Tool KingGen - A Random World Generator for 7 Days to Die

[Cpt Krunch]

11 hours ago, paulj_3 said:

Ok. . . .   but what is a "stamp"? What does it look like? How would I use it? Where would I get one from? Is it a picture, like an overhead view of a volcano, for e.g? I know very little of graphics, and, while I do know what 'code-generated terrain' is and looks like - for me a 'stamp' is a piece of paper that's stuck on an envelope - or maybe a metal casting with a pattern on its underside that's covered with ink, then pressed against a surface of some sort - to copy an image of some sort to it. There must be hundreds of others out there who have never heard of this too. Exploring and learning the new world that KingSlayer, you, Brad and Stallion have opened up is daunting enough, but expecting that we all understand phrases like "I use terrain stamps to make ... etc., " makes me feel totally inadequate.

Dont be daunted by any of this. When I started doing maps in late a16 /early a17, there was literally nothing explaining anything at all documented on height maps that was tied directly to 7 Days to Die, only anecdotes from a few of the Senior modders who dabbled a bit in the editing process. There have been 2 or 3 instances where I would bang my head on my desk and have to put a piece to the puzzle down for a while because I had just gone as far as i possibly could.

Roads, water, prefabs, biomes, especially prefabs, these are all pieces that make the maps what they are, and their importance in the overall process should not be under stated.  If you are really committed to making these maps, dont ever despair, just switch gears for a bit and come back to your roadblocks, you will eventually succeed.

Try and think of a height map as a giant block of clay. Create a png file, and fill it with the color rgb 40,40,40 and save it. Youve now got a block of clay that starts at rgb 0,0,0 and ends (the top) is at 40,40,40. Depending on where you set your water level, going below that water threshold 'replaces' the clay with water.

The tallest you can make the block of clay is rgb 255,255,255, thats your ceiling. So generally, your terrain features, your 'map' is gonna live in that space between 40 and 255, and your water will live below that threshold.

You can think of a stamp as a casting mold. The color you choose is how tall the mold will be, then however large you make it will determine the overall width. The attacked screens are from Gaia for Unity, which comes with a ton of stock stamps, which you can see ive used to create Mordor from the Lord of the Rings.

The big difference here when we say mold, is that its a casting mold tied to a paint brush, and can therefore be dragged across the top of your clay block to give you things like mountain chains. Also it can be inverted, usually with the right mouse button, to give you craters and valleys.

Once you have 'stamped' these features on to your block of clay, you save it and export it. You can either export to a png, which will give you a simplified height map, which you can use in a map gen like KG or Nitro, or in some cases, directly to a .RAW file.

A little long winded, but it is Sunday. I hope this clarifies things somewhat for you. Just stick with it, you and I and a few other guys are going to collaborate soon on a giant 16k map for CP, and its going to be epic, so dont worry.




 

[paulj_3]

Aaaaaaahhh... thanks Brad - and thanks, too Cap'n! (We have crossed posts here, Cap.) This moves us 'ordinary folks' a bit further along the learning curve. Brad's videos have been a god-send (for me, at least!).
       So this 'stamp' can be created separately, and then added or imported; something like a new layer; blended in, then flattened as the png is exported?

  Y'know - some bits are easy to do and understand - like biomes; getting cities sized and where you want them to be - is not too difficult either: the splat is quite a jump, though, and with a lot more work and planning required: Cap'n Krunch is right when he recommends prepping the heightmap for the city/town layout before roads or cities are created. I've  found getting the HM's roads - the flow; curves; the left-to-right 'levelness' of the road's surface along a hillside; smooth climbing curves; any height change gradients, and their routes - are a lot more complex, and I can see this as maybe being a tool that might be able to make that easier. - especially if it's taken from a real-world source. Anyway - thanks again for the interesting responses - and for all the work you both (and your other buddies here) are putting into KS's project - and I'm looking forward to this next video!
ATB

Edited August 8, 2021 by paulj_3 (see edit history)

[paulj_3]

Hmph! I just found a "Stamps" folder under Data. . . .  never noticed it before . . .  rivers, hills, plateaus . . .  and so I would guess one could import any of these as a start, right?

[AmethystLainey]

I am using KingGen and there are two things Im missing from NITRO that Im not sure if I can dup using settings or if a height and Biome map would solve it

I want flat and I want the typical Snow North and Dessert South if thats what the RWG still follows?

 

Edit:: I got Gimp incase I need those Height Maps and such but unsure where to start  Also if I go this far does that mean I can use the same height and biome maps no matter what mod Im playing that way all layouts are same cept what POI be where

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by AmethystLainey (see edit history)

[paulj_3]

Just follow Brad's video on making the heightmap, cities and biomes Lainey: In one hour you will have it!

