this in Paint.NET and the GIMP, and I'm not going to pay $400 for Photoshop... are there any graphics editors that people've used with success? (and yes, I saved as a greyscale image, didn't mess with the palettes or levels or anything beyond a simple crop-job - I'm no graphics engineer or anything, but I'm not stoopid )

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[jplumbley 5]

Originally posted by: movemysofa These questions may have already been asked, but I skimmed the last six pages and saw nothing, and further back would be info for an old version, so I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

First, most pressing: I created a rather exciting () region file and loaded it up in SimCity. Everything looks fine, but when I go to start a new city, it tells me the edges need reconciliation... I tried doing this, but it set the heights to nonsensical levels that had nothing to do with the neighboring tiles! Am I overlooking something, or is this just a SimCity bug? I know I can ignore the option to reconcile, but... still... it's enough to drive an obsessive compulsive personality like mine insane!

Secondly - Another region I created, I ended up wanting to knock down in size. I exported to png, loaded, cropped, started a fresh region, imported, and... it was so blocky! I'm guessing my graphics editor may have gotten rid of some subtle color information... but I tried doing this in Paint.NET and the GIMP, and I'm not going to pay $400 for Photoshop... are there any graphics editors that people've used with success? (and yes, I saved as a greyscale image, didn't mess with the palettes or levels or anything beyond a simple crop-job - I'm no graphics engineer or anything, but I'm not stoopid )

Thanks in advance for all your help!quote>

 

PART 1:

Originally posted by: jplumbley

What SC4TF does is create the Save Game files.  It only writes the generic terrain height information that SC4 can read.  SC4TF also saves a JPG of the city tile, since it can only take a picture of this tile with SC4TF colors thats what shows up in SC4.  If this JPG was not made by SC4TF the region would look like a flat "New Region".  This is because SC4 has not opened and actually rendered the data yet.  So, to give the illusion that SC4TF has rendered the map these JPGs are there.  They are removed when you open and save the city because they are replaced with what SC4 has made.

quote>

 

Due to what I just quoted from what I said before SC4 will always ask you to reconcile edge.  The reason being that SC4 does not realize until you have opened and saved all neighbor tiles that the terrain is there.  Because physically it is not there until it is rendered from the data saved by SC4TF.  You must open/load and save each neighboring tile before you will stop getting this message.  Do not, I mean DO NOT reconcile edge before you have saved all neighboring tiles.

PART 2:

SC4TF works in 16-bit data.  All image editors but the few "expensive" ones work in 8-bit data.  This means you will lose about 50% of the accuracy in the data going from 16-bit to 8-bit data and make your region look "blocky".  There is now way around this and you  need the more expensive versions of Photoshop for it to save as 16-bit PNG data.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I had a problem running the exe. after I unzipped the download and found an interesting fix.

I installed Maya and now it works. I'm no expert, niether have I tested any other 3D app. but Maya but maybe other 3D editing programs like Bryce, etc. would help with missing files as they would have common files needed to run a 3D program. Just thought this might help someone still having trouble launching the application from the zip.

This is a great tool! Thank You!

[beskhu3epnm 8]

SC4TF works in 16-bit data.  All image editors but the few "expensive" ones work in 8-bit data.  This means you will lose about 50% of the accuracy in the data going from 16-bit to 8-bit data and make your region look "blocky".  There is now way around this and you  need the more expensive versions of Photoshop for it to save as 16-bit PNG data.quote>

In actual fact, you will lose much more depth. In a map with 6000m of elevation gain, for example, you will lose up to 99% of the resolution. The reason for this is that 16bit images contain 65536 greyscale notches, while 8bit JPEGs contain 256 greyscale notches (the black/white color depth). SC4TF allows 6000m elevations, allowing you to spread over 60,000 notches (a greyscale notch every 0.1m) over the entire elevation span, while the standard 256 notch 8bit JPEG spreads 256 over 6000m, or one every 23.4375. Therefore, 16bit PNG's (when measured on a 6000m elevation spread) are 234 times better than 8bit JPEGs.

Another reason to avoid the old 8bit system. Another reason to go with the terraformer!!

I had a problem running the exe. after I unzipped the download and found an interesting fix.

I installed Maya and now it works. I'm no expert, niether have I tested any other 3D app. but Maya but maybe other 3D editing programs like Bryce, etc. would help with missing files as they would have common files needed to run a 3D program. Just thought this might help someone still having trouble launching the application from the zip.

This is a great tool! Thank You!quote>

??? Never heard of this one before?!!!!

