GeneRally Height Map Terrain Importing Utilities ------------------------------------------------ As you probably know, since version 1.0 of GeneRally we have had the ability to import 64x64 grayscale BMP format images into the track editor as height map terrains to create new tracks with. What you may not know is that Monster Truck Madness, Railroad Tycoon II, SimCity 3000, Tropico, and the old DOS games Terra Nova and Transport Tycoon Deluxe also have this image importing capability (Monster Truck Madness, Terra Nova, and Transport Tycoon Deluxe require third-party utilities) so the information here can be used for those games as well. What this means to us is that any terrain creation or editing utility created for these games can also be used with GeneRally. There are also several other utilities that can be used to generate completely new terrain, as well as create terrain from USGS 7.5 minute DEM and NGDC real-world data. The scope of this document is not for step-by-step instructions on actually creating these terrain images (nor for converting from one graphic format to another), but rather for links to the required utilities for creating them. Some of these utilities you may not have even known you could use with these games. Here is a list of all of the freeware utilities that can be used with any of these games to create or edit BMP format images for importing as new terrains. Note that a few of these links may be outdated. If that is the case, simply do an Internet search for the specific utility. * BMP2SV0 * Converts 256x256 BMP or RAW format images into Transport Tycoon Deluxe scenario files. Note that this utility does not have an option to export terrains to any standard image format, but is mentioned in this document because it also deals with terrain creation. More Information about BMP2SV0 can be found at http://www.geocities.com/c3p1models/bmp2sv0.html. * DEM2BMP * Creates BMP terrain images from USGS 7.5 minute DEM real-world data. DEM2BMP can be downloaded from http://www.sc3000.com/archives/dem2bmp.zip. * DEMtoBMP * Creates BMP terrain images from USGS 7.5 minute DEM real-world data. More Information about DEMtoBMP can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/5366/demtobmp.html. * DLG Viewer * Viewer for SDTS DLG, DLG-O, DRG, GeoTIFF DEM, GeoTIFF DOQ, USGS 7.5 Minute DEM, GTOPO30, TerrainBase, and SDTS DEM cartographic data. More Information about DLG Viewer can be found at http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/viewers/dlg_view.html. Information about using DLG Viewer to create PCX terrain images can be found at "The Red Mountain RRT2 Station" at http://www.thegrid.net/redmountain. * Firmament * Add-on plugin for Terragen (see below), allows importing USGS 7.5 minute DEM real-world data directly into the program. More Information about Firmament can be found at http://mclusky.cjb.net/firmament. * GeneRally Height Map Viewer * Java applet that displays any 256x256 grayscale GIF format terrain image in a moving 3D world enviroment in your web browser. Note that the height maps that are exported from GeneRally's track editor are 64x64 BMP format images, and must first be resampled or resized to 256x256 pixels, and then converted to GIF format using an image editing utility in order for them to work correctly with the viewer. More Information about GeneRally Height Map Viewer can be found at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RichNagel/grstuff.htm. * GeneRally Terrain Maker * Creates new BMP random fractal terrain images with a variety of terrain options. More Information about GeneRally Terrain Maker can be found at http://home.iprimus.com.au/cragwolf/apps.html. * GeoVu * Creates PCX terrain images from NGDC real-world data. Information about GeoVu and NGDC real-world data can be found at "The Riptrack" at http://riptrack.iwarp.com/tools.html. Note that NGDC data files for use with GeoVu can be a MASSIVE download. * SimCity 3000 Map Editor * Creates new BMP terrain images with a variety of terrain tools, including random fractal terrains. More Information about SimCity 3000 Map Editor can be found at http://www.tenermerx.com/sc3maped. * SimCity 3000 Terrain Editor * Creates new BMP terrain images with a variety of terrain tools, including random fractal terrains. More Information about SimCity 3000 Terrain Editor can be found at http://www.cyberwyre.com/Products/sc3te/index.html. * SimCity 3000 Unlimited Fractal Terrain Generator * Creates new BMP random fractal terrain images with a variety of terrain options. More Information about SimCity 3000 Unlimited Fractal Terrain Generator can be found at http://www.sc3000.com/files. * Terragen * Terrain rendering utility (similar to the commercial program Bryce). Creates new terrains that can be exported to BMP or RAW image format, or with full 3D rendered views. More Information about Terragen can be found at http://www.terragen.de. * Terra Nova World Editor/Terra Nova Terrain Generator * Exports PCX terrain images of the maps from the game Terra Nova, and imports Terragen (see above) PCX or RAW format images. More Information about these utilities can be found at http://www-wjp.cs.uni-sb.de/~jofis/tn/tnwehp.html and http://www-wjp.cs.uni-sb.de/~jofis/tn/news.html. * Traxx (for Monster Truck Madness) * Creates new random fractal terrain images with a variety of terrain options. Generated terrain images can be copied to the Windows clipboard, and then pasted into any image editing program. More Information about Traxx can be found at http://malibuco.hostme.com/DriveToTraxx/traxx.html. * Sources for 7.5 Minute Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Data * Data for DEM2BMP or Firmament (FTP) ftp://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/DEM/7.5min Data for DEM2BMP or Firmament (WWW) http://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/DEM/7.5min Data for DEM2BMP or Firmament (Indexed map) http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/bin/maptest/coords=55.000000+-130.000000+20.000000+-65.000000/scale=24/type=dem/zoom=8 Data for DEM2BMP or Firmament (Indexed map) http://www.gisdatadepot.com/dem Data for DEMTOBMP or DLGVIEW (Indexed map) http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/hyper/guide/1_dgr_demfig/index1m.html Have fun! Rich „Weeds„ Nagel [CIS: 112615,1575] - #95 A/C Racing Of Homestead RichNagel@compuserve.com 112615.1575@compuserve.com RFNagel@juno.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RichNagel http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RichNagel/grstuff.htm http://www.geocities.com/RFNagel http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/7256 http://66.14.180.209/Weeds ftp://66.14.180.209/Weeds/index.htm ftp://66.14.180.209/Weeds/grstuff.htm ftp://66.14.180.209/Weeds ftp://66.14.180.209/Weeds/GeneRally http://snor.cmoo.com/weeds http://www.cmoo.com/~snor/weeds In Memory of #3 - "The Heart of NASCAR" - Dale Earnhardt [1951-2001]