River and major river draw mode ?

[Telumar]

This seems like an undocumented feature or did i miss something (which could well be too)?

I found this in the map editor part of the sce editor. There are two new(?) draw modes which you find when you cycle through the draw mode options, called "river draw mode" and "super river draw mode". I have not seen this in the What's New for 4.1.0.40 or earlier versions.

BUT: It is only accessible when you create a new scenario. Existing scenarios don't let you get there. Furthermore, even when i saved what i had drawn (the screenshot) the editor would not let me back into the river draw modes when i opened the scenario again.

With this a hex can contain both river types which makes a minor river flowing into a major river look more pleasing and map like. See the screenshot, yellow circled hexes. Works well with the vanilla graphics but some modded river graphics (including mine) have a bit more overlap or do not fit that exactly as the river lines are slightly different in those files from the vanilla graphics.

Does anyone know what's it with this feature?

Would be nice to have it fully functional and also expanded to road - improvedroad and canal - major canal in a possible future version.

[Zovs]

I am pretty sure these features have been around since TOAW III, for sure with IV.

[Telumar]

I am pretty sure these features have been around since TOAW III, for sure with IV.

Maybe maybe not.

But you could not have both tiles (river and major river) in the same hex. Also the feature is not accessible when you open an already existing scenario.

[cathar1244]

Telumar,

That is very cool, looks like you found an Easter Egg in the code! I like the minor river flow into the major river. Does the hex report as a "super river" ?

Makes me wonder if one could edit the .gam file to produce these effects. Be a real pain for larger maps, though.

[Telumar]

Telumar,

That is very cool, looks like you found an Easter Egg in the code! I like the minor river flow into the major river. Does the hex report as a "super river" ?

Makes me wonder if one could edit the .gam file to produce these effects. Be a real pain for larger maps, though.

The hex reports both terrain types, both in game and in the editor. And I like the river flow very much too

As for terrain movement costs, I think they are added somehow. See the screenshot: Left side is a ferry bridging unit's MP cost for entering a hex with a super river only. Right side is the MP costs for entering the 'combined hex'. The ferry unit has a major ferry cap of 12%. Note that there is no such effect at higher major ferry cap. I have not tested for where the limit or transition point is though. Only thing I can say is that at 42% major ferry cap there is no difference in movement costs between entering the super river only hex or the 'combined' hex (12%, 42% and 99% are the other values I tested with).

Also note that the vanilla graphic rivers align much better than my modded ones - hex NE of ferry unit

Attached the sce in case anyone wants to tinker with it.

[cathar1244]

Hi Telumar,

One way to make these map mods without the scenario editor.

- Save a scenario file as a .gam file. In the .gam file, a text editor can edit the lines that define the terrain in a given hex.

Attached is a mod I did to your test scenario. It shows a hex with a minor road joining a major road. I expect this can also be done with wadi and canal terrain.

Again, a neat hidden feature. Thank you for mentioning it.

road example.jpg (187.35 KiB) Viewed 272 times

[Telumar]

Hi Telumar,

One way to make these map mods without the scenario editor.

- Save a scenario file as a .gam file. In the .gam file, a text editor can edit the lines that define the terrain in a given hex.

Attached is a mod I did to your test scenario. It shows a hex with a minor road joining a major road. I expect this can also be done with wadi and canal terrain.

Again, a neat hidden feature. Thank you for mentioning it.



road example.jpg

Nice. Did you "swamp" the hex to see wether improved road supersedes road in regard to movement costs?

After a quick search on the forum i could not find a sheet or something alike that depicts which row in the xml file stands for which terrain and which value represents which tile from the according graphic file. After looking at the xml export of a map, that is how it presumably works i think. I never did anything with sce .xml exports or the like in the past.
Maybe you or someone else knows a link or has a sheet or something?

[cathar1244]

Hi Telumar,

One way to make these map mods without the scenario editor.

- Save a scenario file as a .gam file. In the .gam file, a text editor can edit the lines that define the terrain in a given hex.

Attached is a mod I did to your test scenario. It shows a hex with a minor road joining a major road. I expect this can also be done with wadi and canal terrain.

Again, a neat hidden feature. Thank you for mentioning it.



road example.jpg

Nice. Did you "swamp" the hex to see wether improved road supersedes road in regard to movement costs?

After a quick search on the forum i could not find a sheet or something alike that depicts which row in the xml file stands for which terrain and which value represents which tile from the according graphic file. After looking at the xml export of a map, that is how it presumably works i think. I never did anything with sce .xml exports or the like in the past.
Maybe you or someone else knows a link or has a sheet or something?

From the attached document--

" Following is the key to the fields. Fields 01 through 35 correspond to the 35 terrain tiles in the map editor, starting with clear terrain (01), arid (02), sand (03) ... hills(6), mountain (7), alpine (8), forest (28), light woods (29) and ending with broken rail line (35). "

I am not sure what you mean by "swamp the hex", but no, I did no testing on the road hex.

[Telumar]

From the attached document--

" Following is the key to the fields. Fields 01 through 35 correspond to the 35 terrain tiles in the map editor, starting with clear terrain (01), arid (02), sand (03) ... hills(6), mountain (7), alpine (8), forest (28), light woods (29) and ending with broken rail line (35). "

I am not sure what you mean by "swamp the hex", but no, I did no testing on the road hex.

Thank you very much for the doc !

"swamp the hex" - adding muddy terrain to the hex. Maybe I should have written "mudded the hex"