I'm surprised how quiet this topic is. Thanks for all the great work done here, and thanks for that build AMHL. This patch is one of the last great hurdles for OTTD I think, and to be able to see this one through to trunk would be awesome. The inclusion of the snow tipped peaks once developed, or the multi scenario patch, would be complimentary leaps forward also. I play more than 1/2 my OTTD games with this height level patch, and it confronts many issues such as complacency as your profits rise, as your forced to still consider ways round hills, rather than straight flattening them. It's no-longer just a hill, it's a true mountain.
One point that is maybe worth discussing is the map image. When playing a level where the highest hill is 200+ then the colours in there are perfect, however if I play a game with 50max, then the hills are tricky to see on the map. Is it a plausible option to have the colour bands change at rounded percentage points rather than fixed heights. So a tile at 50 high where the max in-level is 100 can be seen as 50% and therefore the mid-colour, rather than 20%~ as it is to 255.
This is standard practice in cartography, where a map of Mt. Kenya will have 50m contour line difference, where as a same scale map of the UK (1:50k) would be 10m, at 5 times the detail. Mt Kenya compared to the highest UK mountain is then 5199m:1344m or very roughly 5-1.2 which is reflected in the maps produced. However where as in cartography it's an easy change, maybe here this is asking a lot to look at?
Success with this patch may spawn the need for other tweaks also, which I don't know if are a pre-requisite of trunk inclusion. But an example is in the scenario editor where there can be a lot of clicking, where x10 options would be one possible solution. Another would be a need for the scenario generator at game start to have an option of not just max potential height, but how many peaks within the top band of about 5%. This would ensure that the need for variety doesn't overwhelm and hinder the space required to have a range build up and reach the high peaks. Likewise there is local variation, or local prominence which is a consideration. A level could appear almost like a traditional OTTD level with regular height hills, but as though a large balloon has inflated underneath. This then means the hills are high, but locally don't appear so. The other extreme is then having peaks of near max height dropping into local values of near minimal height. I find currently most maps generated use the extra height levels well, but not always to the fullest potential. Finally an option to build a scenario based on a basic one will also start to become more needed. To elaborate: to sculp a huge mountain, and to have the flanks of it not simple as large smooth faces, but rather having bumpiness and foothills requires huge amounts of clicking. So to build a scenario automatically based around a skeleton, or like in the aforementioned inflating balloon example, would allow nice scenarios more easily. An example of this repetitive clicking strain was in this scenario I made some time ago:
http://www.tt-forums.net/download/file.php?id=144154
All just considerations, which maybe beyond the scope of this patch specifically, but I think effect, or get effected by this patch more broadly. I raise some points as they may be seen as making the scenario automatic creation method as insufficient once this patch is included, where as currently it may not be seen as so.
Thanks again, and really keep up this great work, and hopefully see it through!
