World Map Creation. It 'CAN' be done with TES Construction Extended

[LongDukDong]

World Map Creation.

It 'CAN' be done with TES Construction Extended

by LongDukDong

 

 

Were you working on a large adventure with a unique world area apart from Tamriel?  Were you wondering how to make a world map for your new land mass and were stumped?  Nope, this is not a request.  Instead, it is a description of my hunt for Oblivion's  Overworld / Worldmap  system.

 

 

I was browsing through the BSA file for Shivering Isles and saw a few DDS files using the "textures\landscapelod\generated" pathway.   I downloaded them and saw it was the rendered overworld maps for Shivering Isles in DDS format, And each had a fairly weird filename.  The second part of the filename was coordinate based (0 32  / 0 0 / 0 -32, etc), but it was weird.  I was curious how the filename was generated.  BUT...  I felt I learned where the overworld maps were stored in the Textures folder.

 

 

But that's not the end of it.   After opening the TES Construction EXTENDED editor, I went to the 'SE World' worldspace in the Cell View window and brought up the render window.  I hovered the mouse over the render of a section of the world and right-clicked.  The second option in the dropdown menu is "Generate LOD Land Texture", and from that option, you have "This LOD Quad" and "This Cell".

 

Whuzza whuzz??       Did I just find a world map generator?

 

Actually, I did.   The option for 'This LOD Quad' brought up dialog that generating this portion of the world map would take some time, and boy... did it ever.  BUT, it was strikingly similar to one of the .DDS files I extracted from the Shivering Isles.BSA, and generated the exact same filename as the one I compared it to.  Sure, you want an artist to touch up a map you generate (purple water just doesn't look right).  But this definitely works to make world maps which you'll place in the "textures\landscapelod\generated" folder.

 

 

So yes, you can use the TES Construction Extended editor to generate worldmaps by right-clicking over a rendered portion of the world area you want mapped out.  And it creates the generated map as a DDS file, saving it under the necessary filename your mod will need.

 

 

This assuming you want to make worldmaps for game mods like 'Crowning Isles". 

[fejeena]

Map test: Siren Isle

SiInsel3.7z

 

I will not add and use Map.

 

If I am in another World space and I open the map and see the Tamriel Map I know ( and 95% of all players will know) that i should not fast travel to Tamriel.

 

Simple solution: disable fast travel in all crownig isle world spaces. Easy with TES4Edit.

 

 

 

[RapidWaterOver]

I've always just used satelite images for the world map, since I use terrain height data from real world places for creating worldspaces. 

[LongDukDong]

Hey, fejeena.  I just bet that wasn't the actual filename generated. 

 

When I generated Shivering Isles maps, filenames created were 40728.00.00.32.dds , 40728.-32.00.32.dds and etc.  These filenames matched what already existed for the overworld maps in the Shivering Isles .BSA,  

 

I do not know what the 40728 in the filename comes into play.... unless it is the form ID of the map itself.  If that is the case, it is possible that the Siren Island overworld map may actually be something akin to 39E43.00.00.32.dds.   But that's just an educated guess.  The form ID appears to be 03039E43... so I took a cue from that. 

 

But yeeaahh.... I wouldn't use THAT DDS file.  It looks like it was drawn with tiles.  And as I said, you'd want an artist touch that baby up.  

 

You really have fun with that TES4Edit, dontcha?

[fejeena]

Have you tried it with the Siren isle?

All I get is

Nif is ok:

33791555.00.-32.32.NIF

 

Normal is fine

33791555.00.-32.32_FN.dds

 

But the texture looks ....( I have such "wrong" textures also in some Mods with added LOD files ) 

33791555.0.-32.32.dds

even the file name is wrong, should be .....00.-32.32.dds  not   ......0.-32.32.dds

 

And I have the Partial folder ( textures\landscapelod\generated\Partial )  That are the files I used for the Map.

33791555.3.-1.256.dds

 

Maybe my CSE does not like me

 

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EDIT

I was able to create the files with TES4qLOD

50568771.00.00.32.dds, 50568771.00.-32.32.dds, 50568771.-32.00.32.dds, 50568771.-32.-32.32.dds

But it looks not good

Here all 4 files in one

 

No good idea to use those files for a Map. The files in the Partial folder are better.

[RapidWaterOver]

Have you tried it with the Siren isle?

All I get is

Nif is ok:

33791555.00.-32.32.NIF

C.jpg

 

Normal is fine

33791555.00.-32.32_FN.dds

B 33791555.00.-32.32_FN.jpg

 

But the texture looks ....( I have such "wrong" textures also in some Mods with added LOD files ) 

33791555.0.-32.32.dds

A 33791555.0.-32.32.jpg

even the file name is wrong, should be .....00.-32.32.dds  not   ......0.-32.32.dds

 

And I have the Partial folder ( textures\landscapelod\generated\Partial )  That are the files I used for the Map.

33791555.3.-1.256.dds

D 33791555.3.-1.256.jpg

 

Maybe my CSE does not like me

 

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

EDIT

I was able to create the files with TES4qLOD

50568771.00.00.32.dds, 50568771.00.-32.32.dds, 50568771.-32.00.32.dds, 50568771.-32.-32.32.dds

But it looks not good

Here all 4 files in one

E 50568771.-32.-32.32.jpg

 

No good idea to use those files for a Map. The files in the Partial folder are better.

Why aren't you using the region generator to produce the textures?

[fejeena]

region generator ????

[RapidWaterOver]

region generator ????

[fejeena]

how ?

With the option "Map" you enable a Map for that region, but you must have a Map. It does not create a map.

And it does not work for world spaces without region.

All you see if you select crowning isle "Siren Island"

  You have no region, so you can not select "Map" or other options.

 

tutorial please.

 

Edit: Map creation

http://www.theassimilationlab.com/forums/topic/14048-creating-a-world-map-comprehensive-guide/