Downloaded region not rendering

[Tazerzly 0]

Hello, I'm unsure of where to post this, so I'll try here. I made a region using.png height map and a config (proportions are correct (64xregionsize+1)) but my region isn't rendering. I created a new folder in the SimCity 4 regions folder. I put in the config and the .png when I went to the region, I pressed Contr+Alt+Shift+R, like you would, then I navigated the menu and attempted to load the png, from there the dialogue closed and it left me with an empty region, with no signs of anything happening. I've  used downloaded regions before without any real issue, but now I'm not even getting the 'rendering' pop up, what's going on?

[CorinaMarie 29,556]

Spoiler

1 hour ago, Tazerzly said:

I'm unsure of where to post this, so I'll try here.

Speaking with my moderator hat on: Here's just fine. Or in the General Discussion. (I tend to use that forum cause more peeps view it.)

 

1 hour ago, Tazerzly said:

I've  used downloaded regions before without any real issue, but now I'm not even getting the 'rendering' pop up, what's going on?

I've rendered regions from .bmp and .jpg so I know the process you are using. I'll ask my dumb question to get it out of the way: Does the game even recognize .png images? (I've not tried one of those.) You know it's the right pixel size cause you didn't get a message about that. The fact that it just dropped back to the blank region after entering the file name suggests it didn't like something about the image.

My initial times with this type of problem turned out to be I had all grayscale pixels in my image and so it looked like grayscale but I forgot to convert it from RGB. Is that a possibility for yours? And did you save it as 8 bit?

[Yarahi 1,816]

@CorinaMarie apparently .png can be recognized by the game.. at least according to @cogeo here; 

@Tazerzly check the above thread, maybe some clues there about what is wrong

[CrybKeeper 32]

14 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Speaking with my moderator hat on: Here's just fine. Or in the General Discussion. (I tend to use that forum cause more peeps view it.)

 

I've rendered regions from .bmp and .jpg so I know the process you are using. I'll ask my dumb question to get it out of the way: Does the game even recognize .png images? (I've not tried one of those.) You know it's the right pixel size cause you didn't get a message about that. The fact that it just dropped back to the blank region after entering the file name suggests it didn't like something about the image.

My initial times with this type of problem turned out to be I had all grayscale pixels in my image and so it looked like grayscale but I forgot to convert it from RGB. Is that a possibility for yours? And did you save it as 8 bit?

Hi CorinaMarie,

Thank you for being patient with me  I figured out my issue(I think anyway) - The grey scale image needs to be exact pixels as the region pixels. In my case, the gray scale needs to be 1025x1025. I was previously attempting to use an grey RPG(nothing happens). Next, I tried an 8 bit, grey scale, that was only 256x256 and got the error message.

 

I will try this again, using an exact, 1025x1025, 8 bit, grey scale and it should work okay.

[CorinaMarie 29,556]

1 minute ago, CrybKeeper said:

I will try this again, using an exact, 1025x1025, 8 bit, grey scale and it should work okay.

Post back and let us know how it goes.

And: Not to toot my own horn (well, yeah I am), but you might also like a tutorial I wrote.

[CrybKeeper 32]

4 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

Post back and let us know how it goes.

And: Not to toot my own horn (well, yeah I am), but you might also like a tutorial I wrote.

It all works now Corina. The issue I am having: I wanted to make a grey scale image, that was completely accurate right down to every pixel. This would eliminate hours of terraforming, city by city, to get an accurate result. I finally figured out the exact height levels for the landscape. I wanted to make a region that is just above sea level, with exact canals just below sea level. Making the grey scale image took quite a bit of time, but SC4 just will not get it exactly accurate.

 

These images will show what I am attempting to accomplish:

 

ZOOM in to one of my pre-measured, 128 pixel medium cities:

 

 

[CrybKeeper 32]

Love your tutorial! Clouds make excellent landscapes.

I am a licensed Adobe artist and DAZ Studios, so I may eventually figure this out. Might need to delve into the games graphic mechanics a bit. Maybe 8 bit grey scales can be modified to 16 bit, for better accuracy. The game is in 32 bit, so why not go up to that?

[CorinaMarie 29,556]

On 5/21/2017 at 1:55 PM, CrybKeeper said:

Maybe 8 bit grey scales can be modified to 16 bit, for better accuracy.

I have my doubts that the in game renderer part can deal with 16 bit grayscale, but check out the linkys to other map making programs in the first post of my tutorial. I believe some of them can work with 16 bit files and then they create the city tile files themself. Also, there's some detailed information in this thread (in the forum I met you in) which might be useful.

 

On 5/21/2017 at 1:17 PM, CrybKeeper said:

SC4 just will not get it exactly accurate.

You may very well need to turn off all the weathering and erosion effects using iLive's Reader. Here's the exemplar you'd be playing with:

Good luck. And let us know of any wonderful discoveries you make during your investigations.