Well the UL mods are comparatively small when taken individually, in comparison to Cyrodiil as a whole (or Valenwood and Elsweyr which I think is what aellis is working on, I forget). Most of the work is done by the game in generating the textures for each cell; putting the tiles together afterwards is made easier by having created a template to snap the cell textures to, which I created before working on the first local map I uploaded. The only fiddling work is uncovering a tree which hasn't appeared in both cells it grows across, where one part is overlapped by the cell NOT containing the tree. I only did that for some of the ULs, those with a lot of trees just made it too much work.

The big question now is, what will TheNiceOne use as the background map? Can he use the http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2634 http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2781 which whisselj created and Fearabbit http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23140? If not, an entirely new one will have to be generated, and that will take time. Also, that one only covers Cyrodiil, so even if it is usable, it won't cover the rest of Tamriel for Onra's heightmaps. The alternative would be for someone to take these local maps I have generated and convert them to match one of the other map styles, though personally I prefer the local map style over Elven so I hope that these will end up appearing as I have provided them.

I have requested, and received permission from both, to freely reuse and distribute their maps with Dynamic Map. But when I started trying to place your map components for UL mods into it I noticed that the two looked more different than I had thought, so some work has to be done in order to make them match. I am not sure that my skills are good enough, but I will try and see how good I get it to look.

We have the http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=24044 by worm82075 which is the entire Tamriel (for Onra's heightmaps) in the local map style, so assuming I can get permission (haven't asked), and worm82075 has the full size version too (the link is only to Menus50/80 size IIRC) it can be used directly. This looks like the pure local map style (though I haven't checked by pasting one of yours in), so if I get permission, it will be a good alternative.

I plan to try to convert at least some of them to Elven Map style, but first getting them out in local map style or adjusted to whisselj's terrain map style will be first priority. Unfortunately RL will take up much of my time for the next couple of weeks, but I will ask worm82075 for permission. If I get it and he has full size version, cropping it to standard Cyrodiil and modifiying your UL maps to fit, should be a relatively easy job.

worm82075's maps do not cover the entirety of Tamriel, this is what http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3593710/Tamriel-Gridmap.png adds to the game world - unless he has made new ones not released or not shown in the screenshots. I used worm82075's world map for Unique Landscapes' cell grid map, I know it well - it is an excellent map, but it's still centred on Cyrodiil, it covers 13,396 cells, while Onra's heightmaps cover 122,880 cells.

Maybe worn82075 or whisselj have a quicker way to generate and put together the tiles, the sheer scale of the vanilla landmass alone must have taken ages to put together the way I've been doing it. Or perhaps someone could come up with a program to put the tiles together automatically into a single image.

EDIT
TheNiceOne, I've re-redone the BC local maps, http://bettercities.free.fr/Maps/BC-LocalMaps.7z. Included BC IC Waterfront which I'd forgotten to do previously. As before, Bravil still isn't done since we haven't made it optionally Open yet like the other Better Cities now are.

I can try to help. I am a Graphic Design Artist.

If you would send me a link to your psd files I may be able to help.
(at least try to make a semi-universal template)

Example:
doc telling how each psd was made.
and the psd(s).
Other maps...etc.
Any other useful info...etc.

Vorians
NiceOne

EDIT: I use Kyoma's minimap mod if that would be of any help. 1920x1080

--Metalio Bovinus

Well you're welcome to download the local maps I have uploaded for the ULs and BC, these are 7zipped PSD files, one PSD for each UL or each BC city. Each PSD contains a group named Tamriel and within that group each cell is positioned correctly in relation to the others - each still as a separate layer ready for merging. But it's TheNiceOne you'd need to speak to about things that might need doing to them or need creating for them to be usable, I'm just providing the local maps because he requested them, exactly what happens to them next I wouldn't know.