[Romaq 18]

EDIT: And rather than add another post, this edit is being inserted at the top. Would it be possible to EXPORT terragen format from SC4TF/ SC4Mapper? This would allow me to slurp the data INTO World Machine, run more refined edits on a rough terrain I would build within SC4TF, process the results in Terragen for a good 3D view and then slurp it back into SC4TF? I don't get told 'no' if I don't ask. :-) --RMQ

GAH! Sorry, I missed Besk's response while catching up on the thread. His rating is more accurate, all told if you stick with only the USUAL limits for SC4 regions. Anyway, sorry to repeat what's already been said but I'll leave what I posted below for reference. --RMQ

Originally posted by: jplumbley(snip)

SC4TF works in 16-bit data.  All image editors but the few "expensive" ones work in 8-bit data.  This means you will lose about 50% of the accuracy in the data going from 16-bit to 8-bit data and make your region look "blocky".  There is now way around this and you  need the more expensive versions of Photoshop for it to save as 16-bit PNG data.quote>

 

Actually, going from 16 bit to 8 bit will cost you 255/256's of the data. That is to say, you get 255 times the amount of data simply by using 16 bit. It isn't just half. That's a technical detail most people don't realise, and the 'erode' funcition on 8-bit images attempts to mask the data loss... but the math is (0 to 255) compared to (0 to 65535) = 256 compared to 65536. 8 bits only holds 1/256th of the data a 16 bit image holds. That's way more than 50%, or 'half' the amount of data. Sorry to nit-pick, but the difference between 8 and 16 bit formats is ... really big.

[SC4BOY 21]

Hmmm.. I feel a bit silly asking, but I used to use SC4TF a good deal, but haven't had the occasion to use it in about a year. In the meantime I had a system crash and reinstalled. I just decided to do some terraforming so DL'd the latest SC4TF. It installs slightly differently than it did before, but I think I put it in correctly. When I try to run it I get the following in my errorlog

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "SC4Terraformer.py", line 1, in ?

File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

File "SC4TerraformerApp.pyo", line 3, in ?

File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 91, in load_module

ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading tools3D.pyd

Anyone have a suggestion as to what I need to do to get running again?

I saw no reference to errors of this kind in the documentation. I installed the update to the lastest DirectX version, and I assume since the errors don't relate to this or a dll file, that all that is ok. Thanks in advance for the help.. 

Do I need to unzip all the internal files as well? Most programs seem to leave them compressed, so I didn't unzip them. edit:  Looks like there is only one.. library.zip.. when I tried to "unzip" that it gave me an "invalid or corrupted file" message. I re-dl'd it in case there had been a file transfer error, but still got the same invalid file message when I tried to unzip it.

edit: Hmm.. well in another thread I found that this is due to a missing MSVCP71.DLL file... DL'd it from the documented ref site, and all seems ok... Lost it in the rebuild I guess. Happy Terraforming to all!!

[Resender 18]

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "SC4Terraformer.py", line 4, in ?

File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

File "SC4TerraformerApp.pyo", line 3, in ?

File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 91, in load_module

ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading tools3D.pyd

i'm getting these errors

[winkosmosis 3]

Can someone please provide a solution to these problems with "missing" files? I get the feeling these problems are completely ignored-- all the replies to questions always say to get the .dll, or update DirectX, even though those have nothing to do with missing PNG files. Then the person with the problem just forgets about it and goes and everyone assumes the problem is solved. Could the developer please look into these problems or at least give some acknowledgement and put it in "Known Bugs"? This program won't run on either of my computers.

I have every file, my DX9 is up to date, and I get this:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "SC4Terraformer.py", line 4, in ?

  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

  File "SC4TerraformerApp.pyo", line 83, in ?

  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

  File "terraTools.pyo", line 16, in ?

  File "Image.pyo", line 1717, in open

IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'datas/mask.png'

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "SC4Terraformer.py", line 4, in ?

  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

  File "SC4TerraformerApp.pyo", line 83, in ?

  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

  File "terraTools.pyo", line 16, in ?

  File "Image.pyo", line 1717, in open

IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'datas/mask.png'

[winkosmosis 3]

I made a folder called "datas" and put all the PNGs in it, and now it starts up and lets me select a folder... But then it freezes. The process still shows up in Task Manager but there's no window.

[gogic 0]

Can somone help, when i create new region, region si created only from "small cities" ! How can i create larger city regions.

Thx

[dadyrghluv 8]

Originally posted by: gogic Can somone help, when i create new region, region si created only from "small cities" ! How can i create larger city regions.

Thxquote>

 

this depends, are u using SC4T, or the old jpeg?

i do know how in jpeg form. there will be a config.bmp file with a map. change the color of the config.bmp to blue in a paint program like microsft paint. any color blue doesnt matter, as long as its a shade of blue, the game will recognize it.

the way it works is this:

blue: large city tiles

green: medium city tiles

red: small city tiles.

[winkosmosis 3]

I found a solution to the missing files problem. Make a new "datas" folder and copy EVERYTHING into it. I got the program working and it's incredible. The look reminds me of ArcScene, a 3d visualization component of ArcGIS.  The only problem is when I made my first region, the squares were all small, and I assumed I could fix that later. But apparently that's permanent, so I have to restart. I had a beautiful region too

[luudan 6]

i went to the v1.1 website, then it said the "bandwidth Exceeded"

[azuil 0]

any way to fix this problem guys? it shows the grid, wether I want it or not:

http://img193.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=15273_New_City-19_Jan.0_001199115227_122_519lo.jpg

[mjallan123 0]

I try to run it but it says "Error occured, check logfile".

I check logfile and it says

"Traceback (most recent call last):

File "SC4Terraformer.py", line 1, in ?

File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module

File "SC4TerraformerApp.pyo", line 3, in ?

File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 91, in load_module

ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading tools3D.pyd"

Any ideas?