Gigantic maps : it is possible

[CornMaster]

quote: Originally posted by Julius Brenzaida on 09-28-2000 04:34 PM To make a gigamap, it’s easy though. Hex edit the .mp file. The 1st 2 numbers are the coordinates, for example my map is FE 00 (254) E6 00 (230). The x number must always be even and is always the double of what is indicated in the map editor. I’m not the one who had this bright idea. All I made was the mistake to miscalculate and to discover that it worked over the believed limit of 10922, which indeed the limit but only up to civ FW. MGE and ToT can go up to 32768.

You should add this to a Civ 2 Map maker web site. Or write a utility that will help to do this easier. I can program but I can't change hex code yet. If someone could show me how (VB6) to open a .mp file and hex edit it I will write a program for it. (Now I would need to have the VB code to open a file and the chage the code and resave it. This would be HARD but if there are any VB wizs out there, I'd like a little help)



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"I'm too out of shape for a long fight so I'll have to kill you fast"
Administrator of the CornEmpire Forum
My Civ 2 Scenario Page.

[jcarkey]

I think the problem with the tiny maps is that they have to be the same ratio. Since I want an 11x11 size map I need to create another map that is a 1:1 ratio also. Since I have to do this in the map editor the lowest I can make it at a 1:1 ratio is 32x32. It's a completeley random map that I altered by not having any oceans. It is a flat-wrold. If it was round then the game would be to easy/hard.

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What if the Hokey-Pokey is really what its all about?

Contact me at cpoland@mail.win.org

[Sten Sture]

supersized maps might make a space type scenario more interesting - imagine MofOrion with a bunch of open areas...

[CapTVK]

Well, I've just tried out the Gigamap and I have to say I'm impressed. Some of the continents are a bit smaller than usual (Europe) while some are too big (Antartica). Antartica should really be reduced to a small strip, at the moment it's a goody hut bonanza!

Naval power also becomes far more important on this map. Try increasing the movement of all ships by +1 or +2 moves to boost the importance of naval units. It works well on normal maps, it should work even better on these sort of maps.


The best argument for these supermaps is the aspect of isolation. No longer can a player spread himself thin over two continents with the constant expand expand expand! He's really stuck growing on his own homeland building a homebase before establishing colonies.


Imagine a diplogame with these supermaps!

[jcarkey]

Sorry to break the bad news, but the tiny maps DO NOT work. One time I used the jworld scaled down, I won instantly, and when I did my map I lost intstantly.

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What if the Hokey-Pokey is really what its all about?

Contact me at cpoland@mail.win.org

[DarthVeda]

Will the events generator accept values from previously illegal positions (ie 124,126) in the new maps?

[DarthVeda]

quote: Originally posted by jcarkey on 09-29-2000 12:03 PM Sorry to break the bad news, but the tiny maps DO NOT work. One time I used the jworld scaled down, I won instantly, and when I did my map I lost intstantly.

Were there spawn points for all the civs? If not, the program couldn't find a spot to place all the civs.

[jcarkey]

I think that that might have been the problem. I'll try again.

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What if the Hokey-Pokey is really what its all about?

Contact me at cpoland@mail.win.org

[SandMonkey]

Has anyone posted the giga world.mp on a web site yet?

[SandMonkey]

scratch that, i just opened up the file in my map editor, but all i can see id the top half of the world, the bottom half of the owrld comes out as all desert land. What's up with that??

[SandMonkey]

I wish I had read the fine print! I opened it up in ToT and it worked as advertised. And I have to agree, antarctica is far too big, and europe is waaay too small.

[Julius Brenzaida]

quote: Originally posted by SandMonkey on 09-30-2000 07:09 PM Has anyone posted the giga world.mp on a web site yet?

SandMonkey, it is right now in the database of Apolyton, in the map category.


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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe

[SandMonkey]

way to read all three posts before posting...

[Dusty]

Today I tried to create a gigantic map, but kept having problems. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, perhaps you need to fill the map with content before opening it in the map editor?

Anyway, since I already had code in my MapCopy utility that could create a MP file, I decided to hijack that code for a new utiltiy called newmap. Newmap can create a .MP file for any size, up to 65535.
No game I know of supports this size, but it might be interesting to see if Test of Time can. To use it,
go to a DOS prompt and type something like:

newmap 7 4681 theFile.mp

To create the maximum area map that the MGE map editor will load. The map is created with all ocean squares.

The utility can be downloaded at: http://home.san.rr.com/dustyr/download/newmap.zip

BTW, in experimenting with this utility, I've found out that the maximum size for MGE is not 32768, as is claimed in this thread, but rather 32767. This is not surprising, as 32767 is the max # for a 16 bit signed integer.

I hope this helps people play with gigantic maps.


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Dusty

[Julius Brenzaida]

Congratulations Dusty.
Your newmap.exe seems to work just fine. Simple and efficient way to create a giga empty map.
And you are right, it's 32767 and not 32768. Sorry for the little mistake.
For ToT the limit is 32767, too (I have made a few tests just to be sure).
You should submit your work to Apolyton so that everybody can appreciate it.

I have found another way to help people create gigantic map : by hexediting the civmap.exe
I post it in a new topic "gigamap editors".


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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe