Water Level Issue

[Al Postpone 0]

I've downloaded and generated several STEX .jpg regions without problem. There is a problem when I attempt to generate my own grayscale image.

First, .jpg files (I've saved myself) never render at all. The computer does not even try, no error, nothing. Quality level does not seem to matter either.

Second, while generating from .bmp and .png is succesful, all maps have water levels too high. Brightening map interstingly doesn't move waterline (horizontally) at all, but instead rises water level to match previous coast, generally resulting 85% of map under water. A few maps have been generated semi-properly, but at the moment waterline seems to be random, and I can't trace a reason nor pattern to it. In older threads it was suggested that water level should set at about 84 RGB, but a recent test brought it to 219 RGB, with massive trench in south end of the map. Any ideas?

All maps so far have been made by Paint.NET. The results have been pleasing (enough) except for water level, and if possible, I would not like to resort to new tools.

Thank you for your attention.

Edit: In summary, what defines water level and how can I set it properly for drawn grayscale maps?

[tungston 19]

It sounds like you have a height mod in the plugins folder.  The import.dat is the most common one.

You should use 8 bit, 256 color jpg format.

RGB= 0: 252 meters (827 feet) below sea level
RGB= 84: Sea level
RGB= 255: 513 meters (1683 feet) above sea level

Other elevation values:

RGB= 50: 102 meters (335 feet) below sea level
RGB=100: 48 meters (157 feet) above sea level
RGB= 150: 198 meters (650 feet) above sea level
RGB= 200: 348 meters (1142 feet) above sea level

with import.dat
    RGB=10 very deep water
    RGB=25 about sea level
    RGB=35 about one god mode level about sea level

Other than that I don't have an idea of what is causing the issue.