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Configure Land Object Lines Dialog?


stormrider_sp

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LOLs can be configured (and saved for future use) to be a linear array of (any mix of) land objects from the Steel Beasts object library, such as trees, bushes, boulders.

 

The primary idea being able to create countryside alleys with trees to the left (or to the right, or both). But you can also create wild hedgerows, or dense boulder lines that prevent passage.

 

All LOLs will have random gaps through which vehicles can pass in perpendicular directions.

 

You can basically configure which objects should appear in the LOL, how densely they are placed, and how often the random bgaps appear (you can make them rare, but not entirely eliminate them). Use the LOLs with care. a few hundred on a map are no problem. A few ten thousand may result in (entirely to be expected) loss of frame rate.

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I have plenty but i cant upload it since it is all on my map. That they are connected, and that is far from ready to be released yet.. But i can go through how to do it..

so you go to Edit, and select edit Land Object Lines
nRtwvqy.png
In there you get your configuration of it up which shows all the vegetation, you have in your Terrain vegetation template. In there you can select all of the trees, bushes and rocks, that is assigned to your map.

8xVvNhi.png

so obviously the spacing % tells you how much room there is between each object in your line. Random Offset %. tells you how the objects are allowed to be pushed off the line. and Spacing Randomization % allows you to tell if there might be randomizing in it so they aren't all planted with the same distance. Even after you've done that.

 

so f.example. This treeline of conifer has a specific set spacing set along with spacing randomization and random off set set to 0
Z3tXtge.jpeg

Hope it helps abit.

Edited by DK-DDAM
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6 minutes ago, DK-DDAM said:

Hope it helps abit.

I appreciate the explanation. Is there not a way to export your LOLs? It seems like there is, in the map editor.

 

This seems like a neat feature. 

 

The biggest challenge is learning the names of all the vegetation. Since now, there have been no names associated with anything. 

Edited by Apocalypse 31
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The more I mess with this, the more I like it. 

 

I'm having a hard time understanding why I would even want to use the tree paintbrush now? The LOLs offer so much more detail than just using the tree tool. 

 

I wish we had customizable AREAs in addition to lines. Then forests/areas would be even more detailed. 

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  • 1 month later...
19 minutes ago, Ssnake said:

I think I need an email from you where you explain a bit more in depth what you have in mind.

Sorry for not being very clear. It wasn't very clear in my mind either. The idea is simple: In the map editor, one can create different land line objects profiles and then manually draw them over the map. One can import and export profiles, but not their location. The problem is that the map editor doesn't have a selection tool to filter by features, for example, to select only point objects with the attribute: house 1 floor, or line objects with the attribute: land line object <profile x> or road objects with the attribute stream, 3m, and so on; eventually it all becomes unmanageable.

 

So the idea is to be able to use external line or area (perimeter) vector data, which have as attributes, the land line object profile id, so one can work on the map in a gis software and then export it straight into the game, just like any other shapefile.

Edited by stormrider_sp
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It's not a bad idea but right now I don't think it's possible. When importing vector data in SHP format you can tie them to items in our object library. But LOLs are "meta objects" in that they are, in essence, a prescription how to assemble a linear feature from one or more land objects in the theme file of the map that you're creating. The LOL contains not only the IDs of the objects of which it is made but also inter-object distances etc.

When importing SHP data you'd need to reference previously defined LOL templates which will be different on every computer, rather than referencing elements of the object library which is always the same.

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10 hours ago, Ssnake said:

It's not a bad idea but right now I don't think it's possible. When importing vector data in SHP format you can tie them to items in our object library. But LOLs are "meta objects" in that they are, in essence, a prescription how to assemble a linear feature from one or more land objects in the theme file of the map that you're creating. The LOL contains not only the IDs of the objects of which it is made but also inter-object distances etc.

When importing SHP data you'd need to reference previously defined LOL templates which will be different on every computer, rather than referencing elements of the object library which is always the same.

Isn't that exactly the same as for example, area types of shps, when the person importing them, selects the area type but the area type is dependent on the theme. For example, I could import Grass, but for it, select Field 1. Then change in my Themes, Grass for Field 1. What I'm trying to say is that although line land object, although their are meta objects, they are also line objects and if treating as so, they must necessarily have any sort of position information, which could be provided by an external line shapefile and then when creating a line land object profile, one could reference it to a line shapefile to get their position information. Or perhaps the other way round. By converting an existing line object into line land object, although it would be considerably more complicated because the map editor doesn't provide a feature attribute selection tool.

Edited by stormrider_sp
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alYou're conflating tile map data import with vector objects. What you want is importing vector lines because it's an effective reduction of data. What these vector lines actually represent (what makes them meta objects) are rows of individual point objects - trees mostly, potentially bushes and/or large boulders - that were planted in a more or less systematical fashion.

 

When importing vector objects, you can connect the imported data only with suitable objects that already are in the object library of Steel Beasts (and LOLs are not, because they are composed of subsets of the object library).

As far as vector lines are concerned that are not roads, the only object type that you could directly use would be fences and walls, or possibly (municipal) powerlines. But there is no way in the Theme or the Map Editor to swap walls for LOLs. You could manually retrace the walls then delete them, but you were asking specifically for an automated process (and rightfully so, because doing so would be very tedious).

 

Like I wrote, it's a good idea, it just doesn't work right now.

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6 minutes ago, Ssnake said:

alYou're conflating tile map data import with vector objects. What you want is importing vector lines because it's an effective reduction of data. What these vector lines actually represent (what makes them meta objects) are rows of individual point objects - trees mostly, potentially bushes and/or large boulders - that were planted in a more or less systematical fashion.

 

When importing vector objects, you can connect the imported data only with suitable objects that already are in the object library of Steel Beasts (and LOLs are not, because they are composed of subsets of the object library).

As far as vector lines are concerned that are not roads, the only object type that you could directly use would be fences and walls, or possibly (municipal) powerlines. But there is no way in the Theme or the Map Editor to swap walls for LOLs. You could manually retrace the walls then delete them, but you were asking specifically for an automated process (and rightfully so, because doing so would be very tedious).

 

Like I wrote, it's a good idea, it just doesn't work right now.

I understand now, thank you. Do these planted objects affect LOS?

Edited by stormrider_sp
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  • 9 months later...
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On 2/25/2021 at 1:40 PM, DK-DDAM said:

you go to Edit, and select Edit Land Object Lines...

8xVvNhi.png

The question came up, "The column on the left is empty, where are all these entries" - well, you have to create them yourself. So, for first-time users of the LOL configuration dialog, here's one a bit more in-depth description to get you started:

 

Click the button New
This creates a first entry, with the default name "New"; you can immediately edit that name (it will however still be listed as "New" in the left window as long as you haven't clicked the Apply button; more about that later.

So, let's say you have "New" in the list and renamed it below the list as "Test". You then have the center column with all the objects that are available (note that this depends on the selected theme and its map objects palette, so it's no longer fixed like in the past).
With the arrow buttons you can then put selected objects into the right column, which is what your LOL will be made of.

At the bottom you can change the randomness of the whole thing, and once that you're happy - maybe you have second thoughts about the name "Test", and adjust it one more time - you click Apply. The "New" entry in the list on the far left will now change to the new name that you set, so you now have your first entry, "Test".

Close the dialog.

The previously greyed out Land Object Lines field in the tool bar on the right is now selectable. Clicking it will open the list of available LOLs, containing one entry, "Test".

You can now create "Test" lines on your map.

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