lookinins Mapp Squad maps

[MallowTheCloud 41]

I dunno, they're pretty similar, but I think I prefer the first one, sans-lakes of course... I hope I'm not making you work too hard on this.

[lookinin 2]

Not at all Mallow, that only took me a few minutes and I ask because I appreciate your advice and the opinions of the group in general . I keep a copy of the basic map, then a seperate copy of the water, and I keep the revisions as I go, so it's usually fairly simple to make adjustments. So thanks I just hope I'm not a bother to you folks!

Still waiting on euphonial too, so I'm taking my time with it...

[lookinin 2]

Hi guys, Wysox will be released in just a few minutes - here is a pic of the final version:



I figured out the smoothing problem - GIMP must optimize and blur much more than irfanview when you scale an image, so it appears to be smoothed out, even tho it's really not.

ephonial: if you decide to check in here, since I haven't heard from you, I just went ahead and released one of your two requests - please let me know if it's okay for you, and if not, we'll work it out. I still need details to fill the second portion of your request.

I hope you all enjoy Wysox, PA

Assuming no one is working on this request all ready (it doesn't appear so), my next map will be a request by xePh3roK for Vienna, Austria. It'll be my first International map, so let's hope this goes okay

[RadioheadFan 1]

Looking good my friend! Can't wait to see what your version of Vienna is going to look like, and Wysox is excellent! Keep up the great work!

RHF

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Great job as always!

[xePh3roK 0]

Hey lookinin, thanks for your advance!

[lookinin 2]

Hi there, thanks for checking in

I have a preview version ready for you to check out- I am sorry to say that there is a good chance that you will have to do a small amount of hand terraforming to get a completely accurate region due to how simcity handles waterways at city borders. I usually leave city borders on for preview shots so that you can see it, but in this case, I forgot ... but do you see the spots where there is water thru the division between the river and the canal? They shouldn't be there... Donau Kanal(?) is quite a bit wider than it should be, and there's a couple other small defects, but I'm about 85% happy with what I have here so far.

Please feel free to make suggestions or to let me know if I missed anything important.



Edit: I don't know if you use a terrain mod or not - but it looks 10x better with Cycledogg's terrain mod than no mod at all, which is why it looks so green if you're not familiar with it. I'd highly recommend using it with this region!

[RadioheadFan 1]

Looking good! Your regions really sparkle with CD's mod, and Vienna is no exception. I really like it so far, keep it up!

RHF

[scififan68 23]

Very nice.Just perfect. good Job!

[lookinin 2]

Thanks scififan68! Glad you like it!

RHF: I think just about any region would sparkle with that mod Thanks, glad you like it, and thanks for the off-ST help as well.

[xePh3roK 0]

exellent work lookinin!
Well, here are my suggestions:



The water spot, between the Donau-river and the Donaukanal shouldn't connect with the Donau-river.

(1)
you should connect the island (because the island between the Donau-river and the neue Donau is a island.

(2)
the alte Donau is a lake, it should connect with the neue Donau.

by the way, is it possible to make the Terrain abit bigger?
if it isn't possible, please forget it ^^
and yes sorry for my bad english, i know it's bad lol

[lookinin 2]

Thank you xePh3rok! And don't worry about your English, it's great!

For #1, Like I mentioned above, it is actually connected, but when the game renders the map, it causes water to be there when it shouldn't be at city borders. I'm still working on it, and by making the island higher, I might be able to work around it.

#2: Are you saying the alte Donau shouldn't connect? I was looking at a satillite photo, and I couldn't tell if there was land between it and the neue Donau or if that was a bridge.

As for the terrain, I can make it higher, but which exactly do you want higher? At its highest point, the mountain range is about 370 meters above the flatland around the canal. I can go to 516m without an import plugin, and quite a bit higher than that with a plugin. If you mean the terrain in general (ie. banks of the canal higher), I can do that too - just let me know which

Thanks again! Glad you like it so far!

