Extreme Positive and Negative Elevation!
By Nottud
created 5/9/07
Here are 2 guides to how to make positive and negative extreme elevation. These will lead you step by step how to make extreme elevation so that most of the simplest designers can do it! However, it requires Reyk’s new editor 3 for TT to be able to load saved games in the editor! Also, when adding extreme elevation, turn victory conditions OFF and save a backup copy of your triggers so they don’t interfere. (Use the copy triggers and clear triggers buttons) After you have made the extreme elevation you can always paste them back on again.
Notes on extreme elevation are included at the end of the 2 guides. Also, click on any image for a larger, better quality version.
Positive Elevation guide
Start by placing a gaia revealer on the map and loop invoking tremor on it.
Now playtest the map and hit the F8 key to quicksave it. Go back to the editor and load the saved game in the editor. Now place anubites on the revealer to create a spike
Now open your watertypes and click the “paint area” box. Now select your watertype – the shallower the better and click the top of the spike. This will create a pool of water ontop of the spike.
Next create another pool of water to the side of the one on the hill top.
Next, increase the size of your brush so it covers the area of both pools and click to smoothen the hill and make the pools shallower.
Keep clicking until all the water in the pools have drained away and you are left with a nice smooth hill.
Finally beautify it with objects and terrain. See additional notes at the end of the other guide for hints tips and facts on placing objects, using forest tool, etc.
Negative Elevation guide
Start by placing a gaia revealer on the map and loop invoking tremor on it.
Now playtest the map and hit the F8 key to quicksave it. Go back to the editor and load the saved game in the editor. Now place anubites on the revealer to create a spike.
Now, when you have the spike, move your camera so you can clerly see the bottom of the spike – either from above or from the side. Now open your watertypes and click the “paint area” box. Now select your watertype – the shallower the better and click the lowest point on the spike.
This should create a canyon and if your lucky and have chosen a good watertype to use there will be little/no water in the canyon!
Like the extreme positive elevation guide, create a pool to the side of the canyon and increase the size of the brush so it covers both pools and click to smooth. Experiment with the water tool to create the shape you want but follow these rules:
- If your brush will cover 2 pools of water at different heights it will smoothen the elevation in the area you clicked and NOT paint water.
- If you use your brush so it covers 1 pool, it will extend the area of your pool to where you clicked.
- If you click a new location where there is no pool it will create a new one.
Remember that if you repeatively click where your brush covers 2 pools of water it will drain all the water away.
When you are happy with yout elevation, we need to make the cliff stuff on the side of the map normal. (notice of the screenshot that the cliff stuff in areas is missing and in others it is where it shouldnt be! (There is a bit on the screenshot at the back that looks like a piece of rock is sticking up out of the ground!) Simply solve this problem by playtesting and returning to the editor again.
Finally, decorate and add eyecandy to your landscape and make it look realistic!
Notes, hints tips and facts that are useful to know!
Here are a list of useful facts that are worth knowing:
- You can’t change the extreme elevation that you have created unless you use the water tool as I have shown you. If you try it will “jump” back into its normal limits.
- The forest tool may not work properly in some areas – this is due to the water preventing it working proeprly (The water is still there according to the game but it classes it as walkable)
- Don’t place objects that can change elevation when placed on extreme elevation – e.g. buildings. It will cause the extreme elevation to “jump” back to normal limits. Place them on normal elevation and drag them up.
- Hekas when using their special ability will destroy and make elvation return to normal on extreme elevation so be careful!
- Falling objects (e.g. guy knocked by a minotaur) and projectiles will delete if they fall to a height of -10 metres or below! However you can walk and do most other things and it doesn’t delete. This is useful for platform jumping games – e.g. the Eternity game in which Yeebaagooon has used this -10 delete trick to delete units that fall into the void.
- Building buildings during a game will also reset the elevation back to normal height so avoid this if at all possible!
- The undo button will NOT work when editting extreme elevation so SAVE often until you have finished the elevation!
- For random map scripters and designers, extreme elevation can also be generated by random maps because they ignore terrain height editting limits. There are templates knocking around which you can download for use. Just load them in the editor, resize map to what you want (Does not affect elevation as long as you have not playetested the map yet) and edit that for your scenario.
I hope this has cleared up any problems and queries you have about extreme elevation so there is now no excuse for you people not being able to make some and use it on your map.