IN response to your edit:- yes and yes.
 

 As far as where to start, I launched GIMP, then the video, then watched it while doing pretty much exactly what Brad was doing and saying, while pausing so that I could repeat the bits I missed. It worked flawlessly.

Edited August 8, 2021 by paulj_3 (see edit history)

[AmethystLainey]

Height and water is easy  Biomes a tad easy..

But its the Cities Layer I need to make my maps Same for any mod right?

 

[paulj_3]

cities.png  - created over the top of the hm - same as the biomes, and just another RGB layer, but with different colours.

 

[AmethystLainey]

VanillaWotw

I think I did pretty good but not sure how practical they are 

 

[Tallman Brad]

'Stamps' video should be available in roughly half an hour on my channel. Depending on my Internet! 

Krunch knows a lot more tha  me about all of this but I hope my simplified video will help those that need a visual guide. 

[paulj_3]

@ AL: - "I think I did pretty good but not sure how practical they are  "     Well done!!

 

and my "first" below. We all have our first steps, Lainey, and I'm still fumbling along. Sometimes it's frustrating, but once you're in and playing that new map, you'll not notice anything that looks "wrong" - but it will give you a sense of satisfaction, and it will spawn new ideas by the ton!

ATB.

[AmethystLainey]

the one thing I noticed is I have a huge drop to the water not sure y

 

[Tallman Brad]

Well that went up a bit quicker than I thought. Might not have finished processing the HD version yet. But here it is anyway. I hope someone finds it useful 

 

[Cpt Krunch]

29 minutes ago, AmethystLainey said:

the one thing I noticed is I have a huge drop to the water not sure y

 

You need to blur out the coastline edges with whatever paint program you use. I use Krita which is free, blur the hell out of them and youll have smoother coast line, sharp lines give you cliffs

[AmethystLainey]

Krunch Im sure you can see what Im trying to do 

 im not having good luck doing it tho.

Im wanting total flat with the water in the center with the area around the water as a no spawn (IE gonna be my build spot) 

the flat seems pretty ok but when it comes to the water its kinda smooth but not still flat and the spawn level is like 71 not 30 or 40 not sure how to fix that either

Watching brads vids is helping me with the colors and such but I still not sure about flat

[Cpt Krunch]

17 minutes ago, AmethystLainey said:

Krunch Im sure you can see what Im trying to do 

 im not having good luck doing it tho.

Im wanting total flat with the water in the center with the area around the water as a no spawn (IE gonna be my build spot) 

the flat seems pretty ok but when it comes to the water its kinda smooth but not still flat and the spawn level is like 71 not 30 or 40 not sure how to fix that either

Watching brads vids is helping me with the colors and such but I still not sure about flat

That should not be too tough. You will use the red color in the city zone mask to block stuff spawing. For the water, use the color rgb 35,35,35 if your water starts at 43, then open the height map in photoshop or krita and use a blur brush around the waters edge, which should give you a nice smooth water line

[Shemasheko]

Hy guys,

i think there must be a problem with the latest version of Kinggen. iam using kinggen 9 and 10 and it worked fine for me. 
but the newest version 12 seems to have a problem with the "facetonorth" rotation of the prefabs.

i have 2 selfmade prefabs. i used them with kinggen before and never had any problems with the rotation.

but take a look what kinggen is doing now: (all of the following pictures are from the same world !)


This prefab is facing to the right position as it does with the old kinggen versions.


the next on was placed with the entrance to the wrong side

This one is facing to the road as it should be.



But the next one opens up into the grass.



i did not change anything to the prefabs or their xml.
i used the old prefablist for kinggen 12.0 but this is what i get now. half of the prefabs are facing in the wrong direction.
and Kinggen did it with normal prefabs too !

any ideas ?

[AmethystLainey]

Im still having issues with my water not matching to be smooth with the rest  also I tried to go far North to find my snow but found RAD zone instead

 

[paulj_3]

D'you have a Dropbox or cloud something, Lainey? Somewhere where you could post the heightmap.xcf and the KingGenConfig.txt to?

 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by paulj_3 (see edit history)

[AmethystLainey]

No just posting to forum or in a direct message  and the transitions don’t seem smooth maybe I’m just using a horrid brush 

[paulj_3]

Well, don't know whether this is of any use, but this is the most usual GIMP brush setting for me: opacity has a big effect, as does hardness and pressure. It really is a matter of experimenting with those three. The force in the pic below is a bit high for most purposes, but I do play with it all the time, as I'm not anywhere as experienced as the 'big three or four' in this forum. Do you zoom in much when trying to flatten out the shoreline?

