How to draw maps for the PZ Mapping tools

[Suomiboi]

EDIT: Until I find the time to update this a bit, after checking this go see Thuztor's Mapping Guide! It explains this process in a bit more organized way

 

Hi guys! Here's a little tutorial on how to draw "handmade" maps for the PZ mapping tools.

 

So, let's start!

 

1. Software

 

You need somekind of a photo editing software. Paint will do, but I would recommend something with a bit more options. You could go with Photoshop or similar, but I like to use Gimp as it's free and has many similarities with Photoshop, but it's a bit more simple. Also as we're only editing a few colors we won't be needing anything too fancy.

 

2. Maps

 

There are two maps we will be drawing. The "main map", which has roads, streets and lighter grass areas. Then we have the more intricate vegetation map. We will start by drawing the "main map". The image has to be sized by the amount of cells you want to have on your map. one cell is 300x300pixels which means that if you want to have a 3x3 cell map the image has to be 900x900 pixels. (I'm not sure which way the pixels have to be if you'd want a 3x5 map for example, but it is either 900x1500 or 1500x900 I'll update when I get the info...)

 

3. Drawing the "main map"

 

When drawing a map 1 pixel = 1 tile

 

Ok as said, we'll start by drawing the "main map". We have 6 colors to use in doing the map as follows:

The numbers after the description are the color codes in RGB. You'll have to use the exact colors or you'll get an error from WorldEd.

 

Green: Regular grassy terrain areas. This is what most of your main map is comprised of. 90,100,35

 

Dark Grey: Streets. Pretty self-explanatory. Most streets in game (and in the mapzoid created maps) are dividable by three so, 3 for alleys, 6 for roads and 12 or larger for highways, but this is totally up to you. 100,100,100

 

Light brownish yellowy type color: Yellow grass or dry/burnt grass. Grass objects placed on this will also have the yellowish color. 145,135,60

 

Light Grey: Walkways and such. nothing much more about it. 165,160,140

 

Beige: Sand. For dry prettiness. 210,200,160

 

Reddish brown: Mud. For a little more wet prettiness. 140,70,15

 

EnigmaGrey: Moderator. Be afraid. Be very afraid. There's too much backlight to draw this on a computer.

 

Here's an incomplete map I've drawn using most of those colors.

 

After finishing the your blueprint for your home town save/export the file as whateveryouwant.png

 

The file format is essential here. Use .PNG format as I don't think WorldEd accepts any other file types.

 

4. Drawing the vegetation map

 

We'll start drawing the _veg map over your existing main map. This is where it comes handy to have a little more than paint in your disposal as you'll be able to create layers and add those on top of the main map. There's another six colors that will define the vegetation. (If you're using paint or a program that overwrites the .png file, save this after a different name for now.)

 

 

 

This time we'll start with the last color, which as you can see is black (RGB: 0,0,0). The black color defines areas which have no vegetation at all, just the tiles you set in the main map.

 

Here's an example of what I do when beginning to draw the _veg map:

First, I black out all of the roads, and city areas where I want no grass or trees to grow. I set this at the top most layer.

 

Then the light green: Grass. This is the thick high grass that is in game, which hides them nasty crawlers. I usually just cover the rest of the map with this color and put it in the bottom layer. 0,255,0

Here's a sample:

After this I layer the rest of the colors ordering from top to bottom: Bright red, darker red, darkest red, dark green.

 

Bright red: Dense forest. This is what most of the surroundings of Muldraugh is comprised of. 255,0,0

 

Darker red: Forest. You can sort of walk in there, but not that much. It's still a forest. 127,0,0

 

Darkest red: Woods. You can walk around and see past some trees. 64,0,0

 

Dark Green: Grass and trees. Same as above but with some stray trees in the mix. 0,128,0

 

Here's the map with forests and woods added:

 

After that you're ready to go or you can add some small details on a top most layer:

 

After you're done with the detailing, save/export the file with the same exact name as the main map but with the end _veg

 

So in this case whateveryouwant_veg.png

 

DO NOT DELETE OR OVERWRITE THE MAIN MAP!!

 

Again, use only png format.

 

 

5. Adding the maps to WorldEd

 

Now that you have the two files, whateveryouwant.png and whateveryouwant_veg.png, make sure they are in the same folder. Then open WorldEd and from the top left click File, New... Then input the cell amount that responds with your map. Remember 1 cell = 300x300pixels.

 

 

You'll open up to this:

 

After that, on the left side of the screen click the maps tab and search for your whatever.pngs.

 

Then drag and release whateveryouwant.png on top of tha cells so that it matches the edges.

