How to convert a picture of a map to a greyscale, that the game can understand?

[Azrael]

Hello guys,

I tried my hand on copying a picture of the Red Dead Redemption 2 Map, having transformed it to greyscale with paint.net and then I've put it into the heightmaps folder that the game told me.
However, when I try to import it, the game tells me, that it isn't greyscale, but it clearly is.

So I don't know, what went wrong here.

[Crinkly]

I don't think paint.net can save the file in the exact format required. I use paint.net to crop, join etc height map segments, and then save them. Next step is to use GIMP to save in the required format. Try this video it is easier than me explaining the steps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1cLt3CqWj0 I also use GIMP to edit the height maps. Hope this helps.

[Azrael]

Thanks, with GIMP it worked, strangely it didn't work with my other programs I used.
Alas I'm happy it did work, now I can try my hand on transforming the Five States to TPF2 :D

[Gorby]

RDR2, interesting choice... are you going to try to recreate the rail routes in the game?

[Azrael]

Originally posted by Gorby:

RDR2, interesting choice... are you going to try to recreate the rail routes in the game?

The first challenge will be to create the map at all, since there seems to be no height map like you're used to have, when you copy bits of the real world with terrain.party.

So I downloaded a screenshot of the whole map, converted it to Grayscale and 16bit with GIMP.
Of cause there are all the name plates, roads, railroads and such on the ingame map, the 3D end result in the editor looks like a huge canyon, where aliens carved in names and such.

But that could still come in handy, when I'm placing the towns down.

And should I ever be able to finish this and actually play, I'd do quite the contrary because, if you think about it, the Railroad presented in RDR2 is pretty bad, it goes mostly counter-clockwise in one direction, mostly on a single rail.

You don't realize it that much because the game blacks you out when you fast travel and then the new view opens up when you arrive, but if you're travelling by train in RDR2 from Saint Denis to Rhodes just northwest of it, you travel around the whole map in that counterclockwise motion until you arrive in Rhodes.

A real Railroad Tycoon, especially by the turn of the century from 19th to 20th Century, would've built a second piece of track to enable travel in both directions.

But there are not that many people out there, who play such a wide variety of games, that you would encounter a railway enthusiast in a Shooter :D

[Azrael]

Besides having it in TPF2 gives you some freedom of creation that you of cause don't have in RDR2.

Maybe I'd try to implement that little fictious piece of Mexico, that was in the original RDR but not in RDR2 and gameplay wise you could do things not present in RDR2 besides building the Railroad in a more efficient way.

For example I was wondering, why there was no Ferry from Blackwater to Saint Denis or anywhere else in the Epilogue, yet they talked about a failed Blackwater Ferry Heist the whole time.

From a TPF2 Perspective: Wouldn't it be interesting to have a ferry line from Blackwater to Saint Denis?

That would also be the first time I use ferries at all, since in the campaign I never encountered a situation, where I would feel compelled to build ferries.

Or just at all the possibility to develop the Five States, play with them into the 21st Century.
Maybe you wanna establish an airline from e.g. Annesburg to Blackwater or things like that.

It's just an approach to merge the possibilites of one game with the world of another.

[Gorby]

Originally posted by Azrael:

But there are not that many people out there, who play such a wide variety of games, that you would encounter a railway enthusiast in a Shooter :D

LOL; I guess we're a rare breed

It did always bother me that after completing that section of new rail in RDR2, the train never uses it... it would make for a much quicker route to Rhodes as you mentioned. Plus that one town in the northeast (Van Horn I think?) that didn't have rail access even though the line ran right by it? Come on!

Hope you get it working!

[Azrael]

Originally posted by Gorby:

Originally posted by Azrael:

But there are not that many people out there, who play such a wide variety of games, that you would encounter a railway enthusiast in a Shooter :D

LOL; I guess we're a rare breed

It did always bother me that after completing that section of new rail in RDR2, the train never uses it... it would make for a much quicker route to Rhodes as you mentioned. Plus that one town in the northeast (Van Horn I think?) that didn't have rail access even though the line ran right by it? Come on!

Hope you get it working!

Wasn't there a train station at Van Horn?
I rarely actually used the trains, I enjoyed riding with my horse and doing tons of other stuff while travelling, but I remember there being a building with a platform.

[Azrael]

I'm at the very start of it now, that's how it looks as of now, having the area of Saint Denis and South of Rhodes around Braithwaite Manor alrdy smoothed down, so it doesn't look as "cliffy".

State Borders and such are rendered as rivers, because on the original map they're black and of cause the whole map painting has to be done, since e.g. New Austin isn't green and the Mountains of Ambarino and in general Mountains have to be created from scratch.

But this method atleast gives a start to work with and giving you basic stuff, sparing me the work of recreating it by hand in the map editor :D

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1958796322

[Gorby]

You're thinking of Annesburg, Van Horn is the one with the large pier with the hotel and fence on it. I think... it's been a year since I played.

Map looks good though. You certainly have your smoothing tool work cut out for you!

[Azrael]

Gotta ride there in RDR2 and look, gotta do it anyway to get a rough idea where to place industries that produce stuff.
Of cause a 1:1 wouldn't be possible, but I could get a rough idea, where which industry stands.

[Azrael]

Originally posted by Gorby:

You're thinking of Annesburg, Van Horn is the one with the large pier with the hotel and fence on it. I think... it's been a year since I played.

Map looks good though. You certainly have your smoothing tool work cut out for you!

If you want to have a look for yourself, I finished it for now and it could use some playtesting ^^

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1959646558

[Gorby]

It's Red Dead Redemption, I can't not try it!

[brick177]

Originally posted by Azrael:

I'm at the very start of it now, that's how it looks as of now, having the area of Saint Denis and South of Rhodes around Braithwaite Manor alrdy smoothed down, so it doesn't look as "cliffy".

State Borders and such are rendered as rivers, because on the original map they're black and of cause the whole map painting has to be done, since e.g. New Austin isn't green and the Mountains of Ambarino and in general Mountains have to be created from scratch.

But this method atleast gives a start to work with and giving you basic stuff, sparing me the work of recreating it by hand in the map editor :D

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1958796322

This is fantastic! I was thinking about creating an RDR2 map in here as well. Glad to see someone else taking the initiative! :)

[tomasantony]

Has there been any progress anyone? I've been tinkering myself, got so far as a greyscale terrain image i found online and its not bad, but my water is always down a 30ft cliff from the land... i assume that i just need to shift my lowest grey toward the black of the water. Does anyone know how to get the roads and text gently overlayed on the terrain ie as shallow ridges i can easily smooth once the roads and rails are built? Overlay or lighten layer maybe? My big problem is i make 16bit greyscale PNGs in the right dims for the ratio and the editor seems to say they are invalid....sometimes. Anyone know the exact settings for photoshop to create a works-every-time terrain map?

[Forkboy222]

Originally posted by tomasantony:

Has there been any progress anyone? I've been tinkering myself, got so far as a greyscale terrain image

For photoshop, you should just be able to change color mode to grayscale.

There are some other tricks, for example to create a slope where water meets land, select the black (water) areas, then adjust brightness to be the same as the water level you want. Then contract selection, adjust brightness to be 1 darker, then contract and adjust brightness to be 1 darker, and repeat a few dozen or 100 times (or set up action to repeat automatically). This will create a gentle slope at the water.