Does Anyone Have Any Cool Terrain Tricks?

I mean making something interesting for a map. My map I'm working on is looking kinda dull, and I need something that will make it look better.

im pretty shure you know a few of these of these:

ctrl + arrow keys = rotates camera so you can place things better.

ctrl + the keys on the very right end of the keyboard (im that stupid that i dont know what they are called) = when placing a doodad it makes pathing not matter.

page up/ page down = changes hight of a doodad

ctrl + page up/page down = moves a doodad up and down

if you edit the Ui\MiscData.txt and change Maximum slope to 85, and place the file into the warcraft III directory in editer you can use the raise/lower tool to creat almost 90 degree terrain.

if you edit the Ui\MiscData.txt and change Global height limits to MaxHeight=2048, and MinHeight=-2048, you will be able to use the raise/lower tool to make a really deep hole, or a really high mountain.

il think of some later...

some that i know is waterfalls, raise and lower tool, make the gound a bit wavy, noise tool, make the ground jaged(really jaged), and raise the ground a bit were ever there is any trees, if it is a forest, make the grass longer near trees, all that i can think of right now

i hate u man, u got that sweet *** ryu thing goin down there and anytime im reading posts i just sit there and lok at it for like 2 mins because its so sweet

so screw u for havin that sweet *** thing and wasting my time

:D

If you terrain is dull, these arent really "tricks", but yeah:

-Add variation, such as mountains and canyons and things like that
-Add detail, use lots of doodads
-Dont forget you can make custom tilesets
-Don't leave anyplace just open and flat, add something interesting

ad lily pads to water and ONE-TWO rocks, to many looks bad.

BTW, i also do love my sig, it is pretty tight.

basicly you can split mapediting into MICRO and MACRO editing:

Macro:
- Choose & Customize your Tileset. Some people dont know that you can combine nearly all tiles. Take a look at Advanched -> Edit Tileset or something like this.
- Use HEIGHT Lower and Raise Tool ALOT. And DO NOT use Noise Tool. You can do also nice things with a combination of platoo tool and soft/smooth tool. just try... (activate medium grid when editing heights)

Micro:
- Place Doodads. Search and find the one that fit into your map. Lots of detail work.. but the last step to get an awesome looking map

If you do these things without hurry, and look for details you got already an awesome map.

try creating terrain without the water hight limit enforcer on, and go nuts with water then raise and lower, you can generate impossable water cliffs then without using ramps. it takes a while to learn how to do it this way.

but without the water hieght on the water looks all screwed up, its all square.

i think this post should get sticky status because good terrain editing plays such a huge part in making a great map, and i see too many maps with cool triggers and/or concepts that no one would want to play because the author just doesn't have his basic terrain editing down.

anyway what i can think of right now is, use the reset height field and smoothing for a wavy but not too much natural looking terrain. it makes the map look much more alive.

make the terrain look curvy and forests have round edges, dont have square patches of trees, or textures etc. maps that have the "right angle" syndrome look really crappy usually.

add lots of doodads!

don't forget you can make about anything neutral passive (use pretty much any unit or building as decoration)

if i think of anything else i'll post more.

using the raise and lower tool even with the "square" water you can make very interesting river banks, small ponds, and whatnot that flow nicely with the land without using any ramps
and technally all the water is square anyway, but the tiles are "under" the raised terrain so u just dont see the square parts

I have no idea what the Hell sticky status is but, it sounds good. All of my posts are usually pushed aside in hours like a dead cat in a pound. I was really wondering bout the waterfalls. I've seen alot of em and I wanted to do one. Have you guys ever seen real mountains in a map. I mean without the vertical edges. Sumudude, I have no idea what you're talking about in thos elast two sugguestions. Can you please elaborate. The weird thing is I've never seen a thread like this, so I decided to start one because of the mentioned point.

Dakan, how do you do the water limit thing(do i sound like I've been to college or what :gsmile: ), I can't find the option.

[edit] never mind Dakan, thnx

if a post is "stickied" its put above all the other posts..

i was talking about mpq editing, theres a tuturial on the warcraftiii.com site about how to do it, if yah want to edit it.

OK, i feel stupid asking this... but when i edit any Unit/****.txt files.. they work fine... but the UI/MiscData.txt opens up in notepad, it appears as a bunch of rectangles... what do i need to read this?

And i agree, this would be a nice sticky

hmm strange...
for me it opens up just fine in notepad... got no clue whats worng...