 

After you have the map on your screen, to convert the files to .tmx format (for editing in WorldEd and TileZed) click File, BMP to TMX, All cells, then choose the folder you want to use for the project and click OK.

 

After this again on the right side find the folder you just chose and drag the .tmx files to the corresponding cells:

 

 

6. Start editing!

 

 

Here are the .png Files I used in making this tutorial:

http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx319/elmosyrjalainen/MyfirstPNG_zpsb42a622f.png

http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx319/elmosyrjalainen/MyfirstPNG_veg_zps7f4b8629.png

Feel free to use them in your learning! If you use them as a part of your mods or something else please add proper credit.

 

Sorry if I forgot something or left something out. This went on a bit longer than I expected and I'm a bit tired. (It's about 4am here now and I have to wake up in 3 hours)

[Ciber Ninja]

According to the Rules.txt, there are more possible colors than this. The following is a compressed list of all labeled rules in Rules.txt and their RGB values

 

Dark Grass  |  90 100 35

 

Medium Grass  |  117 117 47

 

Light Grass  |  145 135 60

 

Sand  |  210 200 160

 

Light Asphalt  |  165 160 140

 

Dark Asphalt (main roads)  |  100 100 100

 

Medium Asphalt  |  120 120 120

 

Gravel Dirt  |  140 70 15

 

Dirt  |  120 70 20

 

Dark Pothole  |  110 100 100

 

Light Pothole  |  130 120 120

 

Water  |  0 138 255

 

Trees  |  255 0 0

 

Trees + Dark grass  |  127 0 0

 

Grass (all types)  |  0 255 0

 

Light long grass  |  0 255 0

[Suomiboi]

Excellent! Thanks! I'll try to add those when I get off work.

[ApolloDiaspora]

Originally thought this was a guide to mapping your way around West Point with a pencil and paper. Heh.

 

Looks good though! Might need to try modelling my local area sometime, if the inertia of laziness is overcome

[Suomiboi]

Didn't think about that, but now that you say it, it does sound like this is a tutorial for p&p. Maybe I'll change the title at some point too, if I'm up to it.

[Dr Gonzo]

Excellent work! This helps out a lot, thanks!

[Freeasabird420]

OR you can just use the http://pzmap.crash-override.net map. Sure it's a little tricky to find where you are at times but that's what I use. Just have the map and the game open at the same time. When you need to find where your going just Minus the game, look at the map, plot your route, Minus the map, go back on the game and Boom you know where to go; Simple. Without having to download any programs at all :/

[Dr_Cox1911]

@Freeasabird420: Did you even read the first post? That´s not a drawing of the existent map, it´s for building your own map with the mapping tools.

[Suomiboi]

I should change the name... XD

 

EDIT: done...

[Joelmosen]

I'm having a little problem dragging the map to the cells. Whenever i drag them nothing happens.

[Suomiboi]

Make sure you have both the map.jpg and map_veg.jpg (they have to have the same name with _veg on the other) named correctly and in the same folder and have no extra colors in the main map. Then make sure that the map cell/pixel ratio is correct. I'm on my phone atm so I can't double check all the steps. But in my case it's usually one of those.

[Joelmosen]

Make sure you have both the map.jpg and map_veg.jpg (they have to have the same name with _veg on the other) named correctly and in the same folder and have no extra colors in the main map. Then make sure that the map cell/pixel ratio is correct. I'm on my phone atm so I can't double check all the steps. But in my case it's usually one of thOkey

Okey, I'll see if that works. Thanks

 

Edit: It worked. Thank you

[Suomiboi]

Great! You're welcome!

[Marco1]

I have a couple of, probably stupid, questions.

 

So, let's say you create a new map, where do you save it? maps/media as the other?

Are you sure it'll work?

 

If that's a new map, that means you have to create a zombiespawn image too, or not?

Looking at the bmp looks like a heat map where white = many zombies , grey=some,  black= nothing. I also assume it works with zombie distribution -> urban  only, while with the other option, uniform, game takes care of that.  

 

New map means new spawn points? I see there's the spawnpoint.lua and worldobjects.lua there...I understand what's in the files, but I am not sure what I have to do with that.

So I think that if you decide to add a new map instead of muldraugh and westpoint, of even if you add another section to the original map, you have to modify/add something to make it work (spawn points for example), I may be be wrong. Also I haven't read the mod section yet...

[Suomiboi]

I do believe that there are stupid questions, but these aren't.

 

First let's get one thing straight: None of these files created in this tutorial actually adds anythin in game. This is just a part of the full map making process. Now to your questions.

 

1. You can save these maps at any folder you wish as long as both of the two files described are in the same folder. I don't yet know where to save finished .lotpack files which are the ones that are required to play them. It is not the purpose of this tutorial. The files created in this process are not required to actually play in game. They are just used to create other files that are then used in game.

