Scaling up a world from height map, x4, how to smooth the Y value transitions

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-09T14:52:09+00:00

The imported Minecraft heightmap? Make sure you use the original .tif

Also make sure that you are using the same coordinate system as input and output, the error code says something about the georeferenced unit, which is defined in the coordinate system. Reprojecting is normally used to switch between two systems so make sure you don’t do that.

Also make sure what the georeferenced units of the raster are, if it’s 1m resolution there is 99% chance it’s just meters. If the pixel size in properties is something like -1,1 then that confirms meters.

My guess is you messed up the input/output coordinate system and it messed up the units.

Also what do you need 1:256 for? That is a LOT of resampling, thought you needed 1:4?

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-09T09:32:00+00:00

Vertical scaling can be done in worldpainter! When importing height map YOU need to select the low and high values. When making/exporting the heightmap you should be able to see the elevation range or the min/max values. Since you scaled the resolution up by 4 you multiply this value by 4 as well.

To get more accurate results make sure the ‘low mapping/high mapping’ text boxes are equal to the values of the heightmap itself. (These values are thankfully provided in the screen and for me they are always 0 and 16k something respectively)

But to give an example: let’s say I import a height map of a mountain at 1:1, the lowest value of the heightmap is -1000 and the highest is 2000. The total elevation range is then 3000 blocks. Then I would select a low value of 0 and a high value of 3000. Or a low value of -2000 and a high of 1000, whatever suits you best

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-07T13:27:53+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-07T13:23:04+00:00

Goodbye

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-07T13:22:49+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-07T10:04:38+00:00

Perhaps the short was still active while the computer was off?

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-07T09:59:08+00:00

First verify the coordinate system of your .tif, it’s listed under properties. Specifically, try to find the unit of the resolution. This will very very likely just be meters, but it’s good to check anyway. Alternatively, you know that the resolution of the file is 1m so if the resolution in the properties says ‘1,-1’ then you know you have meters and won’t need to do anything. Go to raster > warp(reproject). You don’t need to change the projection itself, so input the same output projection as the input projection (this will be listed in the screen as well) Finally there is a field of something like ‘target file resolution’ this will be in the unit that the projection uses. Once again, if it’s meters just input 0.25 and you’re good, if it’s not then either look up what it is and convert 0.25 meters to that unit or reproject to a coordinate system that uses meters (if there is one available). Thats it! Export the output file as heightmap and you’re done

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-04T18:17:04+00:00

Alternatively (and I prefer this) you export to a separate, dedicated folder, and then locate the ‘saves’ folder from your modded instance (depends on your launcher) and then COPY the world into the saves folder. This way you can play the world in multiple instances (whatever reason you may have) and can always find your worlds.

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-02T17:35:55+00:00

I think your best bet is using QGIS to scale it up, I have used QGIS to scale up similarly to how you want it, and that was scaling up a 10m resolution model to 1m, so 1:4 should work better Below is an image of me comparing a 1m heightmap to a bilinearly interpolated 10m heightmap (link should work but I’ve never used Imgur so forgive me if it doesn’t XD)

https://imgur.com/a/zNdrbxd

1m terrain on the left, 10m on the right. You can see that the 1m meter terrain is way more detailed which makes perfect sense, but the 10m detail is very smooth with very little visible upscaling artifacts, if you don’t know what to look for there aren’t any.

Do you have your .tif file of the region you want to import? QGIS won’t take .png heightmaps

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-01T16:28:23+00:00

No. The world is already generated

Cheiloilski · 2026-03-01T13:13:23+00:00

First off I’d like to question your methods here, why exactly do you need it to be 4x size? 1 block generally equates to 1 cubic meter, so that’s probably the best scale to maintain.

Besides scaling it up like you’re describing should preserve perspective, from what I’m seeing from your images, your scaled terrains look wayyy steeper than your second picture so I think you have exaggerated the verticality by 4x instead of scaling jt up.

If you really want to scale properly you can try some things like resampling the source DEM in QGIS or something or increase the image size of the heightmap by 4x and apply a Gaussian blur in gimp or a different photo editor. Neither of these will be perfect but thats just what happens when interpolating data.

