Map making tutorial update

[Ryandor]

Over the next couple months (or possibly sooner) I'll be updating my Map Making Tutorial, with more in depth information. It's basically going to be a complete rewrite as I'm not even looking at my old tutorial.

So I don't kill myself and to make it available as soon as possible, I'm posting each chapter as I write it. This also will give people a chance to add any tips, techniques, or question that are related to each chapter as it's written. Once complete, the entire tutorial will be combined and offered for download.

So far I'm ahead of schedule and have posted the first two chapters (my goal being a chapter a week). I welcome any and all feedback (as stated above) to make this the best tutorial available for map making.

A direct link to the first two chapters is at www.ryandor.com

-Ryandor

I just read the 2nd chapter, and I'm curious why you chose water -5? And what you use for the land's height.

I'm using grass 10 and water 10 for the map I'm doing right now, and SA's current map uses water 0 and grass 10, if memory serves. (I'm certain about the grass, not about the water).

[Ryandor]

Water -5 is the "level" that allows boats to be able to travel on water. This is how it is on OSI, and most emulators, by default.

Of course you could program the server to float your boat at whatever z you want. :P

As for grass, again, you can use whatever z you like, and in fact I use 0 as just a starting point. It's mainly the general "starting point" for maps. But I use a lot of different elevations for the land, as a flat landscape is boring.

All that being said, Dragon is designed to create coastlines at that z level. As on the OSI map, coastline transitions look better with a difference of 5 z between the grass and coast.

-Ryandor