CyrodiilWarrior
New Member
Hello Open DayZ community,
I am looking for guidance, advice, and support.
I am new when it comes to 'map making' for DayZ. I have very lightly touched the 'DayZ Editor' mod, and know a very little about 'DayZ Tools'. I have played DayZ quite a bit, and would absolutely love to develop my own custom map - if it was of reasonable quality. I wouldn't want to 100% 'randomly generate', based off defined number variables though. I'd much rather draw out a height map to my own preference. I believe AI, such as ChatGBT, can also convert image files to the correct greyscale gradient.
I want to create a heightmap for a main central island, with surrounding small outer islands. I don't want a task which is too big to complete though, I want a do-able task. I would be the main contributor of the workload. If it started to turn out to be of descent enough quality, perhaps I could get another person to help put together locations, such as villages, towns, and cities. I want a central island of a descent size, so that I can have enough travel distance, with enough descent locations to explore and loot. Considering workload, that's why I've thought about having a set amount of buildings for villages, towns, and cities.
Unaware of tools, their usage:
I am not really aware of the tools available and how to use them.
Main central island, surrounding islands:
A quick browse of existing tools, and methods, looks very complex indeed. Ideally, I was after a main central island, with some surrounding islands away from the main central island. These surrounding islands would be travel by boat destinations. I want the islands to look like descent islands, not just huge squares or rectangles. I want them to have actual island shape. I wanted a beach around the outside of the islands, with a gradual incline to higher land. I wanted to have standard flat elevation, with some difference in elevation. I also thought about having some downwards inclines to lower land to have some sunken highways - easily allowing bridges (train/road) to travel over these sunken highways.
Pixels for heightmaps:
One issue I have is with spacing. Some sources suggest that 1px = 5 metres, whilst others say 1px = 10 metres. I'd hate to create a map under the assumption that 1px = 5 metres, only to discover that was wrong. I want to have good driving distance between locations, and I want locations of a descent size. In my opinion, some real-life locations tend to be too huge for a DayZ videogame setting. Where I live in real-life, for instance, is considered a town with an estimate of 19,800 people. It would take far too long to lay down enough buildings to accommodate such people, and I don't think it would be so fun in DayZ.
Distancing between beaches, roads, locations:
I struggle with spreading and distancing things. I could do a beach of 20 metres (4px if 1px = 5 metres). Then, I would have a gradual grass incline slope. Once the grass elevation goes flat again, I am unsure how far away (in pixels/metres) should the highway be from that. I guess multiple image layers may help with spacing and distancing, but I am unsure how far would be a suitable drive from one location to the next. I want a descent drive which isn't too short or too long. Farm locations, and mild locations, can be dotted in-between main locations (villages, towns, cities).
Location Guidelines:
I had considered creating guidelines to follow. Example, which can be changed:
As for laying roads, this can be a very difficult process indeed. I don't know how good or bad the tool is, but throughout a YouTube video, I discovered there is a road laying tool out there. The tool follows some kind of poly lines and you can click for the tool to lay down the road, following the poly lines. The tool puts down the suitable road pieces - fitting them together - for the suitable straights, angles, and corners. I am not sure how good or bad such tool may be for intersections.
Paint.net image software:
My image software utility is Paint.net. The tool allows multiple image layers, which could be handy. I would assume such tool could help out with distance, such as how wide a beach could be in pixels/metres. If I was to use such tool, I'd want the island to look descent enough, not just straight edges. I could use light blue as water incline from the beach, and dark blue as deep water. I could use light green as land incline, and dark green as flat and level land. AI, such as ChatGBT, could convert such colours to their correct greyscale gradient.
Disability:
Since I'm on the Autism spectrum, I think I struggle with distance (metres, pixels). I struggle calculating the distance between things. So, I am exploring my options, to see if there are any methods out there which can help me organize and improve the workflow.
I am looking for guidance, advice, and support.
