GLITCH TUTORIAL =============== This tutorial is intended to guide you through the accompanying glitch terrain map. Hopefully, the instructions are sufficient enough to allow you to create some awesome and truely unique cities with SCURK or SC2000 (the technique works in both programs). I have provided 90% of the information that I have accumulated on the subject. The other 10% concerns information that must be learned through experience and I, therefore, can not give you a true perspective of it. However, there is enough info provided here to get you started. If you have any questions that are not addressed in this tutorial or simply would like make a comment, e-mail me at robshoults@aol.com Open the glitch map and follow it as you read this tutorial (each figure referred to in this tutorial is numbered on the glitch map) Section A provides the basic process of elevating tiles and groups of tiles Section B is simply an alteration of the basic process described in Section A. It proves to be much more efficient. However, I would recommend following the entire tutorial beginning at Section A. The Section entitled Extra's provides critical information for Simcopter fans who are creating cities to fly around in. SECTION A --------- Step 1: Create an L shaped pond on any 3 tiles. Step 2: Select either the power line tool or road tool (on this map I have chosen to use the power line tool). Place the cursor on one end of the L shaped pond and then click and drag the cursor towards the center of the L. You should be offered a raised power line (or road) window when you release the cursor. Select OK and you will end up with the figure shown in step 2. Step 3: Bulldoze the area and you will get a raised tile like the one shown in figure 3. Note that the actual tile that was elivated was the one just beyond the corner of the L shaped portion of the pond. This will be important in the next step. Step 4: If you want to create a cliff or a series of raised tiles it is quickest to levitate the tiles in a bulk fashion. To do this, create a fork shaped pond that is the size of the cliff you desire. In step 4 I have chosen a cliff size that is 7 tiles long. Note that the pond is drawn 1 tile away from the row of houses. This is because the raised tile is actually 1 tile beyond the L shaped center of the pond as mentioned at the end of step 3. Step 5: Repeat step 2 on each protruding portion of the comb and you should get figure 5. Step 6: Repeat step 3 by bulldozing the area and you get figure 6. Step 7: Notice that every other tile is not yet levitated. To levitate those tiles build a new pond like the one depicted in figure 7. Then repeat step 2 (figure 8) and step 3 (figure 9). So far I have simply been trying to show you how to elivate the tiles by one elevation. However, this will not alter your terrain much. To get the most out of it, you should know how to create mountains and ridges that extend several elevations. Steps 8 through 13 show how to create a mountian. Step 8: The first thing to do is determine the size of your mountain base. In this case I have decided to build a mountain that has a base of 7X7. I begin the process of building by creating my ponds on each side of the base. (Again, note that the ponds are 1 tile away from the 7th tile which is to be elevated). Step 9: Bulldoze the sides and then repeat the process on the ends. Step 10: Fill in the gaps by repeating the process described in step 7 (figure 12). When you are finished filling in the gaps, you should have a figure that looks like figure 13. Step 11: Notice that the 4 corners of this square have slanted tiles on them. To get rid of the slanted tiles, mark them with the water tool and then bulldoze the pond (figure 14). When you have completed this step, your figure should look like the one shown in figure 15. At this point, you have successfully raised the mountain one elivation. IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU SAVE THE GAME AFTER SUCCESSFULLY RAISING THE MOUNTAIN EACH ELEVATION (OR MORE OFTEN IF IT IS A BIG MOUNTAIN BASE) BECAUSE THE SLOPES ARE EXTREMELY SENSITIVE TO TERRAIN ALTERATION. IF YOU MAKE ONE WRONG MOVE YOU WILL DESTROY THE ENTIRE MOUNTAIN AND IT WILL END UP LIKE FIGURE 21 WHICH IS NO DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU COULD CREATE WITHOUT THE GLITCH. Step 12: To raise the mountain another elevation, repeat steps 8-11. (Again note that the pond is drawn on tile form the edge as depicted in figure 16). If the city you are creating is only to be used in SCURK or SC2000, you can elevate any tile or group of tiles as much as you like (up to 30 which is the maximum elevation for the map). Figure 17 represents a mountain base that has been raised 3 elevations. Note that the road at the top and bottom of the mountain are still connected to each other, that is because SCURK and SC2000 still consider the tiles to be at the same elevation functionally, even though visually they are not. Therefore, you can still create functional cities using this glitch (power lines, water lines, subways, and rails also remain connected). However, if you are creating cities for SIMCOPTER, you have to make some adjustments to counteract rendering problems. These adjustments are discussed below under the heading EXTRAS. Step 13: If you would like to cap a mountain or add a layer of slanted tiles (maybe for a DAM, or something), begin