Fictional Scenario-Writing Tutorial:Part 1-Using Map Builder

[Pepe]

So, this is part 1 of the tutorial about creating a scenario. I'm a noob at this but these are my techniques. I hope they're great! So on with the show!

Creating a scenario isn't all fun & games. Or, at least, not until you're done. Make sure to take your time, you will always make minor tweaks after you play-test it. Also make sure you do frequent saves, otherwise you'll lose your data! *SAVEGAME* is what I will put when you should save. The tools you will need are: Railroad Tycoon 3 and MapBuilder, available to download.
To begin, go to the MapBuilder and this is what you'll see

Shown in the aqua-colored circle is the portion I have chosen. This is what I call an "interesting section" It has mountains, valleys, and even some ocean. But notice in the Red circle how big it is! This is way too big!

To make the map smaller, use the Resolution button, shown in the Red circle. In the other circle, you can see the difference in size. For the purpose of speed, I've made the map really small. Now chick the "Create Map" button. Your map will be saved as whatever you type in the name as. This automatically does our fabulous step for *SAVEGAME*
To be continued...

[Logales]

Sorry to bother, but I can't find the link to MapBuilder ...

[Hawk]

If you have the original cd's (2), the Mapbuilder is on disc 2. It just needs installing.

Otherwise - http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/Xtras/Tips_Tuts_Utils.htm About half way down the page.

[Logales]

Ha ok, this mapbuilder ^^

Thanks Hawk for pointing out the obvious :)

[Pepe]

Oh! Sorry I forgt to point that out! But I'm glad you enjoined this. Part two will be here by 9:00CST

[Pepe]

I'm back with part 2: How to load your map. This is very easy to do, so this is a short lesson

So we left off at our last *SAVEGAME* point. Now we have a .tga file created by MapBuilder. Here's How to load it:
Start at the main menu
Click "Extras"
Click "Editor"
Click "New Map"
You will have 2 choices. Normally, I would click "From Scratch" and do that shindig. Instead click "From Heightmap"

A Menu will pop up. Whatever you saved the file as in MapBuilder will be the one you pick (Example: I had Tutorial Map.tga) This will always be a .tga file because it's a height map.

Now three questions will be asked. First if you would like to change the heights. I would use 0.7 for this and for the mountain top modifier. 1 for smoothing.
Here is our final product!

Ok, not as cool as we'd hoped, but with a few basic clicks it'll look amazing.
Right now do a *SAVEGAME* Save it as whatever you want.
To be continued...

[Hawk]

I stickied this so it will stay at the top of the thread list.

[Pepe]

We left off at just loading out map into a scenario. The first thing I do after loading is look at my water situation. We have an ocean in the lower corner, so I decided to have a river flowing into the ocean, a very normal thing, coming from a lake that disappears off screen.

Start very gently, changing brush sizes as you move along to make the river wider and smaller for good eye-candy.

Keep going further and further, making a curve or a bend in the water every 5-20 squares. Here is the final river.

Now, for the lake. I use a medium sized brush, and make it just about lower than the land itself making it look more realistic. Be sure to make indentations and bulges in the shoreline.

As you can see, the waves make this lake look pretty bad because it's small on the map. Waves only show after the lake gets to a certain size.
There are two ways to fix this:
1. Use the wave tool.

2. Keep your lakes small (No Fun!).
Now for the river's terrain. Most rivers wear away the ground below them. This is called Erosion. ( That's your daily vocabulary word!) These rivers leave a bank behind them. A good example is the grand canyon. Canals are lower than the ground next to them too. Use the Lower Land tool with a medium-big brush, making [Shift]-Clicks to make a greater effect. This creates a riverbank on both sides.

*SAVEGAME* here to be sure that you have a copy to go back to if you make a quick, accidental drag.
End of Section 1 of 2.

[Pepe]

I stickied this so it will stay at the top of the thread list.

Thanks so much hawk! I'll be sure to make this a great post for the top of the forum then!

[Pepe]

We left off with a save right after our riverbank.
Now, go to this camera angle, looking straight down your river.

When you see this, press [Shift]and [1] together to make this a camera angle.
Use the smooth tool (the one with the steamroller) to make the bank a little less rough and a little more like the water wore it out. You may change views if you like. After you're done, hit [1] to return to your original camera angle, and look down your bank once more.

See how it looks better? Use this smooth tool to your advantage!
*SAVEGAME* now to make sure nothing changes when your computer dies, like mine is now.
Here's our final product after this lesson.

To Be Continued...

[Pepe]

We left off with our river, lake, and ocean. Now it's time for the next set of water: Mountain Runoffs. These can be very tricky to handle because of the crazy height changes that can occur. Here is a decent runoff.

It follows my 3 basic runoff rules:
1. Follow the "flow of the land"
2. Runoff's start should be just a little bit off the summit, not directly on top.
3. *SAVEGAME* after every river is created
A tip to hide rough patches where it looks like the water breaks is to place size 1 mist, 1 to 3 pieces, and maybe some rocks for eye-candy.

Mist also looks really cool, so if you are willing, use often.

Now for how to hide river ends. There are three ways to go about this.
One is to have them empty into a lake or other waters. Another is to allow them to fly off the edge of the map.

The last way is to just let them end, many rivers do this. You can see everything we've done so far in this photo.

*SAVEGAME* here to make sure your data is backed up.
To be continued...

[Pepe]

Now for the fun part. Labels! A label is the yellow test that looks like, but isn't a city. Labels should be put near important features of the map. Oceans, Important Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, and Geographical features are normal things to be labeled. Here are where we will put the labels.

Point 1 is our Ocean. Point 2 is the river with the bed we made. Point 3 is the off-screen lake. Point 4 and 7 are Improtant rivers. Point 6 is the mountain range. Point 5 is our waterfalls with the awesome mist I put down.
Naming is very important. Come up with some funny names. Look at stuff around you. For example "Loyolzest" Is Loyola and Zest. You may also use funny state names, like Delaware and Idaho. No offense to people in those states. When naming, if there's going to be a city near the feature, name the feature after the city. Here are the labels that I put down.

Excellent. Now *SAVEGAME* Looking good! Coming together as a map eh?

[Zeffern]

Keep it coming Pepe much appreciated.

[Hawk]

You do realize that this thread is 2 years old, don't you?
Pepe hasn't even logged into the forums since shortly after making these posts 2 years ago.

[Zeffern]

OH crap I saw March 8th and did not look any further.

Can you advise any good threads or reading on the topic of writing scenarios?

Thanks

[Blackhawk]

One place you may want to start with are the notes Oilcan put together under the title of 'Guide to Writing RT3 Events' on some basics of making a map: They are available at the top of this page: http://hawkdawg.com/rrt/rrt3/Xtras/Tips_Tuts_Utils.htm

[Pepe]

Hey there, folks!

Sorry for the delay, I got into some serious crapola and had some work to do. It's been 3 years, but I'm coming back to RT3. Sadly, I've lost this map. If anyone needs some help with scenarios, let me know! Again, I apologize for the delay.

[Hawk]

It happens to all of us at some point in life.