Terraforming for SC3 using SC4

[Cool_Z 1,547]

The map tools in SC3 are quite poor... so I looked at what other tools existed...

There are lots of them actually, but if you're here you might be familiar with one already... SimCity 4.

I first looked how to export a sc4 map to a heightmap... and it wasn't straightforward. Using the tools I found I was only able to get a 16bit greyscale map, and the scale was really different... It requires a few correction layers to get the scale right in SC3. Oh and also photoshop proves to be an awful tool when you need absolute precision... I already knew that but here I had an absolute proof).

For now I think I have the land values right. Everything under the base ground level will need more tweaking (SC3 has only 30 levels there, while SC4 has about 80...)

Also... the textures REALLY need to be bettered  (but they'll never be as good as in SC4 )

[CorinaMarie 29,934]

On 6/8/2017 at 9:04 PM, Cool_Z said:

The map tools in SC3 are quite poor...

Yep. And without a slope mod I've decided I'd likely use a mostly flat terrain and simply tweak it for how I want the landmass shapes and where the rivers, lakes, and ocean goes. You might recall I did one quickie import test:

 

On 6/8/2017 at 9:04 PM, Cool_Z said:

Also... the textures REALLY need to be bettered

And you are working on that.