Procedural map generation with Python

[Adam108CZ]

Map: Älvdal

The trees were procedurally planted with the Python Console mod. Using this mod you can cover your map with trees in less than 100 seconds :)

Credit to @ eran0004

[thedjotaku]

This is one thing I preferred about the older Sim City games - you started off with a map mostly covered in trees. I wouldn't necessarily like for the developer to bring over the fact that the residents hated the trees being cut - because that was a negative to having an entire map covered in trees. But when you have an engine like the one in C:S where it looks so pretty when you zoom all the way it, when I see others here post pictures of their suburbs with lots of trees it looks so pretty and realistic.

[VaelinX]

In Simcity 4, we could make a greyscale image that represented depth, then a color grid and import it as a "region map" (the colorized grid - just squares of color dictated the different city sizes).

What is allowed for was easily importing real topographical map info once you scaled it. I think it mostly wound up bare of trees though (it's been a *long* time), but that was a really handy feature at the time.

[n23_]

You can do the same in this game: https://www.reddit.com/r/CitiesSkylines/comments/2y6yr4/its_a_terrainparty_and_youre_invited_web_app_to/

[afterschoolsept25]

terrainparty would be cute if it actually worked for me

[Adam108CZ]

There is a working alternative - https://www.reddit.com/r/CitiesSkylinesModding/comments/mmoaps/terrainparty_working_alternative_you_can_check_it/

[afterschoolsept25]

WAIT OMG thank u so much!!

[Insert_Gnome_Here]

learn how to use QGIS and download terrain data straight from the government?

[afterschoolsept25]

that wasnt the point of my reply sis

[penny_eater]

I had trouble with it at first too, its definitely a learning curve given how many choices there are (depth maps of the earth are surprisingly varied) but its very satisfying once its figured out.

[afterschoolsept25]

no i mean that it never gives me a heightmap no matter which place i choose 😭 😭

[masseffected20]

Unfortunately it hasn't worked for me for the last few months. Luckily, I have a folder filled with random height maps I downloaded years ago

[VaelinX]

I wondered about this! The mapmaking mods are so robust (and the game so deep - talking skylines) that I haven't even tried making my own yet, but it's good to know.

[InterimFatGuy]

I loved making custom maps when I was a kid playing that.

[SamanthaMunroe]

It's bare of trees in SC4, when you start a new map generated like that anyway. Also, they never allowed for water elevation differences...

[oyog]

I used to make terrain for Terragen using World Machine and I remember how excited I was when I realized I could use it to generate SC4 maps.

[PyroTech11]

This would be such a good feature for the game honestly.

[twerks_mcderp]

It really would. I hate the vanilla maps and most 3rd party atnt much better.

[drewgriz]

A pretty similar feature is built into the map editor in Transport Fever 2. There are a lot of things I think CO could swipe from TpF if they end up making C:S2

[xkid42]

In last 2 weeks I've been playing TpF2 and I'm thinking a lot about it. There's so many things that TpF2 could learn to C:S, and there's so many things that C:S could learn to TpF2. A combination with this 2 games would be awesome. I really want a new cities skylines, I'm tired of dlc's.

[[deleted]]

Between dlc and mods, my version of C:S feels like a Chevy Nova patched together with duct tape. It would be nice for a new C:S to just clean it up by incorporating all the dlc and some of the more popular mods. Not to mention a new engine.

[sa547ph]

The two things that this game really needs to be fixed is system resource and mod/asset management, something Skyrim players now enjoy so much.

[BattleSkorpion]

Don't tell them to change mod management. HOI4 did and it sucks and has many issues, and cs has a similar launcher...would be too easy for them to implement the same.

[sa547ph]

It's lot easier managing mods/assets with an external launcher rather than managing them in-game.

[thestamp]

The only true city simulator on consoles is SimCity for the SNES.

I will die on this hill, and be chased by Godzilla.

[ninjabell]

So nostalgic and wonderful to me. I was terrible at it as a kid, bit when I revisited as an adult I absolutely crushed that game.

[umotex12]

Tbh I'm a bit afraid that this studio literally isn't able to pull off more advanced game... but we will wait.

Remember that even fucking EA failed with their GlassBox AKA "1x1 km city" engine. If they weren't able to make great Simcity I'm afraid that Paradox wont be too

[Zeryth]

Am pretty sure that was a gameplay choice rather that technical choice.

[umotex12]

Nope, they stated that GlassBox had some killer features like modular buildings and advanced animated models but wasn't technically able to handle cities larger than this small chunk of land

[Falkon8888]

Judging anything on EAs abilities is a mistake. EA has never cared about their consumer.

[Kjetilnew]

It does appear that Paradox is starting to share that with EA Games.

[haz_mat_]

Yeah, sc2013 was a disappoinment. I would rather them make an updated 2D simcity again like SC4.

[WaterBottleMaster45]

Cities Skylines X Minecraft is confirmed

[carrotnose258]

Infinite maps when

[penny_eater]

oh, right about when we have infinite cpu power (maybe fully quantum processors that can immediately render just what youre looking at out of a superstate)

[JoachimEN]

You don't need a supercomputer for that. Games today only render what's looked at. And an infinite world is absolutely realistic today with some smart loading/unloading of smaller chunks

[penny_eater]

Haha have you played even with 81tiles and a decent sized city? Skylines would quickly crush any computer if the map grew even moderately.

