Need help with the heightmap.

[suntyuu]

Is there a certain technique to making great heightmaps, like maybe the technique used by the developers? Especially mountains, is there a good way for making them? No matter how many times I try they always come out crap. :dry: Tell me how you make heightmaps, erosion settings, steps you take, everything. Thanks

[Khet]

http://www.nbos.com/products/mapper/fwe.htm

 

Right there. Comes free if you download the trial of Fractal Mapper from here:

 

http://www.nbos.com/download/download-trial.htm

 

That's personally how I've done all my heightmapping. Randomly generate until something looks good, then tweak it myself and import it into the CS.

[suntyuu]

I have tried that but It doesn't work for me.

 

http://www.nbos.com/products/mapper/fwe.htm

 

Right there. Comes free if you download the trial of Fractal Mapper from here:

 

http://www.nbos.com/download/download-trial.htm

 

That's personally how I've done all my heightmapping. Randomly generate until something looks good, then tweak it myself and import it into the CS.

[Vagrant0]

First things first, a decent primer on using the built-in editor.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Heightmap_editor

 

Although you can import height data from other places, between all the time generating that terrain, figuring out how to scale the units, converting it, importing it, and the whole mess between you're just better off just learning to use the heightmap tool properly.

 

Second, regardless of if you use an imported image or manually make anything within the heightmap editor, most, if not a vast majority of your terrain would still need to be adjusted manually cell by cell. For wilderness areas that have trees and rocks, it's more forgiving, but for more open areas or places where you need more specific terrain shapes, you're going to need to roll up your sleeves and do it manually with the landscape editor.

 

Third, you're almost always better off making small changes upon small changes as opposed to trying to create something useful in a single pass. You won't make a good terrain if you're spending less than 30 minutes within the editor. If you aren't used to working with it, expect to spend atleast 2-3 hours across several sittings in order to get the terrain looking mostly right. Remember, ALL of the default settings in the heightmap editor are TOTALLY rubbish. Most of your tool passes should use small, almost non-perceivable settings which are layered one upon another (different seeds for the noise tool).

 

If you still have trouble, you should then just try to get the generic shape of the area down within the heightmap editor and just use the landscape editor to make the mountains. By raising the landscape sensitivity multiplier (in the options, same tab as grid settings), you can rather quickly make steep sharp mountains, or with a small brush and a feathering action, you can carve valleys and erosion channels.

 

Ultimately it's all about time and patience. A good landscape is an art unto itself.

[suntyuu]

Thanks Vagrant0, you always comment on my post lol

 

First things first, a decent primer on using the built-in editor.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Heightmap_editor

 

Although you can import height data from other places, between all the time generating that terrain, figuring out how to scale the units, converting it, importing it, and the whole mess between you're just better off just learning to use the heightmap tool properly.

 

Second, regardless of if you use an imported image or manually make anything within the heightmap editor, most, if not a vast majority of your terrain would still need to be adjusted manually cell by cell. For wilderness areas that have trees and rocks, it's more forgiving, but for more open areas or places where you need more specific terrain shapes, you're going to need to roll up your sleeves and do it manually with the landscape editor.

 

Third, you're almost always better off making small changes upon small changes as opposed to trying to create something useful in a single pass. You won't make a good terrain if you're spending less than 30 minutes within the editor. If you aren't used to working with it, expect to spend atleast 2-3 hours across several sittings in order to get the terrain looking mostly right. Remember, ALL of the default settings in the heightmap editor are TOTALLY rubbish. Most of your tool passes should use small, almost non-perceivable settings which are layered one upon another (different seeds for the noise tool).

 

If you still have trouble, you should then just try to get the generic shape of the area down within the heightmap editor and just use the landscape editor to make the mountains. By raising the landscape sensitivity multiplier (in the options, same tab as grid settings), you can rather quickly make steep sharp mountains, or with a small brush and a feathering action, you can carve valleys and erosion channels.

 

Ultimately it's all about time and patience. A good landscape is an art unto itself.