From this thread, here are the posts containing the links to my files:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149198-relz-dynamic-map/page__view__findpost__p__16895392
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149198-relz-dynamic-map/page__view__findpost__p__16897604
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149198-relz-dynamic-map/page__view__findpost__p__16899807
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149198-relz-dynamic-map/page__view__findpost__p__16903737
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149198-relz-dynamic-map/page__view__findpost__p__16905517
And post 128, which is immediately about your post

Is any of this effort with maps going to be translatable to other styles?

I have make the components for the Colored Map style =>
http://www.mediafire.com/?cr5y8rqfc7f9cxf

It contains 2 .psd : Map Vanilla Colored by Bobbyx (with corrected cities => http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=31809) + Elsweyr + Sutch + Stirk + Leyawiin Reborn + Hammerfell + Valenwood (not really the map detailled, just here for according with the Elsweyr component and the Map Colored) For the components I have used this mod => http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26329


http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4729/mapvanillaelsweyrvalenw.jpg
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6445/stirkhammerfell.png

For the Stirk component I didn't know how integrated it with the other components on the Colored Map, therefore I left it with the province of Hammerfell.

However it is a first test, and if you like it I will be able to try to make some of other and to arrange the colors, so that very agrees better (sorry, I didn't have time to arrange the colors).


For fun : http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/491/alltest.jpg

Personally, I think that map loods awesome!
If you would just have to resize the map and place the components correctly, it would be awesome

I contacted worm82075 yesterday and got reply, with full permission to use all his assets (which he'll put on a web server for me), including a tool made by Timeslip that will stitch all the local maps together.


Vorians has already given you link to all the components he has created. The way I imagine this project need to go forward is:

1. Create map components
Vorians is doing this for all BC and UL mods, but there's lot of work to be done for Onra's Tamriel project and for the Elseweyr region/cities

2. Convert map components to other styles
The local map style (LMS) is OK, and especially with worm82075's assets I think the local map style will be the base map style, but I really want to support some of the other map styles as much as possible. We have the Elven Redux Map style (ERM), Colored Map style (CMS), whisselj's Cyrodiil Terrain Map (CTM) (which Fearabbit has made some components for, and I've got permission to use it all) and of course bland vanilla style (VMS).

So far, it seems we have the following:
Base Map: All
Elsweyr: LMS, ERM, CMS, CTM
Elsweyr cities: ERM (but not very good)
Rimmen: None
Better Cities: LMS
Unique Landscapes: LMS
Bartholm: ERM, CTM
Stirk: ERM, CMS, CTM
Sutch: ERM, CMS, CTM
Leyawiin Reborn: ERM, CMS, CTM
Hammerfell: ?
Valenwood:?
Better Roads & Bridges: ERM (but can easily be converted I think)
West Roads: ERM (but can easily be converted I think)
Other?

This was just something I set up on the fly, so I am surely missing something - please tell if you see somethinh.

Anyway, this means that there is lot of work to do in converting map components to new map styles for a Graphic Design Artist - and also to extract map components from full maps. For example, cutting out the Better Roads & Bridges from a map that has it integrated is a bit of work, but needs to be done.

3. Finalize map components
The final job is to correctly resize the map component, crop it to its minimum size, make soft edges (if not, the Oblivion engine tends to make the edges visible) and write down coordinates for the Dynamic Map ini file. I can to do most of this myself, and it certainly is the one job of the three that is least amount of work - but you are of course more than welcome to do this too.


So if you (or anyone else) want to help, it is just to say what of this you can do, and then start



As you see above in this post, yes - provided I get help, which I seem to be getting
The mod itself (xml + scripting) is totally map style independent - or even map independent - it can just as well be used to add map components for other maps (SI, Windfall, Better Imperial City, etc.). "All" that is needed is the map components and accompanying ini file.



It looks good from the image. I am at work now and cannot look at the details, but it looks good, so please keep up the good work

Cool. I wish I had the slightest amount of graphic artistry to contribute here, but I don't. I can barely manage to pull off a road sign when I need one

One component that would be nice to have that no maps currently support is Anvil Reborn. It's layout is different enough from vanilla Anvil that it would probably get noticed as wrong.

