A.C.E. 1/ACE CD 1.iso/files/docs/simcityd.lha/SimCityTerrainEditor.doc

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 8.5 KB | 475 lines

                        SIM CITY TERRAIN EDITOR
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABOUT THE TERRAIN EDITOR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE TERRAIN EDITOR HAS TWO MAIN MODES OF OPERATION;A MODIFIED RANDOM TERRAIN
GENERATOR AND A TILE BY TILE PAINTING MODE WITH A SMOOTHING FUNCTION.

THE MODIFIED RANDOM TERRAIN GENERATOR IS LIKE THE ONE BUILT INTO SIM CITY,
BUT WITH SLIDER CONTROLS THAT LET YOU CONTROL:THE SIZE AND AMOUNT OF TREE
GROUPS,THE AMOUNT OF LAKES,AND THE WINDINESS OF RIVERS.YOU CAN ALSO SELECT
BETWEEN THREE MAJOR TYPES OF TERRAIN: WOOD,RIVER,AND ISLANDS.IN PAINT MODE,
YOU START WITH 10 MILES BY 10 MILES AREA,AND TILE BY TILE PLACE TREES,WATER,
BOATPATHS,AND BARE LAND.THEN YOU CAN PERFORM A SMOOTHING FUNCTION TO GIVE
THE FOREST EDGES AND COASTLINE A MORE "REALISTIC" LOOK.
THESE TWO MODES CAN BE USED TOGETHER: GENERATE A TERRAIN WITH THE PROPER
AMOUNT OF TREES,LAKES,RIVERS,ETC..,THEN ENTER PAINT MODE AND "FINE TUNE" YOUR
TERRAIN.
IN ADDITION TO GENERATING NEW TERRAINS,THE TERRAIN EDITOR ALLOWS YOU TO
MODIFY THE TERRAIN OF YOUR EXISTING CITIES.ADD AND REMOVE TREES AND WATER TO
OR FROM YOUR CITIES.YOU CAN EVEN CLEAR AWAY ALL MAN-MADE OBJECTS FROM THE
MAP WITH A SIMPLE MENU CHOICE.
AS AN ADDED FEATURE,THE TERRAIN EDITOR ALLOWS YOU TO CHANGE THE GAME PLAY
LEVEL AND YEAR OF AN EXISTING CITY.
THE TERRAIN EDITOR MAY BE COPIED TO, AND RUN FROM YOUR HARD DISK.

THE SYSTEM MENU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABOUT......BRINGS UP AN INFORMATION SCREEN ABOUT THE SIM CITY TERRAIN EDITOR.
NEW MAP....CREATES A NEW,EMPTY MAP.IF YOU SELECT TIS OPTION AND ALREADY HAVE
           A MAP IN PROGRESS,YOU WILL BE GIVEN THE OPTION TO SAVE YOUR OLD
           MAP BEFORE THE NEW ONE IS GENERATED.
LOAD CITY..LOADS IN AN EXISTING CITY OR TERRAIN FOR EDITING.
SAVE CITY..SAVES THE CURRENT CITY OR TERRAIN TO DISK.
QUIT.......ENDS THE TERRAIN EDITOR.
NOTE: ONCE YOU HAVE SELECTED LOAD CITY OR SAVE CITY FROM THE PROJECTS MENU,
YOU WILL SEE A REQUESTER SCREEN.THE AVAILABLE DISKS ARE SHOWN IN THE VOLUME
BOX OF THE SCREEN.THE ACTIVE DRIVE/SUBDIRECTORY IS SHOWN IN THE DRAWER STRIP.
BELOW THE DRAWER STRIP IS THE FILES BOX,AND BELOW THAT IS THE ACTIVE FILE
STRIP.TO LOAD,CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE DISK,THEN THE FILE NAME,THEN CLICK OK.
IF IT IS A NEW FILE,OR YOU WISH TO CHANGE THE NAME,CLICK ON THE DISK NAME,
THEN TYPE THE NEW NAME IN THE FILE STRIP,THEN CLICK OK.
IF YOU ARE USING A HARD DISK OR A FLOPPY WITH SUBDIRECTORIES,THE PARENT
BUTTON MOVES YOU UP ONE DIRECTORY LEVEL.
IF YOU BRING UP THE SAVE CITY OR LOAD CITY REQUESTER BY ACCIDENT,OR CHANGE
YOUR MIND,CLICK CANCEL TO RETURN TO EDITING.

