MallowTheCloud

Well... definately keep it rough, as you don't want to lose small terrain features. Here's a pretty good tool to just darken the lighter areas. I explain how to do it in my tutorial... I'll copy the important part here: Author: MallowTheCloud Now, on the pallette, select the option used to see all the colors that are used. If the lowest one is 30 for each RGB, good. This is usually the case in areas near the ocean. But, Las Vegas is not near the ocean, so the lowest used is 56 of each RGB. That's 26 above what we want... so first, deselect the used filter. Now, double click on the lowest used one (56) and change it to 30 for each RGB. Now, we need to also subtract 26 from the highest used (168 in this example)... so we need to change that one to 142. Next, left click on the lowest used (now 30) and right click on the highest used (now 142) so you have both selected. In the upper right corner of the pallette box, there is a handy gradient tool to fade from your left click selected color to your right click selected color. Click this. quote> This isn't EXACTLY pertaining to your problem, but it shows how you can change the gradient. Make sure your lowest land areas are near 83 or 84... but don't change any of the greys below that (underwater). I hope this isn't too confusing.

Date: 1/5/2006 11:17:28 PM Author: ephorex_77 *pops head in*... O....k....errr...right...Skip a few days off from ST, and this what I see when I come back...whew.. Anyway, just to reconfirm. Is debating differences in religion here considered 'bashing'?? I think I've done it reasonably respecfully, and respect is what ST demands of us. So, I hope it's acceptable. Also, what is the point of this thread?? I've got debating...I've got support...and I've got sharing. 3 options, each supported by various members who post in here. I'm a little confused. The closet is to discuss 'gay stuff' as zel put it. Is this thread for discussing 'religious stuff' then?? Until then, I'll join simman on the sidelines and hope the flames go out.quote> Hey, Ephorex! I think that debating differences in religion is perfectly fine. However, when a person claims other religions are downright wrong... or directly insults another religion in any way... I think that's what's unacceptable. I don't think you haven't said anything here that the admins would consider unacceptable. Don't quote me on that, though.

Hmm... well, your original appears pretty good, except that the coast (as you said) is too... for lack of a better term... rough. What you could do to fix that is to darken the land parts of the map in an image editor. Just darken them down to where the lowest land is at about 83 greyscale-wise.

Date: 1/5/2006 6:11:12 PM Author: deadwoods Date: 1/5/2006 11:39:31 AM Author: dev ...People have told me that my God isn't real in this thread, why can't I say a religion is under a facade? I am just very confused at how things are being judged in this thread. quote> I don't think anyone has said your God isn't real. Many people, such as myself, have said they don't believe in a God, or the God you believe in. They aren't mocking you for your beliefs, only stating their own. Accepting that other people have beliefs different to ones own is the point here.quote> Precisely what I would have said... Dev, I don't think anybody here has said your God isn't real. They have simply stated their own beliefs regarding their religion, and sometimes why those beliefs differ from those of others on the board. Not to flat out say other religions are wrong, but to say that's not what they believe. Your statements about wolves in sheeps clothings and facades are direct jabs at other religions. I hope I made it clearer for you, dev...

Date: 12/29/2005 7:43:39 AM Author: tungston Date: 12/26/2005 8:42:02 PM Author: blade2k5 After I do the ctrl+alt+shift-r, click on the jpg image file, click open and the little box disappears and did nothing.  Even after doing a reboot of the pc and reloading the game several times. After I posted earlier, I loaded the game up and rendered a map I recently downloaded. It rendered with no problems.  For the heck of it I loaded up my latest region, gave it another go and this time it renedered.  Go figure.  Musta been a glitch in the system. Anyways, if you can still figure out what was wrong, I'd still like to know and I appreciate the helpquote> A problem I have had is when I click on the file name in the tree, it doesn't copy into the name box below. I have to type it in. Something to look at anyway.quote> Cool! I'll keep that in mind next time someone has this problem! Thanks for pointing it out.

I saw in a forum on Simtropolis once that somebody had found a way to change the elevation at which SC4 imports greyscales. For example, I have a map that goes all the way from black to white, but white on my greyscale is not even close to the highest elevation when it is imported in to SC4. I want higher mountains. I have searched for hours in the forums, the omnibus, and modding files to find how to do this, but I can't find it. Like I said, I had read somewhere that this was possible. Please, help!

