Ryandor.com

I hate being new at something...

1)What are processes of making map?
a. Draw it on paper
b. Draw it in Photoshop
c. Then "dragon&" it?...
d. ?
...
z. ?

2)Each of these steps how long will they take for a single facet type of world? ex only Malas?

I know these questions have been asked before, but not in one post I think.

thanx for your time and if i wasted it then sorry..

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1st rule of intelligent tinkering - save all the parts

You've pretty much got it.
In a nutshell:

Draw it on paper (optional, but can give you a general idea of the map)
Draw it in Photoshop
Process it through Dragon
Check for errors, fix in photoshop, rerun Dragon, repeat as needed
Tweak the map (fixing things Dragon can't do)

Make sure you read through the FAQs especially the Map Making tutorial since that will help quite a bit.

-Ryandor

Well too tired to get into it too much tonight but.

How long it takes to make your map depends on how much detail you want to invest into it. The actual conversion of that map into your map0.mul file will vary depending on your cpu speed and ram. (~10-40 min) The final step is running dragon SP which adds your statics which is things like coastline trees plants etc based on what image you ran through dragon9.(alot quicker then dragon9)

Thanx guys, I have downloaded all the docs all the apps mentioned in the docs, even more apps and even more samples....

I am going to spend this weekend try them out and playing around.

thanx for the quick response.

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1st rule of intelligent tinkering - save all the parts

Ah, I forgot the time frame aspect.

A good looking map takes me over 500 man-hours to create just the map. That's not counting towns and statics placement. Figure much longer for that, especially since you'll have to learn techniques to creating the map, and know how Photoshop works. There are some shards that have been in the works for well over a year, so if you are planning on having a good professional map, expect to take quite a bit of time. If all you want is a small, simple map, then it would be much shorter.

-Ryandor

I can spit out a complete (and detailed) map, minus ?human made? structures in about an hour. Not bad for wild-life fanatics, but not very interesting until you add some buildings, roads, etc. ? that?s the slow part.

But then I?m also using a completely custom set of tools that I made myself. It?s hard to imagine that dragon takes that long to compile a map as it only takes my hastily written programs about 45 seconds combined to create the map, create the transitions, create the shores, and create forests.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

So when you are you going to release it? Instead of bragging about how quick you can make a map, help out some of the others who can't program?

-Ryandor

Then I wouldn't be able to brag.

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Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net