A problem, and a question

[MiToVo]

Hello everyone,

So, I'm a long-time visitor and occasional user of L3DT, though I've mostly "doodled" with it, because I never really had a serious project to use it for. Well, I do have a serious project now, and decided that L3DT would be a great app to use to craft my world's map... if not in its "final form", then at least at the macro and somewhat micro level. I went ahead and purchased the indie version to unlock all the stuff that would otherwise limit me. Good times!

The approach I'm taking is that I started with an image drape of the shape of my world's map. Starting with a blank map, I set the altitude to 10m and 'traced it out'. On to that, I'm editing in the varying altitudes, land forms, climates, etc. So far it's workig out pretty well. There's a few things I'm struggling with getting "just right", but that will come with experience.

Two things I am completely stumped by, however, are:
1. Creating a volcano creates a "ring" around it, no matter how I set the altitude for that area.
2. I can't seem to get cliffs that are a bit more "sheer". They're either smooth and sloped, or steep and really jagged. I'm trying to use a combination of 'plateau' and 'terraces', so maybe that's where I'm actually going wrong?

Anyway, I have screenshots showing each of the things I'm referring to, and you can see them here...
Overall Map in Progress (scaled down a lot :p)
The area I'm trying to get to be as much like 'sheer cliffs' as possible

If anyone can offer some advice on how to address either of these situations or, in fact, any general tips and tricks I might find handy later, I'd be very very appreciative!

Thanks a bunch!

[Aaron]

Hi MiToVo,

I apologise for the volcano bug. I'll look into it as soon as possible.

The very abrupt cliffs are probably due to the plateau overlay. It's not very subtle.

The terraces effect works best with some noise and erosion. If the cliffs shown in the screencap below are somewhat like what you want, then I recommend painting the design map with the following brush settings:

• Peak roughness up to 100%
• Fractal roughness up to 50%
• Cliffs / terraces up to 100%
• Erosion up to 70%

Best regards,
Aaron.

[MiToVo]

Hello, Aaron,

Thanks for your response... and Yes! Many elements of that shot you posted are exactly what I'm after.

Okay, so... this leads to a question - something I'm not 100% sure of...
If I use your settings, and paint over the areas I want that effect in... do I have to do something to first "erase" whatever settings are painted there currently (this is besides getting rid of the plateau elements, obviously :p). Or, can I just paint over those areas with the new settings, and those will "overwrite" what's currently there?

Also, how much area do I need to cover when painting in something like that? Do I only need to make those changes along what would be the cliffs? Or does the effect need to be painted a bit of a distance away, on either side? I hope that makes sense lol.

And... great to hear regarding the volcano ring thingy. I thought I was doing something wrong :p. I'll give that another go once the fix has been implemented. I'd resolved myself to just put a mountain there, and then edit in the volcano element later. But if L3DT can do the heavy lifting for me instead... then why not? :p


Thanks again!

Hi MiToVo,

I apologise for the volcano bug. I'll look into it as soon as possible.

The very abrupt cliffs are probably due to the plateau overlay. It's not very subtle.

The terraces effect works best with some noise and erosion. If the cliffs shown in the screencap below are somewhat like what you want, then I recommend painting the design map with the following brush settings:

• Peak roughness up to 100%
• Fractal roughness up to 50%
• Cliffs / terraces up to 100%
• Erosion up to 70%

cliffs.jpg

Best regards,
Aaron.