Date: 1/4/2006 1:21:52 AM Author: Cjah Date: 1/4/2006 1:13:53 AM Author: Slabrankle I'm baptist, but think that the bible should not be taken literally. Also I believe that the Big Bang and evolution have too much information to be untrue. quote> Hmm well if you want to get into it those things you mention are only theories..... Big Bang and Evolution could be as untrue as it is held true by sciencetists..... Even though I belive Evolution....quote> The big bang theory is still in its very early stages, and there are many questions yet to be answered regarding it. However, to call evolution only a theory is like calling gravity only a theory. It's true that scientifically they are theories, and as such, could be disproven given enough evidence. However, the likelihood of that (for both evolution AND gravity) is slim. 1 The word theory, in the context of science, does not imply uncertainty. It means a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena ( Barnhart 1948 ). In the case of the theory of evolution, the following are some of the phenomena involved. All are facts: * Life appeared on earth more than two billion years ago; * Life forms have changed and diversified over life's history; * Species are related via common descent from one or a few common ancestors; * Natural selection is a significant factor affecting how species change. Many other facts are explained by the theory of evolution as well. 2 The theory of evolution has proved itself in practice. It has useful applications in epidemiology, pest control, drug discovery, and other areas (Bull and Wichman 2001; Eisen and Wu 2002; Searls 2003). 3 Besides the theory, there is the fact of evolution, the observation that life has changed greatly over time. The fact of evolution was recognized even before Darwin's theory. The theory of evolution explains the fact.

Date: 1/3/2006 10:21:19 PM Author: SamFlash Thanks Mallow, I'll give it a try. I just noticed your map making instructions at the top of the forum. I probably should read it. As you can tell I've never made it to this forum before. I appreciate your help. I'll let you know what happens. quote> No problem. I'll be waiting to make sure it works.

Date: 1/3/2006 2:36:15 AM Author: sam Excellent, thanks very much for that Mallow. I will try that out ASAP. Thanks again for the great tutorial.quote> No problem! Let me know if it works. I saw where you got the 4000 from (regarding the import.dat) and have fixed it. I didn't realize I had made that mistake. Thanks for pointing it out!

Date: 1/3/2006 6:26:37 PM Author: SamFlash Blank is fine. How about 3 1X1's in small, medium and large? Are they hard to do? Can I learn how to do this? Thanks Mallow.quote> No, they're not hard to do at all. There's another thread that was posted a little after yours about almost the exact same topic... but I'll describe it for you. To set up your own configuration of cities, all you have to do is make a config.bmp file. Open up MS Paint (or any other image creating tool), and change the size of the picture to however big the region is going to be. For example, a 3x3 region of small cities would be 3x3 pixels. A 3x3 region of medium cities would be 6x6 pixels (two small cities per medium city). A 3x3 region of large cities would be 12x12 pixels (four small cities per large city). Now, simply color it in. Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Red is for small cities, and they are 1x1 pixel. Green is for medium cities, and they are 2x2 pixels. Blue is for large cities, and they are 4x4 pixels. So if you have a region of 3x3 large cities, the config.bmp file would be 12x12 pixels and filled with blue. A region of 3x3 medium cities would have a config.bmp that is 6x6 pixels and filled with green. A region of 3x3 small cities would have a config.bmp that is 3x3 pixels and filled with red. Save the file as 'config.bmp' Finally, create a new region folder in your C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\SimCity 4\Regions\ directory, name the folder whatever you want the region to be named, and place the correct config.bmp in the folder. If there's anything confusing about this, let me know and I'll try to clarify it. I hope this helps!

Date: 1/3/2006 3:48:38 PM Author: thatmonkeysim prolly because you dont get rain any other time of the year lol quote> Hehe, yep, pretty much.

Date: 1/3/2006 2:19:31 AM Author: Praetorian Cohort Date: 1/2/2006 11:44:48 PM Author: dev And for your 30,000 plus denominations from above, think, that most likely includes Mormons, Someones Witnesses, and other wolf in sheep's clothing religions.quote> That's a good example of how I'm bashed for my religion. I am occasionally told that my religion is led by greedy old men, that we worship the devil, or that we're a cult. To answer the question asked by the thread's creator, I normally just ignore it. It doesn't bother me too much.quote> Interesting that it is those of other Christian faiths who bash you, and not those who are non-Christian. Or do they, too, occasionally bash you?

Do you just need a blank map? Or do you actually need maps with landforms? If you just need a blank map, tell me how you want it and I'll make you a config.bmp file...

Date: 12/23/2005 11:38:42 PM Author: topcats69 hi, New poster here so bear with me I was going to the NASA source for images and noticed the one list in the walkthru is incorrect- it is now ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov and there is a version one and two of the data. If this info is not correct please delete this. quote> Thanks a BUNCH! I, too, realized that the USGS site was down, and have been looking for the new one for a couple weeks. I am glad you posted this, and have updated the tutorial to include the new information. Date: 1/2/2006 3:25:39 AM Author: sam I think these are the values for the unmodded game (?), which are what I have previously used, however height is limited to 348? m and many real world locations exceed this. I know there are mods to alter the sea level, maximum import height and step level (height per greyscale shade), one of which is quoted in the above tutorial. I've been trying to follow the first part of the tutorial above with the mod in place, but I'm confused with the callibration of the greyscales so the heights of the terrains are accurate. I'm assuming its saying with the import.dat mod in place water is a grey value of 20 or less (0 m ?), the lowest land is a grey value 30 (approx, 10m ?) and the step is approximately 9.783 m (from the mod file). Yet the maximum height set in the tutorial is 4000 m? If someone could provide me with the greyscale values/real world heights of the following points I would be very grateful. The italicized values are the ones I am unsure of: Greyscale 20?: Sealevel Greyscale 26-30?: Lowest Land Greyscale 255: 4000 m? (or 2211 m?) (Highest altitute in metres) Step value: 9.783 m ? per shade of grey (Image Import Scale Factor?) I prefer to use different software and methods to create my maps but the mod above would be very useful to me, if I can get the necessary reference points for callibration. Thanks for your help. And thanks for going to the trouble of writing a very detailed tutorial. I got quite a few good ideas from it edit: I have checked the thread where the mod was researched but there seems to be some relevant information that was not recorded there. Thanks again quote> Indeed those were the values for the unmodded game. The easiest method for what you're trying to do might be to use my mod pack... Each mod (ignoring import.dat) is named for the highest elevation (greyscale white)... here's some more information for each mod. (Mx Hgt ASL = Max Height Above Sea Level, ISF = Import Scale Factor... which is the change in meters per step) For the import.dat file, I believe the numbers are something like this: Greyscale ~25: Sea Level Greyscale 26+: Land Greyscale 255: ~2250m (Highest Altitude) Step value: 9.783m per shade of grey (Image Import Scale Factor)