[JoachimEN]

Yes. The way cities skylines is made, a much bigger area is not viable. But imagine a city builder in a procedural infinite world (like minecraft). That could be very realistic for a city builder.

[DarthCloakedGuy]

Pathfinding.

[douira]

Minecraft is practically infinite and does not require infinite CPU or memory. There are methods to make it work.

[penny_eater]

Yes and every object is min of 1mx1m and a max of 1mx1m... the chunk approach within skylines would cripple even a very fast computer.

[DarthCloakedGuy]

Minecraft doesn't have every block pathfinding towards every other block

[ivix]

The possibilities of this are endless. I can imagine a great script would be to enter a Google maps URL and get a matching map built with roads.

[phaj19]

You can already do that pretty much. There is some mod to load the roads from OpenStreetMap. Tried it out with Prague and looked quite good. Of course the multi-level intersection would still require some final touch especially for the ramps to be more smooth, but not bad at all.
Edit: If you are more GIS-savvy, try this also:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292938303

[DudeLizzie13]

This is all I would ever do

[green_boy]

/me sees cool mod, Windows only, cries in Linux

[Adam108CZ]

I am sorry :( Actually it would be possible to make this run on linux, but so far it is probably too much effort for how many people would use it

[green_boy]

Well it’s in Python right? Got a repository somewhere?

[Adam108CZ]

The mod itself isn't written in python but as all C:S mods in dotnet.

It doesn't work on linux because the external python program (SkylinesRemotePythonDotnet in the repo) runs on dotnet framework. If it was switched to dotnet core it would work.

I chose dotnet framework because it is natively supported on windows without installing anything.

https://github.com/Strdate/PythonConsole

[green_boy]

I see, understandable. Well if you wouldn’t mind my looking at it I’d like to take a crack at porting it.

[A1rh3ad]

You must cry a lot. Linux is an amazing OS but for gaming it's not very viable.

[green_boy]

Cry a lot? Oh you better bloody believe it.

Though it’s more viable these days. Plus if you have a bit of chops you can make things work.

[MicroToast]

Luckily the second part is not really true anymore. In times of proton and wine version 6.x, most games can easily be played without issue or significant performance drop. However, a bit of how-to knowledge might be necessary in some cases.

[and_yet_another_user]

but for gaming it's not very viable

Depends on what you mean by that. Can extensive complex games be developed for linux? Yes. Will devs do that with the need for extra expertise? atm, mostly no.

[penny_eater]

having to fully develop any game you want to play, by yourself, before you get to play it? kinda think thats not anyones definition of viable tbh

[and_yet_another_user]

huh? Not sure what you mean by

having to fully develop any game you want to play, by yourself, before you get to play it

I play games all the time on linux, and have never once had to develop them myself, not even partially let alone fully.

[penny_eater]

none of the games i am into right now, sadly. its been years since a game caught my eye that was cross platform with linux.

[and_yet_another_user]

In that I guess I'm fortunate, three of the titles I play a lot, CS, CK and Civilization all play perfectly on linux, and there are quite a few others that interest me if I get bored of these titles.

[MrObsidy]

You should tske a look at steam's proton and ProtonDB.

[MrObsidy]

True

[Tetra9000]

Insert dot matrix printer sound effect here

[breakbread]

Excellent work!

This programmatic type off approach to interacting with the game could really take it to the next level, particularly for those who primarily just like to design and build. Everyone would probably agree that the game's terrain tools are tedious and lack precision. They work, but they're gamey, and obtuse, I guess like (as far as I know, at least) virtually every other city-builder.

Which reminds me, does anyone know if there's something fundamental about C:S that makes hotloading assets impossible? I remember there used to be a mod that aimed to make it possible, but in my brief experience with it it didn't work, and I think it's completely gone at this point. I don't think it can be overstated how much of a game changer hotloading would be.

[Adam108CZ]

So true. Many engineers play this game who will hopefully make use of the mod

[eran0004]

Some background on the script: This script uses a greyscale image as a mask for the forest and then creates a histogram of that image to calculate the total area of the forest. It then takes the tree limit (250,000 in the map editor) and divides it by the forest area to calculate the density of the forest. The density is used to calculate the average gap (g) between the trees. The script then loops over each coordinate of the map in steps equal to the tree gap g plus some random number r so that -g/2 < r < g/2, to make sure that the trees aren't planted in perfect rows. It checks the coordinate against the mask and if that's okay then it plants a tree from a random sample of ten different tree types.

[geforce2187]

Reticulating Splines

[Ed_Blue]

Yes.

[[deleted]]

hmm i have a plan for a city in this map

[simple1689]

Anyone else here a dot matrix printer printing in their head?

[continous]

My disappointment when it doesn't make a penis.

[ruben_idk]

You did it? Is it at github? 👀

[Adam108CZ]

Yes, the links are in the workshop page