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by paulj_3 (see edit history)

[DJQuad]

2 hours ago, Tallman Brad said:

Well that went up a bit quicker than I thought. Might not have finished processing the HD version yet. But here it is anyway. I hope someone finds it useful 

 

 

Another great video! In your next video could you please cover the custom water map to create proper dry lakebeds, canyons, etc? I know it's as simple as drawing black but I don't believe it's documented. 

 

One big problem I'm having with canyon maps is the width of the canyons themselves. The idea is just wide enough that you have to build a bridge to cross it without supports. There could be wider canyons that would need bridge supports in some places though. Again, the big canyon and the canyon mine were my favorite part of Navezgane and I'm trying to expand on that idea.

[KingSlayerGM]

1 hour ago, Shemasheko said:

Hy guys,

i think there must be a problem with the latest version of Kinggen. iam using kinggen 9 and 10 and it worked fine for me. 
but the newest version 12 seems to have a problem with the "facetonorth" rotation of the prefabs.

i have 2 selfmade prefabs. i used them with kinggen before and never had any problems with the rotation.

but take a look what kinggen is doing now: (all of the following pictures are from the same world !)


This prefab is facing to the right position as it does with the old kinggen versions.


the next on was placed with the entrance to the wrong side

This one is facing to the road as it should be.



But the next one opens up into the grass.



i did not change anything to the prefabs or their xml.
i used the old prefablist for kinggen 12.0 but this is what i get now. half of the prefabs are facing in the wrong direction.
and Kinggen did it with normal prefabs too !

any ideas ?

Hi,

are you sure the rotation that you set in the prefab xml and in the poi list is correct?

Have you noticed this problem only with your pois or with all the pois? If you see this happenning with all of them, then it is probably a bug with KG. 

[Tallman Brad]

1 hour ago, DJQuad said:

 

Another great video! In your next video could you please cover the custom water map to create proper dry lakebeds, canyons, etc? I know it's as simple as drawing black but I don't believe it's documented. 

 

One big problem I'm having with canyon maps is the width of the canyons themselves. The idea is just wide enough that you have to build a bridge to cross it without supports. There could be wider canyons that would need bridge supports in some places though. Again, the big canyon and the canyon mine were my favorite part of Navezgane and I'm trying to expand on that idea.

Hi Djquad. Water was on the list for the next video but to be honest I'm hesitant to cover it as the water in 7dtd is pretty bad. It's extremely glitchy. It's still on my list to do but I need to find a decent solid technique that is worth sharing rather than just knocking out a video where you'll get different height water features but they'll look rubbish. I'm away for a short break but I'll spend some time on it when I get back and see if I can do something that will be worthwhile to you.

Canyon maps are another ballgame. I've spent quite a bit of time experimenting with them and have successfully drawn quality land bridges, adjusted water height and placed cities on the ledges and towns within the canyon with roads utilising the land bridges. Again I'll look at what I can do to make a worthy video on that when I get back from out break. I appreciate your feedback and support of the videos Djquad! 

[Cpt Krunch]

3 hours ago, AmethystLainey said:

No just posting to forum or in a direct message  and the transitions don’t seem smooth maybe I’m just using a horrid brush 

Blender Brush in Krita

[DJQuad]

4 hours ago, Tallman Brad said:

Hi Djquad. Water was on the list for the next video but to be honest I'm hesitant to cover it as the water in 7dtd is pretty bad. It's extremely glitchy. It's still on my list to do but I need to find a decent solid technique that is worth sharing rather than just knocking out a video where you'll get different height water features but they'll look rubbish. I'm away for a short break but I'll spend some time on it when I get back and see if I can do something that will be worthwhile to you.

Canyon maps are another ballgame. I've spent quite a bit of time experimenting with them and have successfully drawn quality land bridges, adjusted water height and placed cities on the ledges and towns within the canyon with roads utilising the land bridges. Again I'll look at what I can do to make a worthy video on that when I get back from out break. I appreciate your feedback and support of the videos Djquad! 

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I wasn't referring to water, as far as the water map generating water. I'm super familiar with the water physics being pretty trash in general lol. 

 

From what I understand, the custom water map is like the biomes map in that you can draw areas. It only allows 1 color, black, which signifies where water ISN'T generated. 

 

Take this for example

 

 

Instead of the water being defaultly (that a word? lol) generated, the custom water map would be used do draw black parts over where water would normally be generated. So instead of rivers being generated they would be proper canyons.

 

The current water level in KingGen is 43, which is perfectly fine, and resulted in the image above. With a custom water map imagine drawing black areas where water would NOT be generated. That would allow the above image to have canyons instead of rivers.

 

I hope that makes more sense.. lol