[Resources] How to make a Terrain

[ZeroG 23]

Real Life DEM resources from all over the EU in high resolution

Here you can simply enter the tag "elevation" and choose the point of origin to gain access to very good elevation data from the EU - not for free in any country, but a lot!

[tom_m 10]

Hello everyone, i know that some of us can be quite lazy and do not want to search all day these forums...

Why would anyone think a message forum is the best tool for documentation? It's not a matter of lazy...It's matter of actually being able to find the information in the format presented.

For map/terrain making... Are there any good guides? With like images, maybe a video? A nice wiki? I'm brand new to all this and a nice overview would be good, but again a forum is not the proper place for such things. I understand it's how we can communicate and great for Q&A, but there must be some links to external resources somewhere.

Anyway, I appreciate this post because it was quite helpful...But I'm just not so sure it's fair to call people lazy for not being able to find something in the forums - a tool not designed to help us out for these specific needs.

Thanks!

[PepinKr 3]

Removed the "Lazy" part in my post, didn't know it had such a meaning for some of you.

For map/terrain making... Are there any good guides? With like images, maybe a video? A nice wiki? I'm brand new to all this and a nice overview would be good, but again a forum is not the proper place for such things. I understand it's how we can communicate and great for Q&A, but there must be some links to external resources somewhere.

1) I gave links to some good guide in my post (also check guide for ArmA 2 terrain making).

2) There aren't any video tutorials that i know of.

3) Official wiki is the only wiki around for terrain making and is quite poor in content (but usefull for understanding basics).

[jakerod 254]

Quick Terrain Builder Tutorial

[cupcake_actual 13]

Does anybody else have roads working ingame. I can see mine in bulldozer but not in game. all my building and trees and stuff are there, no roads. I followed the tut and everything

Edited August 18, 2014 by Cupcake_Actual

[cupcake_actual 13]

also, is there a way to stop Tb from adding an extra 0 to my height map. a 1024x1024 map becomes 10240x10240 when imported. then scaling it back down to 1024 = elevations stay the same so all the hills become mountains

[kalthramis 12]

None of the guide links work anymore.

[jakerod 254]

None of the guide links work anymore.

For the time being, the link here might help you: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?174933-Quick-Terrain-Builder-Tutorial

[douglas 10]

Hi im making a life mod with some people and where using the altis map of kavala and im wondering how to remove everything like for example i want to know how to remove every building and road and tree and everything then i was going to add my own way of roads and my own buildings into kavala after i remove the things i want would anyone know how to do this?

[bmcook 14]

I wonder if someone has the time to refresh Mondkalb27s_Terrain_Tutorial :386:

Can't post links.

Edit: Now I can. https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Mondkalb%27s_Terrain_Tutorial

[Cype_Revenge 651]

why do you not take the tutorial from Jakerod, two posts earlier?

[bmcook 14]

why do you not take the tutorial from Jakerod, two posts earlier?

I did use Jakerod's tutorial and it's tremendously helpful. ;)

[geozero 10]

Jakerod's tutorial is really good. I wish there was more though... more details, step by step with images, or YT video. I've seen a few videos online yet they all seem to sort of wander off, get things wrong, return to something, leave something out... I applaud the folks making them but really show edit the video so instead of watching 6 or 7 thirty minutes clips they could be condensed down to maybe 2 clips and provide more detail. I would be willing to help anyone make such a video.

[bmcook 14]

Jakerod's tutorial is really good. I wish there was more though... more details, step by step with images, or YT video. I've seen a few videos online yet they all seem to sort of wander off, get things wrong, return to something, leave something out... I applaud the folks making them but really show edit the video so instead of watching 6 or 7 thirty minutes clips they could be condensed down to maybe 2 clips and provide more detail. I would be willing to help anyone make such a video.

There are a lot of helpful posts in the forums. Search for a topic that you need help with and bookmark all related threads for when you have the time to read 'em.

[Sgt H. Taylor 10]

EDIT: Please disregard this post, I am suddenly able to post new threads.

Edited November 19, 2014 by spartancain

[Polygon 11]

If people would be willing to donate for those sharing info / making step-by-step elaborate, descriptive video tuts, it'd be worth the effort. Common sense.

[j_murphy 10]

Is anyone getting the problem were terrain builder crashes when you press generate terrain?

much help would be appreciated

[DrakeVhett 10]

I cannot find an actual solution to the issue with layer generation that creates this error:

Can't load image from file 'P:\abc\abc_sample\source\mapLegend.png': file does not exist.

Layers generation - PNGOVerlapV3Style.cpp bool V3PictureDataMod::LoadFromFile( const char* filename = "P:\abc\abc_sample\source\mapLegend.png" ) Unable to open the image file.

Layers generation - Unable to load the file "P:\abc\abc_sample\source\mapLegend.png".

