lookinins Mapp Squad maps

[lookinin 2]

Hello everyone! I've recently joined the Mapp Squad - I'd like to say thanks to RHF & TNS for enduring my questions, concerns, & sometimes short temper.

I have a few maps available all ready and you are welcome to browse them and see what you think.

Up until this point, I have only released maps of actual areas in Pennsylvania - I love my home state, and will continue to make these maps for anyone that wants them, but lately I have been wanting to expand my horizons by doing other states and also international maps. I also have been dabbling in fictional maps - this is something I'm especially excited about. I've been using GIMP for a couple years now (but never for this purpose), and have recently been experimenting with other programs - and I am excited about my results so far!

As soon as I have additional maps in the works, I will post them here so you can all preview and comment on them.

Users of my maps are also welcome to post questions, comments, concerns, & suggestions to this thread.

Another special thanks to MallowTheCloud for his awesome tutorial , without which, I probably wouldn't be doing this!

I have enjoyed making maps so far, and I look forward to working with the Mapp Squad on making many more.

Thanks everyone!

Edit: Thanks BarbulaM1, for fixing the title

[the_new_simman 5]

Welcome to the Team! I'll be looking forward to seeing more maps from you in the future!

I wonder why all those quotations appeared....

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Oddly enough, I have seen that before. I think it's a rare bug with the forums. Oh well.


Great job with your Pennsylvania maps so far! I love them!

Glad to see you on the team.

[lookinin 2]

Thanks guys, glad to be here

Here is a preview of my first map for the Mapp Squad! It still needs lots of detail work...

This was requested early this morning by brtim2.

brtim2: I found your request interesting since it required some stitching of real-world areas together to make one smaller map. I wanted to see how well I could join them without it being obvious that it was done. I hope I've been successful.

I think Newport should be shifted slightly to the South (real world East) to give you a little more breathing room to build. The river is about 1/4 km too wide in the Harrisburg area, and probably more in the other areas. I can fix that easily enough...

What I'm really concerned about is if I understood your request properly, so if you (or anyone else that's experienced or curious), could take a look at some satellite images compared to what I've got and tell me if you like it so far.



Feel free to make suggestions everybody, this is only a preliminary version, and I'm happy to make changes - Thanks!

Edit: And Duncannon & Newport could still be shifted one city-tile North as you originally requested - I looked at the wrong islands, I think, and made room for them in the Northern-most tile.

[tijn21 2]

Welcome, Lookinin,

 

I like your maps.....they look very natural and lifelike!!!

 

I

[RadioheadFan 1]

Wow, looking really good lookinin! No worries, the work getting you into the Squad was worth it! This Newport map is looking amazing, great job!

RHF

[brtim2 10]

WOW! that looks really good - and it was done pretty quick! Thanks. i've included your screen shot with some marks.

Date: 6/21/2005 10:35:07 AM
Author: lookinin
brtim2: I found your request interesting since it required some stitching of real-world areas together to make one smaller map. I wanted to see how well I could join them without it being obvious that it was done. I hope I've been successful.

I think Newport should be shifted slightly to the south (real world East) to give you a little more breathing room to build.

quote>
You have been pretty freakin succesful if you ask me. Newport looks fine, I like it's location city-tilewise compared to Duncannon, but you could perhaps make a tighter first bend in the river moving Newport away from the abyss at the edge of the region map.

The river is about 1/4 km too wide in the Harrisburg area, and probably more in the other areas. I can fix that easily enough...

quote>
I don't know about all that km razza-ma-jazz, but I think (by driving it) the I-83 bridge south of Harrisburg is about .5 miles. And I know long spans can be bridged in SC4 easily, however I think SC4 exagerates the length scale. A 1 mile bridge looks a lot longer than one mile in the game. With that in mind I find it better to decrease the width of rivers-even at the expense of losing some islands (they can be added later in game. It isn't a problem.)

What I'm really concerned about is if I understood your request properly, so if you (or anyone else that's experienced or curious), could take a look at some satellite images compared to what I've got and tell me if you like it so far.

quote>
You understood me very correctly. Now looking at the satallite images you provided, see the green mountains north Harrisburg? That is what I envisioned across the top of the region on the opposite bank from Harrisburg. Those mountains are the reason the river to the left is so windy, it flows through a valley. (or so it seems)

Feel free to make suggestions everybody, this is only a preliminary version, and I'm happy to make changes - Thanks!

Edit: And Duncannon & Newport could still be shifted one city-tile North as you originally requested - I looked at the wrong islands, I think, and made room for them in the Northern-most tile.

quote>
Yeah, I think that would be best. Maybe a filler tile in between Duncannon and Harrisburg making it 5 across. Or maybe removing the last one so it is still 4 across with Newport in the upper right corner and Duncannon in the center at the farthest point (map) north.

