Creating a new region

[Liltiger67 57]

I have a question....

I've been dabbling with creating my own regions and I have noticed that once the region is ready to play and imported, the first time I load it, the graphics are unusual.

However, once I go into each city and then save it, they look normal.

I've attached a photo to show my progress in one of the regions I'm working on.

Can anyone tell my why this is happening?

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

That's normal when using maps created with Mapper and/or Terraformer. They just assign colors for the elevations whereas once you enter the city tile in the game, the full set of Terrain, Rock, Water, Water Sides (if you have them), and Beach textures are applied. (Those can also be Maxis defaults as it appears you are using.)

[Liltiger67 57]

Is there a map program that will work better for this?

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Nope. Those two are the very best.

Maxis does have its own method wherein you can render an 8-bit grayscale image into a region and it'll have the terrain, water, beach, and rock textures built-in, but it is limited to 3 meter increments and 765 total meters difference from the lowest to highest point. Additionally, large maps using the Maxis method can take half an hour to several hours to render depending on the size. The maps I've made (and put on the STEX) are this type. While decent, they simply cannot compare to the range Mapper and Terraformer can handle. Plus Mapper and Terraformer offer one-tenth of a meter increments for much smoother elevation changes.

This means the recoloring is a necessary evil you have to do by hand going into and out of each city tile and saving as you do.

[ussoldier2002 109]

I'm a bit surprised nobody has designed something like mapper that doesn't require you going in and out of each city to get the correct look. But yes, it is a necessary evil. I like to create large regions and, believe me, it is a real pain.