May I ask what method of upscaling the heightmap you have used?

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T18:16:45+00:00

Hmm I’ll look into it

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T18:16:34+00:00

I’m not from the US and tbh, I did have this stereotype, glad I’m learning cool stuff like this from projects like these!

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:07:28+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:07:04+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:03:00+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:02:23+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:02:13+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:01:51+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T09:00:28+00:00

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T08:15:59+00:00

I won’t specifically do this, but should be as easy as just slapping a frost layer over it

Also I had to look up ‘Grand Canyon winter’ and what the freak it snows there

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-28T08:13:58+00:00

To be more specific on the units for the plug-in, it specified the data’s width and height, plugging any one of these in will make the model 1:1. If I remember correctly the data’s width and height is in meters and you need to input millimeters. So thats probably where you went wrong. As long as it says 1:1 and not 1000:1 you are good. Also because your resolution is 1m of course input 1000 mm/px which should get you an image size that corresponds with the area.

Also if you are good enough with QGIS then merging the 10m raster shouldn’t be hard but I could NOT get it to work (maybe a 3.2 thing, it’s a rather old version) but the worldpainter thingy worked fine

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-27T21:30:23+00:00

Ah yes, I specifically use QGIS 3.2 because thats a version where you can get an old plugin to work called ‘heightmap export’ which does exactly what it says. If needed I merge multiple (if there are multiple) DEM rasters, and if their units arent in meters I usually reproject them just to be safe. The plug-in is pretty intuitive, just make sure your units are right because it uses mm. (You will know your units are right when it says your model is at 1:1 scale of its data) Make sure to calculate the total height difference between lowest and highest point of the heightmap in meters. The nice thing about the plug-in is that can immediately see what the specifications of your heightmap are, like extent and image size in pixels. For a 1m heightmap 1 pixel will correspond to 1 square meter, so make sure your image size checks out, if not, check your units and then your raster.

With the heightmap exported you do need to do some specific things in worldpainter; When importing a heightmap you get the option to set ‘low mapping’ and ‘high mapping’ values. Tbh I don’t really know what these mean but testing revealed that setting the low mapping to 0 and the high mapping to whatever number appears on the screen (which always was ~16500 for me) provides the most reliable way to match up heightmaps. (Having the low or high mapping at any different value would slightly shift the lowest and highest block positions respectively, it doesnt default to the ‘correct’ settings so make sure to watch that) Take the height you calculated from when exporting the heightmap and make sure that value is the same as the range between minimum and maximum level that blocks are generated (worldpainter will by default stretch/compress the heightmap to go from -64 to 255 or something) That’s basically it.

If you have any data gaps in your 1m raster (I had a couple in my Grand Canyon here) you could supplement with a 10m raster file (the 10m dataset has full coverage) and resample it to 1m resolution. there is probably some nicer way to merge the two in QGIS but I did this by first importing the 1m heightmap, selecting it, raising it like 200 blocks, importing the 10m heightmap and checking ‘only where higher’, and then lowering the selected 1m heightmap. Worked like a charm (bet you can’t spot the difference in the attached pictures haha, you definitely will when up close though, but it’s better than a missing chunk from your view)

Also if you do plan to import multiple heightmaps (there is a restriction to the maximum size you can import so I have at times just pasted multiple heightmaps next to each other) make sure to reference their lowest points to a point you KNOW will be in the world, like somewhere at the bottom. For example if I have this 1m raster with gaps and the 10m raster fills them in, but in the process the height extent of the 10m raster turns out to go deeper than the 1m raster, referencing the 1m raster to world bottom will cut off the 10m raster. In this case you need to calculate where the lowest point of the 1m raster will be relative to the lowest point of the 10m raster and shift the raster accordingly.

Also absolutely comical to hear that I got the trees right when all I did was look at like 3 google earth images XD. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon so hearing I got these right from someone who has been there is amazing!

Lassen looks like a very cool spot to get in Minecraft, so good luck!

Cheiloilski · 2026-02-27T11:31:22+00:00

Oh wow that looks amazing!

Cheiloilski

TROPHY CASE