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