How to make maps using WW2Map and MicroDEM

[MarkSheppard]

Link (http://www.stardestroyer.net/Armour/ShepArticle/MapDesign.htm)

Let me know if it makes sense.

[hoplitis]

Mark,
veeeery interesting! (as usual)

[hoplitis]

Two questions Mark:
1. Can you produce maps with an "angle" relative to North (say, top of sp map facing East)?
2. Does it really work?

[MarkSheppard]

1. Can you produce maps with an "angle" relative to North (say, top of sp map facing East)?

Yes, DEM maps assume that the "top" of the map is North. But you can alter this by using a image processing program like Paint Shop Pro to rotate the exported image 90 degrees left, right or whatever degree until you have your desired angle....which is why I highly recommend getting Paint Shop Pro if you ever intend to do any game development work.

2. Does it really work?

Oh yes it does.

[DRG]

Could you post a full map for use in the game created with this?

Don

[MarkSheppard]

Aokay

Link (http://home.comcast.net/~mksheppard/SPCAMO/Maps/Maps.htm)

Shadow valley is created using that method. I know it doesn't look very "bright" or "interesting", but that area really IS that lifeless on Google Earth imagery of that area.

[MarkSheppard]

It's been seven years, and I'm going to update the tutorials; since *sigh* MicroDEM has changed a lot -- and I didn't keep the older versions; along with the way NASA/USGS organized their global digital elevation maps.

[shahadi]

This method brings a creative process that sustains the excitement of this game. Excellent!

[EJ]

Mark,

Can you place these instructions in a downloadable zip file? This way you can upload it to your own cpu at home. Looks very interesting....THANKS!

[shahadi]

Can you place these instructions in a downloadable zip file? This way you can upload it to your own cpu at home. Looks very interesting....THANKS!

Yeah, after reading the article online I made a pdf to read offine for myself. Just right click to save: Map Design Using MicroDem.PDF (https://sites.google.com/site/winspmbt/config/pagetemplates/winspmbt-assets/Map%20Design%20Using%20MicroDem.pdf).

-

[Roman]

What I was looking for!!
I've tried it already.
Thanks

[EJ]

Shahadi,

THANKS! Do you pbem?

[shahadi]

Shahadi,

THANKS! Do you pbem?

Hey EJ, yeah. I saw your post looking for a game, but really, I'm trying to finish Red Line Syria campaign, plus research for a Nam and an Afghan scenario.

I like the PBEM thing, and you seem cool with it too, but I'm really stretched at the moment. Gotta pass this time.

Abraham

[Roman]

I do not get the srtm files. Any help?

[Roman]

Already tried the program and found the srtm files.

http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/

http://dds.cr.usgs.gov/srtm/

The steps are to set the heights of the map. Then what are cities, trees etc need to edit the game program.
That's it?

[MarkSheppard]

Fred Chlanda (who created this program) hasn't been around for a while due to health issues; but he helpfully included the source code for WW2 map with one of the releases!

I can't promise anything -- but I've been dabbling in C++ for a bit, and I could try to reverse engineer his importation code. Again, NO PROMISES!

[dmnt]

This thread and the troublesome process described made me start a bit of a coding project and that project is soon coming to an end: I have now coded a coordinate -> SPMBT map conversion program. It's using SRTM3 so a lot of the contour has to be filled in and some smoothing thus happens, but in general it may produce good results for gameplay.

Current version is still being developed but it's planned to work as follows:
* User enters coordinates to the center of the map on the web page
* User specifies the offset for ground level, i.e. when generating a map where the game map "level 0" is 300 meters above ground user would enter "300" and the map generated will then have levels between 10 meters, that is 310, 320 and 330 meters mapped to hill levels 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Anything under 300 meters will be level 0 ground or water.
* User specifies the level threshold for water hex. That is, anything on that level or below will be a water hex.
* Missing data in satellite data will be interpolated
* A 160x200 map will be produced
* A low resolution height map image will be produced
* User has to do the "add clear terrain, keep height information" trick described in the other method as the produced map hex graphics are all wrong.

What's missing from the current development version:
* No support for SRTM1
* No web frontend, just perl implementation.
* Missing data interpolation has a poor implementation which can lead to artifacts on areas with lots of missing data
* The map has to fit in the data square. The area to be generated has to be within the single SRTM3 data square, so no maps can be generated for example around coordinate N60.973,E24.000 as it would require reading multiple height data files.
* No water hex support
* No height offset support

The implementation is done with perl and imagemagick perl library (perlmagick). A full map is generated in about 3 seconds on a fairly new and powerful desktop computer. I'll probably release the source code on EVVK or similar license http://www.evvk.com/evvktvh.html#english