by using the raise terrain tool to raise a single tile somewhere away from the edge of the mountain (figure 18) Continue to raise the tiles until all of the tiles of the mountain have been raised (figure 19). DO NOT RAISE THE SLANTED TILE ON THE EDGE OR IT WILL DESTROY THE MOUNTAIN. If you wish to raise the mountain further, continue with the same process described above (figure 20). SECTION B --------- There is a much faster way to build mountains and cliffs. In this process we simply substitute utilize the raise terrain tool for the gap filling step mentioned in steps 7 and 10 of Section A The following steps explain how this is accomplished. Step 1: Follow the mountain building process up through step 9. You should get a figure that looks like B1 on the glitch map. Step 2: Select the raise terrain tool from the tool bar and then place the cursor on a slant that is approximately in the center of one of the sides (on the glitch map this spot is marked by a road tile (figure B1). Step 3: Click the mouse one time and you will raise that tile so that it is now at the same level as the elevated tile beside it (Figure B2). Step 4: Place the cursor on the small triangular corner tile just adjacent to the tile you just raised (on the glitch map figure B2 this is marked by a power line)(Note that once I put a power line on it to mark it, it was no longer triangular shaped. Look on the opposite side of the tile you just raised and you will see a triangular shaped tile in that position). Step 5: Click the mouse button and raise this tile. You should notice that the adjacent tiles have been elevated to the desired height. Step 6: Continue to raise the triangular shaped corner tiles all the way around the square and you will end up elevating the entire perimeter of the mountain base. (NOTE: Occasionally the mouse button will stick and cause you to elevate the triangular corner tile 2 elevations instead of 1. This will ruin everything in most cases. This is why I recommend saving the game as often as possible and also being very careful not to hold down the mouse button during the raising process) Figure B3 represents the raising process in action. Note that I have, again, marked one of the triangular tiles with a powerline just in case you are still confused as to which tiles I am referring to. When you have completely surrounded the entire perimeter it should be elevated to a depth of 2-3 tiles toward the center of the mountain. At this point, you may procede to step 7 if necessary. Step 7: In most cases you may have a really big area that you are elevating. Once you have surronded the perimeter of the mountain base as described above, you can raise the interior of the base by simply selected the level terrain tool and using it in the normal fashion. Be careful not to drag it off of the side of the mountain base or you will lose everything. REPAIRS ------- Occasionally there may be a screw up in the process somewhere along the way and you may end up with something that looks like figure B5. Note that not all of the tiles got raised correctly. This is repairable. Simply make an L shaped pond as mentioned in Section A step 1 so that you can elevate the tile that needs to be brought up. Then add the powerline to elevate it. Bulldoze the line and the problem is fixed. Figure B5 actully show the bad tiles, the proper way to place the pond and what it looks like after you add the powerline. Repeat the process for each tile that did not get raised properly. This wroks for slanted tiles as well as flat tiles. EXTRAS ------ If you are building cities for incorporation into simcopter, you must ensure that every fouth tile is a true tile. In other words, you can not elevate a single tile or group of tiles more than 3 levels without manually placing a true tile slant on the mountain or cliff. This is because the simcopter rendering device must fill in the gaps that you see in SCURK. To fill those gaps the rendering device will attempt to stretch the closest tiles to fill the gap. This however, is limited as the rendering device only has the ability to stretch the graphics of a given tile 2 adjacent tile spaces. If you try to elevate the terrain more than three tile spaces you will find that it causes graphic losses in simcopter. The cliffs that you build will appear invisible. Although this may make for some interesting flying, it is not much fun because you can still run into the cliffs and destroy your copter. In this tutorial I have provided a small mountina off at the bottom of the map which has only the fifth tile raised (in other words it is built incorrectly). If you fly around it you will see what I mean by graphics problems. An example of the proper way to build a mountain for simcopte can be seen in the template city that was provided with this folder or my first 2 cities that I built using this method (TIBET2000.SC2 and TIBET2001.SC2). FINAL THOUGHTS -------------- As you start to build your city you will find it rather slow at first but you will get better and more efficient. However, it is still rather time consuming. I have not, as of yet, found a better way to do it. I am trying to find a way to create a macro, batch file, or something along those lines that would do the repetitive duties for me, but I do not know how to create these files. If you know how, let me know. I am sure that there is a way to speed this process up.