But no matter what you decide, the map looks really good. I didn't know how stitching maps would look, but I am very impressed by it. I can't tell the areas aren't that close together in real life. It looks really, really good. Thanks!

[lookinin 2]

Thanks tijn21 & RHF!!

brtim2: I'm so glad you are happy with what I have so far! I will shortly begin work on another revision of this that addresses these issues.

You understood me very correctly. Now looking at the satallite images you provided, see the green mountains north Harrisburg? That is what I envisioned across the top of the region on the opposite bank from Harrisburg. Those mountains are the reason the river to the left is so windy, it flows through a valley. (or so it seems)

quote>

I'm trying to get what you mean here - You'd like the area across the river from Harrisburg to be more mountainous and you want them to run real-world NS? Or real-world EW, but just more prominent?

Yeah, I think that would be best. Maybe a filler tile in between Duncannon and Harrisburg making it 5 across. Or maybe removing the last one so it is still 4 across with Newport in the upper right corner and Duncannon in the center at the farthest point (map) north.

quote>

Well, I would prefer to keep it at 4 across - I have a feeling you wanted it to be fairly small for a reason But I will work it out so that the islands fit properly and so Newport & Duncannon are still on the furthest tile to the right. Like I mentioned before, I misjudged which islands you wanted and went too far north from Rt. 322.

But no matter what you decide, the map looks really good. I didn't know how stitching maps would look, but I am very impressed by it. I can't tell the areas aren't that close together in real life. It looks really, really good. Thanks!

quote>

Thank you again! I was quite happy with the results of it myself - when I look at the greyscale, I can pick out the sections I edited rather easily, but rendered it came out pretty good!

I'll keep at it and post another screenshot later tonight or tomorrow - thanks for the quick response and for helping me out with the details!

[brtim2 10]

Date: 6/21/2005 2:58:01 PM
Author: lookinin
Thanks tijn21 & RHF!!


brtim2: I'm so glad you are happy with what I have so far! I will shortly begin work on another revision of this that addresses these issues.

I'm trying to get what you mean here - You'd like the area across the river from Harrisburg to be more mountainous and you want them to run real-world NS? Or real-world EW, but just more prominent?

quote>

Yeah, the area opposite Harrisburg would be more mountainous and running real world North to South - paralleling the main river. From the satalitte view you gave earlier, if you zoom out quite far you can see how the mountains start to head north-south forming the Shenandoah Valley through MD-VA-WVA. That's the look I am looking for opposite Harrisburg.

Sorry if I am confusing you, I understand this is an akward map. Much different than the 'fire-and-forget' maps based on one single real world area. This is a more 'oh-what now?' map and I appreciate you taking the time to try it. Take all the time you need, I am not in any kind of hurry.

Thanks again.

[lookinin 2]

Date: 6/21/2005 4:36:07 PM
Author: brtim2
Yeah, the area opposite Harrisburg would be more mountainous and running real world North to South - paralleling the main river. From the satalitte view you gave earlier, if you zoom out quite far you can see how the mountains start to head north-south forming the Shenandoah Valley through MD-VA-WVA. That's the look I am looking for opposite Harrisburg.

quote>

Hmm... I'm really not seeing this - they appear to run SW to NE for the most part - if you go further west, then they begin turning NS - I'm truly not trying to be difficult about it and I can make it however you want it So what I'd like you to do is take this screenshot of my new revision, and draw a few lines where you want the mountains to to start and end

Sorry if I am confusing you, I understand this is an akward map. Much different than the 'fire-and-forget' maps based on one single real world area. This is a more 'oh-what now?' map and I appreciate you taking the time to try it. Take all the time you need, I am not in any kind of hurry.

quote>

You're not confusing me, except for the mountain thing And we'll go thru as many revisions as it takes till you're happy with it!

So here it is, revision 2 - Shifting things further North allowed me to get the mountain North of Harrisburg better (change it how you like), and also much better detail with the rivers - I think they're more true to life width-wise, and the islands, based on satellite data this time, look quite a bit better. I still can't manage to get Duncannon on the furthest tile, but Newport is better.

What do you think?

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

Wow, thats really goo lookinin!!! Great work!!!

[brtim2 10]

Well I guess it's a good thing this is a small region map, makes revisions easier to render.

And sorry about the mountain thing-i appreciate you being patient with me.



These aren't necessarily where each mountain has to go, but you'll see what my general idea is and the way I would like them to go across the region.

And don't worry about the Duncannon area, the one part where I plan to build is on one tile so it all works.

This is all supurb work, thanks again lookinin.

[lookinin 2]

*looks again at your original post* ...


