All 27 Red Storm maps re-done, in summer and winter colors

[Killjoy12]

These just keep getting better and better!

[DoubleDeuce]

Nice. Thanks for the update William.

[MirabelleBenou]

Very very nice maps. Thanks for your hard work !

[Werewolf13]

One wonders...

What happens when 2.04 is released. Will we have to reinstall these great maps or does 2.04 include them????

[CapnDarwin]

No custom maps in 2.04. We have added a Custom folder to both the maps and map markers folders that you can place custom maps in and they will load in place of the defaults. This will prevent overwrites in any future update. If you have custom maps I would suggest moving them over to a separate folder before installing 2.04 and then copy your custom maps into the new Custom folder.

[WABAC]

ORIGINAL: Capn Darwin

No custom maps in 2.04. We have added a Custom folder to both the maps and map markers folders that you can place custom maps in and they will load in place of the defaults. This will prevent overwrites in any future update. If you have custom maps I would suggest moving them over to a separate folder before installing 2.04 and then copy your custom maps into the new Custom folder.

I think that is a very fair solution. I appreciate the constraints on the design team. And I appreciate the things you are doing to accommodate your community of modders -- may it grow, prosper, and purchase all future updates. [8D]

[WildCatNL]

(Following up on Takoda's suggestion, as made in the NTC Central Corridor map thread):

ORIGINAL: TAKODA
Is it possible to pull and stretch a map picture (for example the random map picture below) with image software to suit the hexes? What I mean is can a picture like this be pushed and pulled to suit the hex tiles?

No, and yes. Great suggestion. Bear with me.

No, you cannot take a (topo) map picture (or satellite picture) and expect it to still look good after you deform it to match all the different 500m movements that towns, river bends and hill tops make as part of the map design. The warping can get quite severe in spots, and you'll be bending map labels in ways that look bad. See the picture below, left bottom corner, especially the Kleinenbremen town label.

But yes, you can take the idea of warping and apply it to the elevation data. If you're able to define how positions on a satellite map should move to match those on the hex map, you can apply the same warp to elevation data. And from the warped elevation data, it's feasible to compute a new hill shade, and blend this into a hex map, along with its contours.
The right bottom corner shows the recomputed hill shade that is blended into the map above. See how the East-west ridge has nice dips for North-South roads and streams, just like the real thing...

What do you think?
Btw, blending in the hill shade doesn't work well unless the hex map has a lighter-is-higher elevation coding.

William

[Plodder]

That is genius..[&o]

[CapnDarwin]

That is very cool. [&o][&o]

[Plodder]

William, what programs are you using to manipulate the elevation data and create the hill shading? I'd love to see what I could come up with using this stuff..

[TAKODA]

W1ll14m that looks fantastic, seriously awesome. I'm excited to see what The Plodder can come up with too, both of you have been creating amazing stuff, please keep up the great work guys.

[WildCatNL]

ORIGINAL: The Plodder
William, what programs are you using to manipulate the elevation data and create the hill shading? I'd love to see what I could come up with using this stuff..

I'm using QGis (free, runs on Windows, Linux, probably OSX as well). It can load raster data in most elevation formats, it can load OpenStreetMap vector data, it can show overlay/underlays from Google/Bing/Yahoo tile based map sites, it lines all of this up based on coordinates. It allows you to edit and render the raster and vector data as you see fit.

I've been able to configure it to output maps in FCRS scale (1km per 128 pixel), render vector data in FCRS colors, render elevation data in FCRS colors (after manually defining elevation levels). I've even figured out a way to create hex overlay (for 1:50000 only), which enables me to edit and line up roads and streams better.

However, the tool is quite complex/rich in features and buttons. OpenStreetMap vector data typically is incomplete (missing fields and forests in Germany, missing almost everything for US military bases such as Ft. Irwin, and inconsistent between regions/countries. And the hill shades QGis generates from elevation data aren't too good looking (blurring high res elevation data prior to computing the hill shade probably helps).

And, yes, I'd love to see what you can come up with using this tool too!
If you need a (rough) walk-through how to use QGis, or need something right now for your Berlin, let me know.

William

[Plodder]

I'm OK with the Berlin map so far as elevations are concerned as they aren't a huge issue, but for future projects I'll definitely look into using this tool. If it's not too much trouble maybe you can start a tutorial thread on how to get set up with QGis, and what settings to use etc. I'm positive I wouldn't be the only one to appreciate it.

[bootlegger267]

Excellent maps!
Thanks for your hard work!

[alantaylor]

Can I ask two newbie questions (just bought the full version this morning);

1. Can I confirm that non-vanilla maps should now be placed in the custom map folder as Capn Darwin stated above? But if I place another set of maps in there as well, the first set will be overwritten?

2. Are these great maps compatible with the latest version 2.05 at the present time? (I have just updated the main program). Can I use them in their present state?

[CapnDarwin]

Alan,

1). You can load ONE set of custom maps in the Custom folder. If you want to use various sets, I would suggest placing them in separate folders either in Maps or Custom and then copy the set you want to use into custom. This way you don't overwrite any files.

2). They should work fine since replacements are just the art over the data. If you get new maps they should be placed in the Maps folder (both PNG and FP9 files).

Hope you enjoy the game and welcome aboard.

[alantaylor]

Thanks, Jim, glad to be on board.

It was a toss up between FCRS and Command Ops. Very active development and support and the ability for Modding swung me towards FCRS.

[Templer_12]

An outstanding job W1ll14m.
 
I don't want to offend anyone, but the vanilla maps are really ugly and not worthy to the game!

[Strategicus]

One remark, I don't know, if it's from the game itself or just in the maps, but in Germany there are no roads prefixed with a "N", it has to be a "B" which stands for "Bundesstraße". The Prefixes A, K and L are correct (for the most parts of Germany, Bavaria and Saxonia are different [:)] )

The maps are looking great! [&o]

[WildCatNL]

ORIGINAL: Strategicus

One remark, I don't know, if it's from the game itself or just in the maps, but in Germany there are no roads prefixed with a "N", it has to be a "B" which stands for "Bundesstraße". The Prefixes A, K and L are correct (for the most parts of Germany, Bavaria and Saxonia are different [:)] )

The maps are looking great! [&o]

Hi. Good point. All maps for the next game (2.1 Southern Storm) will have proper Bundesstraße designations for the major roads, and Kreis-specific designations for the minor roads.

William