TAK Terrain Section Tools

Version 1.01

By: Merciless Creations

 

 

 

Index:

1. Using the Exporter

·         Heightmap

·         Minimap

·         Voidmap

·         Roadmap

·         Jpeg Key

·         The “Auto” functions

2. Using the Terrain Reader

·         Exporting the Heightmap

·         Jpeg Key Value (Hex Keys and Hex Values)

 

 

Using the Exporter:

The TAK terrain section exporter is able to create a TAK compatible terrain

Section TNT file, along with organizing and auto-naming the JPG terrain pictures.

 

 

 

 

Heightmap:

The heightmap is a special bitmap that is used by the TAK engine to model the terrain mesh. You can view the terrain mesh in -game by pressing the Enter key, and typing:

 

"+Contour +6" (you can replace 6 with any number from 1 - 9)

You would then type "+contour +0" to turn the mesh lines off...

 

The heightmap is a 256 color grayscale bitmap, and needs to be sized to 1/16 the size of your terrain image. Below is what a grayscale map may look like for a 512x512 section (the heightmap is 32x32 pixels):

 

 

The Minimap:

The minimap is the thumbnail picture that Cartographer displays when you are browsing through the terrain sections. You must size this image to 128x128 pixels, and it should be converted over to the correct color palette. (each world in TAK has its own terrain color palette, which can be found in the palettes folder in the data1.hpi file )

Below is the minimap picture to go along with the heightmap above:

 

     

 

The Voidmap:

TAK allows you to create a map, much like the heightmap, that tells the game where to not allow units to travel. The voidmap works by using White pixels to indicate that the area is voided, and Black pixels to indicate the area is not voided. It needs to be the same size as the heightmap.

 

 

 

The Roadmap:

The Road map is exactly like the voidmap except that instead of indicating where units cannot go, it indicates where there are ‘roads’ or pathways. There are normally used on terrain sections where there are stone paths, or roads. These areas cause the units to move faster than normal when they walk on a ‘road’ …

 

 

 

The Jpeg Key

 

The Jpeg Key is how TAK knows which terrain graphic goes with the .tnt file. In TAK the terrain graphics were actually embedded in the .tnt files, but in TAK they are separate. This allows for much smaller map sizes…

There is a checkbox next to this that says “Type in Value” this allows you to specify a particular jpg, instead of randomly generating a number…

However, you do NOT type in the actual Hex number, it needs to be the numeric equivalent of the hex code.

 

For example: The Hex value of: 7F413CFF

Has a numeric value of: 2134981887

See more on this in the “Hex Keys and Hex Values’ section”

 

 

 

 

The Auto Functions:

The ‘auto’ functions are simply those two checkboxes that are in the exporter screen. One is labeled “Automatically copy JPG files to a specific folder”, and the other is labeled” Default path to save TNT files in”

 

The ‘JPG’ option will automatically name and place your jpg files into a specific folder (you will need and want this functionality when you being to build your terrain sections and need to pack them up into a file that can be used by the game).

 

Your JPG files MUST correspond with the hex value embedded in the .tnt files you create. This is done automatically for you if this box is checked…

 

 

The “Default path for TNT’ option is simply so the program knows where you want to save your .tnt files and will automatically select this as the default directory to display for you when you save your TNT files. Of course you can browse and put it somewhere else if you want.

 

 

 

 

The Terrain Reader

 

The terrain reader is simply a utility to extract the greyscale heightmaps from the terrain .tnt files. Its main purpose it to allow people to extract the heightmaps from the tnt section files so that they may blend them all together eventually!!! Mooohoohahhahahaha ;)

 

Simply press the export button to save off the terrain section greyscale bitmap….

 

 

 

 

Hex Keys and Hex Values

The hex keys are actually the names of the .jpg files. If you open up the file called “terrain.hpi” using HPI View, then you will see all the strangly named .jpg files. These names are encoded into the TNT files so TAK know which terrain pieces go with each other. When you open a .tnt section in TNT, it will show you the terrain .jpg key so you will know which terrain graphic goes with it!!

 

Also, you get the ‘value’ which you can use if you need to alter an existing TNT and keep the same JPG reference……only advanced users should deal with this….

 

 

 

Package and Deployment!

 

To make your creations TAK compatible, you will need to get the TAK Compatible version of HPI Pack. Use the following example as a guide for how to build your directory structure:

 

Root Directory

 

 

 


Terrain    Sections

 

 

 


Jpg1        World Name

Jpg2

Jpg3

Etc…

            Category Name

 

 

Note: you can also open up my HPI file in HPI View and check out the directory structure within that file as well!

 

Have fun!!

 

C_A_P

www.mercilesscreations.com