Sea-levels on Heightmap vs. In-game Sea-level.

[Uro]

Just a heads up for those who do not know already,...

 

If your beaches are underwater in-game then your heightmap is too low ;)

 

There is no way to adjust your terrain's "altitude" via config.cpp or inside TB.

 

You will have to adjust your hieghtmap to get your map's altitude correctly showing in-game - E.G your beaches always appear under-water.

 

This is pretty simple to do in L3DT, other heightmap generation/editing apps I cant comment on since I only use L3DT mostly for heightmap editing/features.

 

I am having to move tens of thousands of objects (everything in my map already :rolleyes: ) up a few metre's due to a beach in a specific place on my map always being under-water - this is in preperation for importing my corrected heightmap and then re-seating these objects :D

 

 

So it's worth checking out your map now to make sure all beaches are showing correctly, save yourself the pain of adjusting & re-adjusting 1000's of objects later lol :D

 

 

[Richie]

Good advice and worth checking before placing all your objects down.

Although i'm sure i seen a config option to adjust the map height :unsure: somewhere once or maybe it was a dream, yes i'm actully having dreams about my terrain, it's addictive :lol:

[cring0]

Ok see this is what raymix was talking about but I wasn't quite grasping. Are you saying that you have to make the minimum altitude for the height map in L3DT to 0?

For instance I have mine set -15 to 150 with a scale of 2m per pixel.

[Friendly]

Good advice and worth checking before placing all your objects down.

Although i'm sure i seen a config option to adjust the map height :unsure: somewhere once or maybe it was a dream, yes i'm actully having dreams about my terrain, it's addictive :lol:

Some dreams come true  :D

[cring0]

Ok see this is what raymix was talking about but I wasn't quite grasping. Are you saying that you have to make the minimum altitude for the height map in L3DT to 0?

For instance I have mine set -15 to 150 with a scale of 2m per pixel.

or are you saying that you just won't know where the water level will be until you load it up in TB? Why am I so confused?

I use the "lower to" tool to make sure my beaches are above 0, does that not matter, it's different in TB?

Ps: good thing I'm a perfectionist and a slow mofo and am still altering my altitude lol.

Do you guys suggest that I stop now without finishing just to load it up in TB? Like I said, I haven't gotten past this stage and haven't even really read up on what I do next, just learning as I go.

[Uro]

You know where the water level sits in game from the heightmap, but it does need adjustment, to get it perfect, 1-2m editing a heightmap is nothing- in-game it can be the difference from beaches / no beaches or in some circumstances flooded landscapes. :)

 

I'd say compile your map et al and check it out in the A3 editor, and make any adjustments you need to make to your heightmap regarding sea-levels now, rather than later :)

 

FYI, in L3DT, you can "adjust" the entire altitude of your map by going to "Operations >> Heightfield >> Change vertical range"

 

Increase or decrease the min+max values by the same amount - e.g. if you need to raise it by a few meters +2 on both min & max values (ignore the 3 boxes below these options), then click OK, and it will rebuild your heightmap at a higher altitude from sealevel.

 

Then re-import your heightfield, regenrate your map, compile it and check.. (it doesnt sound as brutal to do as it is once you've done this a few times)

:)

 

 

If you later discover some of your beaches are below sea-level, you end up in the same situation as me, having to pre-modify the objects to sit in your re-defined heightmap reasonably correctly... :rolleyes:

[cring0]

You know where the water level sits in game from the heightmap, but it does need adjustment, to get it perfect, 1-2m editing a heightmap is nothing- in-game it can be the difference from beaches / no beaches or in some circumstances flooded landscapes. :)

I'd say compile your map et al and check it out in the A3 editor, and make any adjustments you need to make to your heightmap regarding sea-levels now, rather than later :)

FYI, in L3DT, you can "adjust" the entire altitude of your map by going to "Operations >> Heightfield >> Change vertical range"

Increase or decrease the min+max values by the same amount - e.g. if you need to raise it by a few meters +2 on both min & max values (ignore the 3 boxes below these options), then click OK, and it will rebuild your heightmap at a higher altitude from sealevel.

Then re-import your heightfield, regenrate your map, compile it and check.. (it doesnt sound as brutal to do as it is once you've done this a few times)

:)

If you later discover some of your beaches are below sea-level, you end up in the same situation as me, having to pre-modify the objects to sit in your re-defined heightmap reasonably correctly... :rolleyes:

ok ok now it makes more sense. Thanks