Map Making Steps

[Mad Russian]

This process seems long and drawn out. In actuality, it takes about 30 minutes to get the terrain and elevation map created and ready to create the FPC map in HexDraw. Not bad.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

Here is a part of the river system. As you can see, actual rivers don't follow hexsides so it can be interesting to get the rivers/streams on the map in their relative locations to roads etc.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

I'm using a lighter color blue to see if that will work and not be so bright.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

There are 3 main controls that HexDraw relies on.

These are:

Radius - the size of the map area affected by your actions.

Transparency - 5 boxes ranging from dark green (no transparency) to white (about 90% transparency)

Zoom - the zoom slide bar can move you in and out of zoom in the work area.

Hopefully this will have you working on your own maps in no time.

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

Hell that was fast after talking to you last night. I'm thinking on doing a map of Hünfeld stating today. Don't want to make a map, if you have done one for that area, no need too reinvent the wheel, so to speak [:)]

[Mad Russian]

Yeah, the process is only a few steps. Identify the area, make height and width scales, create the terrain and elevation templates and you are into HexDraw and working on a map.

Pretty simple. Takes a little time to do screen shots to document the process but not too bad.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

Hünfeld is good. My maps go through Fulda from East to West. Nothing north of Fulda up through Hünfeld, Bad Hersfeld, Alsfeld.

It's all yours![&o]

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

We need to get you the graphics and the color swaths for your map. We can probably do that this afternoon if you have time.

Good Hunting.

MR

[JohnOs]

ok, will start today on my first attempt on making a map. Its also nice to have three monitors [:)] which I do, I can do three things going on at the same time, plus have my VIZO 22 inch TV next to me watching war movies to motived me [:D]

[JohnOs]

I have time, wife is back home in Colorado, so I have lots of time, just need to call her this afternoon [:D] just let me know when.

[MikeAP]

Mad Russian,

In this photo;
upfiles/28652/54156CEC8C4F4634AF0700968957B042.jpg

Did you hand place the fields and forests?

When you have time, you'll have to share more HexDraw tips. I like how you did elevation and lakes.

Did you also hand place the roads as overlays? I don't like how the roads in HexDraw appear..very bland, even with a good texture.

[CapnDarwin]

Mad is on a well deserved vacation right now and should be back later this week. I'll answer what I know and he can fill in the blanks when he gets back.

1. Yes. We do hand place the forest, fields and cities. We have several pieces of art for each and position them to achieve the look we want and to best match up to the google earth reference for the location.

2. Roads and rivers are placed using the program. Roads run through hex centers and we adjust the road splines by hand. Rivers on the hex edge and we adjust those splines too. Again to best match the reference map.

As I stated elsewhere, we plan on releasing the templates and map art assets with the game along with instructions. Mad Russian has done a couple quick tutorials on his method (which we use in the documentation).

Thanks for the questions!

[Plodder]

Could you create a map in paint.net, for example, using the basic colours to auto-generate the map data, then swap out the map image for something a bit more fancy but keep the underlying map data?

[CapnDarwin]

@ The Plodder - yes, you could in fact do that. The map art and data are two separate files.

[Plodder]

Sweet.[:)] It sounds like it's pretty flexible then.

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: MikeAP

Mad Russian,

In this photo;
upfiles/28652/54156CEC8C4F4634AF0700968957B042.jpg

Did you hand place the fields and forests?

Yes, every graphic is hand placed and oriented on the map.

I normally start with the terrain elevations first. Add whatever water obstacles there are second. That is not set in stone and either can be done in any order. You just need the two of them done before you add the roads. After putting elevations and water obstacles I add the roads to the map. The reasoning for my creating the map in that order is for me that is the logical progression towards the toughest part of making the map; sculpting the woods around the elevations, water and roads.

Elevations are determined by the map creator. At times, as often as I can make it happen on my maps, it is actual terrain that gets taken over directly. At other times it's the most prominent feature within the 500 meter area that gets put in a hex. When I have to use prominent feature I look to see whether that feature would affect combat, movement, or LOS. If it does then I add it to the map, even though it may actually be only a small portion of the overall area of the 500 meter hex.

Water obstacles will make you adjust your game map more from the actual map than any other real life terrain feature. On the Google Earth maps the Rhine River does not come into HexDraw in scale, while in game terms it is 1000 meters across which is 2 hexes. On the actual map it only occupies one hex.

Once I have both elevations and water obstacles on the map I create the roads.

Did you also hand place the roads as overlays? I don't like how the roads in HexDraw appear..very bland, even with a good texture.

Yes, roads are hand placed to follow elevation and water obstacle terrain features. Depending if the water obstacle takes the entire hex or is a hexside obstacle depends on where my roads end up. I try to keep the road net as factual as possible. By that I mean that if the road follows a river on the north, I try to the best of my abilities to put the road to the north of the river. Where the water is bridged I try to put a bridge.


Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

After elevations, water and forest I put in the villages, towns and cities. Make sure you select the Top Text tab when creating the names so they will display over the top of all other terrain types. That little selection tab alone cost me HOURS of redoing my map work.


The last thing I put on the map are the fields. I only put those in hexes with no other terrain in them at elevations 1 and 2. There are 5 main field graphics and I put them on the maps where no two adjacent hexes have the same graphics.

Between the forest sculpting and the fields at lower elevations the map elevations can be seen pretty much at a glance without having to use in-game tools.

A lot of thought went into the functionality of the maps.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

Here you can see where I put the rivers down on the map. This is by far where the map designer will use his/her artistic license to the best of his ability if he/she is trying to create an accurate depiction of the terrain being modeled.




You can see just south of Lichtenau where I could have taken the stream course in several different hexsides other than the ones I chose.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

After my water I'm going to add the elevations. This time I decided to do the water first since there wasn't anything larger than streams and it will take very little time to do it.

With elevations I often add flood plains for moving water areas. Depending on the surrounding terrain and what the actual terrain elevations are. It gives the river valley affect from both small to very large and makes the map feel right.

When switching back and forth between my elevation and terrain map I make sure my alignment spot matches up each time.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

To make absolutely sure I can identify my alignment hex I pick a town. Normally in the center of the map but it doesn't really matter where it is on the map as long as it is easily identifiable.

Once I have it marked, usually with town name and road net we can go on to add the roads to the rest of the map.

Good Hunting.

MR