[xePh3roK 0]

ops lol...
yes the Alte Donau doesn't connect with the Neue Donau, because it's a lake...
between the Alte Donau and the Neue Donau is a dam.

No, i dont want it higher ^^
i want it bigger, because of the big shopping center (south)
and the airport (southeast).

[lookinin 2]

Ah, okay, I'll get those fixes done then

Sorry I misunderstood you about the size. Could you tell me exactly how big? Right now it's 16km NS by 16km EW.

[xePh3roK 0]

is it possible to do 20km NS by 20km EW?

[lookinin 2]

Absolutely - and that's a nice round number which would make it 5 large cities by 5 large cities. That's no problem at all And one final detail to make sure I understand, please correct me if I'm wrong - what I currently have would be shifted to the NW of the canvas and the only new terrain would be in the S, SE, and E?

[xePh3roK 0]

yes, please add the new terrain in S, SE & SE

[lookinin 2]

Okay, I've made the region bigger - 20km by 20km, and overcome much of the city border issues, though you will likely still have to touch a few spots up by hand. Let me know what you think:



Edit: Also, could someone refresh my memory about the rules regarding previews of maps? When I'm ready to release this, can I show a pic of this with Cycledogg's mod? I thought not, but have noticed a few with mods on them, so now I'm not sure.

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Date: 6/27/2005 8:41:24 PM
Author: lookinin
Also, could someone refresh my memory about the rules regarding previews of maps? When I'm ready to release this, can I show a pic of this with Cycledogg's mod? I thought not, but have noticed a few with mods on them, so now I'm not sure.

quote>

Well, I'm too lazy to look it up , but I always used the snowcapped mod and a water color mod, so I don't think it really makes a difference. It might be nice, though, to mention in the description that you are using Cycledogg's Terrain Mod.

Oh, and the map is awesome! I think the requester will be very grateful.

[xePh3roK 0]

omg, great! i love it hehe...

thanks again lookinin!

[lookinin 2]

Mallow: Thanks very much, but after some thought, I think I'll go with the flow and not use the mod for the preview :/

xePh3roK: Glad you like the map - I'm going to release it in a day or two because there have been LOTS of maps released just lately. Sorry to make you wait for it!

[lookinin 2]

Vienna, Austria has been released and should show up on the STEX within a few minutes. Thanks xePh3roK, for being patient and helpful!

For completeness, here's the preview as it was uploaded without the terrain mod:

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Great job again, lookinin!

[tijn21 2]

Vienna looks really good!!!!  Lookinin, great work on the Donau too!!!

[lookinin 2]

Thanks to both of you! I appreciate your constant support! I haven't reached a decision on what I'm doing next - probably something fictional...

[xePh3roK 0]

For some reasons i can't import the map into Sim City 4.
I created a new folder called Vienna, then i put the config file into the region folder and started the game.
I choosed Vienna and used the CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+R combination and clicked on the vienna jpg file... and nothing happens, why?

i didnt create the folder in my sim city main direction...

please help me

[MallowTheCloud 41]

I have had that problem before and it can be extremely frustrating.


I still haven't figured out why, but for some strange reason, SC4 thinks some images aren't quite greyscale jpg files... I don't really understand it either.

The solution? Well, the only way I've ever found to solve it is to edit the map. All you have to do is open it up in an image-viewer, like IrfanView... then increase the color depth, then decrease it back to a greyscale jpg. Then save it as a greyscale jpg. There is an option, for example, in IrfanView, that while saving the file you can check a box to 'save as greyscale jpg'. Make sure that's checked in this case!

Another thing you could try is to use the 'Load, Resize, and Convert Terrain' feature in the Landscape Designer (found on the STEX)... though this can lead to a small loss in quality.

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Sorry for the double post:

I attached a version of Vienna here. Try it out, and if it doesn't work, try my suggestions above.

[lookinin 2]

Sorry guys, I was afk all day and just got home - did you get it working xePh3roK?

[the_new_simman 5]

Great maps lookinin! Sorry I haven't posted yet, I guess I forgot. I see a custom label in your future.