Agreed, it would be appreciated if someone (hint hint) were to do the same as display name is already in use for Open Cities Reborn. (If only I had the time, but I just don't at the present time.)

Ahah, now this tool by Timeslip is precisely what I was hoping existed somewhere and would surface for you. Should make local mapping Onra's heightmaps much easier - although generating the local map textures in-game would still take a hell of a long time, you'd need to use the CS for the entire worldspace (or even just the areas outside the vanilla cells if you expand on worm82075's existing work). I guess maybe it's still a bit too soon to start on that however, I've lost track of what stage Onra is currently at but I think he has yet to complete and release the files for all to use, with wilderness content included (rocks, trees, plants etc.)



I guess I could do OCR as well, it won't take long as long as my PC doesn't BSOD (got a probably faulty graphics card, need to replace it).

What you can do, is to look at the Roads & Bridges component included with version 1.0, and tell me how well it represents your mod and where it should be adjusted. The different sources I had differed in some places, so I just took best guess, but assume it can be improved upon.


I look forward to receiving the tool, and assume (have asked but not yet got reply) that it is OK to distribute it.

On another note, I tried pasting your River Ethe component onto worm82075's map and it looked very good. Your map component is slightly lighter than his map, but hardly noticeable when I soften the edges, and something that can easily be fixed by slightly touching the your map component's brightness. The river also has another quite much lighter blue, but that should be easy enough to change, though I'm not sure I would want to, the lighter blue for the inland river looked quite good. So thanks for your effort so far

Yes, please...

I had time to test out River Ethe component onto worm82075's map a bit further, but is a bit unsure about water color. Here's the two with the http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/35969-1-1294236977.jpg, and here with http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/35969-2-1294236978.jpg. I think the first (lightest) looks best, but maybe something in the middle is best?

+1 for that.

This makes me want to try making my own map style...

Vac

I agree, the lighter colour looks better.

TheNiceOne, http://bettercities.free.fr/NotBC/OCR-LocalMaps.7z are local maps for Open Cities Reborn. This archive includes Anvil, Bravil, Bruma, Chorrol and Leyawiin. I know you already have something for Leyawiin, but I thought I ought to provide one in identical style to the others I've produced. As far as I know, there is no OCR for Skingrad and Cheydinhal, the files found in the OCR mod are the same as OCC. Arthmoor can correct me on this if I'm wrong.

Ummm you got a link for that? Still working on my psd template.

I never had the tool, I'd just been hoping that one existed, and TheNiceOne has revealed that there is one. TheNiceOne should have the tool by now, but he mentioned that he needs confirmation that he is free to share it with others first.

You can use my template if it's useful to you. It provides a grid for 20 cells across by 22 cells down, which is the most I needed for the ULs. http://bettercities.free.fr/NotBC/CellGridTemplate.7z (file is tiny).

I have got the file and the permission now

I have now uploaded the file to http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35969, so you can download it from there. It contains the explanation I received from worm82075 too:


As you see from the explanation, you need to preprocess the cell images with http://www.irfanview.com/. I tested it, and it was fortunately very easy. You must download IrfanView, and at least install the "formats.dll" plugin found as part of the iv_formats.zip on IrfanView's plugin page. When you have done this, I did the following:

• Start IrfanView
  
• Select File\Batch Conversion/Rename...
  
• Choose PNG as Output format
  
• Set sensible output directory
  
• Check "Use advanced options" and click the "Advanced" button
  
• Check "Crop" and set Width/Height to 241 (that's right Vorians?) - to get rid of overlap
  
• Check "Resize" and set W/H to 100, and check "Preserve Aspect ratio" and "Use Resample function" (Resizing is not necessary, but makes the file size more manageable).
  
