How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

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lojzek91
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by lojzek91 »

Hi! I'm a new member here.

I did myself a Jamaica heightmap but there's this tiny problem:
Image

How can I get rid of these gridlines?

I'm sorry if this has been resolved already.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by FooBar »

I suppose these gridlines are present in your heightmap as well. Care to attach it?
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by lojzek91 »

Yup, they are present on the heightmap as well.

Image

I did everything like described, though.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :) - Ugly grids

Post by Eisenbaehr »

Ugly grids

Try this one.
  • Start MicroDEM
  • Load DEM-File
  • Rightclick on the map and select Grid/graticule
  • Select Neither
  • Ok
Source: http://www.trainzdepot.net/wiki/HOG_-_D ... n_MicroDEM (Schritt 2/Step 2)

Btw.: MicroDem can open and save TIFs, PNGs ...

Does anybody know how to place OpenTTDs rivers by default?

To get DEM-Data to fill Holes (such as Finnland) look at this one.
You get here *.hgt-Files which can open on the same way.

http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html#scand

For an overview of the whole world as TIF or ASCII try http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/ (note the password) -> https://hc.box.com/shared/1yidaheouv#/s ... 1/34252608
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by lojzek91 »

Thank you, Eisenbaehr. That took care of it.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by Eisenbaehr »

This could be the result of 3 days work with DEM.

Thanks for the Great Work to TT, tutorials, wiki, the forums and much more!
Attachments
europe_screenshot_resized_thumb.png
europe_screenshot_resized_thumb.png (7.46 KiB) Viewed 15071 times
europe_screenshot_resized.png
(1.2 MiB) Not downloaded yet
Europa-2012-04-27-v1.2.png
The relief has been rotated 45 degrees, clockwise. After loading into OpenTTD the North lies in the north and the South in the south (Don't forget to select: turn/rotate map to the left).
(2.33 MiB) Not downloaded yet
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by lojzek91 »

Me again. :D

This time I have another problem: when I try to merge the thin DEMs together, I can't find 'multiple' choice when I click Merge->DEM. I only get these two options: ADF grids and Geographic blocks. Any help about how to overcome this?
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by Eisenbaehr »

Currently I have no MicroDEM here. Try MicroDEM-Main-Menu -> File -> Open -> Open and merge DEMs
Last edited by Eisenbaehr on 02 May 2012 23:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by lojzek91 »

Simplest and most obvious solution. Thanks a lot!
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There are some things that have changed since you wrote this

Post by bleistift2 »

MICRODEM Homepage has moved. You might want to update the link.
Click on the Green buttons
Tey are yellow house-icons.Image
you'll want to download either of the first two links (Either from the US or UK Servers, it doesn't matter)
There are eight links, all from London.
Image

You only need the second link and only extract the srtm.asc-file.


When I open Microdem, it wants me to search for the Mapdata-folder, but you cannot browse other drives than C: - you can just abort the search twice and it still runs fine, though.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by jostor »

I've been trying to find a heighmap or the DEMs to make one myself to make a Sweden scenario with a 4096x8192 map size for quite some time but without succeeding. Firstly because most DEM sources (including the ones recommended in this thread) for some reason don't cover the northern 2/3 of the country, and when dealing with large images like that there are memory issues and MicroDEM simply runs out of memory and can't make any heightmaps.

If someone could send me in the right direction (or even better, make a heightmap), that would be very appreciated (and a badass Sweden scenario will be made).
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by YNM »

Try to make them as separate heightmap, then fuse them in MS Paint or other.
Eg. If your scenario needs 9 DEM, sort three of them into one heightmap, then do the same for others. Then simply fuse them in Paint. And load in OTTD :wink:

(This may cause some problem with trench or others, but just fix them in scenario editor. It is also recomended that you use same values for all of the original heightmap from MicroDEM.)
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by jostor »

Yeah I thought about something like that, the problem is also that even finding DEMs for areas above 60 degrees north (which large parts of the country is), when doing something similiar in the past I had a lot of trouble with the maps not syncing correctly, but I guess that can be mended in the scenario editor....
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by Eisenbaehr »

jostor wrote:...Sweden ... sources ... don't cover the northern ....
http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 0#p1010797
Eisenbaehr wrote:...

To get DEM-Data to fill Holes (such as Finnland) look at this one.
You get here *.hgt-Files which can open on the same way.

http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html#scand

...
:)

E.g. http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/contours2.html - search for "SCANDINAVIA" - you will need data from 54-70°N / 10-25°E (use Google Earth). You have to merge this with the SRTM-Data.