I was following along with CAPTNCAPS' ArmA 3 Terrain Tutorial, but every time I click "Generate Layers" this error pops up. I found an old thread where this error was mentioned, but the was never an answer posted beyond "are your file paths set up correctly?", with no indication as to what the proper paths are. Another user suggested that the default file paths are fine, but presented no solution to the problem.

Does anyone know how to solve this issue?

Edited March 3, 2015 by DrakeVhett
Typo

[viper2511 28]

The error is basically telling you that a file that the program was told to look for is not actually available in that location. I haven't gone through all of that tutorial but it sounds like you need to update your layers.cfg file.

Open up your P drive and then navigate to your project folder, find where you have saved the mapLegend.png file and right click it and go down to properties. What is the 'path' listed in location? Open up the layer.cfg file and at the bottom you will see a class called Legend, which points to where Terrain Builder will look for the mapLegend.png file. I am assuming that you will have used a different file structure to that in the tutorial and therefore just need to modify this line to point to the correct file location (or 'path').

I hope this helps!

[DrakeVhett 10]

Sorry for the delayed reply, I was at GDC all week.

So, now the problem I am having is that when I click "Generate Layers" that the "Processing Surface Mask" process states that there are 0 tiles to generate and crashes terrain builder.

If I choose to do only 4 materials per cell, as opposed to 5 like in the tutorial, then I can get to 9 tiles generated, but then it crashes.

So, I followed a old thread I found, here, which got me to the point where I can now build my terrain.

I now get the error below when connecting to Bulldozer.

Here is the .rvmat code:

ambient[]={1.5,1.5,1.5,1};
diffuse[]={0.5,0.5,0.5,1};
forcedDiffuse[]={0,0,0,0};
emmisive[]={0,0,0,0};
specular[]={0,0,0,0};
specularPower=1;
PixelShaderID="NormalMapDiffuse";
VertexShaderID="NormalMapDiffuseAlpha";
class Stage1
{
texture="Donald\OP-Trident Hammer Terrain\data\SCHEP_beach_nopx.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
	aside[]={10,0,0};
	up[]={0,10,0};
	dir[]={0,0,10};
	pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};
class Stage2
{
texture="Donald\OP-Trident Hammer Terrain\SCHEP_beach_co.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
	aside[]={10,0,0};
	up[]={0,10,0};
	dir[]={0,0,10};
	pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};

and my layer.cfg code (I cut out a few functions to save space in the post, I left a working one for example):

class Layers
{
   class SCHEP_beach
 {
   texture = "";
   material = "P:\Donald\OP-Trident Hammer Terrain\data\beach.rvmat";
 };

   class SCHEP_sea_pebbles
 {
   texture = "";
   material = "P:\Donald\OP-Trident Hammer Terrain\data\soil.rvmat";
 };

};
class Legend
{
 picture="P:\Donald\OP-Trident Hammer Terrain\source\mapLegend.png";
 class SCHEP_Colors
 {
SCHEP_beach[]={{255,2,2}};
SCHEP_sea_pebbles[]={{78,255,2}};
SCHEP_sea_rock[]={{255,171,2}};
SCHEP_lake_mud[]={{36,3,255}};
SCHEP_lake_pebbles[]={{179,255,3}};
SCHEP_coastal_rock[]={{255,3,213}};
SCHEP_grass[]={{255,3,213}};
SCHEP_cliff[]={{158,3,255}};
SCHEP_dry_grass[]={{3,133,255}};
 };
};

Edited March 16, 2015 by DrakeVhett
More Information

[jam1234 10]

Nice Thanks

[m1lkm8n 411]

I wouldn't use spaces in your paths or names or anything for that matter.

I would change this:

picture="P:\Donald\OP-Trident Hammer Terrain\source\mapLegend.png";

To this:

picture="P:\Donald\OP_Trident_Hammer_Terrain\source\mapLegend.png";

Of course you will need to change everything but using spaces is not a good idea.

[rfc 10]

The very first link in the very first post, pointing to http://www.armamapmaking.info/doku.php?id=quick_terrain_builder_tutorial , does not work

[Lerk!t 1]

Hi guys,

 

my group asked me to look into the map making topic as the new SITREP announced the Terrain Processor. Thank you very much for this thread and all of those gathered ressources. I am thrilled to learn as much as possible and hope to join your ranks. Also I hope to be able to provide some good maps to the community in the future. 

 

 

Best,
Ben

[maxl30 81]

I need help !

 

And my English is very bad, please writes in German.

 

Mein Problem ist das der Buldozer nicht arbeiten will:

 

Buldozer

 

Buldozer may not work: Wrong or missing "Steam_appid.txt"

 

Ps: Ich habe auch schon versucht die Nummer in der steam_appid.txt Datei zu änder, funktioniert aber nicht da es immer eine Autokorrektur beim starten von dem Terrain Builder vornimmt.

 

Thanks in advance