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Maps & Map Building from Scratch Questions


Striker

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I have the current list of maps from the install of 3.0 but it looks like all of them are from 2006 and earlier. I find it strange that there are no maps from 2006 on. Is there a current or updated list available?

Also, I'm interested in building a map from scratch. I remember looking into this a few years ago and something about NatGeo Satellite terrain data comes to mind but I'm not sure if that's correct. Can someone please point me to the tools necessary to get the data to start building a new map? Everything I would need besides the SB map internal editor would be great.

I've also noticed that some of the maps are incomplete. An example is the Wolfsburg one. You can clearly see where the roads and cities should be but there's nothing there. Are there completed versions or are this just blank for a reason?

Added note: I think it was actually USGS data and not NatGeo data.

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Hi,

The list of maps has grown since 2006, but haven't had the time to update that list. There are also several user created maps on this site that are works of art.

You'll need the military version of Pro to import a new height map. See the map request thread to have someone do that for you. Then it would be up to you to finish it out. I think many people are using google earth or maps with a tool to make it semi transparent so they can paint terrain and features onto the SB map editor.

Making a map takes a lot of time and effort - before you start I would do some soul searching to see if it is something you have the time to do. If you are a 1%er, then great. The other 99% look around through the existing maps to find terrain that looks like they want and then use that.

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Thanks Sean, I got you on that point.

Do all the current terrain maps install with 3.0?

What I'll probably do is just take one of the blank maps and make my own from it instead of working on a new height map. I've done a lot of map editing so I'm familiar with all the time needed to put in buildings, roads and bridges. I was hoping that there might be a method to bring in more data than just height but it looks like from what you're stating that there isn't.

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Do all the current terrain maps install with 3.0?

All the eSim maps and one or two from the community.

I suspect not all of the community ones as then eSim would need to check them for suitability, etc. If map X sucks and eSim includes it in the distribution package, is eSim required to "fix" it or the person who created it? Also presumably eSim would need to pay someone for the intellectual property / effort of creating a map that was included in the distribution copy.

The rest of the community ones are in the download section of the forum.

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I suspect not all of the community ones as then eSim would need to check them for suitability, etc.

It's primarily a question of download sizes (height maps tend to consume a lot of disk space/download size) and above all, the legality of the original source. Many community made maps that we had to turn down simply come from sources where the license conditions were adequately documented. E.g. most high resolution digital map data from Europe belong to the local geodetic authorities and will be licensed for commercial purposes only for a fee. Even where private, non-commercial use is allowed we couldn't include the stuff in the official distribution.

Shuttle SRTM data and data sets of the US Geological Survey, on the other hand, are free as long as we list the original source (which we do, with gratitude). So they are the ones that made it into the map library.

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Look in your: C:\ProgramData\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\maps\terrain

I need a list because I deleted a bunch of them and I don't know which ones are official. I had been collecting maps over the years and they weren't being deleted because they're in a different folder from the program even when I uninstalled to install an updated version of SBPro.

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.....Shuttle SRTM data and data sets of the US Geological Survey, on the other hand, are free as long as we list the original source (which we do, with gratitude). So they are the ones that made it into the map library.

Do you have a list of the official ones Ssnake?

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I uninstalled and reinstalled SB and got the preloaded maps back.

Sean, I want to point something out to you guys. The reason I deleted some of the maps in the first place is that I had spent some time downloading different ones and couldn't remember which ones were official with the simulation.

Some of the maps you guys include with the official release are a real mess. Take Trentino for example. It has roads going up the sides of mountains and tracks and roads crossing the river with no bridges. There are a bunch of other maps that are just as bad.

I really think you guys need to look these over carefully and either update them or trash them. I'm going to take the time to do some of my own editing too but I'll put my initials on the end of the ones I change. BTW, I don't mean trash them completely, I don't want anyone to misunderstand me. I mean just remove them from the official installation until they're updated.

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I made the trentino map. The data used was the public data available for height and roads at that time. If a road goes up a mountain, then it goes up the mountain. With 90m post spacing and no way to do proper road cuts into mountains, this is what you end up with. Keep the battles going down in the valleys where tanks could conceivably operate, and things will be ok. (I can't remember if I added bridges or not) I believe someone picked up where I left off and enhanced the map.

http://www.steelbeasts.com/Downloads/p13_sectionid/253/p13_fileid/1616

No map is ever completely "done".

Many of the maps were starter maps where we compiled what was available at the time, and folks have picked up and continued to work on. Feel free to do the same. We did check for big holes in height data, but there is never going to be the manpower to verify that they are perfect.

We had a few choices at the time - include very few maps that were very good, or have a few good maps and several starter maps of various locations that were started but not complete.

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Oh, OK, I get it now. Thanks for giving me some insight into that issue Sean. There is some road data that comes directly from the height map information. How interesting. I actually did download Manteuffel's map of Trentino and he did an awesome job. He actually did really nice work on the towns and roads and it's very nice.

I'm going to spend some more time working on some of the incomplete maps myself. I know how much time it takes so I wasn't knocking you, it was just a suggestion. Maybe I can add to the community by doing my own part on that aspect. Like you said, some of the maps are works of art but it takes a ton of work to get them there.

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