Even Easier Map Creation - TPFME Lite

A preview and short tutorial for a third party "map creator tool" for Transport Fever, used to edit Towns and Industries on maps with ease.

Introduction

Transport Fever Map Editor (TPFME) Lite[glatar.hu] is a simple client-side map editing tool, based on the original Map Creation Tool (Alpha)[www.transportfevermods.com] by Xanos.

It was built to improve on the original Map Creation Tool by adding new features such as:
- existing map (lua) files can now be loaded and edited, so you can safely continue to work on your map anytime
- easier editing with right click context menus and draggable items
- a built-in documentation
- completely client-side implementation: you can simply download the editor (a single html file) and use it without a server or even internet connection

This tool is meant to be used to add Towns and Industries to your heightmap.
Creating or getting a heightmap is another topic, so that's not discussed here.

This lightweight tool does not show or calculate water levels like the original one.

Documentation

The map editor tool assumes you're already familiar with basic heightmaps and how Transport Fever handles/stores custom maps, but in case you aren't, the original tool's tutorial is a good start since most of the stuff there applies to here aswell:
Easy Custom Map Creation
Credit goes to the original author, Xanos

To start editing a map, click on Import and select your grayscale heightmap.png image to be loaded into the editor.
(Check other tutorials about how to get yourself a good heightmap image!)

If you want to work on an existing map, you can select both your heightmap.png and map.lua files to be loaded at the same time.
(If you load the map.lua file individually, always load it after you've loaded your heightmap image, as the loading order is important.)

Your heightmap image should now be loaded and displayed. You can right click on it anywhere to open a context menu where you can place Towns and Industries. You can edit existing Towns and Industries by either right clicking or double clicking on them.
You can also remove them by clicking X in their context menu's corner, or pressing Delete.

To move a Town or Industry, drag it around with your mouse.

Most of these functions have associated hotkeys to speed up the process.

You can also edit your map's metadata by clicking Map Settings in the top menu.

If you're finished creating your map, just click Export and the editor tool will create the map.lua file for you.
(The heightmap image won't be modified.)
You have to "package" this map.lua file into a folder with your heightmap.png.
If you're unfamiliar with the folder structure, see the built-in documentation about this, by clicking Docs in the top menu, or check the original map creator's docs.

Your map should be ready and playable now, it's that easy!
But please note that custom maps in Transport Fever are currently very limited, so TPFME Lite is very much experimental aswell.

In case you need more help, check the built-in documentation or other topics about map creation.

Screenshots

A small map made using TPFME Lite:



Silky Rough's amazing map, Whiplash loaded into TPFME Lite:

Other Stuff

The source code is not minimized, so anyone can tweak it for him/herself if needed.
It isn't really organized, because I threw this stuff together in a couple of days.

The editor was initially made in early 2017, but I was too lazy to upload it back then ( :/ ), but seeing as there are still no better methods of creating maps, it might be helpful to some people!

You are free to download the map editor (a single html file) anytime you want from:
TPFME Lite[glatar.hu]

[Mezeibest]

Ofc you can create your own "map", but heightmap creation/editing is not part of this guide or the editor itself. You can search around the web for random heightmaps that you can edit in some image editing software, or use tools like https://terrain.party/

[Schweizerleague]

can i make my own map or just this with 2 islands?

[Sqweloookle]

is it possible to superimpose an image so I can trace lines of the coast and so on?

[Spearin]

Brilliant, thanks for making this! It makes map creation a much smoother process.