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1

General Discussion / Re: 8 bit Heightmap?

« on: January 29, 2014, 04:05:07 pm »

I've never seen that "massive" Middle Earth map before.  Funny thing is mine is almost 4x larger and includes less of the map.  I think his does look better from a cartography view though.

The model sizes are closer to normal because most of them were built before the height was increased to 255.  The exception being Barad-dur.  That was remade so that it could be more accurate and is 254 blocks tall.  Minas Tirith actually didn't most of the tower on the top level due to the previous height cap so that is more like 155 blocks tall now.  I tried to stay with a book perspective but many of my models were donated to save me time which gives it a movie look.  I thought Barad-dur was done excellently in the movie though.  Lothlorien I used a forest generator to get massive trees and just made tree house likes steps and platforms through them.

2

3D Model Places / Re: Ennecap has donated our first model to MeDem

« on: January 28, 2014, 09:44:04 pm »

that model looks amazing although it's very far from book accurate.  Were you hoping to use this or steer more towards the books dimensions?  This looks like it is 1.25 x wider than it is tall.  By the books description the outer diameter should be a mile, each level was 100 feet and the tower on the top level is 300 feet (1000 total) so it should appear about 5.5:1 width to height.

3

General Discussion / Re: 8 bit Heightmap?

« on: January 28, 2014, 09:15:24 pm »

I would certainly love to help but life gets in the way.  Its partly why I stopped working on the Minecraft map.  I haven't touched it in nearly a year.  I would definitely be willing to share all resources I used to anyone hoping to make a map.  Turning my map over, which I would love to share, defeats the purpose though.  Its really about the journey and the joy of making a world more than the finished product.

edit:  I just saw your list of things you could need help with.  I'm not sure about 3D Modeling since I haven't done it in about 7 years but I have done the research and have the experience to know proper sizes.  I bought and read nearly all the books pertaining to Middle Earth and reread them when building my map.  If you have any questions or want to discuss any landmark I'd be happy to help.

Also what program do you prefer for modeling?  I have Bender on my computer but I never really learned it.  I used Unigrafix when i worked as a Drafter and ProEngineer in High School.

4

General Discussion / Re: 8 bit Heightmap?

« on: January 28, 2014, 05:49:25 pm »

I made an account and wanted to chime in because I worked on a ME map in Minecraft for over 2 years and ran into a lot of the same problems you're getting.  Unfortunately I started long before world painter was released so I had to use other mods to custom generate terrain.  Also my map was originally created when the height cap was only 128.

My original goal was to have rivers change height with the terrain as they were flowing out to sea but then when you went to a mountain it just looked like a small hill.  My solution at first was to have just very steep walls so mountains pretty much just blocked your path of travel.  I eventually re-did it so that there was much less of a gradual slope up and the mountains were a bit taller.  I still cut the tops off though.

When the height was increased I created some mountains from heightmaps in world painter and just dropped them in with MCEdit.  They looked like shit.  I eventually cut out sections with MCEdit, ported them to a new map, opened it into World Painter, custom made the mountains, and then ported the terrain back in.  They look much better now but they can be improved upon.  My map right now is 45k x 45k blocks.  I'll post some links below with old pictures.  Its gotten to the point where it is so large I'm not sure where to host the file and haven't taken any screenshots in a while.  I started the map in December of 2010 and I really got burnt out working on it.

Original Map: http://i.imgur.com/Hia2R.jpg
Original Heightmap: http://imgur.com/xtW2C
Early Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/5JDF7#aqpM7
Updated Screenshots after height increase: http://imgur.com/a/vwRnw#12
More screens: http://imgur.com/a/OypFX#15

I've since expanded the map. It used to on go as far east as the shire, and south to just past Minas Tirith.  I've now completed the entire coast down to the Gulf of the Anduin.  I do not have any pics on this computer (I'm at work) but I can probably get them when i get home.

edit: I should note that Orodruin and most of the rivers have been greatly improved since these screenshots.  I was just looking back at them and saw how low the water was and the river banks are so steep.  I raised low areas up so that the water table could be raised and fix those spots.  Orodruin was probably re-done 10 times from scratch before I got it looking decent.  Still really need to fix Mt. Mindolluin.

edit 2: Found more screenshots. 
All of these were prototypes.  Only the Black Gate looks remotely the same in my current version. http://imgur.com/a/zi6mW#0 . Picture #2 was supposed to be Durthang.

More old ones: 50/50 of things kept: http://imgur.com/a/92mUQ#0 (Moria shot in there and a Balrog skin)
http://imgur.com/a/WztBO#0

Old map: http://imgur.com/a/qAz52