THE TERRAIN MENUS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE MENU TERRAIN IS FOR MAKING ADJUSTMENTS AND CHANGES TO THE TERRAIN.
CLEAR MAP
         REMOVES ALL TREES,WATER,AND MAN-MADE OBJECTS(ZONES,RAILS,PARKS,ETC)
         FROM THE MAP.LEAVING ONLY BARE GROUND.
CLEAR UNNATURAL OBJECTS
         REMOVES ALL MAN-MADE OBJECTS(ZONES,ROADS,RAILS,PARKS,ETC) FROM THE
         MAP,LEAVING TREES AND WATERWAYS UNTOUCHED.
MAP PARAMETERS
         BRINGS UP THE TERRAFORMING PARAMETERS CONTROL PANEL,ALLOWING YOU TO
         SET LIMITS FOR THE RANDOM MAP GENERATOR,AND SELECT THE TERRAIN TYPE.
GENERATE RANDOM MAP
         GENERATES A NEW MAP BASED ON THE MAP PARAMETER SETTINGS.
SMOOTH
         SMOOTH TREES - PERFORMS THE SMOOTHING FUNCTION ON TREES ONLY.
         SMOOTH RIVERS - PERFORMS THE SMOOTHING FUNCTION ON BODIES OF WATER.
         SMOOTH BOTH - PERFORMS THE SMOOTHING FUNCTION ON THE TREES AND WATER

GAME PARAMETERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NAME AND LEVEL
         ALLOWS YOU TO SET OR RESET THE NAME AND GAME PLAY LEVEL OF A NEW OR
         EXISTING CITY.
GAME YEAR
         ALLOWS YOU TO SET OR RESET THE CURRENT YEAR OF A NEW OR EXISTING
         CITY.
SOUND ON/SOUND OFF
         LETS YOU TURN THE SOUND ON OR OFF.

EDIT WINDOWS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE EDIT WINDOW SCREEN CONSISTS OF 4 MAIN SECTIONS;THE TITLE BAR,THE CLOSE-UP
WINDOW,THE OVERVIEW WINDOW,AND THE ICONS.
TITLE BAR
         DISPLAYS THE CITY NAME,AND THE GAME LEVEL.IT ALSO HAS THE USUAL
         AMIGA GADGETS FOR MOVING THE WINDOW TO THE TOP OR BOTTOM OF THE
         STACK.THE MENUS ARE LOCATED BEHIND THE TITLE BAR,AND ARE VIEWED BY
         PRESSING THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON.
THE CLOSE-UP WINDOW
         GIVES A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF A SECTION OF YOUR CITY.THIS IS WHERE YOU
         WILL DO DETAILED TERRAIN PAINTING AND EDITING.
         YOU CAN SCROLL THE VIEW OF THE CLOSE-UP WINDOW BY:
                 CLICKING ON THE SCROLL ARROWS,OR SCROLL BARS,OR
                 CLICKING AND DRAGGING THE SCROLL BOXES
         YOU CAN ALSO USE THE CURSOR KEYS,OR DRAG THE RECTANGLE IN THE
         OVERVIEW WINDOW TO SCROLL THIS VIEW.
THE OVERVIEW WINDOW
         GIVES YOU A VIEW OF YOUR ENTIRE CITY LIMITS.THE WHITE RECTANGLE IN
         THE WINDOW OUTLINES THE AREA THAT IS VISIBLE IN THE CLOSE-UP WINDOW.
         YOU CAN CLICK AND DRAG THE RECTANGLE AROUND THE WINDOW,SCROLLING THE
         CLOSE-UP WINDOW.
A GRID CAN BE SUPERIMPOSED OVER THE OVERVIEW WINDOW.THE GRID HELPS YOU COPY
MAPS.JUST DRAW THE SAME GRID OVER THE MAP YOU WISH TO RE-CREATE,AND COPY THE
LANDFORM IN SMALL SECTIONS.THE GRID IS TOGGLED ON/OFF WHEN YOU HIT "G" KEY.

