New World Space and Region borders drawing

Overview

The first time you see a region map in the Region Editor it can be difficult to determine exactly how to start creating regions for a new worldspace. This article demonstrates a method for drawing region borders for a new worldspace using the Region Editor. This article will briefly cover the steps used to create region borders as well as all the steps in between. Even if your new worldspace is ready to go it is recommended you read all these instructions just to make sure you didn't miss any important steps. It can be easy to get lost in this process.

Prerequisites

To get the most out of this article it is recommended you start by reading and understanding the following articles:

Basic Landscaping Tutorial
World Space Tutorial
Heightmap Editing

You also should be aware of problems related to LOD for a new world:

Landscape LOD Tutorial

Create a New World Space

In this article we will create new worldspace that looks a lot like a pizza.

As for now we don't need any data from „Oblivion.esm” master file, so just start up the Construction Set.

1 - go to [World] -> [World Spaces...] 

2 - Right click on a list to create a new EditorID for an exterior world space

3 - name it whatever you want. In this article we will use "PizzaWorld” for our example. 

4 - In this example we won't need a parent worldspace (Parent Worldspace -> NONE)

5 - Our world shall be Small 

6 - player Can't Fast Travel From Here to any other world spaces.

Image01: Adding a new world space

(optional) After the new world is created go to the Cell View window and look to see if 'PizzaWorld' is now listed as a World Space.

Generate a Heightmap

The most efficient way to create a landmass is to use the Heightmap Editor. Go to menu [World] -> [Heightmap Editing...] and choose 'PizzaWorld'. It may take a second or two to load.

Next build the island – from Toolbar choose the Lasso and draw a the world shape. The Grid has been toggled to give an idea of the scale of PizzaWorld.

Image02: World shape drawing

Noise Parameters and Erosion Settings

To quickly and easily create a heightmap the CS provides an automatic Generator. In this example PizzaWorld will be almost completely flat. There will be no lakes or rivers. With this in mind use the following noise parameters:

• Frequency = 400
• Amplitude = 2000
• Base Offset = 4110 (just above water level, which is 4096)
• Additive flag is checked (we will only rise the terrain) and other settings are default or not set.

Image03: Spaces that need correction

When everything is ready push the Generate button twice and a landmass will be created automatically. Pressing the button twice gets the landmass just over the water level. Some areas may still require correction.

Optional

If you want to compare your results with those from the example use the following settings for your Color Masking:
   1 mask – level 0 – black color;
   2 mask – level 4000 – dark blue;
   3 mask – level 4096 – light blue;
   4 mask – level 4097 – dark green;
   5 mask – level 8726 – light green;
   6 mask – level 17637 – yellow;
   7 mask – level 25435 – red;
   8 mask – level 41772 – purple;
   9 mask – level 50497 – light grey;
   10 mask – level 65535 – white.

Right now PizzaWorld has a rough surface. The Erosion Generator can be used to smooth out the heightmap. Use the following settings:

• Iterations = 95
• Erosion Rate = 0
• Sedimentation = 0
• Land Smoothing = 95

Push the Erode button 4 or 5 times to completely smooth out the land.

Check Your Work

To make sure your final product is going to be something you want your worldspace can be viewed in 3D in the Preview Window. To do this find the Camera button on the toolbar and click it.

Image04: 3D Preview

You're almost ready to fill your new world with content. Press the Save button in the Heightmap Editor and then close it and save your plugin in the CS.

Before moving on to add content to your world you'll want to check your work for errors. Due to glitches in the CS it is common for errors to occur in new worldspaces when saving them in the Heightmap Editor. Correcting these errors should be the next item on your agenda. You'll do this using the Landscape Editor - Landscape Toolbox. Specifically you'll use the Soften Vertices brush to remove these errors from existence. Don't get discouraged here. If you've been following the directions so far there should only be a few of these errors and they are very easy to find.

Open your world by selecting it in the Cell View Window. Most likely you will find these errors at cell -32,-32 | 0,0 | 32,32 | -32, 32 | 32, -32 etc. These will usually appear as cells that have been depressed to an elevation of 0. They can also show as tears in the mesh. Use the Soften Vertices brush to restore the cell to a reasonable elevation. You'll also want to scan around the rest of your island and look for other tears in the mesh and fix them if you find any.

Image05: Gaps between land surfaces

Region borders drawing

Open the Regions Window – go to menu [World] -> [Regions...] and activate 'PizzaWorld'. On a region map probably you will see only a big space with white cells, a form that doesn't look in no way like a world we have just built. First let's add a new region to the Pizza World – I named it the 'PizzaMainShape'.

To draw a region shape for main terrain of island, we must know exact coordinates of each cell that lies on a border of island. Do not close Regions Window and once again open the Heightmap Editor for 'PizzaWorld'.

Image06: Light points on a heightmap

From the toolbar choose the Eyedropper and capture some bright color. Then choose the Paintbrush and draw on a heightmap some points, that will help you to quick determine the cell coordinates of island border.

Now place a cursor over one of these bright points, on a status bar read the cells coordinates and remember them. Go the Region Window, search for that cell – on a bottom status bar there are displayed coordinates for a cell pointed by a cursor as well. When you find the cell with equivalent coordinates, left click to draw the first point of region border.

Image07: Region drawing - first point

Use the same method to draw the rest of points.

Image08: Region drawing - all points

At the end close a region shape – right click on a region map and select Done – and you may close the Heightmap Editor without saving the changes (otherwise you add those bright points to a heightmap of 'PizzaWorld').

Now you have a main region shape. Its borders are more or less in the same position as the border of island and using this region as a basis allows you to add some more regions. 'PizzaWorld' is an island so it is wise to build a Border Region – the border of this region should be two or three cells outside from the 'PizzaMainShape'.

Remember that we haven't loaded data from „Oblivion.esm” file – so if you want to build now some Object Regions, you should reload Construction Set and choose both files: the plugin file we have just created and „Oblivon.esm” (or any other master file, or make your own master file and merge it with plugin) - after this operation your plugin will be „Oblivion.esm” dependant.

I wrote this short tutorial as an answer to the Forum question - link here.
--Tom Brightblade 05:05, 13 May 2007 (EDT)