Talk:Creating Large Worldspaces

A Few Notes

TES4Geko - Figured out you need to put quotes around the Path name in Windows 7 to get it to work. Example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.6.0_18\bin\javaw.exe" -Xmx1200m -jar "T:\(install_path)\TES4Gecko 15.2\TES4Gecko.jar"

Oblivion.esm - Is loading Oblivion.esm really necessary for creating a new world space? Doesn't this just set Oblivion.esm as a dependency for your New World? I just tested this and was able to create a new world space without Oblivion.esm. And after creating the new world space I was still able to load both Oblivion.esm and my new world space ESM files without error.

Final Editing - I have a few notes in reference to making corrections in large world spaces to "sew together" the borders between quads.

• The greatest number of errors (rips) on a texture are created in the hightmap editor where land is not properly blended before saving the texture. Any large, abrupt changes in elevation are prone to tearing. These are indicated by hard lines between two colors. There should be no hard lines left on your texture in the hightmap editor when you save it. Make sure all hard lines are blended with either the blending tool or the noise tool.

• Additionally, in reference to the above note tears can be prevented at the exterior perimeter of your New World by blending the last few cells into the water rather than having the land just suddenly stop and drop off. Blending can be done with the blending tool or with the noise tool depending on the terrain type you want at these locations.

• For World Spaces larger than 4 quads: When blending the borders between quads in the landscape editor it isn't necessary to to blend these perfectly to your finished specifications. Getting a good finished product can be just as time consuming in the landscape editor as it is in the heightmap editor with all of its seeming random error generation. Here is my suggested methodology keeping in mind the rest of the article's instructions:

1 - Design and finish the layout of 4 quads 

2 - Save in the heightmap editor 

3 - Make error corrections in the landscape editor, save, and create .esm 

4 - Start new .esp and design/finish the layout of the next 4 quads 

5 - Save in the heightmap editor 

6 - Make error corrections in the landscape editor, save, and merge with the .esm 

7 - Repeat above steps designing additional quads following this pattern and merge 

8 - After all heightmaps are created and merged start a new esp 

9 - Edit the borders in the heightmap. Multiple esps will be required for large worlds. Merge each "border-edit" esp with the esm as they are created. Also as you edit the borders scan the heightmap your working on for errors and fix them as you go. These will appear as sharply contrasted squares/rectangles. 

10 - After all borders are edited use the landscape editor to correct errors in conjunction with the heightmap editor. DO NOT make corrections with the heightmap editor at this time, and DO NOT save any more textures in the heightmap editor. At this time you will only use the heightmap editor for finding errors in your textures. Make the actual corrections using the landscape editor. Merge with the esm.

The Invaluable Navigation Method - It is very important for large world creation and editing to learn how to navigate in the landscape editor most efficiently. The method is contained in the points below.

• When entering the landscape editor it is extremely helpful to arrange the cells by cell number in the Cell View window. This makes it much easier to find a particular cell that needs correction. You do this by clicking on the header titled "Location" in the Cell View window. This will order the cells numerically so you can find cells most efficiently.

• Press 'A' to turn on enhanced lighting. This makes it easier to see what you're doing.

• Navigate the map from a bird's eye view using the arrow keys to move the camera when hunting for errors and making corrections. Details:

1 - Start by pressing 'T' to get the camera oriented properly for using the arrow keys. The arrow keys do NOT work relative to the camera position. Rather the 'Up' arrow always moves the camera north, the 'Down' arrow always moves the camera South, etc. Pressing 'T' will orient the camera to a bird's eye view perspective where up will be North, down will be South, etc. This will make the arrow keys match the direction the camera is moving on-screen. You can press 'T' at any time to restore this position. 

2 - After pressing 'T' to get the camera oriented properly use the mouse wheel to zoom out. Zoom out until you see the edge of the currently viewable cells. Navigating from this perspective will allow you to see errors and rips which will usually appear as purple just as long as the land is above water. Rips under water will require zooming in closer to find. 

3 - Make the mental connection between Cell coordinates and how the coordinate system is related to the world you created in the heightmap editor. To do this start by finding Cell 0,0 in the landscape editor and loading it. Then follow steps 1 and 2 directly above to get the camera oriented properly. Now go to the heightmap editor and figure out where 0,0 is. Note how the Cell coordinates change on the heightmap editor as you go North, South, East, or West. You should be able to pick a cell from the heightmap editor and navigate to it manually in the landscape editor using only the arrow keys. 

4 - Find errors in your landscape textures in the heightmap editor and then locate them in the landscape editor using the error keys. Correct them in the landscape editor using 'Soften Vertices' or 'Flatten Vertices' then save your corrections in the CS - BUT NOT IN THE HEIGHTMAP EDITOR. 

5 - Avoid using the 'Shift' key and 'Space Bar' for navigating except when making corrections that would be difficult to make otherwise. Once these types of corrections are made press 'T' again to restore proper camera perspective and zoom out. 

On Region Generation - It can take a great deal of time to generate regions. You will get "Not Responding" messages for the CS while generating regions. Note that these are different than crashes. In Windows 7 when the CS crashes all CS windows become highlighted and a warning box pops up. However, when the CS is terribly busy you will see Not Responding messages at the top of the CS window. One way to check to see if the CS is locked up or not during a Not Responding message is to open the Windows Task Manager and check to see if the CS is still using CPU cycles and to see if the amount of memory it is using is still climbing. With a quad core Intel i7 at 2.6 GHz 12 - 13% of CPU is used and several Kilobytes of data are added every few seconds.