THE ICONS
~~~~~~~~~
THE ICONS ARE FOR CHOOSING THE TERRAIN PAINTING FUNCTIONS.YOU CAN PAINT
EITHER THE EDIT WINDOW OR THE MAP WINDOW.JUST CLICK ON THE ICON TO SELECT IT,
THEN PAINT THE LANDFORM.
DIRT
        PLACES BARE LAND TILES.THEY CAN BE PLACED OVER TREES,WATER OR
        MAN-MADE OBJECTS.
RIVER
        PLACES RIVER TILES.THEY CAN BE PLACED OVER LAND,TREES,WATER OR
        MAN-MADE OBJECTS.
TREES
        PLACES TREE TILES.THEY CAN BE PLACED OVER LAND,WATER OR MAN-MADE
        OBJECTS.
CHANNEL
        SETS THE PATHS THAT BOATS WILL FOLLOW IN THE WATER.PLACES THE
        CHANNEL TILES OVER THE WATER TILES.PLACING WATER TILES OVER CHANNEL
        TILES WILL ERASE THEM.CHANNEL TILES MUST BE CONTINUOUS FOR THE BOATS
        TO FOLLOW THEM,AND MUST LEAD TO ONE EDGE OF THE MAP.IF THESE TWO
        CONDITIONS ARE MET,AND YOU HAVE A POWERED UP SEA PORT,SIMCITY WILL
        GENERATE A BOAT.SIMCITY DISPLAYS THESE TILES AS WATER.TO AVOID
        CRASHES,PLACE CHANNELS NEAR THE CENTRE OF WATERWAYS.IF YOU PLACE
        THEM ON LAND,YOU WILL MOST LIKELY CRASH YOUR SHIP.
FILL
        IS USED TO FILL IN LARGE AREAS WITH TREES,WATER,CHANNEL,OR BARE
        GROUND WITHOUT PAINTING THEM IN TILE BY TILE.TO USE THE FILL FUNCTION
        1:COMPLETELY OUTLINE THE AREA YOU WISH TO FILL IN EITHER THE EDIT OR
              MAPS WINDOW - LEAVE NO GAPS OR SPACES.
        2:CLICK ON THE FILL ICON.
        3:CLICK ON THE AREA YOU WISH TO FILL.IF THERE IS A GAP OR SPACE IN
              THE AREA YOU ARE FILLING,IT MAY FILL THE WHOLE SCREEN.IF THIS
              HAPPENS,CLICK ON THE UNDO ICON,THEN CLOSE THE GAP AND TRY AGAIN
UNDO    REMOVES YOUR LAST OPERATION.

SELECTION OF THE TERRAIN PARAMETERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS CONTROL PANEL LETS YOU SET THE LIMITS FOR THE RANDOM TERRAIN GENERATOR
AS WELL AS SELECT FROM THREE MAIN TYPES OF TERRAIN.
MULTIPLIER SLIDERS
        SLIDE THE BOX,OR CLICK ON THE RIGHT OR LEFT ARROWS TO ADJUST THE
        LEVEL OF EACH OF THESE FACTORS.
        SIZE OF TREE GROUPS SETS THE SIZE OF PATCHES OF TREES IN THE TERRAIN.
        NUMBER OF TREE GROUPS SETS THE AMOUNT OF THE TREE GROUPS IN THE
        TERRAIN.
        NUMBER OF LAKES SETS THE NUMBER OF LAKE IN THE TERRAIN.
        RIVER CURVINESS SETS THE WINDINESS OF RIVERS IN THE TERRAIN.
TERRAIN TYPE
        WOODS IS FOR A TERRAIN WITH TREES AND LAKES,BUT NO RIVER.
        RIVER IS FOR A TERRAIN WITH TREES,AND A RIVER.IT CAN ALSO HAVE LAKES.
        ISLAND IS FOR A TERRAIN THAT IS COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY WATER.IT CAN
        ALSO HAVE LAKES.

GENERAL KEYBOARD COMMANDS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
B.......ACTIVATES SMOOTHING FOR TREES AND WATER.
E.......BRINGS UP THE EDIT WINDOW.
G.......SWITCHES THE GRID IN OVERVIEW WINDOW ON/OFF.
L.......LOADS A CITY.
N.......GENERATES RANDOM MAP.
P.......SET MAP PARAMETERS.
Q.......QUIT TERRAIN EDITOR.
R.......SMOOTHS RIVERS.
S.......SAVE CITY.
T.......SMOOTH TREES.
EDIT WINDOW:
D.......ACTIVATES THE "DIRT"(CLEAR LAND)PAINTING FUNCTION.
R.......ACTIVATES THE "RIVER"PAINTING FUNCTION.
T.......ACTIVATES THE "TREE"PAINTING FUNCTION.

                           typed by....

                             HEATHER.