[patch] More Map Settings v2 (r14439)

[CommanderZ]

This patch adds (for now) two often requested option values to the map generation screen:

No. of towns - very low - Yes, this option was here for very long time. I just changed its meaning, in fact the value "very high" was added instead and all values were shifted one level up, so what used to be "high" is now "very high". And the "very low" generates cca 5* less towns than it used to do. Believe me, the population is really scarce with this setting

Water level - very high - I have seen people requesting real archipelago maps several times. Now you can have them The size of individual islands is determined by the smoothness. The smoother the map, the larger, but rarer the island are.

Known issues

- the very high water level does no good with 64*64 maps
- the very high water level does no good with Original map generator

Version history

5.10.08 - Version 1 released - very high water level and new very low no. of towns introduced

Some more suggestions? I'm open, just please don't request lower industry density. I gonna do it, but it will need some more work than just toying with numbers and drop down boxes

[Lordmwa]

Water level very high should deffinetly be in the trunk at some point - not sure about the very low pop but i personally like the passenger transport (not that its a bad thing )

[CommanderZ]

not sure about the very low pop but i personally like the passenger transport (not that its a bad thing )

Try this with initial town size multiplier set to 7 or so. You will still have plenty of passengers to transport. This just leaves more room for networking etc.

[Lordmwa]

That is an interesting idea

Thank you i shall try that

[Aali]

Soo, where is the actual patch?

Would love to try this out, but i run a number of other patches that i don't want to give up.

[CommanderZ]

Sorry

Now it is attached to the first post.

[PhilSophus]

Would love to try this out, but i run a number of other patches that i don't want to give up.

Looking at the patch there seems to be a good chance that it applies cleanly with other patches as long as none of them deals with the map generation.

Another option would be to use a version just with this patch, generate the map, save it and load it with the other version. AFAICS this patch doesn't change savegame the format and if the other patched version is able to load trunk savegames (which it should if the authors did everything right) and trunk savegame version didn't change since then it should work.

Edit: And almost forgot: Great work, CommanderZ. The archipelago looks just great. And I've always wanted to play very large maps with only few cities to have a better scale between areas of cities and landscape.

[CommanderZ]

Yep, I can't think of patch that would not be compatible with this as it only add a couple of strings, alters some value tables (for amount of water and cities) and add them drop downs. And even if there were some conflicts, they would be absolutely trivial to solve.

[Octopuss]

ABSOLUTELY awesome!!! Thanks a lot

[Octopuss]

edit: in for deletion
thanks

[PhilSophus]

Ah, btw, best would be to add it to bugtracker as well... it'd be perfect if it made it to the trunk.

Maybe CommanderZ wants to finish the patch first (he wrote he wants to implement lower industry setting) and test it thoroughly before suggesting it for trunk.

BTW: Could you please use the edit button next time instead of double posting.

[CommanderZ]

Correct, I will consider posting it to bugtracker once the features are in place and all issues are solved.

[athanasios]

Much better than existing system. I really like your screenshot. 64x64 maps have problem? Who cares? Certainly we all play there with low water.
As I have already suggested, a slider would be much better and allow more options. I would like to have the option to play with even less land and/or cities. And yes, I wouldn't use such an option in < 2048x2048 maps.

regards
athanasios

[CommanderZ]

It wouldn't be really hard to create a text box to type a land/population percentage in, but would need to see interest in it (especially from devs), so my effort wouldn't fall in vain.

Also, there is one more problem in the way how the map is generated (in TGP, I don't understand the original generator rignt now) - the land shape is created first and then it is flooded one height level at time until it reaches the desired percentage of water in map area. This usually works well, but it might result in failure as certain circumstances. For example the 64*64 maps are usually one flat area with one small hill. When you start flooding this level by level, it can result in only a few tiles of landmass where any town cannot be generated.

If I was a dev, I would remove 64*64 maps. They are way too small to be playable and case trouble with every patch I make

[Brianetta]

If I was a dev, I would remove 64*64 maps. They are way too small to be playable and case trouble with every patch I make

They're ideal for demonstrations, though. The file size of a 64x64 saved game makes it a good medium for emailing somebody an example of track, etc. Handy; just not handy for a full-on game.

[CommanderZ]

just not handy for a full-on game.

But it still means all map settings should be compatible with them

[Octopuss]

Interesting thing I came around while compiling some patches. Is this one compatible with Better map borders? I got no idea what each of them changes, but both change the land generator and when one is already applied, Tortoise reports the particular source file as different...

[CommanderZ]

They do changes to the same files, but they should be easily mergeable as MMS change the parameters, but BMB change the map generator core.

[Octopuss]

Allright, but how do I do the merge? Whenever I try to do the "update all" in Tortoise, some specific version of the source file is downloaded from trunk, leaving me with only one of the patches applied.

[belugas]

If I was a dev, I would remove 64*64 maps. They are way too small to be playable and case trouble with every patch I make

But luckily, you are not a dev, plus, i know a few ones who would revert that removal.
They do have a purpose, and they are really hard to play, mainly because of their sizes. As for your patches, maybe you should try to find out WHY they cause you trouble, instead of wanting ti remove them
Apart from that: you do not provide a converion from your old twon number to the new one.
Plus, I know that even with that "1" setting, lots of people will still complain aobut the numbers generated. and since you're at the lowest ever be with current technic, you are doomed for going any further.
So another approach has to be found.