MapConvNG

MapConvNG is a complete rewrite of MapConv to work flawlessly on linux and on windows. It also contains smfdecompiler.

Download

Since 2019.10.01 it is part of the official spring build:

fetch it from https://springrts.com/dl/buildbot/default/develop/

Sources

git clone git://github.com/spring/SpringMapConvNG.git

https://github.com/spring/SpringMapConvNG

Bugs

Please report bugs at https://springrts.com/mantis/

Reformatted Help Output

Usage: 

springMapConvNG [options] -t <texturemap> -o <output filename>

General Options:
-h			help
-o <string>		output file name

Map Options:
-features <string>	features file
-minimap <string>	minimap image [1024x1024]
-maxh <float>		white height value
-minh <float>		black height value
-noclamp		Disables height map clamping, explained below.
-smooth			Smooth

Texture Map Inputs:
-h <string>		height map, [texture_x / 8 + 1, texture_y / 8 + 1]
-m <string>		metal map, [texture_x / 16, texture_y / 16]
-t <string>		texture map, Dimensions must be divisible by 1024
-v <string>		vegetation map, [texture_x / 32, texture_y / 32]
-z <string>		type map, [texture_x / 16, texture_y / 16]

Compilation Options:
-ct <integer>		compression type 1,2,3 or 4 explained below.
-ccount <integer>	compare_tilecount
-th <float>		compression level

Feature file:
Each line is a feature instance and has the fields in the following order
[tdfname] [xpos] [ypos] [zpos] [rotation yaxis]
Please do not leave whitespaces at the end or it will give errors.
If you specify less than -490000 as ypos , it will calculate ypos
depending on terrain height

noclamp:
disables heightmap clamping to max-min values , you should avoid using that,
cause you lose precision, if you want less high landscape use maxh and minh

Compression Type:
1: No compression 
2: Fast compression , compare tile with last -ccount tiles , take first
   which difference is below -th
3: Insane Compression: compare each tile with whole map , it is very SLOW,
   not recomended
4: High quality Fast compression: Slightly slower than 2 , it searchs for
   less different tile in last -ccount tiles

Important information

• Althought the color / diffuse texture resolution must be a multiple of 1024, bear in mind that in Spring each map unit corresponds to 512px. So an 8k image equals to a 16x16 map in game.
• Texture (diffuse), minimap, height and metal maps should be flipped vertically in an image editing program, there's no -i option in MapConvNG (as in the older and much slower MapConv)
• HDR and EXR images may also be used, ideal to keep the 16-bit quality of height maps. If you use Photoshop, check this free HDR input/output plugin: https://www.exr-io.com/
• In case you add a custom minimap of a non-square map, notice that the image is stretched out to fit the map proportion - so don't add black borders, just stretch it to 1024x1024 in your image editing program.

Suggested Parameters

-ct 2 : Compression Type , 1 is no compression at all , 2 - Compresses but comparing with limited set of tiles , 3 - Compares with ALL tiles , it can take ages to compile , you've been warned!

-th 0.03 : Compression Level , Higher compresses more , but adds more artifacts, 0.03 is a good compromise

• If you use -ct 1 and your texture doesn't show up, try -ct 2 with -th 0.01

-smooth : Does a bit of gaussian blur on HDR heightmap , it is especially useful when loading 8 bit images

• after applying reduction to your heightmap in an image editing program, filtering artifacts might lead to spikes in your map in-game. Using -smooth usually works out this kind of issue

Features [featurefile] parameter

Feature file is a simple text file, each line defines a feature with the space-separated fields: Name XPos YPos ZPos Orientation(Degrees)
Follows an example:

Rock1 6000 -500000 3000 0
Rock2 4000 200 1000 180

• Result:
  • Rock1 will be placed on terrain surface (numbers below -490000 are interpreted as "place on ground")
  • Rock2 will be placed precisely at 4000x200x1000

• To place a thermal vent, simply use 'GeoVent' as the feature name in a feature file.