I am new when it comes to 'map making' for DayZ. I have very lightly touched the 'DayZ Editor' mod, and know a very little about 'DayZ Tools'. I have played DayZ quite a bit, and would absolutely love to develop my own custom map - if it was of reasonable quality. I wouldn't want to 100% 'randomly generate', based off defined number variables though. I'd much rather draw out a height map to my own preference. I believe AI, such as ChatGBT, can also convert image files to the correct greyscale gradient.
I want to create a heightmap for a main central island, with surrounding small outer islands. I don't want a task which is too big to complete though, I want a do-able task. I would be the main contributor of the workload. If it started to turn out to be of descent enough quality, perhaps I could get another person to help put together locations, such as villages, towns, and cities. I want a central island of a descent size, so that I can have enough travel distance, with enough descent locations to explore and loot. Considering workload, that's why I've thought about having a set amount of buildings for villages, towns, and cities.
Unaware of tools, their usage:
I am not really aware of the tools available and how to use them.
Main central island, surrounding islands:
A quick browse of existing tools, and methods, looks very complex indeed. Ideally, I was after a main central island, with some surrounding islands away from the main central island. These surrounding islands would be travel by boat destinations. I want the islands to look like descent islands, not just huge squares or rectangles. I want them to have actual island shape. I wanted a beach around the outside of the islands, with a gradual incline to higher land. I wanted to have standard flat elevation, with some difference in elevation. I also thought about having some downwards inclines to lower land to have some sunken highways - easily allowing bridges (train/road) to travel over these sunken highways.
Pixels for heightmaps:
One issue I have is with spacing. Some sources suggest that 1px = 5 metres, whilst others say 1px = 10 metres. I'd hate to create a map under the assumption that 1px = 5 metres, only to discover that was wrong. I want to have good driving distance between locations, and I want locations of a descent size. In my opinion, some real-life locations tend to be too huge for a DayZ videogame setting. Where I live in real-life, for instance, is considered a town with an estimate of 19,800 people. It would take far too long to lay down enough buildings to accommodate such people, and I don't think it would be so fun in DayZ.
Distancing between beaches, roads, locations:
I struggle with spreading and distancing things. I could do a beach of 20 metres (4px if 1px = 5 metres). Then, I would have a gradual grass incline slope. Once the grass elevation goes flat again, I am unsure how far away (in pixels/metres) should the highway be from that. I guess multiple image layers may help with spacing and distancing, but I am unsure how far would be a suitable drive from one location to the next. I want a descent drive which isn't too short or too long. Farm locations, and mild locations, can be dotted in-between main locations (villages, towns, cities).
Location Guidelines:
I had considered creating guidelines to follow. Example, which can be changed:
- Rural - some buildings
- Village - 10 to 15 buildngs
- Town - 20 to 40 buildings, mild landmarks
- City - 50+ buildings, major landmarks
As for laying roads, this can be a very difficult process indeed. I don't know how good or bad the tool is, but throughout a YouTube video, I discovered there is a road laying tool out there. The tool follows some kind of poly lines and you can click for the tool to lay down the road, following the poly lines. The tool puts down the suitable road pieces - fitting them together - for the suitable straights, angles, and corners. I am not sure how good or bad such tool may be for intersections.
Paint.net image software:
My image software utility is Paint.net. The tool allows multiple image layers, which could be handy. I would assume such tool could help out with distance, such as how wide a beach could be in pixels/metres. If I was to use such tool, I'd want the island to look descent enough, not just straight edges. I could use light blue as water incline from the beach, and dark blue as deep water. I could use light green as land incline, and dark green as flat and level land. AI, such as ChatGBT, could convert such colours to their correct greyscale gradient.
Disability:
Since I'm on the Autism spectrum, I think I struggle with distance (metres, pixels). I struggle calculating the distance between things. So, I am exploring my options, to see if there are any methods out there which can help me organize and improve the workflow.