Welcome one and all to the wonderous land of ... EternalYamcha and MallowTheCloud (myself) will work together to explain in great detail how the country of Duthford came to be, describing important people and cities as we take you through its history. It may be 2006 here, but for the planet containing Duthford, it is only 1501. The land that will later come to be called Duthford is all but unheard of. However, that will soon change, as the first islands near the mainland have only to wait a little longer before they're discovered by explorers. Stay tuned for the first chapter of The History of Duthford: The Age of Discovery!

Date: 1/1/2006 5:21:12 PM Author: mike5931 I am not sure on what you are trying to achieve (metropolis, small town), but I would mix some low-residential around what you already have built. Add some parks and maybe a farm or two. Happy fun and can't wait to see what you will do next! Good Luck! P.S. I like that pink building! LOLquote> This is actually the REAL skyline of downtown Portland, Oregon, and he's done a GREAT job! Keep it up!

Date: 1/1/2006 4:17:51 AM Author: mcarch Yup! We have Kentucky Blue Grass growing... well not growin... its winter...quote> We don't have Kentucky Bluegrass in Oregon... I dunno what we use. But for us, it grows most in Winter.

GMT -8:00 I believe.

Date: 12/31/2005 8:05:37 AM Author: ephorex_77 jamie: Thank you for your kind words. It's nice to see hours and hours of reading can really make a difference in one's convictions and knowledge. Anyway, we truly can't 'prove' that one religion is more right than another (when it comes to non-Christian religions anyway). But with the numerous miracles and other unexplained things happening, as well as the fact that Christianity is the largest faith in the world (and for much of the world's developed history), those really show that it's not a religion of man. Zoom in further and you can see that the same applies to the Catholic Church as opposed to other Christian denominations...quote> A toss of the dice? I wouldn't say that. I would say, however, that Christianity, in the form of Catholicism, has not gained power because of spirituality. From what I have read of history, Catholicism has gained power mostly because of force. As for miracles, I find it telling that never once has a supposed miracle occured that could not have a scientific or psychological explanation... at least not one that I have seen. I also disagree with your earlier presumption that went something like this: If there's a 50/50 chance that Christianity is right, and a person will go to hell if they do not believe, why would any sane person not be a Christian? I disagree with this for a simple reason. The presumption it's based upon has absolutely no validity. Who decided the chance that Christianity is correct is 50/50? With the number of religions on Earth, I'd suggest it's far less. So then, at least to me, the question becomes... am I going to spend time following a religion that I have no reason to believe over other religions? For me, that answer is no. I hope I didn't get personal. And Happy New Year!

I might as well post my opinion on the matter... I am agnostic. I personally have no idea whether there is a higher being, and from what I've seen and read, do not believe it is possible for me to ever know. I disagree with a lot that has been said here, especially regarding Intelligent Design and creationism, but I do not want to start any big arguments. If the admins don't mind, I would not mind discussing ID/creationism in PMs. I don't think Christians, or any other religious people, are bad in general. I think there are bad and good people in all faiths. And I don't think anybody on ST... that I have seen... is a bad person. I did want to say that although there are two major theories of the beginning of the universe (big bang, creationist), that does not in any way mean these are the only two POSSIBLE theories.

I've been an annuarian for a few months now.

Date: 12/26/2005 8:42:02 PM Author: blade2k5 After I do the ctrl+alt+shift-r, click on the jpg image file, click open and the little box disappears and did nothing. Even after doing a reboot of the pc and reloading the game several times. After I posted earlier, I loaded the game up and rendered a map I recently downloaded. It rendered with no problems. For the heck of it I loaded up my latest region, gave it another go and this time it renedered. Go figure. Musta been a glitch in the system. Anyways, if you can still figure out what was wrong, I'd still like to know and I appreciate the help quote> I have seen that problem before... I have no idea why it occurs, and as you have figured out, sometimes it just works after you do something else first. I don't understand it at all. I think it's a minor SC4 bug.

Hmm... What exactly is happening when you try to render it?