====== Design map file ======


The L3DT //design map file// (DMF) stores a number of design parameters for the heightfield, including altitude, erosion strength, sea-flooding flags, and so-forth. 

The data is preceded by a 11-byte((Yeah, I know this should be DWORD aligned. Next time I revise the spec, I'll be sure to remember that.)) header containing the following information:

^  Field name  ^ Contents ^ Length^ Offset ^ Purpose ^
|  ASCII marker  |  "L3DT"  |  4  |  0  | Tells L3DT and humans that this is an L3DT file. Note string is not null terminated. |
|  Binary marker  |  USHORT  |  2  |  4  | Tells L3DT what type of map file this is. Must be 200 for DMF. |
|  Map width  |  USHORT  |  2  |  6  | East-west extent of the map (number of pixels). |
|  Map height  |  USHORT  |  2  |  8  | North-south extent of the map (number of pixels). |
|  Wrap flag  |  BYTE  |  1  |  10  | See [[l3dt:formats:specs:hff#wrap_flag|wrap flag comments for HFF]] |

The map data itself has 10 bytes per pixel, which are explained below. The pixels are ordered in rows going west-to-east, with south-to-north row-order.

^ Byte pos ^ Data type ^ Description ^
|  0-1  |  short int  | Altitude, in metres. |
|  2  |  byte  | Peak roughness. |
|  3  |  byte  | Fractal roughness. |
|  4  |  byte  | Cliffs/terraces strength. |
|  5  |  byte  | Erosion strength. |
|  6  |  byte  | Auto-lake strength. |
|  7  |  byte  | Climate ID number. |
|  8  |  byte  | Special type ID. |
|  9  |  byte  | Special type parameter. |

These values are used in the [[l3dt:algorithms:hf:design_inflate|design/inflate]] heightfield algorithm.

<note>
As of L3DT v2.4a build 15, the loading and saving of the DMF format is handled by the 'L3DTio_DMF.dll' plugin, the source code of which is (at the time of writing) available in the [[zeolite:downloads|L3DT Plugin API]]. This may be very useful for those interested in importing/exporting/modifying design maps.
</note>