L3DT users' wiki
Large 3D terrain generator

 

Getting started

This chapter explains the very first step in creating a climate in L3DT. Subsequent chapters will deal with the more complicated problems of creating land types, managing complex climates, setting materials, etc.

Anyway, without further ado:

Open the climate manager window using the 'Resources→Climates→Climate manager…' menu option:

The climate manager

To create the new climate, either double-click on the '« create new »' option in the climate list, or else click on the 'Create' button. This will open the climate editor window:

The climate editor

Climate name

The first field in the climate editor dialog is climate name. This name must be non-zero in length, unique (i.e. not the same as any other extant climates), and must not contain any of the following characters:

  • . (dot)
  • <
  • >
  • \
  • /

If you intend to share this climate with others, I recommend you append your initials to the start or end of your climate name, such as atDesert, Jungle-AT, or somesuch1). This helps to avoid file-name collisions.

File name

All the settings of your climates are stored in XML-based climate files, which have the extension of '.cli.xml'. The name of the climate file is set in the file name text-field, or by using the '…' browse button.

All climates must be located within the climate resources path, which is:

Win7 / Vista C:\Users\[username]\L3DT\Resources\[L3DT version]\Climates\
WinXP / 2000 C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\L3DT\Resources\[L3DT version]\Climates\

You are encouraged to create a subdirectory for your climate within the 'climate' folder, particularly if you wish to use customised textures. Please see the example of the 'Desert26' climate included with L3DT.

Do not overwrite another climate file unless you really mean it. The old version will be lost forever.

Author name

If you wish to share climates, it's a good idea to put your name in the Author name field, so that we all know who made what.

In L3DT Pro, the Author name for a new climate defaults to the name of the licensee in the activation key. If you'd like to change this default, open 'Settings→Local settings…', double-click on 'User→Name', and set the desired value. Note this does not change the identity of the licensee, which is stored elsewhere.

Display colour

The Display colour is the colour used to represent this climate in the design map display (see display guide). This is purely aesthetics, and has no further influence on anything whatsoever.

Global params

The Global Params button allows you to modify some parameters of all land types in the climate in one fell swoop. Normally you do not need to use this option, but the curious can read all about it on the algorithms page.

Author's notes

The Author's notes option allows you to enter a short description of your climate, which is nice if you are going to share your climates with other users.

Here is an example, taken from the 'temperate24-basic' climate:

The climate notes for 'Temperate24-basic'.

These notes are available for reading wherever the user is expected to select a climate, via a 'notes' button (e.g. in the design map parameters wizard).

Next chapter

1) Obviously use your own initials there, unless they happen to be AT also, in which case I recommend you use someone else's initials.
 
tutorials/l3dt/newclimate/01.txt · Last modified: 2017/08/31 05:45 (external edit)
 
Except where otherwise noted, content on this wiki is licensed under the following license:CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Recent changes RSS feed Donate Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki