There was some discussion earlier today about how some folks just want maps that they even use CAW to put their own lots on, and with my semester starting, very bare-bones maps will likely be easier for me to toss together more often than my fully planned out and story-concept worlds (I like playing with terrain tools and height maps!)

So I'm just checking if folks think people WOULD be interested in say, formed terrains that have a layer of road laid out that can be easily deleted and replaced if the person making their own neighborhood setup wishes, and maybe only a few "Suggested Spot for..." lots laid out that a person could also easily delete.

Also, wondering how much such neighborhoods should have done beyond roads. Should I do any terrain painting at all, or leave that to the person who wants to plunk their own lot locations down?

I could I suppose do two-releases of the CAW files, with one right away that JUST has shaping, roads, maybe a suggested lot or landmark placement or two- all easily changed, moved, or deleted. I tend to organize by layers so a person who wants to use the terrain but nothing else can easily just delete layers and get rid of anything I place.

In these "DIY World Kits" I'd not be exporting them, just tossing the needed CAW directory and files into a .rar and a person would have to put them into their CAW usertools directory to place their own lots and plants and the like.

Does this sound like something that could work/perk interest?

Yes, I've wondered this too. It might appeal to the builders out there. However, I was thinking of broad, complete landscapes with terrain painting, and only lots missing.

It's a bit hard to figure out what other people would want, since for me I enjoy every bit from the terrain to the things on it, and I'd worry about fully planting it because then the builder/lot-placer may have to remove trees and things to get lots where they like- and it can get annoying after a while having to clean up a bunch of trees and rocks and things if one doesn't want to really get rid of the entire layer outright. (especially if one accidentally gets the trees all clustered, since on un-clustering you lose all tree types and names)

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to make several 'showhome' worlds for lot makers. Nice, small-medium, simplistic worlds based on recognisable visual features - alpine, cherry blossom hillside, beachfront, desert, etc. I suspect that Flabaliki did this for his recent Outback Lot, so we'd aim for things like that, but bigger, with many more lot spaces and much more detail. Being a showhome world, it could vary in the amount/type of flora near lots, right down to several lots with none at all.

There is a thread about that exact topic in Feedback right now where I and some others already posted what lot sizes we'd consider useful for "sandbox" type worlds that are only for building. Not everyone can run CAW (I'm on OS X, for instance) so whatever you do you should have that in mind I believe .. always include some version that can be used out of the box (lot-less worlds would be completely useless for a non-CAW user).

Apart from that, a pancake map with nothing but lots and a few roads would suit me just fine; I personally don't need any landscaping (although "showhome" worlds might be a good idea too).

I have struggled to make landscapes in CAW that i am satisfied with.

A road-mapped, landscaped map-even if devoid of trees, deco, lots, spawners, and terrain painting- would be a godsend. And if you're good with CAW, making such maps would be a pretty fast process, so you could throw out a nice variety of them that people can customize themselves. I think that sounds like a good idea.

Though terrain painting is a lot tougher than the rest of those things, so maybe that should be done too...

Plasticbox, any published world can be used for what you describe - the would-be builder simply needs to bulldose the lots and rebuild them. So I don't think this thread has particular relevance to that need.

What we were talking about in chat last night was to actually publish our CAW *project* files so the downloader can open them in CAW itself to put the finishing touches, like deciding where the lots should be.

For me, the indecision was whether to include roads already laid, or just the landscaping. Roads could be handy, but I think even if you erase the road layer, you will see the tracks of land-levelling that supported them. This fact tends to make me veer towards suggesting the worlds are shared without roads as well as without lots.

Inge, the problem with published maps is often that the lots are not flat, standard (large) sizes only, very few of each size, and have neighbourhood deco close to the lots which makes it difficult to take screenshots. I for one don't have a world that's good for building.

That said, I failed to get the point that bakafox was talking specifically about CAW world files, not useable worlds. Thanks for pointing that out.

It's probably best to include roads. It is easier to remove unwanted roads than to try to draw the roads precisely the way they were before, and installation of roads will alter any surface that isn't flat if you don't want the roads to clip through things.

I meant not actually having created the roads in the first place. Once you have made them, they do alter the contours of the map and deleting them will still leave "road shaped" lines where they were.

I'm just for now going to put links into this thread, while I figure out where in heck I'd upload them officially to MTS for moderation/looking at.

I put together two packs, one of the base CAW files for my tropical island (Claeric can modify the colors so they no hurty his eyes! YAY!) and a 'testing' map I threw together one night for idea working, that while very tiny and very very simple may suit someone's neighborhood building desires.

Tropical Island/Morikipo Map Files for CAW
Tiny Desert Island Map Files for CAW

Let me know if you think I should for MTS upload threads and such put in more images- or if you think my install/use instructions need work meanwhile?

Yesss! *goes to play with* I love hte island, but I'm not a big fan of the whole volcanic ash/dark beach theme. So I simply replaced the black sand and volcanic dirt with normal sand and medium grass, and viola! A paradise more suited to my tastes. :D

This is a great idea, you should definitely upload them here for people to play with.

So far I've only got 1/4 of the island covered, and I've already got 34 lots. This is one of two rich districts with some cheaper and farm housing surrounding, and I'll be sure not to overdo it. I'm loving this. :D



Edit- And now...



I think my enthusiasm alone shows people would love base maps to work with :p

I think something that would really appeal to many builders is if somebody were to create a base map that has the distant terrain wrapped around it, and the map seams melded with the distant terrain.

In this way a user could download such a map that would already have the distant terrain wrapped around the map for them and not have to spend the amount of time that it takes to do this. Then they can take that map and terraform it further (while staying away from the edges, so that it doesn't disrupt the seams) and add their own lots and flora.

I WOULD LOVE THIS!

I started messing around with CaW the other day and found that no matter what I've tried I cannot make a terrain that I like or roads/paths that will work. I wouldn't mind adding lots but would appreciate if roads, paths, terrain paints and non-camera/non-sim routable areas where already included.

I'm more of a architect and city planner than world-builder and terrain editing irritates me :P

Would you do requests?

This is exactly what I would want and have been looking for

Well no one has exactly said the idea would be stupid, anyway :D

I may do requests at a later date, and if so will ping about on forum, currently though I've got a full time studio classes load, and at least four of my own world ideas to finish up- Once they're done, I'll see if I'm still overloaded with concepts of my own or not ^^

A large flat concrete map with a Manhattan style grid layout would be quite useful.

Is there anywhere you can get real life greyscale height maps of real places?

I love base maps and love this tropical island!

Inge, somewhere google maps has them but I am not sure of the link. You will need to zoom in and make sure you have a small enough space or the horizontal scale will be off. The USGS has greyscale maps of parts of the US but I don't know any source for the rest of the world other than Google maps. Whatever you do, they will not be at the small scale that is required for a Sims map so you will need to chop out a piece. Hubby is out of town at the moment or I would have him give me the link to the USGS maps.

Sorry to double post but I found this: http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=607176

Looks like its Google Earth, not Google Maps...makes sense.

Yes, yes please. I am no good at terrain building or painting. I think I will eventually be able to place roads. Roads no roads, anything would be great! I just downloaded Tropical Island and Desert Island. I logging off for the night. I can't wait go play with them. You have a wonderful idea!

YES,YES,YES, PLEASE!!

Yes!!!! That's what I was looking for.
And yes, I think you and other people gifted and savyy of the CaW tool (kinda tricky for me BTW) should upload these maps to MTS, I can see there is a section allready created for this.
And although I think it's up to the creator the size and level of detail in the maps they create, for the sake of the gameplay and simplicity "less is better"

Thanks for sharing.