... *smacks self in head*

Now I get it! I'll see what I can do, but I'm done for today, so I'll post revision three tomorrow

[lookinin 2]

Just to give you an update, here's what I have so far:



It doesn't look entirely natural yet, but what do you guys think? Any suggestions or comments? Am I on the right track?

I'm working on smoothing out the terrain around the river in the upper left, that shorter mountain in the center needs some detail work, and the islands need to be flattened a bit - some of the stuff got messed up a bit in the changeover...

[brtim2 10]

Well I must say you have seen the track and you are most definitaly on it.

I like the layout and the way the mountians go from left to right, just the look I was looking for. It's a great start (or is it in the middle somewhere?) and I agree some of the mountains do need a little work. But that is what I am looking for and so now, I'm assuming, it's all in the details now.

lookin' good.

[lookinin 2]

Revision 4:


I think I got that mountain worked out pretty well - looks more complete having it continue across the other side... a bit of smoothing in the top left and in general around the region to take care of some hard edges I'd left. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[brtim2 10]

Any suggestions? nope.
Any thoughts? looks good. In fact, I'd take it right now if you weren't already planning on making another revision. It looks good and I can already envision my cities across the map.

[RadioheadFan 1]

Well, anyone can see you've put a ton of work into this map. The detail shown in the mountains and rivers is amazing, this map is going to be a must-have when it hits the STEX!

RHF

[lookinin 2]

I myself had no more thoughts on it - I meant those were things that I'd done - sorry if I wasn't clear. So if you're ready, I'll do a final render without the terrain mod, then release it!

And thank you again for assisting me so much with the development process. This was definately a fun challenge for me I learned quite a bit making this map!

Edit: And thank you RHF!

Edit2: btw brtim2, do you have any suggestions for a title? I don't want to call it Harrisburg since that might be misleading to those looking for accurate scale regions.

[lookinin 2]

Okay, I've decided to call this region Susquehanna Water Gap, and it's been released and should be available momentarily! I hope you all like it - let me know if you do

Here is a shot of the final render:



Thanks everyone!

[MallowTheCloud 41]

It is obvious that you spent a lot of time and energy making this map just right. And the results?

Amazing!


You deserve bunnies!!!

Great work!

[lookinin 2]

Aww! How cute! *pats the bunnies on the head*

Thanks Mallow, I truly appreciate it!

[RadioheadFan 1]

Really, really awesome! Following this first project of yours as a Mapp Squadder has been really cool, and it turned out so well. As Mallow said...

 

BUNNIES!

 

 

Great work once again!

 

RHF

[brtim2 10]

Thanks again lookinin. I downloaded, rendered, and played the map. It plays great.

Thanks again for making the map.

[lookinin 2]

Thanks brtim2! You're quite welcome and I'm glad you're happy with it - it seems to be a great success! When I saw what you wanted, I had to give it a try - a nice challange for my first Mapp Squad map!

My next project, I think, is going to be either Lycoming County, PA or Bradford County, PA - I'm waiting to hear back from someone who requested via PM. If I don't hear from them, I think I'll do Wysox, PA - Bradford County...

Thanks for the support everyone, and more bunnies from RHF - Thanks dude!

[lookinin 2]

Sorry for the constant double posting and spamming the forum - I hope it's okay that I'm so busy with it

Here's a preview of Wycox, PA - requested by euphonial - any thoughts? You know, I try to get lots of detail with ponds & lakes, but they look horrible in higher terrains, so I try to smooth & lower the terrain in those general areas. I don't think I'll be able to do that this time... Should I edit them out?

euphonial, if you're out there Please let me know what you think and feel free to make any suggestions.



Edit: Correction: WySox, PA, not WyCox, PA

[RadioheadFan 1]

*jaw drops*

WOW!

 

I love that map! It's so cool, with like a river valley surrounded by higher terrain...I'd love to use that as a rural region! A ducky for you, sir!

 

 

RHF

[lookinin 2]

Thanks RHF! Glad you like it! I'm gonna give euphonial a couple days, and if I don't hear from him, I'll release it as is... maybe without the lakes, not sure yet...

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Yeah, I like to keep as many lakes in as possible, but when they get out of hand (like many of the ones in the mountains there) I don't really have any other choice but to just get rid of them.

If only SC4 allowed lakes at higher elevations than sea level.


My suggestion would be to take most of those lakes out.

[lookinin 2]

Date: 6/23/2005 12:52:02 PM
Author: MallowTheCloud
If only SC4 allowed lakes at higher elevations than sea level.

quote>

*sigh* yes, if only....

My suggestion would be to take most of those lakes out.

quote>

I completely agree with you, so here's a new version. Notice how it looks sharper than the previous one? Maybe I did a blur at some point that didn't get saved... Which one do you guys think looks better (besides the lakes)?