Project Reality Forums

Hey I have started mapping and spent the last couple of months getting used to working with the editor. I have the basic skills and to motivate me to learn more I have decided to make a map. for this I have found a nice little place on the border between North Korea and China.



I have made a heightmap by tracing heightlines from google maps and giving them the colors that should fit their respective height.



But these two does not fit. On the heightmap north is at the bottom, south is the top, west if the left and east is the right. in the guide linked to in this thread by Irontaxi. they say you should turn it on its head so that is what I have done. The problem is that it have come out all crooked. In one corner there should be a completely flat are but it is nowhere on my map when I get the heightmap into the editor. I have not tranceformed the heightmaps to .raw files myself because I do not have photoshop.

In the editor there are two weird lines that goes across the map diagonally where there is a sharp drop in terrain like the one below.



The heightmap I am using is here

Info about the map
Size: 1024x4
Lowest point: 44 meters above sealevel
Editor max height: 400 meters above sealevel
Therefore the max height is 38x meters on the map.

Combatarea:

Have you checked the bf2editor.org forum? Im sure Ive read about that ridge problem down the middle, on there somewhere.
Another possibility is that you height map isnt true greyscale - did you use indexed colours/greyscale in PS?

I used paint.net since I don't have PS and right before I saved the file the last time I made it all black and white (a found under the adjustments dropdown) which I think would do the same as having a true grayscale image in PS. I haven't been able to find anything about the lines in the middle but I will give it an extra check.

Yeah I hate to say it but using a non 16-bit program to view and edit .RAW isnt the best idea. This easily could be the problem. Let me take a look at it.


edit: Look like your raw files messed up (see below) , at least the one you posted up. Most likely saved out as a 8bit file.

Word of advice find photoshop and use that.

Thanks for clearing it up. Guess I will have to find another way of making a heightmap

Was wondering if I have the original heightmap that was created when I made the map, open it in an editor like PS and then open my PNG file in PS too and select all and copy it into the other file and save it. Will this work or will I have to retrace everything?

Again thanks for clearing it up

Yes it can work, but a little knowledge in PS and 16bit files will help. The only real issue is it might be a little steppy. The reason behind this is a 8bit file to a 16-bit file is doubling the amount of colors (shades of gray).

Thanks. Better get a hold on my friend that is a grafic designer and have photoshop

I completely forgot to ask this. the heightmap for a 1024x4 is 1025 not 4097 right? if so thanks allot for all the help.

yes thats right...for a 1024 x2 as well as for a 1024 x4 the heightmap is 1025

This is Lawrence Brown´s Heightmap Tutorial from 2005:
FH2 mapping tutorials - Understanding Heightmaps and how to paint them in Photoshop

...helps me a lot to deal with that stuff !