11-17-2022, 11:57 PM
I've been playing around with this some more. The current results:
![[Image: GreatLakesInGamePreview1.jpg]](https://user.fm/gearcity.aj.f-m.fm.user.fm/GreatLakesInGamePreview1.jpg)
At this point I've figured out that the reason cities were displaying in the wrong place is that I hadn't set the latitudes/longitudes correctly. I've also figured out that I can use ../ notation to pull in the Base City Map (or Europe Test) scripts/logos/news art/etc., which simplifies setup a bit and will reduce map size when those assets are being re-used. In the Japan + Korea map, when pulling in base cities, they're still in the wrong spots but they're just too far north. Most likely that means my latitude coordinates are off, though I haven't verified the city latitudes in the scripts, either. I suspect part of it is also simply the hazards of a flat map of a spherical world.
As you can see on the new map, the cities show up pretty much in the right areas. It also took less time to create this one since I had these notes and had done it once before.
Another lesson learned was avoid spaces in the map name (the one inside the ChangeMap element, and used for the name of and name within the "material" file). Is this 100% required? I am not sure, but after I simplified the naming and eliminated spaces, the map stopped being completely white in-game and started showing up. I had avoided spaces for Japan and tried not to for the Great Lakes, but alas, it seems best to avoid them.
I've also confirmed steps 5 and 6 are not necessary, as long as you have MapFileForGame.xml configured right it will work. It might be nice to have the ForModTools version to experiment with some of the options there, but as a software developer who is used to working with pointy XML files, I tend to find saving a couple steps to be more valuable. I'm thinking of putting together an improved "minimal viable map instructions". The key remaining piece is starting with a blank slate city file, and blank news script in terms of city interactions.
Though I still have two questions:
- Does anyone visit the forum? It seems very quiet. Does anyone who does visit have interest in building maps, if the instructions were sufficiently easy to follow? To me, GearCity seems like a natural fit for having multiple maps with different levels of granularity, but it's admittedly been a bit difficult to figure out how to create a new one from scratch.
- I noticed that the coordinates are top-left, bottom-right, etc. lat/long, rather than just left/right/top/bottom. Is the game sophisticated enough that I could put in a "diagonal" rectangle rather than a "traditional" one and it would work? E.g. could I do a map that goes southeast/northwest along the length of Italy, and put in those corner coordinates, and it would still put cities in the right place? I don't have a good way of generating those maps yet but it's sort of cool if it works.
At this point I've figured out that the reason cities were displaying in the wrong place is that I hadn't set the latitudes/longitudes correctly. I've also figured out that I can use ../ notation to pull in the Base City Map (or Europe Test) scripts/logos/news art/etc., which simplifies setup a bit and will reduce map size when those assets are being re-used. In the Japan + Korea map, when pulling in base cities, they're still in the wrong spots but they're just too far north. Most likely that means my latitude coordinates are off, though I haven't verified the city latitudes in the scripts, either. I suspect part of it is also simply the hazards of a flat map of a spherical world.
As you can see on the new map, the cities show up pretty much in the right areas. It also took less time to create this one since I had these notes and had done it once before.
Another lesson learned was avoid spaces in the map name (the one inside the ChangeMap element, and used for the name of and name within the "material" file). Is this 100% required? I am not sure, but after I simplified the naming and eliminated spaces, the map stopped being completely white in-game and started showing up. I had avoided spaces for Japan and tried not to for the Great Lakes, but alas, it seems best to avoid them.
I've also confirmed steps 5 and 6 are not necessary, as long as you have MapFileForGame.xml configured right it will work. It might be nice to have the ForModTools version to experiment with some of the options there, but as a software developer who is used to working with pointy XML files, I tend to find saving a couple steps to be more valuable. I'm thinking of putting together an improved "minimal viable map instructions". The key remaining piece is starting with a blank slate city file, and blank news script in terms of city interactions.
Though I still have two questions:
- Does anyone visit the forum? It seems very quiet. Does anyone who does visit have interest in building maps, if the instructions were sufficiently easy to follow? To me, GearCity seems like a natural fit for having multiple maps with different levels of granularity, but it's admittedly been a bit difficult to figure out how to create a new one from scratch.
- I noticed that the coordinates are top-left, bottom-right, etc. lat/long, rather than just left/right/top/bottom. Is the game sophisticated enough that I could put in a "diagonal" rectangle rather than a "traditional" one and it would work? E.g. could I do a map that goes southeast/northwest along the length of Italy, and put in those corner coordinates, and it would still put cities in the right place? I don't have a good way of generating those maps yet but it's sort of cool if it works.