Scaling up map_regions to create a new campaign map

[koren]

Hey guys,

I've got some experience with campaign map modding but this is my first real attempt at creating an entirely new map for a campaign. I decided to create the map_regions first, which is sized at 239x254 px. I need to create the rest of the map files in order to start testing the map, but when I started to scale up the map in order to create, for example, map_heights, I found that the colors distort on the edge of land/sea.

I was thinking about just taking the middle ground and guessing where the coastline should be if the map is now 2x+1 by 2x+1, but I figured I'd ask here first to see if anyone has a better answer.

Any help is much appreciated. :)

[Myrddraal]

Hi Koren, what program are you using to to the scaling? In Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro there should be an option called "Pixel Resize" or something similar, which doesn't blur colours.

EDIT:

If you're given the choice of what sampling method to use when resizing, choose "Nearest Neighbour"

EDIT 2:

Having said all of that, remember that map_regions doesn't need to be accurate. Resizing map regions will give you a very blocky coastline, and I recommend you smooth it down. The alternative is to start with map_heights and resize that down to make your map regions.

[koren]

Hey Myrddraal, thanks for the tips. I actually realized some time after I posted that I hadn't remembered to change the resize settings in Photoshop from bicubic to nearest neighbor. So that's all fixed up now.

However, I have encountered the modder's worst nightmare: CTD without error message, even using -show_err.

I guess I really didn't go about the creation of this map in the best way possible: I had all the regions planned out beforehand and so I shoved them all in there and spent about 2 hours fixing 30-35 text/RGB value coding errors today, but after I fixed the last KTM text error I've started getting CTD without error messages. A map.rwm file IS generated, if that helps. I'm not really sure what could be causing this, I was (to the best of my knowledge) very careful in my mapping, but I know it doesn't take much to screw everything up.

I know that the map doesn't exceed maximum size, doesn't have too many regions (though it gets close) and all the required files are there. I know your first priority isn't helping newbies like me with every little thing, Myrddraal, but if you had any ideas as to what might be causing this problem or could possibly take a look at the files themselves and figure out what's wrong I would greatly appreciate it.

[Myrddraal]

CTD's are a pain in the :daisy:, because the error can be hard to find. When does the CTD occur?

[koren]

I click the arrow to start the campaign, it pauses a bit, then CTD's. And as I mentioned before, the map.rwm IS generated.

[Myrddraal]

Have you given any characters new names?
Could we see a snapshot of (any) one of your map files?

[koren]

Nope, no new names. I cut all factions except the senate and britons (and rebels), and cut all family members besides the faction leaders and their wives.

Here's a snap of map_regions before a few minor corrections, I'm in a hurry so I don't have time to get the actual and convert it out of a targa, but you get the idea.

https://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh285/discreet_novgorod/my_mod/eurocereg.png

[koren]

Didn't realize I can't edit posts. Here's the actual map_regions, including the changes.

https://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh285/discreet_novgorod/my_mod/map_regions.png

[Myrddraal]

Hi Koren, you'll be able to edit posts when you get upgraded to full membership (which will happen soon :smile:).

Hmm. You have a lot of cities which border on sea hexes, I would expand the region around to fully surround the cities. This doesn't necessarily cause a crash I don't think but it's good practice (remember that regions can overlap with the sea, so you don't loose anything). Also with all those costal cities, make sure they aren't located over water (overlay map_regions on map_heights as photoshop layers to check). You also have one region where there is not possible route between the port and the city. Again I'm not sure if that will cause a crash, but you should probably move the port. Some of your regions seem a bit strange with odd pixels scattered around.

Otherwise I can't spot any errors. I'm guessing you haven't set any terrain types yet?

[koren]

Hey Myrddraal, thanks for the info.

I moved that wayward port, filled out around the cities, and verified they were all actually on land, but when I fired it up again, it still CTD's. Same thing, pauses, creates map.rwm, but won't actually load. I didn't set any terrain types other than making the whole map medium_fertile and doing the seas. Any other ideas?

[Myrddraal]

Hmm. Does the crash happen before or after the loading bar?

[koren]

Before. Never gets there.

[Myrddraal]

I'm afraid I really can't guess what the problem might be. I'd suggest scaling back your campaign to the maximum (remove all ports, strip down descr_strat), one climate etc, and see if that works... :shrug:

[koren]

Hi Myrddraal,

Thanks for all your help the past few days, even though we couldn't find a solution. I ended up stripping down the map almost starting over, in fact, because when the map finally fired it looked pretty awful on the coastlines. I redid those, and am now slowly working on putting all the regions back into the game. It's a lot of regions, so I'm hoping to be done either tomorrow or Thursday.

I'll put some pictures of it up once its finished.

Again, thanks for your help :)