2023-8-14:At present, this technical summary is not complete enough, in the later time, I should be able to complete this literature.

By: The original Chinese text is translated by me using NetEase Youdao Dictionary. The translated English may not be too accurate.



Minimum requirements for map to start the game

Not all of the map data is in map_data, and not all of the map data is in map_data, but at least four critical files that would cause the game to not start or crash are in map_data. Each color in provinces.png represents a single provinces, and if the color is even slightly different, it is not the same province. You could even use a photo as provinces.png, but because the color distribution of the photo is so fragmented, the power consumption is somewhat prone to crash.

A low number of plots in provinces.png can also cause the game to fail to launch, as tested in December 2022, the game needs to have at least 21 plots and at least 21 colors in provinces.png for the game to launch.

Let's start with a list of the four files in the map_data folder that will cause you to fail to launch or crash



1. Terrain file (map_data\province_terrains.txt)

This is an automatically generated file that contains the terrain data for each provinces, which affects the topography and combat. provinces That have not been given terrain by this file will not crash, but if the provinces given terrain by this file do not exist, the game will not launch.

If you just put a new color in provinces.png, the game will work perfectly, but even if you don't put a new color, you just need to completely overlay any other color and the game won't start. Lack of terrain does not cause a crash, but excess terrain does.



2. Transition line file (map_data\adjacencies.csv)

Most of the time, the transition line will be used as the cross-sea connection line, which can connect two non-adjacent land blocks. Because its shape is a red dotted line, and it is mostly used to cross the ocean, the transition line is also called the red cross-sea dotted line. But because it connects non-adjacent provinces, it's technically possible to connect any two provinces at will, which looks more like a hyperspace jump than an ocean link...

Each transition line specifies two provinces codes, and then makes them adjacent. If one of the provinces specifies a water provinces, or even if the specified provinces does not exist, the game will not start. To make sure that the game starts and runs without problems, you need to make sure that all the provinces code that appears in this file is present.



3. Default file (map_data\default.map)

The default path doesn't need to change; the sea_starts and lakes braces are the focus, and their main effect is appearance. Both land and sea are made up of provinces in provinces.png. If a land provinces does not belong to any country, it will appear white, but all water provinces do not belong to any country, and water provinces are not white. This is because the provinces of water is in the parentheses of sea_starts or lakes.

If a provinces is an ocean, you need to make sure the provinces code is in the curly braces of sea_starts, or you might cause a crash. If you want a lake to display its name like an ocean, you can define the lake as an ocean, but the "ocean" needs to be impassable because it needs to be disguised as a lake, unless you really want it to be an ocean, then the localized name of the "ocean" state will be the name of the lake.



4. Ocean states file (map_data\state_regions\99_seas.txt)

The first thing to understand is that land states and ocean states are both states. Ocean states only need to create a state name and define ids and provinces, optionally adding impassable, whereas land states require a lot more definitions. Both ocean and land states are determined to be adjacent based on the provinces included in the state, and state is determined to be adjacent based on the adjacent pixels on provinces.png.

When making early changes to the map, there were often problems with opening the market or failing to wait for the time to elapse, both of which were caused by the same reason, the wrong connection of the sea lanes. The file gfx\map\spline_network\spline_network.splnet stores the land nodes and the water nodes, and the connections between them, but it stores the appearance rather than the data. This file needs to be modified in the built-in map editor by typing the console command map_editor. The data that caused the crash is defined by the file state_regions in map_data.

There is no need for Ocean states to contain multiple provinecs; the original Ocean states only had one province for each. Each ocean states generates a route node and establishes a connection with its neighboring ocean states, and this connection is the route. When an ocean state has the impassable property, the ocean state will not generate route nodes and will not establish connections to other ocean states that are adjacent to it.

To make sure that the shipping lane calculation doesn't break down, the provinces in the ocean states must exist and be in the ocean brackets in default.map. In addition, the land states that have the naval_exit_id attribute need to make sure that the ocean states they link to are adjacent. You can't link to an impassable ocean state, and you can't link to an ocean state that doesn't exist.These errors can easily crash, especially the last one.

Method for generating terrain
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/how-to-generate-province_terrains.1596221/