Custom Region Creation Problem

[jandeczentar 0]

Appologies if this has already been covered by someone else.  I created a greyscale heightmap in Photoshop:

http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nuuk4.png

I saved it in a folder, loaded up SC4: Deluxe and created a new region.  I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R to bring up the menu to select the grescale map.  I select it and the game goes to the "Creating New Region" screen where it is supposed to terraform each area to the specifications of the heightmap.  The problem is that when it has finished I end up with this...

http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=newregion1236362280.png

...which is not exactly what I was aiming for.

Does anyone know what's wrong?

I have already tried re-installing the game and removing all mods, add-ons and updates.  Neither corrected the problem.

My Computer's specs are: Pentium D 3.4Ghz (Dual Core), 4GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 8500 GT Graphics Card (1024MB Memory), 74.5GB Hard Drive and Page file Min: 580MB, Max: 4311MB.

Thanks in advance to anyone who knows the answer. 

[jandeczentar 0]

Sorry about the links. I've never actually done this before. If you copy and paste them to your address bar it should work fine.

[Sam 163]

Welcome to Simtropolis.

I think you must have had some other program running or you were working with your computer while rendering and it was interrupted. A render must not be interrupted by anything. This includes you switching to another screen and working while its rendering or letting a background program run during the render. Switch off all background programs like email checks, virus scans, screensavers etc. Leave your computer alone while it renders (go get a coffee or watch some tv for 20 minutes or so).

Also, if you need to add something to one of your forum posts, please don't add a second post straight after your first. Use the edit button (below right of your post) to make changes. Otherwise we see the thread already has a reply and think someone else has answered your question already and move on.

There's a bug in the links. When you add them, you have to go back in to each one, edit the link, change the type back to http (not javascript) and re-paste the url into the dialog box. Otherwise you get this error. Unfortunately you seem to have to do this every time you add a link to your posts.

[jandeczentar 0]

Thanks for the advice Sam. Unfortunately, shutting down all background programs had no effect so I wonder if you or anyone else has any other suggestions for solving this problem.

[tungston 19]

When you post images in the forums please use the jpg format.

If png is the format you used to render the region, that won't work, they must be 8 bit, 256 color grayscale jpg.

[jandeczentar 0]

Tried changing the format of the heightmap to jpg as Tungston suggested but the problem persists. I don't know. Maybe I should give up and use one of the game's default maps instead.

[Sam 163]

There must be something still running. I assume you used the Task Manager to check?

Also, use your graphics editor to check that the jpg or bmp file really is true greyscale. Often when saving as a jpg graphics editors automatically change it to 16.7 million colours. However this normally results in different symptoms to what you are describing.

[jandeczentar 0]

I did use the task manager to check. Just in case I had missed something the first time, I did it again, shutting down absolutely everything except those programs necessary to keep the computer running. The result was the same. I also tried using third party heightmaps (thinking maybe my own one was the problem) but that didn't work either. I'm beginning to think that my copy of the game is defective and that I'm going to need a replacement.

[jandeczentar 0]

Thinking that my copy of the game was defective, I brought a new copy and completely replaced the old one with the new. It still doesn't work. I tried changing the heightmap by making the land a lighter shade of grey so it would stick out more and it worked...partially (see picture).

http://img61.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nuuk1236860376.png

Still doesn't explain why it completly ignores some parts of the map though.

[tungston 19]

Sometimes when a jpg is resized it loses enough imformation that SC4 can't compensate. I don't know if that is the reason for the failure to render. Some of the maps on the STEX do have problems with the grayscale.