 

2. It does work in WorldEd. That is the purpose of this tutorial. As I said this tutorial adds nothing to the game, just for the mapping tools. The next steps after this are adding buildings and refining, adding details etc. which then ends with creating the final files required to use in game.

 

3. I don't know how the zombiespawn map works, but I think that as you said it works with the zombie distribution choice. This part isn't essential in this tutorial so I don't cover it.

 

4. Yes the new map does mean new spawn points this is done in the process that follows this tutorial and is not covered here.

 

Most of your questions are not covered by this tutorial mainly because I haven't gotten that far with the tools yet. Try searching the forums for the other phases and most importantly try them out yourself!! This tutorial is the result of two days of trial and error. I have no idea what I'm doing!!! But it works.

[harakka]

So I think that if you decide to add a new map instead of muldraugh and westpoint, of even if you add another section to the original map, you have to modify/add something to make it work (spawn points for example), I may be be wrong. Also I haven't read the mod section yet...

AFAIK proper support for loading completely new maps isn't in yet, which is why stuff related to doing so isn't very straightforward. Lemmy mentioned loading them as mods or some other similar way will be implemented fairly soon.

[Marco1]

Suomiboi, thanks for replying

 

First of all, sorry.

When I wrote my previous post I decided to delete a line where I was saying "sorry if I am going a bit off-topic..." , bad idea

 

Your post is clear and helpful.

 

Yes sure, I'll try myself as well. At the moment I am trying to create a building...

Anyway, my post was more like "great, figured out what's next?" , just curious.

 

Thanks again and keep up the good work

[Marco1]

AFAIK proper support for loading completely new maps isn't in yet, which is why stuff related to doing so isn't very straightforward. Lemmy mentioned loading them as mods or some other similar way will be implemented fairly soon.

 

I don't want to "spam" Suomiboi's thread with my off-topic, but thanks for replying. If ok for suomiboi, just 2 lines considering you took the time to reply to me, then we could continue this conversation somewhere else.

 

Well, I am not sure what happens if you just add another piece of map to the original one (without modding) and that's was I am trying to figure out. I am already aware it won't be possible to add a spawn point in the additional map without adding code somewhere and also a zombiespawnmap is needed, for the rest...I have no idea at the moment.

[Suomiboi]

Don't worry man. This is new stuff for me too so all discussion is encouraged!

[H3RB4LS]

(I'm not sure which way the pixels have to be if you'd want a 3x5 map for example, but it is either 900x1500 or 1500x900 I'll update when I get the info...)

 

Was messing with this a bit earlier and found its pretty easy. I first tried 900high X 1500wide but it placed the map on the left diagonal plane (not the way I wanted). So all I did was rotate the map and map_veg 90 degrees and it turned it in the direction I wanted to. Example in pics. Thanks again for this tutorial, helped tons and exactly what I was looking for.

So placing the map like this in Photoshop...

 

Will result in the map dragging into WorldEd in this orientation...

 

BUT if the map was horizontal in Photoshop, it would face the opposite of the way shown here in WorldEd.

[Suomiboi]

Thanks H3RB4LS! I'll try to update this stuff to the OP when I have a bit more time.

[ZedHead]

 

The following is a compressed list of all labeled rules in Rules.txt and their RGB values

 

Dark Grass  |  90 100 35

 

Medium Grass  |  117 117 47

 

Light Grass  |  145 135 60

 

Sand  |  210 200 160

 

Light Asphalt  |  165 160 140

 

Dark Asphalt (main roads)  |  100 100 100

 

Medium Asphalt  |  120 120 120

 

Gravel Dirt  |  140 70 15

 

Dirt  |  120 70 20

 

Dark Pothole  |  110 100 100

 

Light Pothole  |  130 120 120

 

Water  |  0 138 255

 

Trees  |  255 0 0

 

Trees + Dark grass  |  127 0 0

 

Grass (all types)  |  0 255 0

 

Light long grass  |  0 255 0

 

 

Just to make it easier for everyone I have the colors as a picture to pull them off of instead of having the RGB values to type/paste into whatever editor you may be using for the map creation.

 

[Suomiboi]

I use a similar method when doing mapping . Also to add to that post, the lowest level colors are ones used in the _veg.png map.

[ZedHead]

I use a similar method when doing mapping . Also to add to that post, the lowest level colors are ones used in the _veg.png map.

 

Yes I'm well aware of that but then again you could be referring to the other post viewers soOo... Yeah, anyway that's that. 

[PintLasher]

Is there any way to do curved roads?? I used to live in Ireland (every road was made by drunks) and would like to add Wexford to the game.