• Click OK (maybe Save Settings first to easily load them later)
  
• Browse to the folder with the cell images, and add all you want to convert (all you have created)
  
• Click Start Batch

When this is done, you will get one cropped png file for each cell dds file created. After that, you just copy ImageSticher.exe to the folder with the png files and double click it, and it creates one jpg file with the combined cell maps. Or better, make a shortcut to ImageSticher.exe and add " Epng" to the target, to make it create uncompressed png instead.

Actually that is a bit nice, because that is exactly what I was going to do. I made a better visible "slide-rule", added a background image, and am in the process of labeling them for the cells. Oh, and I guided the whole thing. I was thinking of making mine square tho...no big deal.
Saved me the calculator work anyway.

Anyway here is a link to my Boots of blinding Speed Mod I made for generating the minimaps quicker ingame with Kyoma's Minimap mod.
http://www.4shared.com/file/D6aLV_20/Boots_of_Blinding_Speed_v10.html

The ingame minimaps look better and you don't have to edit them"much". Small description on esp.

Also I use dds.converter for batch converting to png, then irfanview to batch CROP resize 241x241 from left bottom. then use the image stitcher.

TheNiceOne => did you look at my files?
And did you received my translation request? :happy:

Well ...

It took a long time. Almost every free moment I had in the last week. And that was a lot of time!
(Too bad I didn't check in a bit more often. That sticher tool is going to come in handy. So is the Boots mod.)

As vorians noted, there are problem with trees and sometimes objects that lie across cell borders. Among other things, I'm working on figuring out why some render and some don't. Just from casual observation of priecing together all those cells, it seems like half do and half don't.

Here is a reduced jpg of the http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq11/aellis-photos/ValenwoodImprovedDetailMapScaled.jpg. There are approximately 2200 cells.
I've included Iliana's heightmap patch cells in the VI map. She missed four cells though:
[-12, -40], [-10, -42], [-9, -44], and [-9, -45]

The scaled file is a bit over 1.5 mb. Overlaying the scaled map on cyrodiil_resized doesn't quite fit, but it's close.
The unscaled map is a whopping 275 mb (uncompressed and a merged to a single layer with an alpha background).
Compressed with 7 zip, it's down to 180 mb.

So.
How do you want them?

Next up, ElsweyrAnequina.


Edit:
Holy Map Making Batman!!! This is amazing. 2-3 hours of copy / cut / paste reduced to a matter of minutes!

It took me more time to download the tools needed than it took to generate this 9 x 9 local map.
And it appears that the trees didn't get cropped. And it's only 135 K.

http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq11/aellis-photos/TAMRIEL.jpg

I think it's going to take me longer to generate the maps in-game than it will take to put them together.
The quality seems a bit on the fuzzy side, but think we can play with the settings to find the optimum balance between file size and resolution quality.

I think I'll redo the VI map using this method to see what the difference is.
Also, you should add a note in your instructions, select the "lower left" button in the Advanced dialog for cropping.

My template used to be square, but I just added new rows and columns as needed while creating the UL local maps, so that's why it isn't any more.

I have not had time to do more than look at the sample image yet, my RL takes up much more time than usual for the most of January - and sorry about forgetting to reply to your translation request. I'm not really sure what you intend to translate, as there's no text (besides debug messages) in the mod, but I'm generally positive to trnaslations of my mods.


Looking great (and like a latge job)

Not sure really, any decent file upload site will do. Getting it scaled to fit worm82075's map should be enough, it is alredy a bit larger than the vanilla map, so higher than that is not needed (I think).

Good to hear, and I I'll redo the instructions when I'm at home and see the settings.

These tools are simply amazing.
In 3 hours, I re-did Valenwood Improved AND did ElsweyrAnequina too.
In total, about 3500 cells. Get them from http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36489.

Valenwood Improved.png - not quite 42 mb.
ElsweyrAnequina.png - a bit over 31 mb.

http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq11/aellis-photos/ValenwoodImproved.jpg
http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq11/aellis-photos/ElsweyrAnequina.jpg

One last thing to upload though is the jpg with the names of the cities on it.