How to create mountains

[zziobs 0]

Hello This is my very first post. So apologize en advance for any mistakes I have made

I have been working on a maps in image editor, I'm done with the all the coastlines and lakes and rivers. But I cant figure out the way to make mountains, hill etc. I want to do it as detailed as all of pro maps on this site.

I do all the coastlines and rivers BY HAND which takes a lot of time. And you can understand my frustration of map not having hilly terrain and map being flat and incomplete. 

I use free image editor Paint dot net so can anyone plz, plz suggest me a brush for Paint dot net that can do mountains. Plz recommend plugins that will help doing maps.

Another problem I face is that whenever I load map in Sim City 4 everything appears well below the sea level. So all of map needs an extra revamp to be useful. So can someone give greyscale hightchart in hex or RGB.

[un1 40]

The best program to use is Gimp 2. The whiter the black is, the higher the elevation. The blacker the black the lower it is. So if you want a really tall mountain, put white where you want and smudge it out so you get cliffs that aren't to steep. Fool around a bit, it takes some time to find the perfect colour.

For your second problem, simply raise the terrain in SC4Terraformer.

[Fee_Nicks 7]

I'd say use GIMP 2 as well; it's what I use whenever I make greyscale maps. The above applies, but rivers and collections of hills are best made with the Dodge/Burn tool (Dodge for higher elevation, Burn for lower). Mess around with the exposure, brush type, and other settings to see what fits best for what you're trying to do.

[zziobs 0]

Thanks for the tips. Smudging helps.

But how come maps from this site appear properly in Sim City 4 and mine appear below sea level. I need those greyscale codes in Hex or RGB e.g. xxxxxx for Sealevel xxxxxx for Beach xxxxxx for Lowland xxxxxxx Hills xxxxxx Mountains.

Or else how do other people make maps ? the ones that are shared in STEX what do they use to create that Greyscale image.

[tungston 19]

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

[zziobs 0]

Thank you very much for the codes. It will be helpful to convert current maps to proper heights.