New York to Chicago

[historyman101]

I think there should be a map detailing the connection between New York and Chicago. It was a very important rail line that received heavy traffic, and continues to receive heavy traffic today. It was the route of some of the best known passenger trains in the world including the 20th Century Limited and the Broadway Limited. Chicago grew into the metropolis it is now because of the railroads, and it is the railroad capital of the world because of the connection to New York and the east.

[Jancsika]

Why do't you try to make one?
It's not that difficult, and if you need any help, all you have to do just: Ask.
Jancsika

[historyman101]

Why do't you try to make one?
It's not that difficult, and if you need any help, all you have to do just: Ask.
Jancsika

Well I would, except I don't know exactly how to make maps like these. (I have enabled the map editor function but it's a bit difficult to work.)

If I could have the basic terrain for the New York to Chicago route then I could fill in the rest.

[karsten]

One consideration is that SMR allows only square maps, unlike RRT. So to get some distance, you might want to rotate the map to have, say, Chicago in upper left and NYC in lower right corner.

As a quick and simple map source, you could start with the .tga map from Stormfather's America, cut out a square from Chicago to New York and enlarge that to 400% (or whatever stretch factor is needed to fill the whole square) and paste it back in as the new base, in Photoshop Elements or similar .tga editor.

Remember to keep a generous border around all four sides of the base map, because SMR does not allow players to scroll to the edges of the map.

And off you go!

[Mantose]

There posts on here somewhere about using elevation maps ... if you wanted the actual real elevations you could do that.

I did it with the mars map I am working on... I did it last week so I cant remember exactly how it works.

You might find what I am talking about on the wiki page

[Jancsika]

Before we go too much into details, it would be nice to know exactly how much you know about the game.
Karsten has a good idea where to get the necessary TGA files. With that knowledge you want to read the Map Making tutorial
http://www.smrsimple.com/forums/viewtop ... =42&t=4226

You will need basic knowledge in a paint program (Gimp, PSP, comes to mind), then a decent XML/TXT editor (Notepad++ with XML plugin, it’s free).
And if you get stuck, just ask….
Jancsika
PS. We are having a map making contest. So you are just in time.

[historyman101]

Before we go too much into details, it would be nice to know exactly how much you know about the game.
Karsten has a good idea where to get the necessary TGA files. With that knowledge you want to read the Map Making tutorial
http://www.smrsimple.com/forums/viewtop ... =42&t=4226

You will need basic knowledge in a paint program (Gimp, PSP, comes to mind), then a decent XML/TXT editor (Notepad++ with XML plugin, it’s free).
And if you get stuck, just ask….
Jancsika
PS. We are having a map making contest. So you are just in time.

I'm a big fan of the game, I've been playing it for a while. I've downloaded a number of maps from your site as well as the tender mod. My problem is I'm not very good with technical stuff such as writing code or designing. I can install a program but learning how to use it is a different matter; I'm not technically inclined.

I tried drawing the basic map with Chicago in the top left corner and New York in the bottom right, but it just suddenly crashed on me. Like I said, if I had the basic layout (no mountains, no towns etc) and just borders and rivers and oceans and such, I think I could figure the rest out.

[Jancsika]

Question #1 What size map are you making.?
When you are starting a map in the terrain editor, you will have a choice of different sizes.
Go and read the mapmaking tutorial!!
http://www.smrsimple.com/forums/viewtop ... =42&t=4226
It’s not that difficult, and let me know the size of the map.
And don’t get discouraged.
When I started at this forum I was bewildered all those knowledgeable guys talking about strange things.
I could not understand a thing that they were saying, but I read it and much later it just dawned on me what they meant.

Jancsika

[historyman101]

Question #1 What size map are you making.?
When you are starting a map in the terrain editor, you will have a choice of different sizes.
Go and read the mapmaking tutorial!!
http://www.smrsimple.com/forums/viewtop ... =42&t=4226
It’s not that difficult, and let me know the size of the map.
And don’t get discouraged.
When I started at this forum I was bewildered all those knowledgeable guys talking about strange things.
I could not understand a thing that they were saying, but I read it and much later it just dawned on me what they meant.

Jancsika

The size of the map is the largest, so I can get the most cities in.

[Jancsika]

How to tell the size of the map:
Find the C:\Users\User\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Railroads!\UserMaps\MAPNAME\RRT_Scenario_User_MAPNAME.xml
file.
Open it with a text editor or an XML editor.
If you started from scratch, you will find something looking like this.
I’ve marked with red the Map size definition. They could be 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

<RRTScenario><szMapName>User Created Map</szMapName><szSubtitle>Custom/User Created</szSubtitle><szDescription>C:\Users\User\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Railroads!\UserMaps\SAMPLE\RRT_Scenario_User_SAMPLE.xml</szDescription><szAuthor>Unknown</szAuthor><MapSize>15</MapSize>
<BridgeXMLFile>RRT_Bridges.xml</BridgeXMLFile><CityXMLFile>RRT_Cities_SAMPLE.xml</CityXMLFile><ClutterXMLFile>RRT_Clutter.xml</ClutterXMLFile><DecorationsXMLFile>RRT_Decorations_SAMPLE.xml…………etc……………………etc……………………etc…………………….

To morrow I’ll post 901pixel x 901 pixel grayscale map.
That will be your Height Map. The mapmaking tutorial will explain it where it goes.
Now I am going to bed.
Jancsika

[Jancsika]

Here is 901 X 901 Height Map in TGA format.
Unzip it and paste it in the very top of the “map_MAPNAME.TGA file. Save it. Then start up the game and it will show up in the terrain editor. When you are done with the editing, save it.
It will automatically create the thumbnail DDS map.

I have also posting here a JPG file for looks. It shows where Chicago, Detroit and NYC are located.

[historyman101]

is there anyway you could make it a zip folder rather than an .7z folder? I only have WinRAR, unless that will work to unzip this.

EDIT: Nevermind, DLing Winzip now.

Thanks a lot for the map.

EDIT: A bit confused. Exactly where do I save this .tga folder to? The tutorial said to the usermaps folder in my documents but I just want to be sure.

[Warll]

7z is actually 7-zip's format, it is better than zip or Rar and is open source.

With that said Winrar, at least modern versions, use the 7-zip library to extract 7z.

[historyman101]

I'm trying to get into the terrain editor, but the map doesn't show up. Do I need an XML doc as well?

[Jancsika]

Just hold it for a little. Detailed instuctions are coming.
Meanwhile please read the Mapmaking Tutorial.
It's important!!!
Jancsika