You can use the merged and (3x) thined maps from my work (http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 0#p1011136 - download and open the file Europa-2012-04-27-v1.2.png in a graphicviewer).
The original DEM-files exists, but the files are very very large (~30 GB, after thining ~500 MB, packed ~50 MB, as png ~3 MB). So I only can make a new png from the DEMs if you wish.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by jostor »

Eisenbaehr wrote:
jostor wrote:...Sweden ... sources ... don't cover the northern ....
http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 0#p1010797
Eisenbaehr wrote:...

To get DEM-Data to fill Holes (such as Finnland) look at this one.
You get here *.hgt-Files which can open on the same way.

http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html#scand

...
:)

E.g. http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/contours2.html - search for "SCANDINAVIA" - you will need data from 54-70°N / 10-25°E (use Google Earth). You have to merge this with the SRTM-Data.

You can use the merged and (3x) thined maps from my work (http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php? ... 0#p1011136 - download and open the file Europa-2012-04-27-v1.2.png in a graphicviewer).
The original DEM-files exists, but the files are very very large (~30 GB, after thining ~500 MB, packed ~50 MB, as png ~3 MB). So I only can make a new png from the DEMs if you wish.
If you could make a png that covers entire Sweden in the size 4096x8192 (or an even larger size&area that I can fiddle with) that would be amazing, and an epic scenario is promised :)
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by Eisenbaehr »

Do you asked the autor of this scenario to get the png?

http://bananas.openttd.org/en/scenario/
-> http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=44921

Maybe he has the original DEMs too.

To create a png for you it is better to have a correct rotated and sized preview to know what do you want. By rotating the map to the north you will have many "waste" from the neighboring state.
Watch the Europe-png. The African-area is very big (and with snow :)), but this was the price to get Spain and Greece.

Next the result should be ready sized to your favorite width/height to avoid sizing by OpenTTD and loose islands.
Even the DEMs must thinned in the beginning to avoid memory overflows. By executing this task it loose many details. That's why I ask for an preview of your favorites.
Also to know the highest mountains and the amount in the game is really important. Otherwise the map is to low or some mountains are flattened.

I will try to make a preview.

Can you open an own thread for this task?
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by YNM »

@ Eisenbaehr : In that case, he only need to save the .scn into heightmap... and load it in a larger size :D No real need of permission, most can do that themself. :mrgreen:
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by Eisenbaehr »

Oh of course. I forget it. Is there another way to extract the heightmap from the scn as to load the scn and save this as heightmap?

---

> Sweden in the size 4096x8192

Do you ever placed cities, rivers, industries on such map?

It is very hard to find bottom and top on this map.... That's why I ask.

The attachment is the half of your favorite size (4096x2048), rotated by 45° to get the north in the north... maybe I can make also an 8192x4096 PNG to get more details. If you wish you can load this PNG as 8192x4096. But the maps maybe looks like tetris.
Attachments
Sweden-2012-08-15-v1.3-Preview_as_screenshot.png
(101.04 KiB) Not downloaded yet
Sweden-2012-08-15-v1.4.png
4096x2048
(2.41 MiB) Not downloaded yet
Last edited by Eisenbaehr on 15 Aug 2012 22:37, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by jostor »

Yeah I know 4096x8192 is very large. I'm currently playing a 4096x4096 map of southern Sweden (the parts I could find easily and use without crashing MicroDEM due to memory cap), and 4096x8192 would just be with the northern part too, I like large maps, that way I can include the commuter trains, and not have stations as long as entire cities :)

I don't mind if the map isn't turned 45 degrees, since it includes a lot of things on the sides that isn't really needed, in fact it probably makes it better since the space can be used a lot more efficient.. I'm used to playing with the in-game north west being the real world north.

Also, I don't know if it's possible to do something about, but that heightmap puts a lot of the country that is above sea level as under water (literally half of southern Sweden is under water with that heightmap), making it a big job to fix (especially on an even larger map), it would also be good if the mountains in the north are even higher to represent the real difficult of building around them :)

I know this sounds like a long list of requests, but you have no idea how much I appreciate this work :)
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Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

Post by YNM »

@ jostor : I hope that you can overcome the very-huge-map with detailed cities and industries.

@ Eisenbaehr : No more way to extract heightmap from .scn file. Not that I know exist in OTTD nor outside of it.
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