SOWWL KS----Scaling Down Waterloo Map by 2/3rds

I made two posts on the KS and Norbsoft forum briefly detailing my progress and lack thereof of scaling down of the vanilla Waterloo Map.

So far the topography has been successfully scaled down along with the according RGB files that dictate how the roads and base map textures are painted on the map. I spoke to Kevin the day before this post and he said he was not sure if changing the heightmaps were possible and I can confirm it is 100% possible to do so.

Currently I am working on trying to convert the vegetation bmp. to the new map scale. I am currently encountering problems with the game instantaneously crashing when trying to paint roads onto the map. I have limited success in painting a single vertical road across the vertical or horizontal length of the map that actually functions. Trying to paint more realistic or multiple roads on the map results in the game instantly crashing when testing. Still currently investigating the issue. Will post regular updates on progress for the few likely interested.

My end goal is to create as many historical maps for the KS community at a scale where the entire battle can be appreciated in a single battle.

Screen shots from previous OP here:

gyazo.com/6e7ac1abeade1ce166921cafcd33b1aa
gyazo.com/ecbeca3d9d141ae806491ccb7b113345
gyazo.com/476d76ca2c275dfa4725bbb7bf69e334
gyazo.com/7ca208785ee4b7402fe830744a6258ec

Edits: terrible spelling and grammatical issues corrected. Was multi-tasking when writing the OP.

What does your log file say? It is in the my documents\sowwl folder.

Did some further testing to try to create a consistent crash situation with the results as following

1. The game for the moment does not seem to crash when multiple roads are painted onto the bit map.

2. The game will only accept one road as a functioning road that is interactable with the game units and does not crash the game. The road it always seems to pick as the functioning road is the one that is painted onto the bitmap first; needs further testing.

3. The game will crash consistently if orders are given in the general vicinity  of the non-functioning road. In the case of this example the road that runs diagonally east-west does not function while the road that runs diagonally north-south does function.

4. I think I have fixed the issue where roads would not function and or crash the game unless they ran the entire length of the map. I think this was a grey scale issue.

Screenshot of the bitmap: https://gyazo.com/3529c47ca31bee4b375e7a834b7010e4

Log files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e3s6xvh19wlkgcw/SowWL.log?dl=0

Associated project files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3boacu57kp0w7hb/Project%20files.rar?dl=0

There must be at least one road that goes from one edge of the map to the other. Yours has a break in it. It also means you have 2 separate road systems on the map. That is also not allowed. The program requires all roads to be interconnected.

Okay, thank you, I will get to correcting it.

Update-

Road system is complete. I have kept nearly all the roads of the original map for the time being. It is very likely many roads will be removed over time to a less complex and more abstracted system; game play testing will be needed to determine the effects of either.

Picture of road system: https://gyazo.com/6d23c0c9e9b6cd820dfa58caf4d36cd4

Now I am moving on to vegetation. I have had some trouble with it so far such as crashes when ordering units over wheat fields and such but more important roads ceasing to function entirely when vegetation is on the map despite the roads being above the vegetation layer without obstructions. Will post more about it if I continue to come across problems.

Also a question for anyone who can answer it:

Does anyone know the rules to the KS minimaps IE what format they have to be in, color limitations, etc. I have been able to paint on it with success but I am unsure what causes the crash states to happen. I need to resize the map from the original 1024x1024 to 550x550 to fit the new scale. All I have figured out is the image needs to be flattened in order to function.

Are you painting the vegetation over the roads on the grayscale map? That's the most likely cause of the problem you are seeing.

The mini-,maps must be 1024X1024. Otherwise the game will crash.

Update- Vegetation and buildings around primary sites are complete.

https://gyazo.com/012aba1ee49b531d931aefff69c34b3b

Vegetation crashes were not caused by road interference because they were always on the bottom layer but instead lots of pixels being the incorrect grayscale. I had to fix around 300 grayscale errors in the crash log.

Moving on to trying to get buildings to function as forts and then onto placing units.

Update-

All buildings that can be garrisoned are almost functional. For anyone who has not found a better method for determining accurate coordinate placement for the firing lines use the landscape editor and use the coordinates the camera is located at. I could not find a way to get the scenario editor to spit out exact coordinates to input into the csv that matched up with the in game map.

Unit placement will likely be done today along with scaling and lag testing. After that OOB stat editing for the reduction of the ranges of weapons to fit the new scale of the map.

I have a special favor to ask of you Kevin if you would be willing to help give instruction. How hard/what tools would be needed to change the AI behavior files for cannons. The range of all weapons needs to be reduced which I think I can figure out on my own but with what the new ranges for cannon need to be I think batteries would never get into canister range consistently before running away unless it is tied proportionally to what their weapon ranges are.

Another note from testing; I think I am getting a consistent crash state once buildings reach a certain damage threshold. Another observation is that they do not appear to produce smoke, fire, or any other decals like buildings normally do when they are damaged.

Edit: did more testing and do not think the damage state was causing the crash; still no damage decals though

The smoke and fire decal info is placed in the map csv file in the Terrain Sound section. Page 84 of the sdk pdf will explain how to add them.

Ah my mistake, I went through that section earlier but failed to properly read and notice the part about minimum damage required for the sound to play; probably will work now going to test it.

Update--

Unit placement for Anglo Allies and French is complete. Prussian are almost done. Scenario is almost ready to be tested. Posting screen shots and additional info on the main board.