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Re: Xconq Maps from GIS Data


D. Cooper Stevenson wrote:

I am working to build an aggressive new image set for XCONQ.

Excellent.


The following is a tentative plan, is it possible? Is there a better
way?

One of the other contributors to the list, Matthew Skala, created a map of Antarctica from USGS data, IIRC. You may be able to get some tips, and maybe even a code or script (?) to help in this regard. His focus, though, was in using existing terrain images on a geographically-accurate map.


  1) Download the GIS data and convert the image to a palatable image
format
  2) Overlay a hex grid (to scale) on the image
  3) "Break off" each of the hexes and place them into a file similar to
those found under the /lib/images directory painstakingly categorized in
order by terrain type

When doing so, one would probably want to automatically generate the corresponding .imf files (found in the 'lib' directory of the sources) whihc actually reference the images in the .gif files.


4) Create a terrain file with the terrain information

I have created a complete outline here:

http://www.gencom.us/xconq_design.html

I looked through your outline.


As far as your question regarding WCS (which I assume is what you meant by "Global Coordinate") data, I had not given that consideration before.

I am not sure whether Xconq should be made to take such data directly in .g (Xconq Game Definition) files, or whether it should be first be transformed to Xconq's natural coordinate system. I would probably favor the latter.

As far as your concerns about unit movement, and if I understand you correctly, one would need a translation program that bins terrain types according to elevation variation, and then takes a supplied set of unit types and generates movement rules against these bins. The resulting Xconq .g output might be something like:
(table mp-to-enter
(all-terrain-land-u* land-t* 1)
(flat-terrain-land-u* land-type1-t* 1)
)
where 'land-type-t*' would be the bin containing the smoothest/flattest terrain. Or something like that....


Xconq's engine can't be beat in my opinion.

It is quite flexible and powerful in my opinion as well. There are still plenty of things that can be (and are being done) as far as improving it goes.


Long term, just to throw it out there: is it possible to interface raw
GIS coordinate data (longitude, latidude, etc.) directly with Xconq's
engine?

If you mean whether *.g files can contain maps that are directly from GIS data, the answer is no, that is not currently possible. But, it is an area of interest. Another, possibly easier, route would be to write a standardized translation tool for anyone who wishes to create maps from such data. I think that would be quite welcomed by the community.


I'm willing to perform the painstaking work if you're willing to point
me in the right direction.

Great! If Matthew is still on the list, maybe he can give you some useful advice. Also, if whoever created the giant world map is around (Stan Shebs, perhaps?), he may be able to give you some advice as well.


As far as the terrain images themselves go, there are some things to consider: isometric views, possibly different image sets for each of Xconq's different scales, tiling versus hex images (hex images being prefered). If you do hex images, you will likely need to apply rectangular regions containing a hex mask while you are extracting the images from the map data. If you do tiles, you only need to sample square regions.

Eric


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